NB: The Search (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 25: Back to School

I stand outside the red brick building, almost frozen.

I don’t think anybody noticed me being driven here by a police officer.  I don’t think anyone knows me well enough to care.

“Shouldn’t you take me somewhere secluded, so that nobody else gets hurt?” I ask.

“Don’t worry, demons don’t use their powers in public,” she tells me.  I look at her, and I can feel her energy.  She’s normal.  She’s human.  She talks like she’s an expert, but she can’t really understand.

“Why are you doing this?” I ask.  She shouldn’t be risking her life for me.

Pointing at her badge, she just says, “It’s my job.”

I wonder what that job title is, ‘Officer Jessica Paige, Special Demon Forces Division’ or something. 

She starts to head inside and motions for me to follow.  In the pit of my stomach, I know I should run, I should just sprint away and hope that Legion never finds me.  But there is something about this woman that I trust.  Damien must have asked for her help, and I have to believe in him.

As we walk through the halls, Officer Paige turns in the wrong direction.

“My class is in the other direction,” I say.

“I had it moved.”

She leads be to an interior room, surrounded by cement wall.  The whole class is here, including Damien.

I sit down beside him and he takes my hand.  I can’t help but flinch in the face of his display of public affection.  I suppose being outed to the rest of my class is the least of my worries today.  I need him, the warmth of skin against mine.  I need his strength and his comfort and his confidence.  He believes I’m good, and I have to hope that he’s right.

“It’s going to be alright,” Damien says.  He’s wrong.

The school bell rings and the daily announcements start.

As Officer Paige stands at the front of the room, a demon watches us from the back.  He looks like any other guy.  Curly hair, a big smile.  He stand there calm and collected, but I can feel his energy.  It writhes against my soul with its chaos.  He disgusts me on a primal level, but here he is protecting me.

Officer Paige and the demon start a presentation on drugs.  Apparently the demon guy is a nurse.  Every minute seems to take an hour to pass.  Five minutes pass.  Ten minutes pass. What is going to happen to me?  Twenty minutes are gone.

Then, at 9:10, Officer Paige’s watch beeps.  I can feel Damien’s grip around my hand tighten.

What’s happening?  Why didn’t anyone tell me what was going to happen?

As if responding to my fear, a loud booming voice comes on over the speakers across the school.  “This is a code red situation.  I repeat, this is a code red situation.  All students go to the nearest classroom, this is not a drill.  This is a code red emergency.”

Code red?  It’s an intruder in the school.  Legion is here.  It’s after me.

I thought they weren’t allowed to use their powers in public.  I want to ask Damien what’s happening, but he motions for me to be silent.

The demon nurse takes out his phone.  “It’s not working,” he says.  “They must be blocking the signal.”

“We can’t count on help right now,” Paige says to him.  She turns to the rest of us.  “Everyone on the floor.  Stay out of sight of the windows and stay silent.”

Damien and the demon each take positions by each of the doors.  My teacher tries to object, but Officer Paige shuts him down.  “Trust me,” she says as he takes out her gun and prepares for the oncoming assault.

Legion must be armed too.  It can’t use its powers in public, but there is nothing magic about a gun.  I can feel it spreading out throughout the school.  It is the one that is many, and the many are after me.

The speaker throughout the school being to blare once again, but it’s a different voice this time, a cold calculating one.  “As of yet, nobody has been seriously injured within this school.  We do not want anyone to die.  We ask the Sword to surrender or there will be blood and there will be death.  You have five minutes.”