The Felix Chronicles: Freshmen (31 page)

“This is very different,” Dirk said. “And I’m not just joining the ERA. I’m going to be taking on a much more… important role.”

“Oh?” David fell silent for a second. He raised an eyebrow at Dirk and said ominously, “How important?”

“Important.
For now, I need you to keep fanning the flames. When this whole thing is about to burst, I’ll need you to arrange a press conference. I’ll make an announcement. We’ll make it all very official. But until then, you need to keep this quiet. We can’t have any leaks. Tell no one. Not even my publicists.”

“Of course.” David nodded slowly, thoughtfully. “You know—I think the public will like this. The kids love the ERA. It’s trending big time with high school and college kids.” He paused for a moment, his eyes lowering to the table. “But I’m still not sure what the um… what the end game is here.”

“This is it,” Dirk said, his voice dropping a register. “And David—
this isn’t a game.”

The big round table in Woodrow’s Room seemed even more massive when it was in use. With ten chairs, and just five people to fill them, all the extra space made them feel small, like they were children crashing the big persons’ table at Thanksgiving.

“Did you hear they called off the search for the brothers?” Lucas asked, more interested in talking than studying. “Ashfield Forest strikes again, huh?”

“You’re just trying to scare me.” Caitlin looked up from her computer. For the first hour, they’d all been whispering to each other as if they were afraid of being found out. But gradually, as they grew more comfortable with the room (it was bright—since Caitlin insisted that every light stay on—and the air didn’t seem as musty as before), they began to speak in their normal voices. Except for Caitlin, that is, who was still pitching her voice low.

“I wouldn’t have to try,” Lucas replied, smiling. Caitlin had agreed to come to Woodrow’s Room, but only ‘under protest’ and on a ‘test basis’. If she heard any strange noises or saw anything out of the ordinary, she would leave immediately and had made everyone promise they would leave with her so she wouldn’t have to walk the fourth floor by herself.

“Well, they haven’t found a thing in almost two weeks,” Allison said. “The
Ashfield Forest Mystery
just got more mysterious.”

“I still don’t think they should give up,” Harper said. “So soon, anyway.”

Caitlin nodded in agreement.

“What do you think, Felix?” Allison asked. “Felix? Felix!”

“Huh?” Felix was sitting in silence, his forehead propped on one palm, staring idly at the items on the table: notebooks, pens, five laptops, stacks of books, two bottles of water, a Gatorade, three cans of Diet Coke and an empty crumpled bag of kettle cooked barbeque potato chips. His encounter with Bill this morning had been gnawing at him all day. He wanted to tell everyone about it (which compounded the stress he already felt from not being able to tell them about the tunnels and the St. Rose Ghost), but he couldn’t without bringing up his parents—and that just wasn’t going to happen. So like a looped video, he replayed the conversation with the groundskeeper over and over in his head.

“The
search
,” Allison said to him. “They stopped looking. What do you think?”

“Sorry.” Felix scrubbed his hands through his hair. “It’s awful. But I guess, you know, they wouldn’t stop looking if they thought there was any chance they could find them.”

“Hey!” Lucas said abruptly, a big grin stretching across his face. “I’ve got an idea. Anyone up for camping? I hear Ashfield Forest’s beautiful this time of year. The fall foliage is supposed to be
spectacular
.”

“I like it!” Harper said giddily. “Five college kids on a spur-of-the-moment camping adventure. What could possibly go wrong?” Felix felt himself staring at her, but he didn’t fight it too hard. She was wearing a baseball hat and a sweatshirt. She looked amazing. She could wear a burlap sack and still look amazing.

“I think I’ve seen that movie,” Caitlin muttered dryly, a tiny smile touching her lips.

“Why are college kids always so dumb in movies?” Allison was sitting back in her chair with a book in her lap, balanced on her knees. “If this was a movie, we’d all be like, ‘awesome idea, Lucas, let’s go!’ We’re
never
going to Ashfield Forest. Like never. Never. Never.”

“Never say never.” Lucas twirled a pen with his fingers, from thumb to pinkie and back again. He was really quite good at it. Earlier, he’d been balancing a book on his head until Caitlin expressed her annoyance by hitting him in the face with a wadded up piece of paper. “What are you reading, anyway?” he asked curiously, turning to Allison. “That isn’t… is that what I think it is? Are you seriously reading that? That bondage shit?” Lucas shook his head in disgust. “I don’t even understand why everyone thinks those books are so shocking. Ever hear of the Internet? You want shocking? Go to Google and type in triple an—”

“No.” Allison laughed as she held up the paperback so everyone could see the cover: three gorgeous shirtless guys with perfectly sculpted physiques standing in a circle around a beautiful young woman. The girl, wearing a long flowing gown, was on her knees, looking up at the men with a hunted look in her eyes. The men looked like they wanted to have sex with her. Or eat her. Felix wasn’t sure which.

“Hey—
Mesmerizer Jolie
!” Harper blurted, wedging a bookmark into her Political Science textbook and snapping it shut. “That’s the first one. I think it’s my favorite.”

“You’re reading a book?” Lucas sounded surprised. “Midterms are like a minute away.”

Allison shrugged. “I’m all caught up. I’m bored. I wish they’d let me take more classes.”

“I’ll give you some of mine,” Lucas said with a wry look. “If you’re so bored, why are you reading a crap book like that?”

Caitlin made a face at him. “You don’t even know what it’s about. It might be mindless, vapid, brain candy, but it’s like an escape, a guilty pleasure. I loved it. And it’s like the number one book in the country.”

“So what’s it about?” Lucas asked.

“I would tell you,” Allison said cautiously, “but you’re only going to make fun of it.”

“I promise I won’t.” Lucas cracked a grin.

 “I don’t believe you.” Allison paused, smiling. “I’m probably going to regret this. So—I haven’t finished it yet. But so far, it’s about this girl who’s in high school. Her name’s Jolie. And there are these three kids who are madly in love with her. But it turns out one’s a werewolf, one’s a vampire, and the other one—Phillip—he’s a Demongel.”

“A what?” Lucas asked, confused.

“A Demongel,” Harper said. “Half demon, half angel. And the werewolves and the vampires are at war because that’s what werewolves and vampires do when they’re bored. And the angels are at war against the demons, the werewolves and the vampires. And Phillip’s really conflicted because demons and angels are mortal enemies.”

“Okay.” A smile crept over Lucas’s face. “So does the angel part of him get into fights with the demon part? Does he like beat himself up all the time, or what?”

Harper nodded. “Yeah, but it’s more emotional battery than physical. He tries to kill himself once in a while, but the angel inside him considers it a sin so he can’t actually do it.”

“Wow,” Lucas said. “That’s deep. So why are all those dudes so infatuated with this Jolie chick? Is she hot? She’s gotta be, right? Like Kate Upton hot.”

“I haven’t figured that out yet,” Allison said thoughtfully. “She’s kind of pathetic in a lot of ways. She’s needy, self-absorbed, love-starved and completely dependent on these guys who treat her like a child. And she trips and falls down a lot. I don’t know. I think maybe she um… well… she smells nice. But I’m guessing she’ll probably end up being a witch, or a fairy, or an alien, or something like that. Or maybe somebody’ll bite her and turn her into something scary.”

 “Interesting.” Lucas stroked his chin as though he was deep in thought. “I can tell you—speaking just for me, anyway—that I’m totally into chicks with balance issues that smell like cookie dough. Caitlin”—he turned to her—“if you face-planted once in a while, I might let you take advantage of me when I’m drunk.”

“Suck it.” Caitlin flipped a page in her textbook without looking up.

Lucas broke out in a roar of hysterical laughter and shouted up at the ceiling, “That’s so lame! How can you take that shit seriously, Allison?”

“Yeah?”
Allison tossed the book on the table. It slid across the polished surface, almost reaching the center before spinning to a stop after several revolutions. “How can anyone take
you
seriously?”

“I’m not the one reading fairy tale porn,” Lucas replied.

Felix slunk down so that the small of his back rested on the edge of the chair. He could see where this was heading.

Allison let out a sharp breath. “And I’m not the one who hooked up with Asher Schimmel’s girlfriend!”

“What?” Lucas said. He looked stunned. “How’d you…?” He gave Felix an accusing glance. “Well at least I’m not like Felix over there who hooked up with the girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo!”

“What?”
Felix sat up abruptly in his chair. “Leave me outta this. I didn’t tell Allison anything. And I didn’t hook up with that chick! And it’s not a dragon. It’s a tiger.”

“A tiger tattoo?”
Allison cried out, her eyes wide. “You hooked up with an ERA chick? Are you crazy? Who was it?”

“
You did?
” Harper said to him, a brief grimace tightening her face. “Seriously?”

“No!” Felix felt his hangover coming back. “Her name’s Amber. She wanted to hook up. She was all over me and saying some crazy shit. I swear she would’ve raped me if I didn’t boot her ass outta the room.”

“She ugly?” Lucas asked, his expression serious.

“No. Trashy—but hot.”

“Hot?”
Lucas flinched like a fork had jabbed him in the eyeball. “So what the hell’s wrong with you?”

“Felix has morals,” Caitlin said. “You might want to familiarize yourself with the concept.”

“Morals?” Lucas hugged his arms across his chest and shivered like the hot water had run out while he was in the shower. “Morals are one thing. Kicking a hot chick out of your room is
insane
.”

“I didn’t tell anyone about Piper,” Felix said solemnly. “I swear.”

Lucas pointed a finger at Caitlin. “It was you!”

“She posted it on Facebook, you idiot.” Caitlin shook her head as she continued typing on her laptop.

 “Oh. Really?” Lucas snorted and laughed. “Damn Facebook. She told me she broke up with Asher last year.”

“I told you not to trust her,” Caitlin said with a little huff of exasperation.

Lucas shrugged, smiling. “Ah, well. Live and learn.”

“You’re really taking this to heart, aren’t you?” Allison said, her voice thick with sarcasm.

Lucas stared at Allison, his smile fading. “So that’s how you wanna play, huh? Okay. Kid gloves are off. I was actually considering keeping this to myself, but not anymore. I have a source who tells me you hooked up with the governor—Grayson Bentley himself.”

“What?”
Felix said. “Grayson?”

Allison picked at the polish on her fingernails, frowning. She was trying to keep her face blank, but she looked like she’d been caught downloading Michael Bolton. “It was just dinner,” she admitted, not looking up. “It wasn’t a big deal.”

“Why would you—?” Felix began.

“Why would I what?” Allison’s eyes flashed at Felix. “Go on a date?”

“No,” Felix said. “Why would you go on a date with that asshole?”

“Ohhhhh?”
Allison said, drawing the word out. “And what about Emma? She didn’t have any issues? How many years did you waste with that selfish bitch?”

Felix was stunned into silence.

Caitlin squirmed and stood up for a moment to slide a leg between her butt and the seat of her chair. Lucas went back to twirling his pen. Harper leaned back and crossed her legs, observing the exchange.

“Look,” Allison said wearily. “For what it’s worth—and not that I owe you an explanation—but I agree with you: Grayson’s an asshole. And that’s it. I’m not talking about it anymore.”

“Wait a minute!” Felix said. “Did he do something?”

“No,” Allison said calmly. “Simmer down. I can take care of myself. He didn’t do anything. I just went out to dinner with him. One time. That was enough. And this was like a month ago, anyway. Okay? So that’s it.”

“But—”

“You almost hooked up with someone in the ERA,” Allison reminded him. “You should be worrying about yourself. They talk like it’s a political movement, but I think it’s a cult.”

“You think so?” Caitlin peered over the screen of her laptop, then clicked it shut. “I agree with their basic platform. I think the government has forgotten it represents the people—
all the people
—and not just the one percenters. And I love how they’re so focused on the future. What’s their motto?”

“A hundred generations,” Allison said.

“That’s it!” Caitlin said. “I think it’s great they’re actually concerned about where we’ll be as a society in a hundred generations. The Democrats and Republicans are just focused on getting votes today. They don’t care if the air’s breathable in a hundred generations. Or about our drinking water, or the fact that we’re poisoning ourselves with GMOs, pesticides and chemicals, or that we’re over-fishing the oceans. The only fish left glow in the dark because their mercury content’s so high. The Democrats and Republicans don’t even know what the word
sustainability
means. If we leave it to them, the entire country will be one big toxic no-man’s-land. It’s about time an organization like the ERA came along.”

“I agree with all that,” Allison said. “Don’t get me wrong. But it still seems like a cult. They’re so secretive about everything. And why do they make everyone get the same weird tiger tattoo?”

“Yeah.” Caitlin’s mouth twitched downward at the corners. “I’m not sure. I wish they wouldn’t. I mean, if they didn’t, I might even consider joining.” She looked slightly dismayed.