Lucas Ryan Versus - Madison Daniel Page 0,15

done before. But, you won’t do it with any silly textbooks. Biology is the study of life,” she echoed everywhere. “Trust me, when I’m done with all of you, you’ll be free.”

“Huh?” I huffed, aloud. Ms. Strickland walked to the door and opened it with a smile.

“Now, who wants to study some life? Follow me,” she ordered. As if being controlled the whole class stood up eager to follow her. Swiftly, she turned back to Olivia and I. “Everyone except Ms. Weaver and Mr. Ryan. You two can stay here until the end of the class hour. And Mr. Ryan, you may join Ms. Weaver in after school detention later today.”

Even though I liked the idea of staying behind with only Olivia, and I was already sentenced to plenty of detention, I couldn’t resist asking, “What for?”

Ms. Strickland waved for the class to leave. She patiently waited as all the kids filed out the door. Finally, she looked down at the folded piece of paper on my desk and nodded. “You know why, Lucas.” And with that, she disappeared out the door, leaving a wide-eyed Olivia confused and angry.

“Lucas, what was on that paper?” Olivia asked, softly. I pulled the triangle toward me and gently unfolded it and handed to her.

“A drawing.”

She pulled the paper to her eyes. and asked, “Of what?”

I looked over at her worried, and whispered, “A dragon.”

Olivia admired the sketch for a moment and then turned her attention to my arm where Ripley hid from the world.

“Lucas, I don’t like her.”

“It’s okay, she doesn’t seem to be too fond of us either,” I teased. “At least I’ll have some company in detention today.” Olivia smiled and slowly stood up. She removed her cell phone and swiped the screen.

“I think I’ll check in with Soph. It’s her first day back to school, too. Hopefully she’s having a better day than us.” She handed me back the crinkled and creased paper and began clicking a message on her phone. As she made her way to the windows of the classroom, I placed the drawing into my bag and tried not to overthink the last ten minutes of the day.

Just as my eyes fogged over in distant thought, the pages of my opened textbook along Ms. Strickland’s desk began to flip back and forth. I watched eagerly as they danced one way and then another. Slowly at first, but then more violently as if there was a wild gust of wind ripping through the room.

“Hey, Olivia, are you seeing this?” I called out, but she never answered back. Cautiously, I stepped toward the desk, unsure of what I was seeing. Once I reached the desk the book settled back to normal, the pages still and silent. I reached out and closed the book. It was cold to my touch.

“What’s going on?” I mumbled, to no one. Just then, the book started to slide along the surface of the desk as if something was underneath it. I looked over at Olivia who was still typing away on her phone, oblivious to the situation. When I looked back down at the book, it stopped moving. I held my breath and placed a nervous hand along the cover. It felt normal again.

All right, Lucas, quit freaking out. Just pick it up. Slowly, I let my fingers wrap around the spine and timidly lifted it up. I was sure there would be something strange waving up at me from the desk but there was nothing. I closed my eyes, wondering if I was going crazy. When I let them open again there was still nothing. A relieved sigh shot from my lips and I turned to talk to Olivia again, but when I did, something caught my attention from the furthest corner of my vision. It was small and creepy and on the back of the book I held in my hand.

A two inch long, snake-like creature slithered across the surface before spinning itself into a tight little coil the size of a quarter. It stared up at me from the middle of the cover. It was dark purple and had three rows of red eyes. It quivered in place watching me intensely. Before I could process anymore information, four pointy appendages emerged from its head and stabbed themselves into the surface of the book. It began to hiss with a sound that reminded me of air escaping a flat tire. With a snap, it launched itself from the cover and shot directly