Tainted, Book One: Possessed

15. Tigers Kill

Kerry

On Sunday, Hank wanted to go over what he called life skills. We started with telling time on a clock, which I mastered pretty quick. I didn't have a problem with numbers.

At lunch, he took me into the kitchen and showed me how things were organized. Then, he explained how the stove worked and had me boil macaroni noodles and drain them. I squeezed on the cheese packet and stirred it while he watched, then took a giant bite.

"It's good!" I raised my eyebrows, surprised.

"So now you can at least make mac-n-cheese if you want." He smiled. "Since I moved back to my own place, you seemed to be living on sandwiches. Then I started thinking maybe you needed help learning how to use the kitchen. Sorry it took so long to dawn on me."

"Don't worry about it." I spoke around another big spoonful. "Anything to eat is good."

We spent the afternoon watching football. I think I mighta enjoyed playing, especially tackling. I mean, it was like fighting in a way and I loved to fight. But then I'd risk being tackled, too, which was definitely not a good idea. Right now, if someone tried to take me down, I'd straight up murder them.

And I didn't think the refs had a penalty flag for that.

Later, we planned out what other easy meals I could make myself and ended the day with a quick lesson on microwaving. We ate a bag of popcorn as Hank wrote out a grocery list for the next week.

All in all, it was a great weekend. One of the best in a long time.

Which was good, because the next week brought a new kind of trial. Monday morning, I overheard Gemma telling Gigi that Reilly Argaud was bothering her in math class.

The animal in me woke up, eager to hunt, and I went to class with her the rest of the week.

I hoped she appreciated the sacrifice I was making. The class was right before lunch, the teacher's personality could put anyone to sleep, and there was no way I'd ever be able to understand the difficult problems, meaning I had little reason to pay attention.

When I first walked in the classroom on Tuesday, I locked eyes with Argaud, but he looked away almost instantly.

I was disappointed.

Still, I used the time to study my prey, and I learned two things. One, Blondie had a lot of scarring on his arms and hid it under long sleeves. Two, he smelled of something very familiar.

I doubted anyone with lesser power could have picked it up, but the scent went right up my nose and my brain filed it away for future reference.

So he's playing around with something Diabolical. Now that is interesting.

Everything was tame until Friday. I just started to drift off when I heard Gemma make a little noise. I cracked one eye open and looked at her. Her cheeks were pink, but I was getting used to her blushing over every little thing and I didn't think anything of it.

She made the sound again and I woke up for real this time, looked over, and saw a paper football laying on her desk. She used the eraser of her pencil to push it off the desk, and I saw three were already on the floor by her shoe.

I glanced over my shoulder at Argaud, who sat two rows back. He flipped me off and grinned.

I took the invitation and stood up - and Gemma grabbed my wrist.

"Don't. It's nothing, really. Please try to stay calm. I don't want you to get into trouble because of me."

Argaud stood, too, and I balanced on the balls of my feet, ready to go.