“Leave it, Kayla. He’s not worth it!” he shouted at me.
“Come on!” Pryor taunted me, his huge fists swinging before him.
I wanted to break free from Sam. I wanted to hurt Pryor, like he had hurt Dorsey, like I had been hurt before.
“Leave it, Kayla. Leave it!” Sam warned me.
I turned to face him. He looked me in the eyes and I could feel myself shaking with rage. I just wanted to rip Pryor’s fucking head clean off. I knew that I could do it, too. In a blink of an eye, his head would be spinning from his shoulders, and I would be on him, sucking the warm blood from his twitching corpse. But if I did that, the pleasure — satisfaction — would be short-lived. Everyone would know that I wasn’t really one of them — human. However angry I felt, I had to stay focused on the real reason I was at Ravenwood and that was to discover what had happened to Emily Clarke. I wouldn’t be able to do that from the Rat-House or worse.
“There’ll be another time, I promise,” Sam said, his crystal blue eyes looking into mine. I looked away and glared at Pryor.
“Chickenshit,” he said, then laughed and picked up his chair.
Suddenly the door was thrown open and McCain came bursting into the classroom. His lips were drawn tight, looking as if someone had just run a purple coloured marker pen across his face. McCain marched to the front of the class and screamed at us.
“Get yourselves in the courtyard right now!”
On his command, the class began to slowly exit the room in single file and I followed.
“Move it! Move it! Move it!” He wailed, his voice shrill and annoying.
We quickened our step, our heads down and fearing the worst. On reaching the courtyard, we stood in line and waited for McCain.
“I promise if any of you grass on me, I’ll rip your fucking heads off!” Pryor threatened the rest of us.
“But…” one of the Addison twins began.
“Shut the fuck up!” Pryor spat as he stepped out of line. He jabbed Addison in the face with his fist to illustrate what would happen if we so much as breathed a word. Addison placed his hand over his lip, which had already begun to swell and I could see a trickle of blood ooze through his fingers. My stomach somersaulted and I clenched my fists. Sam must have seen me do this, as he placed his hand on my arm as a warning that this was not the right time to get into a fight with Pryor.
The door to the courtyard was thrown open and McCain came striding out across it, Taser — sizzle stick — in hand. His emaciated face shone an angry crimson. I half expected it to explode right there and then on top of his neck, sparing us the beating we were all expecting. He paced furiously back and forth before us like a caged beast.
“Which one of you idiots is responsible for throwing water over Sister Margaret?” He seethed, trying to keep his obvious anger under control.
We all remained silent.
“Who was it?” his voice barely a whisper, as if his anger was fighting its way up his throat, causing him to lose his voice.
Again we remained silent.
“Answer me, goddamnit!” he screamed.
Dorsey visibly flinched beside me on hearing his screeching voice. We continued to remain silent, stupidly refusing to give up Pryor’s secret.
“Right, seeing as not one of you has the moral decency to own up, I take it then that it was a team effort?” he asked, his anger reined in momentarily, but still bubbling under the surface.
Silence.
“If that’s the way you want to play this unfortunate game, then so be it. Each and every one of you will be sent to the Rat-House.”
On hearing McCain’s threat, I immediately felt sick with fear. Not for myself, but for Dorsey.I couldn’t stand back and watch him being punished for something Pryor had done. Dorsey had put up with enough from Pryor and his friends. I could see that he was frail and at a breaking point.
So I stepped forward out of line and said, “It was me. I did it.”
McCain looked at me, “Well, well, well!” he said as if swallowing a mouthful of bile. “Hunt, come here.” He pointed to a spot on the floor within a couple of feet of him. I moved towards it.
“Do you have any idea of the consequences of your actions?” McCain roared at me, his anger now completely unleashed and uncontrollable. “Do you even care?”
I said nothing and stared at him.
“Answer me!” He screeched.
His eyes glowed yellow and spun in their sunken sockets. I knew it didn’t matter what I said — what excuses I gave — the outcome was inevitable, he was still going to send me to the Rat-House. As I stared back at him, all I could think of was what Potter might say if face to face with McCain. Then, by accident and without thinking, I said, “Let’s get this over with shall we, McCain?”
On hearing my remark, some of the other kids began to snigger and McCain’s head turned a darker shade of crimson. I was convinced I saw his head actually swell in size, and I wondered if it might just go bang! right in front of me. A deep greeny-blue vein appeared in the centre of his forehead and began to pulsate like a deformed heart.
“Goddamnyou!” he cried one last time as he gripped me by the arm and shoved me across the courtyard and back into the school. As he led me away, I turned and looked at Sam. He looked scared for me. I then caught sight of Pryor who smirked.
I mouthed the word coward at him, then looked away.
McCain dug his fingers deeply into my flesh.But instead of taking me to the Rat-House like he had threatened, McCain forced me through the winding corridors and up the stairs to my room. Pushing me against the door, he shoved me inside. He closed the door behind him, and stood looking at me.
“There is something different about you,” he whispered, taking a step closer towards me.
“I’m not sure what you mean?” I said, pulling my blazer tight about me. I wasn’t scared of him hurting me, I was scared that he might realise that I was different — different from the others at the school.
He came closer still, so he was brushing up against me. Then, leaning over me, he rested his cheek against mine. I flinched away at his touch. McCain pressed the tip of his nose into my cheek. It felt wet, like a dog’s. I thought of how he had sniffed at the bloodstains on Emily Clarke’s bedroom wall and I felt sick.
“Who are you?” he whispered in my ear, his breath hot against my cheek. “What are you?”
“I’m Kayla Hunt,” I said. “I’m human.”
“You don’t smell like any human I’ve smelt before,” he sighed,
as if he was actually getting a thrill out of sniffing me. The urge to kick his arse was unbearable.
“I thought I was going to the Rat-House?” I asked him, as he ran his nose through my hair.
“No, no, no,” he breathed. “There is something about you.”
“What?” I asked, closing my eyes, not knowing for how much longer I could bear his touch.
“I don’t know,” he said, his voice now sounding soft — dreamlike — as if he was being intoxicated by my smell. “You have courage. You’re fearless and have an anger that I admire. I’ve never tried to match someone like you before.” McCain pulled back from me, his yellow eyes glazed-looking. He stared at me. Then, taking his nasal spray from his trouser pocket, he shoved it into each nostril and breathed deeply.
“You’ll stay where I can keep an eye on you, Kayla Hunt,” he said. “You interest me. I’m not sure, but I might have the perfect match for you.”
“And who is that?” I asked him.
McCain went to my bedroom door, opened it and looked back at me. “She’s very special. I shall be telling the Wolf Man all about you.”
Then, without another word, he slipped from my room and closed the door. With a huge sigh, I collapsed onto my bed. I needed to get that camera to Isidor and quick. Hopefully the camera held all the evidence that we would need to nail McCain and I could get out of Ravenwood before he got this special wolf to match with me.