The Fake Heart (Time Alchemist Series) Page 3

  “I’m new here. A transfer. Sophomore,” I babbled, clearly embarrassed by the look he was giving me.

  His eyebrows rose a little. “Oh that explains it. Sorry.”

  “I—what am I even doing here? Did you—”

  “There you two are!” someone shouted down the hall. Two sets of heels clacked against the floor as two women—a petite one with a lab coat and sandy brown hair pulled in a messy bun, and the other, a much taller woman with a stern look, wearing a sharp grey pantsuit. “Emery Miller,” the smaller woman exclaimed, pushing her black framed glasses up the bridge of her nose, “What on earth were you thinking, leaving your bed in such a condition?”

  “I, uh—?”

  “And Jack!” she turned to the boy, who gave her a “what-can-you-do?” kind of look, “Why didn’t you stop her? Or better yet, why didn’t you come to me immediately when she left her bed?”

  Before the boy, Jack, could reply, the older woman interrupted, “Enough of this. Emery Miller, I assume since you are feeling well enough to saunter off from the nurse’s office, answer me this: what do you have to say for yourself?” she towered over me and I got a whiff of her lavender perfume. I tried not to choke up. I couldn’t help but notice the white laced gloves she wore, that matched the white outlines of her suit. She did seem like the uptight, proper kind of woman who wore gloves and hats and kept laced handkerchiefs in their pockets.

  I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could get a word out she went on, as if I was too incompetent to speak for myself.

  “Your absence of St. Mary’s orientation is a serious matter. Not once since I have been Headmistress of this Academy has one student failed to show up on time to any event. Not one. Being punctual and according is one of the things that St. Mary’s prides itself on. I will not have you assuming that, just because you are only here from the graciousness of a generous alumnus, that you can simply go out of your way to do what you like.”

  “M-Mis—” I stuttered, completely blown away by this rampaging verbal attack. My brain trying to remember this woman’s name; it was in every pamphlet and the acceptance letter I got! Why couldn’t I remember?!

  “Normally, with all things considered of the condition you were found in, I would have let a matter like this slide. But given the facts of the situation—where you were and where you were found, Miss Miller, I cannot let vandalism of school property slide.”

  “V-Vandalism?!” I squeaked, “What are you talking about?

  “Do not interrupt me, Miss Miller! How else do you explain the gaping hole in the fence where you were found unconscious? Were you planning on being a little rebellious this morning and try to sneak off school grounds? Need I remind you that no student is permitted off of school grounds, regardless of any nonsensical reasoning?”

  I was completely floored. If a flying pink elephant floated through the room with a golden tutu I wouldn’t have noticed. The woman’s face hadn’t shown any emotion other than distain, during her little speech, but her eyes stabbed into me with such complete hatred and disapproval—something that struck me right to the core.

  “A month’s worth of detention for you, Miss Miller.”

  “What?!” but the protest didn’t come from my lips; it came from Jack’s. It looked like in this brief moment, this cute boy was my ally. I couldn’t be more grateful. “Headmistress Margaret, you haven’t even given her a chance to explain what she was doing alone in the woods! And that punishment isn’t fair at all!”

  Alone? I was alone in the woods?

  The nurse, poor woman, couldn’t even jump in to my rescue either but she tried, “Now Headmistress, I don’t think that Miss Miller wasn’t planning on skipping orientation. It’s possible she just decided to take a little shortcut and must have passed out. Isn’t that how you found her, Jack?”

  He gave an exasperated huff, not once breaking eye contact with the Headmistress. “Yes, that’s right. I was just on a morning run and I came across her, passed out in the woods. Yes, she was out by herself doing…well, doing who knows what, but what if she had been attacked—or much worse? And yet you stand there and accuse her of something she probably didn’t do without even getting her side of the story?”

  Headmistress Margaret, however, didn’t back down, “And pray tell who on earth could have broke the school fence like that? Miss Miller was the only student near said area. How do we know she isn’t friends with a bunch of…delinquents and she attempted to sneak out and meet them? Or perhaps…” she glanced back and forth from me to Jack, but her eyes paused on mine as she said the last part, full of venom. “Maybe the two of you were planning a little rendezvous in the woods?”

  Some sort of noise escaped my throat. I couldn’t tell if it was a strangled laugh or a surprised cry. My face immediately reddened like a tomato, and even Jack looked uncomfortable. The smug look on Headmistress’s face made something inside me crack.

  “First of all!” I snapped, “What sort of evidence do you have that I was the person who broke the fence? Did you find any chainsaws on me? And two! I can’t go meeting anyone for a ‘rendezvous’ when I barely know anybody here! No offense, but maybe you should get your facts straight before you point a finger at me, Headmistress.”

  Jack and the nurse sucked in a breath. The silence that followed my outburst was crushing. All I could do was blink back burning tears; like I was living an out of body experience. Since when did I—Emery Miller—talk back to adults like that? I was at St. Mary’s to be a model student not some…delinquent! And I had to choose this moment, to this particular person, to voice my opinion?

  The Headmistress looked as red and angry as a bull. I swear I could see clouds of steam shooting out from her nostrils.

  “I’ve had enough of your impudence, Miss Miller. Every Saturday of this term—until this matter is resolved under my watch—you will serve your detention organizing files in the library’s archives. I will make sure our head librarian is fully aware of what a troublesome student you are and I will imply that you receive fitting chores for your detention.” She turned with a snap of her pointed black heel. “I will expect you to act like a student of St. Mary’s Academy from this point on, Miss Miller. Not some tasteless scholarship student who believes she can get out of her punishment by playing the pity card.”

  With that, Headmistress Margaret walked off. The nurse looked very uncomfortable, as she glanced back and forth between the Headmistresses’ retreating form and two incredibly shocked teenagers rooted to the ground. My face burned like she has slapped me with her pretty gloves. Tasteless scholarship student. She may as well have called me poor, undeserving trash.

  “O-Oh my,” the petite nurse stammered, “Dear, it seems that you must have passed out from a bit of anemia. Make sure to get some rest tonight and eat a big dinner. Oh dear, I really should…just…let me try to reason with the Headmistress on this and see if we can do something about your case…”

  Jack waved her off, “Go on, Miss A, I’ll take care of Em here.” He slung an arm around my shoulder and pulled me close, like we were best buds. The soft fabric of white tee brushed against my cheek. Wow, he was really…tall. And strong. I could feel his muscles and hear the heavy beats of his heart through the shirt.

  My cheeks blushed a million shades of red. He said he found me in the woods. Did that mean he…carried me here? All the way across campus?

  Oh. My. God.

  “Well, if you’re sure,” the Nurse said, “Miss Miller, make sure to get your things from my office. My doors are always open if you start to feel faint again. Don’t overdo it, alright? Just come by and visit my door at the far end of the wing—the room is always unlocked, so feel free to make yourself comfortable, even if I’m not there. Oh I’d better get going…come see me tomorrow if you feel peakish again, alright?” she scurried off, the ends of her white coat flapping like the wings of a baby bird eager to get back to the nest.

  And here I was. Stuck in the hallway, barefoot; with this ho
t guys’ arm around my shoulders; my bracelet was missing; I had the weirdest dream (was it really a dream? It felt so real…); an unexplained tattoo on my chest, and now I had made the absolute worst impression on the Headmistress.

  And it wasn’t even the first day of school.

  CHAPTER 4

  “You sure you’re okay? I can carry that bag for you.”

  “I’m fine, really,” I assured Jack for the sixth or seventh time in the past ten minutes. I shuffled nervously next to him as we walked to my dorm, feeling like a child on their first day of school, walking beside their Mommy, both excited and terrified at what was coming. After the shock of waking up and “forgetting what had happened in the woods because of a sudden bout of amnesia” (the nurses words, not mine, although I think I’d agree), not to mention the Headmistresses’ immediate outbursts and accusations, I found out what had happened after I had passed out.

  As Jack said before, he was taking a jog through the grounds (apparently, he’s on the cross country and track teams), and happened to take a shortcut through the same pathway I had used. He claimed something had caught his eye, a flashing white light…and then found me collapsed on the ground, almost hidden amongst the trees and bushes.

  Alone.

  He carried me straight over to the nurses office (at this mention I kind of got this strange butterfly feeling in the pit of my stomach), and the nurse told the Headmistress, who personally went to the “scene of the crime” to assess the damage.

  All of this sounded so unreal. Obviously what I had saw had happened, but how do I explain the fact that I might have gotten stabbed in the chest when there wasn’t any kind of wound to prove it except for a tattoo that nobody would believe just appeared out of thin air? Heck, even my clothes—that should have been ripped up, at least—were in perfect condition.

  The Nurse—who I learned was nicknamed “Miss A” short for Nurse Alexandra—had said I had probably passed out from anemia or stress—but I wasn’t anemic, but even though a part of me was excited to be in St. Mary’s. The other part was insanely nervous, and, I guess you could say, stressed out. She said there were many situations like this for new students, so she really didn’t seem overly concerned about my well being, just as long as I was alright. She wasn’t even that pushy about me being in the woods all alone the day of student orientation.

  Speaking of orientation…I hadn’t just missed it, but I had been asleep the entire day because of…whatever the heck had happened!

  What a great start to a new life, huh?

  “Hey, I can carry that for you…” Jack started again and reaching for my bag, but I cut him off.

  “It’s fine. Really. You’ve already done enough. Too much, in fact.”

  His hand brushed against mine, and I flushed. I pretended to fidget with the buttons of my jacket so it didn’t happen again. I glanced over at Jack, seeing his blonde hair shine like gold in the afternoon rays. His eyes caught mine, and I looked away, embarrassed at being caught staring.

  “You sure you’re okay? You look kinda flushed. We can go sit down if you want…”

  I shook my head. My bangs shifted down to hide my eyes (and hopefully the red glows that decided to flourish on my cheeks). Jack chuckled before reaching out and brushing my hair back. “You’ve got no reason to hide from the world, Em. I’m not that bad of company, am I?”

  I giggled (and Emery Miller does not giggle), “Well, maybe you’re not as bad of company as I thought.”

  He laughed. It was a warm, silky kind of laugh that made my toes curl, like being wrapped up in a warm blanket, while cradling a cup of hot apple cider as you watching the snow drift outside the window. It was that kind of warmth that continued to show whenever Jack looked, talked, walked…well, whatever he did, it made my insides turn into warm mush. “It’s nice to see you aren’t too upset about…you know, what had happened earlier. Geez, I really should have done more, but you know how the Headmistress is. Rules with an iron fist and an iron rod stuck up her—”

  “Aha, yeah, I get it,” I waved it off, “It does bother me, but there wasn’t anything you can do about it.” Actually, I was pissed. I was really pissed just thinking about the unfairness of it all. She didn’t even give me a chance to defend myself—but what was there to defend, besides a girl just taking a walk through the woods and getting sidetracked by discovering two strange people fighting with weapons? Anyone would have believed that, given the chance!

  Yeah…no. Even I couldn’t believe it.

  Jack paused in front of a lamppost and leaned against it, hands in pocket. I noticed that there was a silver chain around his neck that flashed in the light, the end of it hidden under his shirt. It reminded me of the dog tags that my Granddaddy wore in the old pictures that Grandma would show me. “Let’s start over then. I’m Jackson Alexander; Jack for short. 17. A junior. Also on cross country and track team. I plan to study government when I graduate. You?”

  Wow. That was a lot. I coughed before starting, “I’m Emery Miller. Well, you already know that. You can just call me Em if you want, yeah, everyone kind of calls me that, although it’s hard not to get in confused with Emily or something.” I coughed again. “16. A sophomore. Haven’t joined any sports or clubs yet. I don’t know what I’m going to be when I graduate yet, but it might have something to do with historical preservation…or s-something like that…”

  Shoot, Em. You’re babbling again! Shut up! I shuffled my feet, kicking a loose stone onto the grass. A small group of girls passed by in tennis outfits, oogling at Jack and whispering excitedly behind their hands and tennis rackets. They squealed a little when he waved back.

  “S-So you must really like running!” I blurted, then mentally slapped myself, wishing I had my own tennis racket to hide behind.

  He grinned, “Oh yeah, it really gets the blood pumping. You never know what you can find when you run. Especially in the woods. I hear the woods have an abundance of damsels in distress just waiting for their Prince Charmings to come carry them to safety.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh, even though it hurt a little.

  “Speaking of woods…”

  I stiffened, feeling my heart race a little. Damn, the more my heart pounded the more pressure I felt—like it was a piece of plump fruit being squeezed by a giant’s hand.

  Jack shifted his weight from one foot, looking uncomfortable, “I know it’s none of my business, but what were you really doing all alone in the woods next to some huge ass hole in the fence? You weren’t really planning on running off, were you? Or…”

  “No!” I said, my voice raising an octave, “No, I wasn’t going to skip, or ditch, or run off with a gang of delinquents, or—God forbid—meet up with some g-guy like that!” I quickly explained the real reason I was there, the small bit of truth where I just wanted to kill some time by exploring the grounds (and of course leaving out the part about the beautiful blonde girl and the sword wielding guy with intent to kill), and he nodded, believing my story.

  “It sounds legit to me. Maybe you saw something you shouldn’t have and you’re suffering from some sort of…memory trauma.”

  “Memory trauma?”

  “Y’know, like when you witness something really bad and you go into shock, so you don’t remember anything.”

  I pondered this. Could I have actually seen something much worse and my brain, overloaded with the shock, made up everything else I saw? But who makes up a girl who can pull swords out of her hands, or guys with deep bluish green eyes like the ocean? And that still leaved the biggest question so far: what about the tattoo on my chest? Should I tell Jack about all this—hoping that it would sound crazy or that he can confidently say nothing like that could really happen.

  Was the tattoo just some crazy figment of my imagination too, trying to play tricks on my brain to help me forget whatever I had witnessed in the woods?

  “Hey…Jack?” I started.

  “Yes, Em?”

  I swallowed hard, feeling a bead of
sweat slide down the back of my neck. I wiped it off. “This will sound so crazy, and crazy is definitely not what I want to be right now, but I’m starting to think I am crazy—well, what if I saw something happen in the woods, but it sounds so…so….”

  “Crazy?”

  “Yeah. Crazy.” I tried to laugh, but it came out like a high pitched cry. “Look, I think what I saw in the woods—near the fence—you won’t believe, heck I don’t even think I believe, but I saw two people. Fighting…with swords.”

  His eyes widened just a bit. “Swords? Are you sure you—”

  “I know it sounds crazy!” I said, trying to suppress this sudden anger and humiliation bubbling inside me. A swelling of pressure in my chest seemed to expand the more I spoke. “But it’s true. I saw them fighting with swords—there was all of this strange light and it was like something you see out of a Sci-Fi movie. One of them even pulled a sword out of her hands—”

  TICK. TICK. TICK.

  I let out a surprised gasp as my heart just felt like it was being stabbed. I clutched my chest, feeling the sharp throbbing and pulsing of my racing heart. My knees suddenly gave out, but Jack managed to reach out and grab my arm before my kneecaps collided with the hard pavement.

  I doubled over in pain. I couldn’t breathe; every sharp gasp felt like a million tiny shards of glass stabbing my lungs. I heard Jack shouting my name over and over but I couldn’t lift my head, or gasp out any words. The stones of the sidewalk started to dance and blend together in a swirl of gray and white.

  With every tiny breath I tried to take, my heart beat faster, and harder. It hurt. It hurt so damn much I couldn’t take it!

  Tick, tick, tick.

  Huh? That noise again? A very, very faint ticking noise….like from a clock. I know that my wristwatch was shoved in my bag (the nurse had apparently taken it off to make me more comfortable, as well as my shoes and jacket), but there was no way I could hear the tiny hands moving through the bag. Did Jack have a watch on him? But what about in the bathroom—no, there was probably a clock on the wall in there. Just like the nurse’s office.