Fearless The King Series Book One - By Tawdra Kandle Page 0,11

a good idea to get used to assuming all substances are potentially dangerous, since as we know—” her eyes slid to Nell’s, “—even the safest solutions can become quite dangerous if combined with the wrong elements or handled carelessly.”

She paused for a moment before adding, “You may begin now. I will be strolling around observing. Raise your hand if you need help.”

Next to me, Liza flipped open her textbook. When I didn’t move, she glared at me. “Are you doing this or what? If you’re going to be my lab partner, you need to keep up. I’m not getting in trouble because of you.”

Obviously either Nell’s attitude was contagious or none of her friends were willing to cross her. I didn’t bother answering Liza. I found the lab in my book and read aloud as she began pulling out test tubes and beakers.

“Put about ten drops of sodium carbonate in each of the three wells of row A, the same amount of soda ash in three wells of row B, point two five milliliters of sodium oxylate in row C and point one milliliters of chromium potassium oxide in row D.”

Liza reached for the labeled beakers without comment. She was operating on the principle that if she ignored me, I didn’t exist. It was fine by me; I just wanted to get through the class in one piece.

That line of thought reminded me of the day before and the troubling words I’d overheard about blood sacrifice. In all the excitement of Nell expressing her hatred and my first meeting with Michael, I had shoved that memory to the back of my mind. Now a dark suspicion began to grow as I considered who might have been most likely to be thinking about spilling blood.

“Hey! What’s wrong with you?” Liza’s annoyance was a huge suffocating cloud as she snapped her fingers in my face. I blinked and shook my head.

“Sorry. Just zoning, I guess. What next?”

Nell half turned in her seat and raised one eyebrow as she smirked at me. “Maybe you should reconsider my suggestion. If you can’t keep up with a simple lab like this, I don’t know how you’ll handle the rest of the class.”

I felt the heat of a flush creep up my face. “Thanks so much, Nell, but I think I’m okay.” I turned back to Liza. “What do we do next?”

“I was saying, you need to fill row B. Ten drops in each well. Measure carefully, I don’t want to do this twice.” She shoved a glass beaker filled with some kind of clear liquid in my direction. I picked it up and looked around for the droppers. They were in a stand across the table, and as Liza was studiously looking away from me, I stifled a sigh and stood to reach carefully around her.

I caught the movement out of the corner of my eye at the same time I heard a malicious cackle coming from Nell’s mind. Both came too late for me to move out of the way as Nell slammed the back of her chair against our table, knocking me over in a spray of chemicals and broken glass.

My first thought was that I was glad I hadn’t worn the white t-shirt I had considered that morning. My second thought was that I was pretty sure that the solution all over me wasn’t dangerous. And my third thought involved inflicting bodily injury on Nell Massler.

“What’s going on over here?” Ms. Lacusta was instantly standing over me, annoyance crashing off her in overwhelming waves. I tried to tune it out, but in my current state of anger and embarrassment, it was hard to control or block anything.

“She seems to be having a little trouble with the lab,” Nell replied in a smug, laughter filled voice.

Ms. Lacusta’s face remained expressionless, but she turned to look at me.

“Miss Vaughn? Would you like to tell me what happened?”

I swallowed hard. I was in a no-win situation. I wouldn’t make any friends by implicating Nell; at the risk of sounding like a five-year-old, no one likes a tattle tale. On the other hand, I sensed that the teacher already knew what had happened. I could feel the challenge in Nell’s gaze, and I kept my eyes steady on hers as I answered Ms. Lacusta.

“I was filling the wells, and I needed the dropper. I went to reach for it, and I guess I lost my balance.”

Ms. Lacusta reached over to brush some shards of glass from