The footsteps were getting closer. Jordan and I were crouched behind a couple of shrubs that stood as tall as a dwarf. And thick too. Or rather I was crouched on the lookout while Jordan lay basking beneath the moonlight, a blade of grass in his mouth. I resisted the urge to kick his shitty face .
"They are coming" I whispered for the fourth time in two minutes.
"They are not here yet" Jordan said flatly.
I waited impatiently. Very soon I could see the outline of two people strolling with all the fastness of snails and the reckless confidence of fools in love. I smirked irritably. How would someone be so comfortable and relaxed in such a gloomy, dangerous place.
I recognized Peach immediately.
Tonight she had bound her pink hair neatly in a scarf.
And that flawless creature beside her. Was that Harmon, the Tishian Vamp.
Okay I have seen Alex Camper and so I can finally agree with Barbie Mullen that Tishian Vamps are cute but cute is definitely an understatement when I look at Harmon.
Assuredly he is pale, but not the scary kind of pale. He was actually cute pale. Beneath the moonlight his face shone recklessly and I could see that his eyes had a shade of brown. He was tall, much taller than Peach, tall with the majesty that stemed from his athletic bodybuild and the radiance of his short, wavy Raven black hair. I swallowed a lump in my throat.
"He is a Tishian Vamp" Jordan whispered to me. He was only inches away from my ears.
"And that means?" I asked flatly, hoping the crimson red on my face was well hidden.
"That means he's not good for you" Jordan said testilly "And there's nothing special about his pathetic whiff of masculinity."
I was aware of the age old antagonism between Vamps and werewolves. It practically glared at you, ready to jump off the page of every history book and so Jordan's words entered one ear and drifted away through the other.
"At least he has normal looking eyes that are not mysteriously frozen." I retorted sharply and felt instantly joyous at seeing the fury etched on Jordan's face.
I stared more intently on Harmon and less at Peach who had somehow disappeared into the background of my consciousness. Suddenly and without preamble, something monstrous and winged picked up Harmon and flung him carelessly to the ground. Peach gave a horrified shriek. I shrieked too behind the shrubs where I crouched hidden.
The winged thing picked up Peach and then a reddish wolf jumped at it and Peach was thrown down violently in the struggle. I looked beside me. Jordan was not there.
On close inspection, the monster looked like an ordinary bird. But it was very much large in size and had the face of a lion. The body was that of a raven. It was monstrous and from all indications, strong and furious.
While Jordan and the winged creature wrestled and tumbled atop each other, I crept out of my hiding place. I found Peach sprawled with a bleeding face. She had hit her head hard on a slab. She was breathing but in unsteady gulps. The blood oozed out of the bumps on her head and her forehead. In situations like this, I was as useless as an urchin.
"Night" Peach said faintly the moment her eyes adjusted enough to see me.
I let her grip my arm tightly while my eyes scanned the woods. The body of Harmon was no where to be found. It seemed like he had vanished the moment he fell .
"Harmon" Peach said , searching my eyes.
"Is nowhere to be found". I finished for her.
She closed her eyes, digesting the unreliability of her companion. I got angry on her behalf too.
Cherubic and handsome but such a coward, I fumed beneath my breath.
We needed to get Peach to the hospital. Her breaths were still unstable. I cradled her head tenderly and frightfully watched the red wolf snuff the life out of that creature. The fight raged. Jordan—massive, red-furred, snarling—tore into the beast. Wings thrashed, claws raked his body, but he sank his jaws into its throat until it collapsed, twitching, then stilled.
It lay lifeless on the ground.
When the wolf became Jordan again, the smile on his face was unbearable. Well at least he was alive even if he had a few scratches on his face. He could gloat all he wanted.
Jordan carried Peach in his arms and when he told me to carry the dead monster I looked at him as if he had gone nuts.
"Principal Scavenger will tell us what that is" He explained impatiently "It's a beast I have never seen nor heard about before until tonight. If you have no curiosity, I have. And don't think it will bite your hands off. It is as dead as Death "
I trudged reluctantly and dragged the lifeless thing by the wings as I walked behind Jordan who was carrying Peach as if she was weightless.
"Can you do the Lupine teleporting thing with her? Her case looks critical" I said to Jordan.
"And leave you trudging all alone in the woods?". He asked incredulously. "I wouldn't want to have your blood on my conscience"
"I am not as helpless as you think" I retort.
"Yes, I saw how helpful you were tonight" He said flatly.
We argue all the way back to The Academy
__
The clock on the wall says 3:25 AM. I haven't slept a wink. My eyes are heavy. I stare at Jordan who sits beside me. His frozen eyes are sharp and alert and did not seem tainted by the prospects of Sleep. Does he even sleep at all? I wondered. Do werewolves sleep.?
"Yes, werewolves sleep" Jordan said testilly. "We are also half humans, you know "
Once again I resented his ability to read my mind.
"Well, no one asked you anything" I said sharply. He smirked.
We were seated in Principal Scavenger's office. A large wax candle illumined the room. Peach had been hastily taken to the School Hospital where a neatly dressed crisp woman named Dr Bulk had attended to her with immediate efficiency. When we had left her, she was sleeping calmly, her wounds carefully bandaged and her breaths more steady.
Principal Scavenger and Viviette Tom, the crisp woman who was teaching us Psychometry were going through various books of magic in order to identify the strange half lion half bird creature we had brought with us.
When the door opened and they both walked in, Principal Scavenger adjusted his glasses grimly as if he bore the weight of the world on his feeble head.
Viviette Tom was holding a large volume which she set on the table with a sigh. It was open in the centre.
"Children" She said with that crisp tone of officiality she was so famous for "The creature we are dealing with is called a Corvoth. Half lion, half Raven. The last Corvoth sighting was sixty eight years ago. I used to think they had gone into extinction"
She gestured for us to come take a peak at the book.
Jordan and I raced each other to the table . We stared at the large volume and the drawings therein that were unmistakenly the thing we had seen in the woods. I wanted to turn to the other page to skim through what they said about Corvoths but Jordan gripped the book and was slowly going through each of the eighteen similar drawings etched there. We nudged each other furiously until my hand mistakenly touched the candle stand and the lights went out.
Viviette Tom snapped her fingers and the lights came back on.
"Can you two not get along for once!" She snapped and closed the book with a loud bang. Silently dismissed, Jordan and I walked back to our seats. He had a large smirk on his face.
Principal Scavenger paced restlessly.
"If a Corvoth has been sighted, does this mean the old Beasts are gradually coming back into existence?" He asked loudly to no one in particular.
"That spells doom for us" Viviette Tom replied anyways "No student is to venture into the woods henceforth. I wonder what Peach Thubman was doing there at that ungodly hour"
"Plucking herbs for her research" Principal Scavenger shrugged with a look of incredulity "That's what she told us."
Viviette Tom smirked . "Lying even at the point of Death. "
"Well, she owes her thanks to a clairvoyant psychic and a sturdy werewolf" He gestured to us with a smile.
Viviette Tom had no such smile on her face. She stared at us morosely and then said calmly "Their powers should not fail them one day. They are after all still children who cannot distinguish between friends nor foes. Nightshade is not fully a practicing Magian. And although Files is an excellent shape shifter, he is quite too tactless. More interested in the paparazzi no doubt".
Jordan opened his mouth to protest, thought better of it and clamped it shut again. I stared at Viviette Tom cooly without a shred of emotion. She flinched beneath my gaze.
Viviette Tom got up and walked out of the room without another word, the large book resting in her hands like a burden.
Principal Scavenger turned to us.
"Don't mind Viviette. She's quite too raw with her words but trust me, she has your best interests at heart. Your foresight and your bravery saved a life today. For that, I am immensely grateful to you both".
He shook hands with us.
Then he said solemnly "If the old Beasts are coming back into existence, then we need to be on our guards. I will speak to the sheriff of Tish tomorrow. "
When we turned to go, Principal Scavenger said quietly "Beware the Dragonheart".
I froze. Those were the same words a crow had uttered to me on my first night here. Well if the old Beasts were somehow manifesting, then the Dragonheart (whatever it was)was not the only thing to beware of.
"Children. Children" Jordan said smugly, mimicking Viviette Tom as we walked out of the office. "I literally can't stand that woman"
"What else would she call a whyning man -child who comes and go like the wind" I said flatly.
"Much better to be as drifty as the wind than to be a feeble human who can't even save her own skin" He retorted with his usual stupid smile.
One day I will wipe that stupid smile off Jordan Files' arrogant face.
One day.