Exaltation (4 page)

To balance out that rotation the girls had to rotate classes out with River. Basically they were only really going to one period that was actually theirs. Study Hall, sixth period.

They thought they were logical about it. They studied the material for the classes they didn’t attend only they were taking tests under the wrong name. As the plan blossomed out Raven told herself there was no harm, that it was actually genius. They were getting to take classes they would not have had room to take otherwise—they were all addicted to knowledge, abnormally so.

Each of them could have graduated that year if they wanted to. At the very least the next year they would take more college classes than anything else, earning even more credits than this year. Always a step ahead. ‘Overachieving trouble makers,’ is what more than a few old principals had called them.

“Miss Sabien, this is Dr. Duncan Newberry.”

Emery felt her blood run cold. She was sure that Duncan was the devil himself. Even though Jamison had told her, over and over, he was harmless on the larger scale of things.

The man had harassed Emery until the girls were nearly two then vanished. Seeing him now brought back all the dark feelings she had about him and truly told her that her girls had good reason to get themselves in the trouble they were in, just like she assumed they did.

“I know who he is,” she said coldly. So harsh that the girls looked at her with wide eyes, clearly shocked to hear the tone come from her.

Duncan leaned back in his seat with a satisfied grin on his face. “Good to see you, too, Emery.”

Duncan laughed darkly as he watched Emery do her best to look calm and professional. “I must say I wasn’t surprised
your
children would pull a stunt like this, must be something in the genes. Poor father figure perhaps…”

On reflex Raven reached for River’s arm to hold her still. First of all, you never insulted anyone River held close to her, which was all of six people. Second of all, the father issue was a bit of a sore spot for River.

She wasn’t sure who hers was, and that bugged the hell out of her for several reasons. Mainly because she knew she was gifted in the way she read text, she could speak ten languages already, and when she looked at words she didn’t see them she saw the story. She was pulled into the text so deeply that it was more like a trance. She knew her mother didn’t give her that gift and wanted to know who did. All parental figures were silent when asked. The girls had their theories though, or rather hopes.

“Whether they admit it or not, we’re sisters…,”
the girls had all sworn to each other more than once.

Everyone in the room heard the secretary giggle outside the door just before it opened. Instantly Raven turned white as a ghost. Realizing if her father was there, too, this was
serious
, way more serious than their past infractions. The twins had the same look on their face—that
oh shit
stare.

Emery flushed. It was a flush of relief and something else, more than likely that burn of passion they had between them, a connection she couldn’t explain. How he always knew when she needed him, when her back was against the wall.

Their silent love affair had lasted nearly two decades, but still felt new to her, like she could lose it at any moment. That way of thinking had put barriers between them but never halted the natural thirst they had for each other, for their family.

The ornery mood of LaDay vanished as he stood from his seat to greet Jamison, who looked like the girls’ own personal knight in shining armor. He was wearing one of his casual suits, just shy of the color gray. His blue tie reflected in his eyes which were like ice with a hint of gray.

His age was unknown to the girls, but he barely looked thirty, twenty-eight perhaps. It was the power that emanated off his tall, lean, warrior build that didn’t allow many to question how he had a daughter that looked as if she were only ten years younger than him.

One second Jamison could look fierce and the next, as playful as a teddy bear. Today he was sporting his calm charm as he shook LaDay’s hand.

“I wasn’t aware you were coming,” LaDay said to him.

Jamison gave Emery a subtle wink and when he did, she felt a rush of energy move through her body. It was all that she could do to not sigh, blush. The wave was his power, energy, known as vim, and he gave it to her freely. It strengthened the immortality he had gifted her long ago, along with a deep bond the girls were oblivious to.

Each time she looked at her girls, their family, Emery thought of all that went into to conceiving them, the obvious and the
not
so obvious, which became apparent to her years later.

In her mind, there was no way to look at her children and not see their father in their eyes, feel the emotion, sense the fate in play.

The girls were shifting their stares between each other. Questioning how much trouble they were in, as well as Emery’s reaction to Raven’s father. So none of them noticed how ‘Mr. Berries’ turned a new shade of red.

LaDay nodded to Duncan. “This is Dr. Duncan Newberry.”

Jamison’s mischievous half grin emerged. He glanced at Emery, once more, checking her mood before he reached to shake Duncan’s hand. He had never been face to face with the man, but surely knew of all the trouble he had caused years back. “Want to be mad scientist,” is what he told Emery Duncan was, more than once.

“I can’t say I’ve heard much about you. Have you been teaching here long?” Jamison said nice and smooth, just to aggravate Duncan.

“Long enough to know a fraud when I see one,” Duncan said, as his beady stare raked over Jamison.

It was a reaction Jamison barely managed to rein in. His hand squeezed Duncan’s within a fraction of breaking it, then let his vim jar forward—a deadly weapon when it needed to be. Duncan grunted as he pulled his hand away and glared, doing his best to act as if he felt nothing beyond the rage that was in his eyes.

Jamison walked behind the girls, let his hands rest on the twins’ shoulders as he kissed the top of Raven’s head. “
My
girls.”

As soon he spoke Duncan turned another shade of red. The girls each lifted a brow, doing their best to gauge the awkward mood of the room.

Jamison walked around the table and took his seat next to Emery. She looked so small next to him. Emery barely stood five three, had always had a dainty figure. Her dark hair was usually worn tied back in some sophisticated fashion and reflected well against her ivory skin and luminescent green eyes.  Side by side, she and Jamison looked as if they belonged on the cover of some southern royalty magazine. There was an energy about the pair of them that everyone—but Emery—in the coven had picked up on and admired from a distance. 

As if it were the most casual thing in the world, Jamison extended his long powerful arm around her chair.

Both River and Ash kicked Raven under the table at the same time.
Welcome to the twilight zone,
was the common thought they had running through their mind. They often teased Emery that she should hook up with Jamison and enjoyed the flushed look they would get in response. This was the most they had ever seen them touch.

“We were just going over some test scores with Miss Sabien,” LaDay said.

Jamison nodded. “I was impressed with how high they were.”

LaDay cleared his throat. “Well, of course. They were excellent, but you see—”

Jamison interrupted. “I mean how lucky can one man be. Beautiful girls, a beautiful woman, and brilliance surrounding me from all sides. They’re only seventeen and will have college credits this year.
Genius
. Wish I could take all the credit for that,” he said with another wink at Miss Emery, which made her turn scarlet red and the girls crack an astonished smirk.

“Right, of course, and the college credits are the reason we are here today.”

Jamison let a sly smile come to him as his fingertips slowly moved in circles on Emery’s bare shoulder. He was trying to calm her but that clearly wasn’t working. He could feel her tensing under his touch. “Oh, so you have discovered what the girls were regrettably telling you silently.”

“Silently?” LaDay repeated.

“Yes, of course, silently. You see, these girls are just like Emery. They crave knowledge.” His eyes met hers. “Can’t quite get enough of the wealth of it.”

Emery’s lips parted in a shy smile.

Jamison glanced back to the principal. “Obviously the girls thought six periods of superior education was not enough, so they turned six classes into eighteen. I understand it would have been wiser for them to openly speak their desires, but they tend to be shy when they come to a new school. Thankfully, you caught it before they earned any credits this way.”

LaDay hesitated before he spoke again, clearly feeling intimidated by Jamison. “Four weeks is a long period. Mr. BellaRose, this is still a serious infraction on their part.”

“Well, then. I suppose you can utilize the test you gave them,
without
notifying myself or Miss Sabien, to give them credit for the work they
have
done. Those tests reflect their comprehension. The girls will ensure that they attend the right courses from this point forward.”

“Raven is already four weeks behind on a research paper for my course, a course she has only attended three times,” Duncan chimed in, clearly appalled that LaDay was buying this excuse.

Jamison cracked a cold smile. “I doubt that. There’s research material all over my home. She’s completing the work for your class. She’s simply not attending your lectures or taking your exams. If it would appease you, she could retake all of the tests she’s missed.”

“How many exams are there?” LaDay asked.

“None thus far,” Duncan stated in a flustered tone.

Jamison withdrew his arm from around Emery and leaned forward, folding his arms before him on the table, a stance that made him look downright lethal in that suit of his. His carefree smile was gone. “My daughter missed no exams for your course, has completed all the work for your course…and you have singled her out. Why is that, Mr. Newberry?”

He never answered, so LaDay decided to do so for him. “He has no reason to single her out. He just happened to notice she wasn’t in his class.”

“I certainly hope that is the only reason.” Jamison glanced at the girls. “Is there a reason I’m missing here?”

“Prickles,” River said, as if the word had been trying to explode out of her since ‘Mr. Berries’ had walked in the room. 

Emery’s eyes went a bit wider—Jamison’s jaw flinched and oddly the temperature dropped a degree or two in the room. That always happened when a protective anger came over Jamison.

Prickles was a childhood word the twins had often used. It basically meant
bad
mojo. Raven never claimed to feel them but surely listened to the twins if they told her to go down a different path when they felt them.

Raven fidgeted with her hands and cast her glance down. River hadn’t told her that was why she and Ash were all for this switch up with their classes. Each time they felt those before it was
bad
, it was bad when they felt those about boys and it was
definitely
bad when the weatherman agreed with them. Distressing things happened to the girls when the weather changed without warning.

When they were twelve the twins had a wicked case of the prickles. That year three hurricanes threatened their town. The details of what went down during those storms were lost on the girls, all they knew was they woke with a bad headache and were exhausted…and for a good while dared to glance over their shoulder for an unseen enemy.

When Raven was sixteen the twins had strep so she went skating on her own that weekend. Raven called to ask if it was okay to get a ride home with a friend, said that she wanted to go home early. Emery agreed, thinking it would be good to have her home. She had felt off all night and wanted all the girls in one place.

Then, not even thirty minutes later, River and Ash woke and took off running down the street. Emery called Jamison in a panic. Thankfully, he got there in time to pull Raven from the car that had wrecked and burst into flames. The boy with her had vanished.

“Excuse me?” LaDay said.

“Pringles. She’s hungry,” Emery said quickly, as she tossed a harsh look at Duncan, wondering what the hell he was up to. It had to be sinister for her daughter to utter their trigger word. River never exaggerated anything, ever.

“And obviously not taking this seriously,” Duncan said as he leaned back in his seat.

Jamison’s angry glare landed on him. “I’m not sure I like your attitude. Or that I want you teaching my daughter anything.”

“Dr. Newberry is the only teacher we have that is qualified to teach the course Raven needs to complete the path she’s on. At this juncture she has no option.”

Holding his glare Jamison said evenly, “Then I suppose this matter is closed. Are we done here?”

“No,” Duncan said with a leer.

LaDay cleared his throat. “Dr. Newberry has filed a formal complaint.”

“And what can we do to resolve that, beyond what I have clearly stated? I can have my lawyer write out the girls’ rebuttal if that is needed.”