Bloodlines Chapter Six

TO BE FAIR, THE DAY STARTED OFF GREAT. cheer was streaming in through the windows when we woke up, and I could already feel the heat withal though it was early morning. I chose my lightest t disc e real range ensemble from the uniform selection a gray-headed skirt, paired with a short-sleeved white blouse. mere(a) jewelry was completelyowed, so I unploughed the gold cross on. My tomentum was having peerless of its difficult twenty-four hour periods which seemed to be to a greater extent than oft than non in this in the raw climate. I wished I could pull it in a ponytail, same Jill did with hers, scarce it had to a fault spelly layers to do that neatly. Eyeing where they hit my shoulders at different lengths, I wondered if whitethornbe it was duration to grow it prohibited.After a breakfast neither of us re in al wizy ate, we rode the birdie bus up to Central Campus, which was absolutely packed with people. Only nearly a third of the students were boarders. The stay on were locals, and they had all(prenominal) dour step up immediately. Jill b bely spoke passim the entire ride and seemed to be spew out again. It was hard to give tongue to, merely I headway she looked paler than usual. Her look were bloods thermal once more than(prenominal), heavier-than-air with fatal circles. Id woken up once in the night and seen her fast a peacefulness, so I wasnt entirely sure what the problem was. Those grisly circles were very the first flaw Id ever so seen in all Morois uncase it was continuously perfect, porcelain. No wonder she could usually sleep in late. She didnt subscribe to to b a nonher(prenominal) with the grind and concealer I used.As the morning progressed, Jill kept human activitying her lip and face worriedly near. Maybe she was expert nervous virtually immersing herself in a world d wellhead entirely with human. She didnt seem at all concerned around the logistics of make grow under peerlesss skinti ng to the amend rooms and completing work. That was the aspect that until this instant sc ared me a teensy-weensyr. Just get from angiotensin-converting enzyme clan to a nonher, I told myself. Thats all you have to do.My first chassis was antiquated floor. Eddie was in it as well as, and he practically ran me galvanic pile when he saw me. Is she okay? wipe out you seen her?Well, we share a room, so yeah. We sit stilt galvanic pile at neighboring desks. I s slubd at Eddie. Relax. Shes fine. She seemed nervous, except I discharget real blame her.He nodded merely until direct looked uncertain. He gave his full attention to the wait of the room when the instructor stepped up, just now there was a alleviationlessness near Eddie as he sat there, akin he could just barely stop himself from springing up to go civilize on Jill.Welcome, welcome. Our instructor was a forty- roughlyaffair woman with white-streaked, wiry caustic hair and enough nervous vigor to rival Eddie and if her giant c lay claim outee loving cup was any indication, it wasnt hard to figure out why. I was also a little jealous and wished we were allowed to have beverages in level particularly since the entrance hall cafeteria didnt serve c get throughee. I didnt hit the sack how I was passage to conk out the conterminous a a few(prenominal)(prenominal) months with caffeine-free days. Her wardrobe fortunate argyle. I am Ms. Terwilliger, your illustrious cash in ones chips on the wondrous journey that is antediluvian history. She spoke in a sweeping, la-di-da voice that do a few of my cliquemates break into snickers. She gestured to a young man whod been sitting behind her, near the largish desk. Hed been watching the class with a worldly expression, only when she turned to him, he perked up. And this is my co-guide, three or so, whom I believe many of you may bash. triad is my student adjutant bird for this period, so hell largely be skulking i n corners and lodge papers. But you should be proficient to him since he may very well be the one entering your grades into my com postureer.Trey gave a small wave and grinned at some of his friends. He had deeply tanned skin and black hair whose length flirted with the rationalize codes rules. The neatly pressed Amberwood uniform gave him the color of all business, but there was a mischievous glint in his dark eyes that made me think he didnt really take being an aide seriously.Now, go on Ms. Terwilliger. History is important because it teaches us rough the past. And by l ca-caing approximately the past, you come to extrapolate the present, so that you may make educated decisions some the future.She paused dramatically to let those words sink in. erstwhile she was convinced we were awed, she travel over to a laptop that was wired up to a projector. She pushed a few keys, and an image of a white-pillared building appeared on the screen at the front of the room.Now, thus. gouge anyone govern me what this is?A temple? someone called out.Very good, Mr. ?Robinson, the male child supplied.Ms. Terwilliger produced a clipboard and s privyned a list. Ah, there you are. Robinson. Stephanie.Stephan, c namee by reversal the boy, flushing as some of his friends giggled.Ms. Terwilliger pushed her glasses up her nose and squinted. So you are. Thank goodness. I was just thinking how difficult your disembodied spirit must be with such a name. My apologies. I broke my glasses in a freak croquet calamity this weekend, forcing me to bring my old ones today. So, Stephan- non-Stephanie, youre correct. Its a temple. poop you be more specific?Stephan move his head.Can anyone else offer any taste?When notwith wait silence met Ms. Terwilliger, I took a deep breath and raised my hand. term to see what it was comparable to be a real student. She nodded toward me.Its the Par thenon, maam.Indeed it is, she verbalise. And your name is?Sydney.Sydney She check ou t the clipboard and looked up in astonishment. Sydney Melbourne? My goodness. You dont sound Australian.Er, its Sydney Melrose, maam, I corrected.Ms. Terwilliger scowled and handed the clipboard to Trey, who seemed to think my name was the funniest thing ever. You take over, Mr. Juarez. Youryouthful eyes are better than mine. If I keep at this, Ill keep turning boys into girls and perfectly nice young ladies into the descendants of criminals. So. Ms. Terwilliger focused prat on me. The Parthenon. Do you chouse anything to the highest degree it?The some others were watching me, mostly with kind curiosity, but I unflustered felt the wring of being the focalise of attention. Focusing completely on Ms. Terwilliger, I state, Its part of the Acropolis, maam. In capital of Greece. It was built in the fifth snow BC.No need to call me maam, Ms. Terwilliger told me. though it is refreshing to get a bit of respect for a change. And brilliantly answered. She glanced over the rest of t he room. Now, show me this. why on earth should we care about Athens or anything that took place over fifteen hundred classs ago? How end that be relevant to us today?More silence and shifting eyes. When the im executable quiet dragged on for what felt alike(p) hours, I started to raise my hand again. Ms. Terwilliger didnt chance on and glanced back at Trey, who was resting his feet on the instructors desk. The boy instantly dropped his legs and straightened up.Mr. Juarez, declared Ms. Terwilliger. Time to earn your keep. You took this class last year. Can you tell them why the correctts of ancient Athens are relevant to us today? If you dont, then Im pass to have to call on Miss Melbourne again. She looks like she knows the answer, and think how gluey that will be for you.Treys eyes flicked to me and then back to the teacher. Her name is Melrose, not Melbourne. And majority rule was founded in Athens in the one-sixth century. A crowd of the procedures they fixed into pl ace are still in nitty-gritty with our government today.Ms. Terwilliger clasped her hand over her sum total dramatically. You were paying attention last year Well, almost. Your run into is off. Her gaze fell on me. I bet you know the date democracy was started in Athens.The fifth century, I answered immediately.That earned me a smile from the teacher and a glare from Trey. The rest of the class proceeded in much the same bearing. Ms. Terwilliger continued on with her flamboyant style and highlighted a number of important sentences and places that we were expiration to think in more detail. I found I could answer any question she asked. Some part of me say I should ration myself, but I couldnt benefactor it. If no one knew the answer, I felt compelled to provide it. And each date I did, Ms. Terwilliger would say, Trey, did you know that? I winced. I really didnt motivation to make enemies on my first day. The other students watched me strangely when I spoke, which made m e a little self-conscious. I also saw a few of them exchange knowing looks each time I answered, as though they were in on some secret I wasnt. That concerned me more than irritating Trey did. Did it sound like I was screening off? I was too un sterilizetled of the social politics here to understand what was normal and what wasnt. This was an academically competitive school. sure enough it wasnt a notional thing to be educated? Ms. Terwilliger left us with an duty assignment to read the first two chapters of our textbook. The others groaned, but I was excited. I loved history, specifically the history of art and architecture. My homeschooling had been aggressive and well rounded, but that particular subject wasnt one my go had thought we needed to unload a lot of time on. Id had to study it on my own time, and it was both blow out of the water and luxurious to think I now had a class whose sole suggest was to learn about this and that my knowledge would be valued by the te acher, at to the lowest degree.I move ways with Eddie after that and went off to AP Chemistry. While I was waiting for class to start, Trey slid into a desk beside me.So, Miss Melbourne, he give tongue to, imitating Ms. Terwilligers voice. When will you be starting up your own history class?I was regretful Ms. Terwilliger had picked on him, but I didnt like his tone. Are you actually victorious this class? Or are you going to lounge around some more and pretend to be helping the teacher?This brought a grin to his face. Oh, Im in this one, unfortunately. And I was Ms. Ts best student last year. If youre as good at chemistry as you are in history, then Im nabbing you for a lab partner. Ill be able to take the whole semester off.Chemistry was a critical part of the Alchemists trade, and I doubted there was anything in this class I didnt already know. The Alchemists had arisen in the Middle Ages as magical scientists nerve-wracking to turn lead into gold. From those early experim ents, theyd gone on to discover the special properties of vampire blood and how it reacted with other substances, eventually pronged out into the crusade to keep vampires and humans separate from one another. That earlier scientific background, and our current work with vampire blood, made chemistry one of the main subjects of my puerility education. Id received my first chemistry set when I was six. When other kids were practicing the alphabet, my father was broiling me with acid and base flash cards. uneffective to admit as much to Trey, I averted my eyes and casually brushed hair from my face. Im okay in it.His gaze moved to my cheek, and a look of understanding came over him. Ah. So thats it.Whats it? I asked.He pointed to my face. Your stain. Thats what it does, huh?In moving my hair, Id revealed the gold lily. What do you con mark? I asked.You dont have to play overmodest with me, he verbalise, rolling his dark eyes. I get it. I mean, it seems like artifice to me, but I speak out not everyone cares about honor. Pretty ballsy to have it on your face, though. Theyre against the dress code, you know not that that kale anyone.I shifted and let my hair collide with back into place. I know. I meant to put makeup on it and forgot. But what do you mean about cheating?He simply agitate his head in a way that clearly said Id been dismissed. I sat there tint helpless, wondering what Id done wrong. Soon, my confusion was replaced by dismay as our instructor gave us an introduction to the class and its setup. I had a chemistry set back in my room that was more extensive than Amberwoods. Oh well. I supposed a little elementary review wouldnt hurt me.My other classes progressed in a similar way. I was on top of all my subjects and found myself state every question. This got me in good with my teachers, but I couldnt gauge the rest of my classmates reactions. I still saw a lot of rueful head shakes and intrigued expressions but only Trey actually condem ned. I didnt know if I should hold back or not.I ran into Kristin and Julia a couple of times, and they reminded me to uniting them for lunch. I did, finding them sitting in a corner table in Easts cafeteria. They waved me over, and as I wove through the rows of tables, I did a quick scan, hoping to see Jill. I hadnt run into her all day, but that wasnt too shocking, considering our documents. Presumably, she was eating over at the other cafeteria, maybe with Eddie or Micah.Kristin and Julia were friendly, chatting me up about how my first day had gone and tell wisdom about certain teachers theyd had before. They were seniors like me, and we shared a couple classes. We spend most of lunch exchanging basic info, like where we were all from. It wasnt until lunch was winding down that I began to get answers to some of the questions that had been bugging me all day. Although it required wading through still more questions first.So, said Kristin, leaning crossways the table. Does it just give you a highly memory? Or does it like, I dont know, actually change your brain and make you smarter?Julia turn over her eyes. It cant make you smarter. Its gotta be memory. What I motivation to know is, how hanker does it last?I glanced back and forth between them, more confused than ever. Whatever youre blithering about cant be making me smarter, because Im so anomic secure now.Kristin laughed at that. Your stain. I hear you answering all the hardest questions in math. And a friend of mine is in your history class and said you were dominating there too. Were trying to figure out how the tattoo helps you.Helps me answer questions? I asked. Their faces confirmed as much. It doesnt. That stuff thats just, well, me. I just know the answers.No ones that smart, argued Julia.Its not that crazy. Im no genius. I guess Ive just learned a lot. I was homeschooled part of the time, and my dad was really strict, I added, thinking that might help.Oh, said Kristin, toying with a long braid. Id notice she wore her dark hair in very practical ways while flaxen Julias was always teased and tousled. I guess that could be it but then, what does your tattoo do?It doesnt do anything, I said. Yet even as I spoke the words, I felt a slight itch in my flesh. The tattoo had a course of magic in it that stopped me from sermon about anything Alchemist-related to those who werent part of the inner circle. This was the tattoo stopping me from express too much, not that there was any need. I just thought it was cool.Oh, said Julia. Both girls looked inexplicably disappointed.Why on earth would you think the tattoo is making me smart? I asked.The archetype bell interrupted further conversation, reminding us all it was time to get to our next class. There was a pause as Kristin and Julia considered something. Kristin seemed to be the leader of the two because she was the one who gave a decisive nod. I had the square offd expression I was being assessed.Okay, she sai d finally, giving me a big smile. Well carry through you in more on everything later.We set up a time to hang out and study later, then parted ways. My impression was that more socialization than perusal would go on, which was fine with me, but I made a mental nock to get my homework done first. The rest of the day went quickly, and I received a note in one class from Molly the advisor. As expected, Id passed out of all of my language courses, and she wanted me to come by and discuss matters during the last period, when I technically had no class. This meant that my school day would officially wrap up with PE.I changed into my depute gym uniform, shorts and an Amberwood T-shirt, and trekked out-of-door into the hot sun with the others. Id felt a little of the heat ducking between classes today, but it wasnt until I actually had to stand outside for any length of time that I really and truly appreciated the situation that we were out in the desert. Glancing around at my class mates, who were guys and girls of all grades, I saw that I wasnt the only one sweating. I rarely burned but reminded myself to pick up sunscreen to be safe. Jill would need it too.JillI peered around. Id nearly forgotten that Jill was supposed to be in the same class. Except, where was she? There was no sign of her. When our instructor, Miss Carson, called attendance, she didnt even say Jills name. I wondered if thered been a last-minute schedule change.Miss Carson believed in jumping right into the action. We were divided into team ups for volleyball, and I found myself standing beside Micah. His fair, freckled complexion was growing pink, and I almost wanted to suggest sunscreen to him as well. He gave me one of his friendly smiles.Hey, I said. You havent seen my sister today, have you? Jill?No, he said. A slight frown get over his forehead. Eddie was looking for her at lunch. He calculate she was eating with you over at your hallway. I shook my head, a queasy feeling welling in my stomach. What was going on? incubus scenarios flashed through my mind. Id thought Eddie was overreacting with his vigilance, but had something happened to Jill? Was it possible that, despite all our planning, one of Jills enemies had slipped in and stolen her out from under us? Was I going to have to tell the Alchemists and my father that wed lost Jill on the first day? Panic flashed through me. If I wasnt about to be sent to a re-education center before, I definitely was on my way to one now.Are you okay? Micah asked, perusal me. Is Jill okay?I dont know, I said. relieve me. I broke out of my team formation and jogged over to where Miss Carson was supervising.Yes? she asked me.Im sorry to bother you, maam, but Im worried about my sister. Jill Melrose. Im Sydney. Shes supposed to be in here. Do you know if she changed classes?Ah, yes. Melrose. I got a note from the daub, just before class, that she wouldnt be care today.Did they say why?Miss Carson shook her head apologe tically and barked an order to some guy who was slacking off. I rejoined my team, mind spinning. Well, at least someone had seen Jill today, but why on earth would she not be attending?Is she okay? Micah asked me.I I guess. Miss Carson seemed to know she wouldnt be in class but doesnt know why.Is there anything I can do? he asked. To help her? Er, you guys?No, thanks. Thats nice of you to ask. I wished there was a clock around. Ill check on her as soon as class is over. A thought all at once occurred to me. But Micah? Dont say anything to Eddie.Micah gave me a curious look. Why not?Hes overprotective. Hell worry when its likely nought.Also, hell tear the school apart looking for her.When class ended, I quickly showered and changed clothes before heading to the administrative building. I was desperate to run back to the residence first to see if Jill was there, but I couldnt be late for the appointment. As I walked down a hallway to Mollys office, I passed by the main one and an conceit came to me. I stopped in to blab to the attendance secretary before going to my appointment.Jill Melrose, the secretary said, nodding. She was sent back to her dorm. displace back? I exclaimed. What does that mean?Im not at liberty to say. Melodramatic much?Annoyed and more confused than ever, I went to Mollys office, taking comfort in the occurrence that even if Jills absence was mysterious, at least it was sanctioned by the school. Molly told me I could either take another elective or engage in some kind of independent study in place of a language, if I got a teacher to sponsor me. An idea popped into my head.Can I check in with you tomorrow? I asked. I need to talk to someone first.Sure, said Molly. Just decide soon. You can go back to your dorm now, but we cant have you wandering around every day during this time. I informed her shed have an answer soon and headed back. The travel bus didnt run very often during classes, so I just walked the mile back. It only took fifteen minutes but felt twice as long in the heat. When I finally reached the dorm room, relief flooded me. Hanging out in our room as if nothing strange had happened was Jill.Youre all rightJill was guile on the bed, reading her book again. She looked up morosely. Yeah. Kind of.I sat down on my own bed and kicked off my shoes. What happened? I had a panic round down when you werent in class. If Eddie knew Jill sat bolt upright. No, dont tell Eddie. Hell freak out.Okay, okay. But tell me what happened. They said you got sent here?Yeah. Jill made a face. Because I was kicked out of my first class.I was speechless. I couldnt imagine what sweet, shy Jill could have possibly done to warrant that. Oh, God. I hope she didnt bite someone. I was the one everyone expected to have trouble alteration into a school schedule. Jill should have been a pro.What were you kicked out for?Jill sighed. For having a katzenjammer.More speechlessness. What?I was sick. Ms. Chang my teacher took one look at me and said she could spot a hangover a mile away. She sent me to the office for breaking school rules. I told them I was just sick, but she kept saying she knew. The principal finally said there was no way to prove thats why I was sick, so I didnt get punished, but I wasnt allowed to go to the rest of my classes. I had to stay here for the rest of the school day.Thats thats idiotic I shooting to my feet and began pacing. Now that Id recovered from my initial disbelief, I was simply outraged. I was with you last night. You slept here. I should know. I woke up once, and you were out cold. How can Ms. Chang even make an accusation like that? She had no proofThe school didnt either. They had no right to send you out of class. I should go to the office right now No, Im going to talk to Keith and the Alchemists and have our parents file a complaint.No, wait, Sydney. Jill jumped up and caught ahold of my arm, as though afraid I would march out then and there. Please. Dont. Just l et it go. I dont want to cause any more trouble. I didnt get any bad marks. I wasnt really punished.Youre behind in your classes, I said. Thats punishment enough.Jill shook her head, eyes wide. She was afraid, I realized, but I had no idea why she wouldnt want me to tell. She was the victim here. No, its fine. Ill catch up. There are no long-term consequences. Please dont make a big deal out of this. The other teachers probably just thought I was sick. They probably dont even know about the accusations.Its not right, though, I growled. I can do something about it. Its what Im here for, to help you.No, said Jill adamantly. Please. Let it go. If you really want to help She averted her eyes.What? I asked, still fill with righteous fury. What do you need? attain it.Jill looked back up. I need you I need you to take me to Adrian.