There was a hot topic, the little flame beside it indicating lots of conversation, and it had only been posted that evening.
Posted by SPNscholar at 7:15 p.m.: I have a very interesting report of seismic activity in central Kansas to share. It occurred earlier this evening, nowhere near a fault line. You won’t hear anything about this on the news, because the tremors were deep enough that they barely registered on the surface. But a seismograph in our lab here at the university picked it up, and we can only assume it was an earthquake with subterranean origins. The oddity is that there was no hint of prior activity that might cause such a quake or any obvious explanation for its occurrence at this particular time.
At least I wasn’t the only one who’d had a day filled with weird upheaval.
The poster was a scientist researcher type, and they tended to be among the more reliable and sane members of the boards. I was too tired to look up a map to see if the quake was anywhere near Smallville.
I would have to try to remember to ask SmallvilleGuy if he’d felt anything.
CHAPTER 16
The next morning I kept my head down as I scanned the faces of everyone I passed in the halls before first bell, looking for Anavi. I had used the entrance at the far end of the building in order to elude Butler—who I knew would be waiting to gloat about sentencing us to detention. His slick front of false charisma would be back in place along with his pricey silk tie.
My strategy of avoidance was working so far. Sadly, my attempt to locate Anavi was proving less successful. I’d been all over and there was no sign of her.
After sleeping on it, I was sure that if we talked all of this could be resolved quickly and relatively painlessly. Assuming Anavi had calmed down enough to hear me out.
I was many things, but I wasn’t a quitter. I didn’t give up, and I wasn’t going to start.
Anavi had trusted me. I needed to know what caused that to change.
Dad was already gone for the day when I left for school, but I had no illusions that fight was over.
He was regrouping too. I wouldn’t be surprised to find a stack of glossy military academy brochures on my bed, all shiny patches and medals and horses and smiling teenagers who looked like they’d begged to be there but who were last-resort delinquents.
I caught sight of a familiar cluster of black-clad students up ahead, near the front entrance, but I refused to turn back. There was the possibility that the Warheads had done something to Anavi. Something more. Something worse.
So I forced my posture straight and my steps steady. When I reached them, I stopped and crossed my arms, casual but demanding. “Have you seen Anavi?”
The group turned to face me, slowly and in even smoother sync, somehow, than they had been before. Their heads tilted slightly to the right, and the looks they gave me were pitying.
“Where—” My arms dropped, my throat dried up.
Anavi was right there. In front of me.
She was wearing head-to-toe black and had her head tilted slightly to the right and she was pitying me just like the others.
She was with them.
I had prepared many arguments. I had anticipated various scenarios. None of them were anything like this.
“Anavi, why?” I realized, too late, that I shouldn’t have spoken, that if ever there was a time to retreat and do more licking of wounds and reconsidering of strategy, this was probably it. I waited for that mental shove, for the pressure against my mind.
Would Anavi be assisting them if it came? Would I be able to feel that, or would it be that same uniform push as before? Was Anavi truly one of these creeps?
No. She couldn’t be. No. Not willingly.
I braced for their attack on my mind.
But instead Principal Butler showed up beside us. “Here she is. Lois Lane herself. I thought she was going to be late again, and that would mean another day of detention.”
I never thought Butler would be the one to save me from anything, but gratitude spiked through me for his timing.
He grinned that slick shark’s smile. His gloating set me back on my feet.
The others were with him—my others, the Scoop staffers. Though they didn’t seem overjoyed to see me. They were frowning at me like when they got their parents’ angry phone calls.
Except for Devin.
He frowned at the Warheads. And at Anavi. He looked at me and raised his eyebrows in question. I shrugged, helpless.
He recognized that something bad had happened. But he couldn’t know how bad.
Suddenly I was less worried about any attack against me than them targeting him. I was almost certain that they had tried to the day before. Anavi had said they had to be nearby to do anything. It was a safe gamble that remained true.
I needed to get him away from here.
“Detention awaits?” I asked, striding away in the opposite direction, saying a silent prayer that they’d follow. Hoping that I picked the right way for detention.