Fearless The King Series Book One - By Tawdra Kandle Page 0,52

a grip on what the girls were doing, but I could feel what Nell was feeling—a mix of cynical pride and odd excitement. Whatever this was, Nell was the originator of the plan, and she saw herself as the one in control.

There was a shift, and I perceived that what I had seen before was memory, while now it was moving to a future image, possibly a plan. It was just slightly less defined; the same girls were there, in the same circle, but this time, someone else was present. I could see her face clearly. With a jolt of dread I realized Nell was thinking of Amber. And she wasn’t thinking of her with warm, fuzzy feelings.

Instead there was an intensity of hate, resentment and… envy? Before I could delve deeper into that idea, I could see Nell imagining herself. In her own mind, Nell was even taller, more strikingly beautiful and—powerful. The power of her mind was so intense that for that moment, I was there, in the circle, with the other girls. I felt a mixture of excitement and terror as I gazed at Amber’s face. And then Nell was behind Amber, both of them facing the girls… and me. It was with a shock of horror that I realized Nell was holding a long and deadly looking knife. As she drew closer to Amber, she raised the knife and. . .

I shrieked, and in that moment I was back in my seat, in History class. My head was spinning. With real effort, I pulled my mind away from Nell’s and threw up my mental wall to protect myself.

The room was still tilting, and I gripped the desk. The buzzing I was hearing wasn’t an influx of group thoughts; it was the blood pounding in my ears. I realized vaguely that Mr. Frame had stopped lecturing and that all the students sitting nearby were turned in their seats, staring at me.

“Miss Vaughn! Are you all right?” Mr. Frame’s voice seemed to be coming from far away, even though I was dimly aware that he had left the front of the room and was moving toward my seat. I couldn’t answer him yet; I was still concentrating on staying upright.

Then I felt a cool hand gentle on my neck. “Put your head down on your knees,” the voice belonging to the hand instructed calmly. I followed directions mutely, and soon the room had stilled, although I was still shaking and terrified.

I ventured a glance up and recognized my new friend as a girl who was in a couple of my classes. I knew she was in my French class, but since the teacher insisted upon calling us by our French names in that class, I wasn’t sure what her real name was. On the bright side, I was fairly certain that she wasn’t one of Nell’s followers.

At the thought of Nell, I sucked in another fast breath and tried to raise my head.

“Take it slow,” my friend advised. I met her warm brown eyes, full of compassion and concern. I nodded and breathed slowly.

The entire room was focused on me, and I was feeling better enough to be completely mortified by that fact.

“I’m okay, really,” I assured everyone, slowly sitting up. I scanned the room quickly to see if anyone believed me. My gaze tripped over Nell’s and stuttered there. She was staring intently at me, and it wasn’t concern I saw on her face. Suspicion and curiosity narrowed her eyes. I tore myself away as Mr. Frame spoke.

“Miss Pryce, would you please escort Miss Vaughn to the nurse’s office? She’s still looking a little green around the gills.”

I realized Miss Pryce must be the girl kneeling next to me, who had taken care of me and kept me from fainting dead away. She stood and put her hand under my elbow, helping me stand.

“Sure, no problem.” She turned to me. “Can you walk it, do you think?”

I nodded and tried to stand slowly. “Really, I think I’m okay. It was just—I got a little dizzy. I’ll be fine. I don’t think I need to go to the nurse.”

Mr. Frame was already shaking his head. “No, better safe than sorry. Go ahead.”

We moved out of the room and I breathed in the fresh air gratefully. Humid it might be, but at least I was away from Nell.

“Okay?” my escort questioned me.

I nodded again. “Sure. Just enjoying the air.” I glanced at her. “I’m really sorry, I don’t know