Part 9 (1/2)
”Kaila,” Jordyn said. ”Are you all right?”
Kaila was stunned. She opened her mouth to speak but what emerged was a hoa.r.s.e croak.
All the students in the hall stared, unable to process what they'd just witnessed.
Mrs. Bourg pushed through the crowd. ”Jordyn,” she said. ”Suspend time. Now!”
Jordyn's eyes again went solid black. He peered intently at the students a.s.sembled in the hall. Each person froze like a statue. Jordyn did not put Kaila under the spell.
One girl stood with her mouth open, her eyes wide with fear. Another guy had stopped with his hand over his mouth. Another held his foot in the air, stopped mid-run.
”I am concerned about you, Jordyn,” Mrs. Bourg said, arms akimbo. ”Every day I see more emotion.” She motioned to the suspended students in the hall. ”This is a terrible mistake. Do you understand?”
”Some of these humans p.i.s.s me off.”
”I don't care!” Mrs. Bourg shouted. ”We are on their turf and are not to be discovered.”
Jordyn frowned.
Mrs. Bourg wagged her finger at Jordyn. ”Listen to me. You are my son. You do as I say, you understand?”
Kaila held still so as not to draw attention to herself. She held her breath, her heart pounding like a jackhammer.
Jordyn was Mrs. Bourg's son? G.o.d, Kaila, you're like a dumb ostrich sticking your head in a hole in the ground. Wake up! You always knew they weren't from anywhere near New Mexico.
”You are becoming infected,” Mrs. Bourg said.
”Sure, I'll listen,” Jordyn said. His eyes again transformed from hazel to solid black. As he stared at his mother, Mrs. Bourg's face went limp. She froze, her finger stuck in the air.
”And now,” he said to his mother. ”You will listen to me. You are a human. You were a carrier of me as an embryo. But that is all. You are not my ruler, and we are sick of taking orders from you. You will have no memory of this. You will remember that you walked through this hall to the office and that is all.”
He put his hands on his hips on his silver overalls; he walked around the hall, surveying the frozen students. A girl's eyes bulged, her mouth open, revealing her braces as she was paralyzed mid-scream.
”And the rest of you,” Jordyn said, ”will only remember that Kaila tripped. Wade caught her, and it was a moment that you will barely recall. It was nothing. In fact,” he added, ”you all thought Kaila looked beautiful today and that she is one of the hottest girls in this school. You will tell her so.”
He bent over Wade, who was frozen, holding his hands over his ears, gripped in his worst nightmare. ”That last part goes for everyone except you, d.i.c.k-brain.”
Jordyn approached Derek, his recoiled fist held mid-air, about to slug Jordyn. Derek had a snarl on his face, his hair sticking up like black icicles.
”Big tough guy, aren't you?” Jordyn asked, walking around Derek. ”When you wake, you will have to go to the bathroom really bad. Too bad for you, but you will not be able to hold it. p.i.s.s on us-we p.i.s.s on you.”
He returned to Kaila. ”And you,” he said, his eyes changing back to hazel. His face softened. ”You will remember all of this . . . if you choose.”
Kaila said nothing. The students were still frozen. On the clock on the wall, the second hand had stopped.
”Which is it to be?” Jordyn asked. ”Do you want to remember or not?”
Kaila's little mouth opened, but no words came. Her mind raced like a runaway train.
Jordyn bowed his head. ”Yes . . . or . . . no?”
In the vacuum of time, there was no sound other than his voice.
Kaila nodded.
”You can handle it?” he asked.
”Yes.”
”Done.” Jordyn nodded.
As if a director on a movie set cued, ”Action!” everyone in the hall moved, walking down the hall, texting on their phones, gossiping with friends. The second hand on the clock ticked onward. Mrs. Bourg disappeared down the hallway.
Someone tapped Kaila on her shoulder. ”Kaila, are you okay?”
It was Phyllis Joiner. Her blue eyes bugged out of their sockets like she'd seen a ghost.
”What do you mean?” Kaila asked.
”I saw you trip and Wade helped you up.”
Kaila realized Phyllis's eyes were bugging out because she had a thyroid problem. That's right. She remembered now.
”I'm-I'm fine,” Kaila said.
”Good,” Phyllis said. ”And by the way, you look great today.”
”Yeah, you really do look hot,” Douglas Lafarge said.
”You do look hot,” someone else echoed.
”Hey I don't know you, but you look really beautiful,” a girl said.
Everyone in the hall a.s.sembled around Kaila telling her how hot she looked.
”They're right,” Brandy said, shaking her head. ”You look hot.”
Tara nodded. ”Yeah. Hot.”
Jordyn smirked as Kaila whirled with the circle of people complimenting her. Then she heard a cry.
Derek clutched his crotch. His khaki pants were stained with p.i.s.s all the way to his knees. He ran down the hall as more people surrounded Kaila to compliment her. It was all so crazy!
Kaila threw back her head and laughed.
”You are so talented,” Kaila said in Melissa's bedroom. Melissa's artwork covered the bedroom's walls.
Melissa created drawings on computer graphic programs, printed, and then painted them with watercolor. There were drawings of planets in galaxies with swashes of color in s.p.a.ce. One featured a close up of a praying mantis on a porch next to potted geraniums. The colors and detail were so precise, the painting looked like a photograph.
”Hey, peeps,” Pia greeted, striding into Melissa's room. ”What's up?” She wore cut-off shorts and a pea-green halter top that set off her short auburn hair.