Supernaturals: Secrets (Book 1)

{37} Fight

Rhyme's POV

Quickly I delivered a blow to the kid's neck with my tightened fist, leaning away from his touch as she tried to electrocute me for the seventh time. Normally, electricity control would be a good power to have, but this girl was young and obviously didn't know how to deliver it through the air instead of physically. However, that was to my advantage.

I hissed as the girl jumped forward and pressed her fingers against my neck, sending a jolt that vibrated throughout my entire body. For a second, my senses went completely numb, but as soon as I recovered from the scare I instinctively dropped down to the ground, kicking my leg out and slamming my foot against the girl's shins at just the perfect, painful angle. As I'd expected, her legs gave out and she dropped to the floor, swearing.

Not giving her time to get a hold of herself, I leaped back onto my feet and pressed my palms against the air like I was a mime trying to get out of a box. A smirk fixated on my face, I watched the small, green shimmering line slither like a snake down my veins until it pushed out of the tips of my fingers, evolving into vines.

The plants wrapped themselves tightly around her hands, cutting off the circulation and pinning her arms at her sides. Another one wrapped itself just below her chest, making sure she wouldn't be able to escape, and a few others curled on the perimeter of her ankles like a sick joke someone had played.

Instantly the girl began struggling and shrieking for one of her buddies to come and help her. Rolling my eyes at her noise, I snapped my finger and quickly another vine appeared from my palm; this time, thicker. It held itself tightly against her lips like duct tape, and after a second of muffled screams she quieted down.

Deciding it wasn't worth it to kill her, I quickly pressed my palm against her calf, causing the skin color to darken and turn a brown. Like an infection, it began spreading to the rest of the body until the girl seemed like a burnt marshmallow. Without hesitance, her flesh changed texture into a rough bark, and the girl became a tree with no human features but the high knobs of eyes and nose.

With my heel I quickly pushed the trunk away, snickering at the sight of the girl-log rolling away. But just as I did, somebody pounced on me from behind, putting me in a headlock. Growling under my breath, I unsheathed a knife from the belt holder on my knees and spun around, hardly registering who the person was before I stabbed them in the neck.

Raising an eyebrow, I watched as the girl collapsed to the ground, her brown eyes as wide as quarters and her hands pressed against the wound, which now had blood seeping slowly out of it. She fell from her knees and the back of her head hit the tiles, causing the rest of her limbs to flail out loosely. Like a halo, her dark-colored hair floated around her head. She would've seemed peaceful if not for the sweat still slipping down her forehead, the awful look on her face, and her matted, blood covered hair.

Not even pausing to close her eyes, I pulled the blade out of her throat, disgusted, before wiping it on her pale yellow dress. It was now stained with crimson red, but that was sort of her fault.

As I walked away, I tried to overcome the slight feeling of guilt. Luke had told us never to regret our actions in battle, but to try not to kill unless you absolutely had to. Knowing I could've just turned her like the others, I comforted myself with the thoughts that she had powers and most likely had put me in a headlock for that reason.

She would have killed me.

Forcing myself to forget about the girl in the yellow dress, I avoided a few puddles of blood and the proof of someone hurt being dragged. It seemed that everyone else had moved down the hallway, around the corner. Dragging myself along, I stuck my head out to check and gasped at the sight.

Every single person at our school, with a few exceptions, was laying on the ground in a frozen state. I recognized Troye's light brown hair as he laid in an inhuman-like position, his arms twisted behind his back and legs bent in positions only meant for those with doubled joints.

Trying to swallow the bile that filled my throat and ignoring the tears raising to the surface of my eyes, I walked stiffly past the bodies, not allowing myself to look down at them.

Suddenly I heard the pounding sound of footsteps, and my eyes changed in focus to see four or so students running down the hallway. My eyes widened. Skylar was in the lead, her long dark hair flying in all directions and pasted against her forehead, which wore crazed eyes. Blood was dripping down the side of her head, and she waved a kitchen knife in the air like a doll in a horror movie. Next to her was Mia, who was limping on her left leg. Her blonde hair was matted in knots, tucked behind her ears in a hurried ponytail. She was dragging Adasia along next to her, who appeared to have a broken leg and dazed eyes. Jackson was on Asia's other side, trying his best to help support her weight.

They sighed with relief as they saw me, and paused in their running. Jackson and Mia lowered Asia to the floor, who screamed bloody murder in pain, and Skylar waved me over as she panted like a wolf.

"What's going on?" I asked as I approached them.

"Only... a few of us left..." Skylar groaned, her eyes rolling up in her head. I noticed her legs beginning to buckle, and quickly I jumped forward to help her weight steady.

"Thanks," she mumbled with exhaustion. I nodded.

"They have Echo," she whispered hoarsely into my shoulder. I frowned.

"What do you mean?"

She shook her head slowly, wincing with pain.

"We saw them. Echo and Isaac. She was... it was like... doesn't matter. Not right now. They tied her up, gag and all... and took her... out the door... they're all gone now."

I bit my lip nervously.

"Everyone else is good. Did you say you guys are the only ones left?

Skylar smirked even though it wavered as she stumbled forward like a drunk person.

"We're the only ones smart enough to survive," she muttered.

I chuckled halfheartedly, but glanced around quickly. "Are you sure they left? I mean, Isaac and them?"

She nodded. "I know where they're going..."

I pushed her back slightly and put my hands on her shoulders, looking into her eyes. "Where?" She groaned slightly, her legs collapsing again with fatigue, and this time I just helped lower her to the ground. We sat against the tiles for a moment before I asked the question again.

"2916 Mellhasse Road. It's in Augusta," she mumbled. I raised an eyebrow. "How do you know that?"

Her fingers shaking, Skylar reached into the pocket of her jeans and pulled up a partially crumpled up piece of paper. She handed it to me, and I flinched as her freezing cold fingers brushed against mine. Shaking my head, I quickly pulled my sweatshirt over my head and handed it to her.

"Here, wear that. You're freezing."

Not going to argue, she nodded slightly and forced the jacket on. Immediately I noticed her body relaxed a little, and her cheeks began to regain a bit of color.

As she became comfortable, I pulled the edges of the paper away from each other and opened the letter. My eyebrows raised as I read it and I clucked my tongue worriedly.

"They have Jason? His sister's alive?"

Sky nodded, her eyelids closing softly. She yawned, and simultaneously I did too. As a kid I used to wonder if yawns really were contagious, but I was keen to believe so. Realizing how tired I really was, I dragged Sky slowly over to the others and without saying a word, we all huddled together and closed our eyes. Only a moment passed before I heard Mia's famous snore. I smirked before allowing my face to relax until I fell into a blissful peace.

We'll get Echo and Jason... tomorrow...