Gift Academy (Book One in the Gifted Series)

Chapter Twenty Two

Fay

"Ethan," I mutter under my breath, still barely able to believe that Ethan was Mariah's boyfriend.

"Yeah, that's the one. You're evil! You didn't hesitate to kill him, you didn't even think twice!" Mariah shouts at me, her voice raspy from being choked. I glare coldly at her.

"You didn't hesitate to kill Veronica, either," I snap back. Mariah really looks angry now.

"I didn't mean to kill her! She jumped in front of you! If I had known she would've done that I wouldn't have tried!" Mariah cries out. I breathe heavily, and I know what to do. I look up at Mariah, her hands still tied behind her back. After a few moments of us two glaring menacingly at each other, I finally muster up the courage to speak what I've been meaning to tell her this whole time.

"Say hi to Veronica for me," I spit at Mariah. She looks terrified, knowing what I'm going to do next. I raise her twenty feet into the air and flip her upside down. She screams to me from above, begging me to put her down.

"I'm going to put you down, alright," I mutter breathlessly. I take one final breath before releasing Mariah, watching her fall to the ground, flailing around helplessly.

"WAIT!" I hear someone shout from behind me, then Mariah suddenly stops falling and floats in midair.

I whip around to see who saved the evil witch. I gasp when I see Flora and Gina behind me, eyes wide. Gina has her hands spread out towards Mariah. She saved the stupid Extra.

"Flora? Gina? What are you two doing here?" I ask them, unable to control the fury in my voice. They should've let Mariah fall to her death. I have a feeling no one would be able to find her after that. I probably would've burned her and thrown her ashes into the eyes of Emily, Liam, and Mike.

God, I have to chill.

"What are you doing here?" Flora demands.

"I had a vision of that stupid Extra and found her sneaking around here, so I came to stop her," I answer Flora, still angry at Gina for saving Mariah.

"And by stopping her you mean killing her, correct?" Gina questions me, clearly annoyed by me.

"What's the problem with that?" I inquire, glaring at Gina. She softens up when she sees me, though I don't know why. I'm glaring at her, talking back to her, and basically ruining our friendship. Shouldn't she be even a little angry at me? Flora sighs and break the awkward silence seeping through us four,

"Let's bring her inside. Mr. Hernandez will know what to do with her," Flora orders us. I nod my head once and fast-walk back inside the academy, not making eye contact with Flora or Gina on our way to Mr. Hernandez's office. He always stays up late. I don't think he ever really gets any sleep at all, to be honest.

I quietly knock on the door, hoping that he's still awake. I hear shuffling from inside and footsteps coming closer and closer to the door. The door swings open and there stands Mr. Hernandez, looking perfectly normal while we probably look like tired zombies. Mr. Hernandez looks at all of us, puzzled.

"Miss. Landoff, Miss. Williams, Fay. What are you three doing here this late at night?" Mr. Hernandez asks us, checking the time on his watch. "And who is that?" He questions, pointing to a frustrated and furious Mariah, who's tied up by my vines.

"This is Mariah Smith. You don't know her, well...because she's an Extra," Flora explains carefully.

"Fay had a vision of her sneaking around the parking lot and went to go check, and she was there. She caught her and now we're here. Do you know what we should do with her?" Gina asks Mr. Hernandez hopefully. Mr. Hernandez solemnly shakes his head.

"I don't know what to tell you girls. This is so all of a sudden. I say we hear what Miss. Smith has to tell us. Come in, please," Mr. Hernandez tells us all, stepping aside so we can enter his office. We all pile in and sit in a circle on the desks.

"What are you doing here, Miss. Smith?" Mr. Hernandez questions Mariah calmly. Mariah seems to become even angrier from Mr. Hernandez's' polite calmness.

"No need to be so nice to me, you filthy Gifted," Mariah spits at Mr. Hernandez. I'm about ready to jump out of my seat and slap her across the face right now, but the calmness of Mr. Hernandez's' face shows me that I should stay calm. For now.

"I'm not trying to. That's just me. Now please, answer my question," Mr. Hernandez commands patiently. Mariah snorts.

"I was here to get revenge on that jerk for killing my boyfriend," Mariah answers, sneering at me. I roll my eyes at her and Mr. Hernandez just nods his head.

"Okay. Thank you, Miss. Smith, that's all I needed from you. I'll take her down to the gym with Gina, girls. You two get some rest," Mr. Hernandez tells Flora and I softly. We both nod our heads and silently exit the office, making our way upstairs and to our dorms.

"Do you ever wonder why Mr. Hernandez calls most students by their last names but call only you by your first name?" Flora asks me. I shrug my shoulders.

"It's always been like that, I've grown pretty fond of it," I admit to Flora. She slightly nods and opens the door to her dorm room.

"Goodnight, Fay. Get some rest if you can," Flora tells me before entering her dorm room.

"You too, Flora," I call back to her, then walk into my dull dorm room. I close and lock the door behind me and wish that Veronica were here to run up to me and ask me where I've been, what I've been doing, and if I was okay, even though it looks like I'm perfectly fine.

"I miss her so much. Maybe a bit too much. But I can't stop that, and I can't bring her back.

Mariah Smith is going to pay for what she did.