Flight of Life (Essence Series #1) (14 page)

Calloway clenched his fist as he stared
at Hawk, wanting to punch him hard in the face until his nose bled.
He’d never wanted to cause someone so much pain until now—he wanted
to hurt him—bad.

Mr. Avey marched to the two boys and
pulled Calloway away. “Stop this now!”

Calloway stepped away while he stared
at Hawk with a look of hatred. Hawk was smiling at him, delighted
that he got Calloway in trouble for a second time.

“
Hawk started it,” Easton
said. “He pushed Calloway first!”

“
Yeah,” Breccan said. “He
was threatening us—calling Easton a freak.”

“
I was not!” Hawk argued.
“They are lying. Easton said I was stupid then Calloway pushed me.
They were totally ganging up on me.”

Tommy nodded. “We were just trying to
check out a book when they started harassing us.”

Mr. Avey rolled his eyes. “That sounds
believable,” he said sarcastically. “Since I didn’t see what
happened you both will serve detention with me
tomorrow.”

“
What?” Hawk snapped. “I’m
not going to detention.”

“
What was that?” Mr. Avey
asked as he stared at Hawk. “Are you refusing the punishment I’ve
given you?”

Hawk glared at Mr. Avey. “My father
won’t be happy when he hears about this.”

“
I’m sure he won’t be,”
Mr. Avey responded. “He’ll be very disappointed in you.” He walked
toward the library doors. “Come on,” he said. “The library is about
to close.”

They grabbed their backpacks and headed
to the door. When they were outside, Hawk and his friend walked to
the parking lot without looking behind them. Calloway could tell
how angry Hawk was by his hostile body posture.

Calloway turned to Mr. Avey. “He
started it,” he said. “I didn’t do anything wrong. He’s the one who
is always harassing me, and I finally decided to stand up for
myself.”

Mr. Avey nodded. “Since I didn’t see
it, I don’t have any proof,” he said. “I’m sorry but you need to
serve detention as well.”

“
But you know he’s the
problem—not me.”

Mr. Avey sighed. “I can’t pick
favorites, Calloway.” Breccan let a slight laugh escape from his
lips and he shook his head. Mr. Avey ignored him. “I’m
sorry.”

Calloway sighed. “Okay.”

Mr. Avey turned around and walked
toward the main office. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said over his
shoulder.

Calloway turned to his friends. “Let’s
go.” He sighed. “I want to get out of here.” They got into Easton’s
car and drove to the Headquarters across town. No one said anything
on their ride to the library. They were all too angry to
speak.

“
You shouldn’t let Hawk
get to you,” Easton said when they parked in front of the building.
“Just ignore him, Calloway.”

Despite the seriousness of
the situation and the anger that coursed through his body, Calloway
laughed. “You think I haven’t been doing that all week?” He turned
to Breccan. “What do I do when he ridicules me in front of the
entire class? Or when he throws a pencil at my head? I do nothing,
just like I
always
do, and I’m getting sick of it.”

Breccan nodded. “That was just a
glimpse of the torture Calloway experiences on a daily basis,” he
said. “I’m surprised he lasted so long without
retaliating.”

“
And I’m not going to let
him touch you, Easton—either of you,” Calloway said.

They climbed out of the car and headed
toward the entrance of the Grandiose Historian Library. Easton
turned to Calloway. “I appreciate you protecting me, Calloway, but
I don’t want you to get in trouble for it.”

“
When it comes to my
friend’s safety, I couldn’t care less about getting in trouble,”
Calloway said. “He can pick on me all he wants but I don’t want him
to bother you.”

“
And Beatrice,” Breccan
said sarcastically.

Calloway ignored his comment. “She’s
dating Hawk again—they’re going to formal.”

Easton stopped walking. “Are you
serious?” she asked. They all halted before the doorway to the
Grandiose Historian Library. “She went back to him anyway? Even
after you defended her from that creep?”

“
I don’t get it either,”
Calloway said as he shook his head.

“
So you’re suffering for
no reason?” she said. “It was all for nothing?”

Calloway nodded.

Breccan looked at his cousin. “I told
you.”

“
Told him what?” Easton
asked.

“
Not everyone is a good
person,” Breccan said. “He learned that the hard way.”

“
It doesn’t make Beatrice
a bad person,” Calloway said. “She just made the wrong
decision.”

Easton shook her head. “That girl is
stupid.”

“
Don’t say that about
her,” Calloway said.

Breccan rolled his eyes. “Do you have a
thing for her?”

Calloway shook his head. “No,” he said.
“Not anymore.”

“
Well, I’m glad you
finally see the light,” Breccan said.

Calloway unlocked the door and they
came into the building. The lights were still on from yesterday and
they could see everything in the library. They looked around the
room before they ascended the staircase. The corpse was still lying
on the floor and they passed it without touching it. Easton dropped
her backpack on the table and Calloway listened for any unusual
sounds in the room.

“
Does everyone have their
blades?” Calloway asked.

“
I never go anywhere
without it,” Breccan said as he patted his hip.

Calloway nodded. “Okay.” He placed his
backpack on the counter and walked to the dead body on the floor.
Calloway stared at it for a moment as he circled around it. Breccan
stood on the other side and kneeled to the floor, getting a closer
look. Easton stayed a few feet away, watching them from a safe
distance.

Calloway rose to his feet and walked to
the large fireplace. “I’ll get this started,” he said as he piled
new logs on top of the dead firewood. He grabbed a thin twig and
dragged it across the wood with lightning speed, starting a small
fire in the hearth. Calloway blew on the small flames gently until
they were roaring in the fireplace. Breccan and Easton watched him
walk back to the body. Calloway grabbed one of the arms and Breccan
grabbed the opposite arm. “Let’s toss it,” Calloway
said.

“
Wait,” Easton said.
“Aren’t you going to study it first?”

“
Study
it
?” Breccan asked incredulously. He
stared at her while he gripped the hand of the creature.

Easton stepped closer to them but kept
her distance. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her lips
were pressed together in a tight line. She was never afraid of
anything but this dead Hara-Kir was enough to make her uneasy.
“Don’t you want to know what it looks like?” she asked. “I want to
see its face.”

Breccan shrugged. “I guess,” he said.
“But they must hide their features for a reason—they are probably
hideous.”

Calloway grabbed the hood and felt the
material in his fingertips. It was cold to the touch and soft,
thinner than a line of silk. The feel made him shiver. “We’re about
to find out.” Calloway pulled back the hood and revealed the face
underneath.

Breccan fell back and crashed to the
floor. Easton gasped when she saw the features of the Hara-Kir, and
she stepped further away from the corpse. Calloway didn’t flinch as
he stared at the face that was so similar to his own. The lips were
thin and red like every human he’d ever seen, and the skin was fair
and pale like it never saw the sunlight. It was a young
male—probably in its mid-twenties. Calloway felt his heart
accelerate as he processed what he saw. It was a human.

He pulled the hood further back then
opened the cloak that concealed its body. The anatomical structure
of the Hara-Kir was identical to his own with the exception of the
heart. Calloway would die if he was stabbed in the chest just once.
He stepped back as he stared at the corpse in silence. “I don’t
understand,” he said. “Is this a human?” Both boys turned to
Easton, expecting her to answer the question.

Easton ran her hands anxiously through
her hair as she stared at the dead Hara-Kir, overwhelmed by the
knowledge that was confusing them all. “I don’t know,” she said.
“I—I don’t know.”

Calloway crossed his arms over his
chest and thought for a moment. “This can’t be a human,” he said.
“Perhaps they adopt our appearance so they can blend into our
society, pose as one of us.”

“
No,” Easton said. “If
that were true, they wouldn’t be cloaked at all.”

Breccan nodded. “Why would they
bother?” he asked. “It has a greater chance of killing us if we
think it’s human.”

Calloway shook his head. The revelation
that the Hara-Kirs are identical to humans was truly troubling.
They could be walking among them on a daily basis and they would
never know. “This is worse than I thought,” he said.

Easton nodded. “We can’t tell them
apart—who is really human?”

“
They might have to be
covered at all times—something with their physiology on this side
of the portal,” Breccan said. “That might not be an issue—we may
not have to worry about them infiltrating our society.”

“
But we aren’t sure,”
Easton said. “We have to be even more careful than before. No one
can be trusted.”

Calloway recalled the sound of the
demonic breathing in the library when he was being chased. It
definitely didn’t sound human—not in the least. “I don’t think
they’re all this way,” he said. “I suspect some appear this way—in
this disguised form—while others are not.”

“
But the Kirin Book didn’t
mention that,” Easton argued.

“
That book is ancient,”
Breccan argued. “A lot of things could change over time. Besides,
we haven’t decoded most of it. Perhaps it’s in there. And I doubt
they detail every secret ever made inside of a book that could be
read by anyone. I doubt they’re that stupid.”

Calloway nodded. “I feel lost in the
dark,” he said quietly. “There is so much we don’t know. What are
we up against?”

Easton sighed. “I doubt we’ll ever find
out—at least in our lifetimes.”

“
That’s because they’ll be
short-lived,” Breccan spat.

“
No one is making you do
this,” Easton snapped.

Breccan sighed. “I know,” he said. “I’m
just an idiot.”

Calloway kneeled down to the body then
peeled off the robe and searched through the pockets. When he found
nothing, he tossed the cloak onto a nearby chair.

“
What are you doing?”
Easton asked.

“
I’m going to keep the
cloak—just in case,” Calloway answered.

“
In case of
what
?” Breccan
asked.

“
I have no idea,” Calloway
said. “But it would be a waste to burn it.” He grabbed the corpse
by the arm and looked at his cousin. “Give me a hand.”

Breccan grabbed the other hand and they
dragged it across the floor toward the fireplace. Together, they
lifted it from the ground and tossed it into the fire. The
collision disturbed the embers of the hearth and tossed them into
the space above the flames. The fire began to crackle and snap as
the flames licked the flesh of the body and dissolved it in the
heat. The smell was nauseating and both boys stepped back from the
fireplace and stood next to Easton, who had her nose covered with
her hand, blocking the disgusting odor from her sinuses. The
skeleton was all that remained after a few moments, and the three
of them stared at the bones mixed with the ash of the
fireplace.

“
It definitely looks
human,” Breccan said.

Easton nodded but said
nothing.

“
Only time will tell,”
Calloway answered. When they returned to the table, they heard a
crash from the back of the library. Calloway immediately pulled out
his knife and searched for the intruder. Easton and Breccan also
armed themselves and stayed beside Calloway.

“
You’ve got to be kidding
me,” Breccan said. “We
just
did this.”

The fear inside Easton disappeared in
the light of danger. She gripped her knife tightly as she glanced
around the library, looking for the next Hara-Kir that was about to
attack them.

Calloway turned to Breccan. “Think of
it as practice.”

“
You need to stop acting
like this is a game,” Breccan snapped.

“
There’s no other way to
go about it,” Calloway answered. “Humor is the only thing more
powerful than fear.” He turned to Easton. “It needs to be stabbed
three times and there are three of us. If we do it together, we
could kill it immediately.” Easton nodded at his words. “Let’s do
this.”

Another book fell to the floor and the
sound made them jump. They still couldn’t see the Hara-Kir inside
the library, and they glanced at every corner as they searched for
the creature.