Innocent Devil’s Harem Ch. 87

June 12, 2022

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<< Chapter 86 | Ch 1 (Book 1) | Ch 16 (Book 2) | Ch 31 (Book 3) | Ch 46 (Book 4) | Ch 61 (Book 5) | Ch 76 (Book 6)

- CHAPTER 87 -

After one of Avery’s many friends whispered at the beginning of class, asking her if she was pregnant, my blonde girlfriend asked the entire class directly who was spreading those rumors.

Another girl responded with the one person I suspected.

Claire.

The one cheerleader who acted super friendly with Avery, but was secretly super hateful and envious of her behind her back, believing that she should be the most popular girl in school, and that Avery was messing up her life or something, by taking the limelight away from her.

Even just knowing how she was dressed today was indicative of her overall attitude.

The chick’s fancy pink shirt was almost designed like it was meant to be a dress, but the frilly portion of the ‘skirt’ was barely a couple of inches long, which would have made it for an extremely revealing mini-dress, not even hiding her panties, were it not for the extremely small jean short she was wearing with it, showing off all of her tan legs.

A naturally platinum blonde, almost like how Avery looked transformed, she was extremely skinny, toned, and tan thanks to her mother’s addiction to tanning beds, apparently having one at home, with her only major problem with her own appearance being her modest chest, being only a B-cup compared to Avery’s bustier D-cup size, despite being otherwise just as thin.

Only reason I knew about that last part was because Claire wasn’t at all shy about admitting that she planned on getting implants after she graduated, like her mother, constantly debating about how big she wanted to be, making it seem like it was truly an elaborate discussion on what the ideal size would be for her overall body shape.

An ideal size that unsurprisingly seemed to get compared to Avery in hushed whispers as if my blonde girlfriend didn’t deserve the body she’d been blessed with, a lot of her complaints always coming back to a clear jealousy over everything Avery had that she supposedly didn’t.

Honestly, the only thing Claire never complained about was her green eyes, which she viewed as being more exotic and enticing compared to Avery’s blue eyes.

Unfortunately, my processing of those ‘thoughts’ hit Avery harder than I was expecting, because she truly didn’t know.

Out loud, she simply said, “Oh. I’ll have to talk to her, and see if she knows then. Thanks.”

But in our heads her response was very different.

Hurt even.

‘Kai…why didn’t you tell me?’

I sighed, focusing on the teacher as she stood up to get started, responding through our bond. ‘Well, I kind of tried, don’t you remember? Last year, I mumbled that I didn’t like her, and I thought you heard me.’

She seemed stunned. ‘Well, I mean, yeah. I did hear you, but…why not just tell me to not be friends with her?’

I took a deep breath. ‘Think about it from my point of view. Wouldn’t that be really weird? That I was suggesting you shouldn’t be friends with someone? No doubt you’d have questions -- ones I didn’t want to answer. Even if you liked me, it would be strange for me to tell you not to be friends with someone.’

‘Yeah, but I would have. Without hesitation.’

‘And that would have been a problem for me,’ I silently emphasized. ‘I was sincerely afraid of what would happen if anyone found out my secret, and I didn’t want you thinking I was looking out for you like that. Besides, it’s not like she was putting your life in danger or anything.’

‘So you would have said something, right? If I was in danger?’

‘You already know the answer to that. Especially after the car accident this last weekend.’

Avery relaxed more in her seat behind me, her thoughts growing appreciative. ‘Thank you.’

‘You’re welcome,’ I thought simply. ‘And sorry.’

There was a long pause as I focused more on what Mrs. Hayes was writing on the board, only for Avery to continue silently in our bond.

‘Okay, but just tell me this. How much of a bitch is she behind my back? I’m assuming you’ve heard her say stuff.’

I tried not to smirk, attempting to lighten the mood. ‘She’s a mega bitch. The worst bitch. Secretly hates your guts, and wishes you were dead. Thinks you’ve ruined her life, because you won’t conform to her mold. Because you won’t fall in line with her expectations. The fact that you’re nice to everyone is a big part of why she hates you.’ I paused when I realized that my attempt to disclose the information more lightheartedly didn’t have the desired effect, with it instead sincerely affecting her negatively. Because Avery was sincerely a kind person who grew to truly care about those around her…

And it sincerely hurt, to find out that someone she thought was a friend actually wasn’t.

‘Sorry,’ I added, truly meaning it.

‘Not your fault. Just sucks.’

‘It does suck,’ I agreed, frowning when I realized that Mrs. Hayes was going over the very last formula we were supposed to learn for the year. It was the last one we were going to be taught before our final exam, and I’d already memorized all of them, which meant she was covering material that wasn’t new to me.

Sighing, realizing this was going to be a long boring class, I focused more on what Serenity was doing, sensing that she was pretty focused on her computer screen, only to shift my thoughts to Gwen, wondering what she was up to.

I was actually a little surprised to discover that she was doing laundry -- specifically, washing all the sheets from the beds we slept in. Shit, I knew she sincerely performed duties appropriate for a maid, but I almost felt bad that she was washing our sheets, as if we’d stayed in a hotel or something.

My reflexive reaction would have been to tell her not to worry about it, only to realize that wasn’t really my place. Especially since I was getting the impression that she was doing it because she wanted to, not necessarily because she’d been asked.

Which especially became apparent when she began smelling one of the sheets, moving it around until she caught a whiff of my scent -- not from cum, but just my normal smell left behind -- inhaling deeply as a warmth filled her heart, before tossing it into the modern washing machine.

It was obvious she wasn’t focused on me in our bond right now, completely oblivious that I was paying attention to her. Which made a lot of sense, considering she knew I had classes all day, and needed to focus on that.

Still, it made me wonder if Gwen would wash our sheets every day if we eventually moved into Miriam’s mansion, or if she was only doing it because it was possible we wouldn’t be spending the night again.

Hard to say, since she wasn’t thinking about any of that.

She was only focused on the task at hand, now leaving the laundry room, which was on the second floor toward the left of the twin staircases, checking on the human maid to see where she was at in her process of vacuuming the downstairs floors, cleaning up the dirt and dust we’d tracked in on our shoes.

There was no carpet on the first floor, everything either being hardwood floors, or else marble tiles, so I’d never even considered taking my shoes off throughout most of the house, unless I was undressing for sex, nor had I’d been asked to do so.

Not to mention, anytime I’d seen Miriam with footwear, she kept it on throughout the house as well, though there were a lot of times when she’d been barefoot.

Deciding I shouldn’t worry about it too much right now, I focused on Natalie again, sensing that she was shoveling food in her mouth, prompting her to stop midbite with a fork full of the spaghetti she’d made, since apparently she’d been heavily focused on me as she ate.

We were both silent for a few seconds, there something almost peaceful about simply acknowledging each other at the same time, only for her heart to fill with warmth.

‘Hi,’ she thought affectionately.

I couldn’t help but grin, turning my head toward the wall slightly so it wasn’t obvious to anyone paying attention. ‘Hi,’ I replied just as warmly.

She slowly resumed eating, her heart swelling now, simply from the silent attention. ‘Don’t get yourself in trouble,’ she mused.

‘You’re worth it.’

She scoffed at that, though I could tell my words meant a lot, especially since she could feel how sincere I was.

Avery unexpectedly spoke in my head. ‘Mrs. Hayes keeps looking at you.’

I sighed, realizing I did have to be more careful, especially since I was always seated in the front of the room.

‘Told you so,’ Natalie mused. ‘But thanks,’ she added more seriously.

I didn’t respond, finally glancing up at the board as if I was paying attention, but keeping my focus on Natalie -- just observing now, instead of communicating, which made it easier to continue to look like I was focusing on class too.

However, even without socializing, it really helped pass the time.

To the point that I was almost surprised when it was almost time for lunch.

Normally, Avery would walk to the cafeteria with a couple of her friends in our class, including Katie and Hannah, with a guy named Ben and another named Oliver usually tagging along too -- in Ben’s case, he was Katie’s boyfriend, and in Oliver’s case, he was Ben’s best friend.

However, today was a little different.

Even as Katie and Hannah both walked over, Avery barely even acknowledge them as she focused on me, eager to do something as simple as walking to lunch together. I actually had to remind her not to ignore her friends completely, especially since she no doubt would have questions to answer.

However, while Katie did have questions about the car accident, they reserved most of them until after we’d gotten our meals and sat down, especially once everyone saw that Avery was definitely eating a ton more food than normal. It also seemed that being a part of a larger group helped everyone become more assertive as they played off each other, really bombarding us with all the questions.

But ultimately, it resulted in her giving everyone a lecture on menstrual cycles and pregnancy, with me not getting too involved in the conversation, eventually resulting in questions more focused on our relationship, such as when it really started, all of which Avery answered.

She also informed everyone that she’d had my number for two years now, ever since we worked on a project together, and lied, by suggesting that we’d been messaging each other occasionally all this time -- all of which made her ‘obsession’ with me seem a lot more normal now.

Thus, before long, the topic finally shifted more generally to summer break and college as everyone became satisfied that there wasn’t more to divulge about the situation.

In the end, ‘ripping off the band-aid’ seemed to work.

No doubt rumors would persist a little longer, but Avery had successfully gotten it all out there for some of her closest friends, who would undoubtedly communicate what they’d learned to their other friends. The only potential issue was how Avery would deal with Claire, with my blonde girlfriend being unsure if it would be better to just play dumb, or if she should address it.

Given that we only had a few weeks left of school, and as much as it pained her, it seemed to me and Natalie the best idea was to just keep up the facade for now, in order to avoid unnecessary drama.

By the time lunch was over, and I was heading to my fifth period after walking Avery to her locker, I finally felt a lot more relaxed, feeling like the worst was over. And sure enough, both that class and the following sixth period was normal. Avery got pestered with more questions here and there, especially once we were in our Chemistry class together, but the excitement had already died down a lot.

By the time I was walking Avery to her locker in preparation for our last period for the day, with her deciding to hold onto my arm again, it was clear that the initial shock from earlier that morning, involving all the staring, had now devolved to just occasional glances. Which meant, we just had one more class to get through, and then we could go home, with tomorrow hopefully being a much more normal day.

I wasn’t surprised when Avery deposited all her stuff in her locker, since her last period was actually an optional physical education class. We were all required to take gym for the first two years of high school, but Junior and Senior year were completely optional.

In Avery’s case, since she’d been on the track team and had more than enough credits to graduate, she’d chosen to use that as one of her electives to get some training done during school hours, an agreement she’d made with her coach who was also one of the gym teachers. From my understanding, there were quite a few football and soccer players who did the same thing, so that they could get some weightlifting in during school hours.

It was something I hadn’t thought much about previously, but now I was imagining what she’d look like when she was done. Just thinking about her being a little flushed from exercising, of her smooth skin glistening slightly with sweat, kind of turned me on a little, especially since I knew she didn’t shower at school.

Something that would provide for a great excuse to get her in the shower when we got home…

Which was probably a thought I should hold off on, since even if it didn’t affect me, I had to remember that it could affect her.

Still, I was glad to finally be done with the day.

Just one more class to go.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t until I’d sat down in my seventh period that I realized the problems might not be completely over, and not for any reasons I might have anticipated.

Mr. Morrison began the class by handing me a stack of papers to start passing behind me, since I was in the first seat of the first row, only for Natalie to get my attention.

‘Kai!’ she pushed through urgently.

Confused as to what was going on, I focused on her mind, realizing she was completely fine and instead focused on Avery.

Literally, in the last few minutes, something major had happened and I’d missed it!

Avery was not fine!

And even as I focused on her, I had absolutely no idea what was going on.

Not only had I not been paying attention, but her eyes were closed!

Her attention was inward, focused on controlling her reaction. She felt threatened, enough so that she was beginning to transform, and starting to panic due to it, with her main internal concern seeming to be not wanting to hurt anyone.

My first thought was that maybe she had tried confronting Claire after all, with me initially figuring that I just needed to let Avery get this under control like she’d been practicing…

But then she registered a male’s voice way too close to her, sparking another wave of that threatened sensation to overcome her -- a different kind of threat than I’d initially assumed.

Without hesitation, I bolted out of my seat before I’d even thought it through, speed walking faster than should be normal for most people.

I was already out the door by the time the teacher was calling out to me.

“Mr. Ashworth, where are you going?!”

I didn’t respond, and heard him yelling down the hall barely ten seconds later.

“Kai, the bell has rung! Get back here!”

I didn’t have the best rapport with Mr. Morrison, being one of the only teachers who seemed to have an issue with me, almost as if he perceived my reluctance to engage with others as a sort of elitist mentality. Or maybe he thought I was just a wimp for holding grudges for so long.

Either way, he was one of the few people I knew who might not give me a pass.

But it didn’t matter.

Something was going on, and Avery needed help.

When someone unexpectedly grabbed her arm, I started running.

Just like that, I’d gone from slightly urgent to pissed.

I was a force of fury now, erupting like a ghost down the hallways at an impossible speed, my rage radiating out of me like a physical presence -- I knew, because I heard teachers stop midsentence just before I ran past their doorways in the hallway, even though I was moving with shocking silence.

But I had a major problem.

I didn’t know specifically where Avery was!

Was she still in the locker room? Had she been cornered somewhere else?

It didn’t matter, because I realized I could sense her.

Much like Gwen and Natalie, I knew the exact direction to go to get to her.

Opting not to burst through the cinderblock wall, realizing she must be in the girl’s locker room after all, I zipped around the corner, only to curve around the next, realizing there was far more commotion going on than I even assumed.

The locker room was full of people, having something like fifteen girls and at least ten guys, all standing around toward the other end with various levels of involvement in a large argument. I heard one girl saying, ‘I said leave her alone,’ while another guy told her to shut up and to ‘just give him a minute,’ even as another girl demanded where the coach was.

All the guys were big, either taller than me, more muscular, or both, since most of them were either on the football or soccer team, while most of the girls looked like they were either in track or soccer.

Part of me wanted to jump in and start laying all the guys out, but mitigation took priority right now. Because it was almost too late.

Avery’s closed eyes were completely transformed, her skin was almost entirely tan, and she felt her hair beginning to turn white, with the guy still holding onto her as he spoke aggressively in her face.

He hadn’t noticed the transformation yet, but no doubt he would once her hair was white!

So she came first.

Thankfully, my very presence was palpable.

The moment I began rushing toward the group, still full of rage, all conversation silenced immediately, many of them sensing my hostility before they saw or heard me, abruptly looking toward me with looks of terror as if they were all about to be killed.

But I only had one goal in mind.

Rushing through the rapidly splitting group of people, easily slipping through the throng of bodies, I finally laid eyes on my target, immediately understanding what was probably going on when I saw the back of the guy’s head.

I didn’t have any classes with him at all this year, and had barely seen him even in passing, but I knew exactly who Trey was. He was known for his curly blonde hair, extremely buff physique, and arrogant attitude that went along with him being the star athlete of the football team.

Also one of the many reasons why Claire hated Avery, since the head cheerleader felt like the head football player should have eyes for her, even if she wasn’t actually interested in him, but he instead only had eyes for another girl entirely.

And all this time, I had no idea Avery was in gym with him.

Had no idea he was still even making advances toward her after she’d shut him down so many times our Junior year.

But now it was clear he was trying to take her by force.

“Are you even listening to me?!” he yelled in her face. “This is bullshit!” he continued, shaking her arm with enough force to rattle her entire body against the red lockers.

Instantly, I bridged the gap between us, grabbed him by the back of the neck and yanked him off his feet with enough force to toss him into a couple of his buddies a dozen feet away, immediately slamming my hands on either side of Avery and shielding her from everyone else.

The roots of her blonde hair were already white.

But the effect of my presence was immediate.

What was perceived as a palpable hostility by everyone else, was an intense wave of comforting peace to my blonde girlfriend, with her immediately reaching out to grasp at my shirt, feeling my heat enveloping her in the safety of my presence.

I felt something hit me in the lower back, but I didn’t budge, an immobile wall as Avery’s skin began losing its tanner color, with her taking a long deep breath.

Someone cursed just before I felt something hit me in the back of the head, but in this moment it might as well have been an annoying mosquito just waiting to be smacked -- a tiny ant just waiting to be stomped on -- nothing more than a minor annoyance.

More cursing and exclamations of disbelief, only for a new deeper male voice to boom in the locker room.

“What the hell is going on in here?! All the boys out of this room this instant, or I’ll suspend you all!”

The reaction was immediate, seemingly all the guys bolting for the other exit, leading to the school pool where they’d likely come in from, only for the coach to continue.

“What in the hell were they doing in here?!” he demanded.

One of the girls spoke up. “Trey cornered Avery and wouldn’t leave her alone!”

“Yeah,” another agreed. “And he punched Kai in the face!”

“Who the hell is Kai?!” he demanded, not having ever had me in a class.

“Kai showed up out of nowhere and protected her!” another chimed in, before he could barely finish his question.

“I thought he was going to kill us all!” another girl exclaimed.

“Oh shit, I thought it was just me! I was so scared!” yet another added.

“Who the hell is Kai?!” the coach repeated, finally stepping around the corner of this section of red lockers, only to catch sight of us. “Hey! I said all boys out of the locker room!” he snapped.

I ignored him, still focused on only Avery.

“Are you okay now?” I whispered to her as she took one final deep breath.

The coach must have misinterpreted the situation because he abruptly ran up on me and grabbed my arm roughly, with me allowing him to tug on me away from Avery since I’d already made too big of a show of my strength. And I could both see with my eyes and feel through our bond that she was fine now.

“Where are you supposed to be right now?!” he yelled at me, clearly not recognizing me, practically spitting in my face, full of rage over the situation that had just happened right under his nose.

However, unlike him, after years of practice reining my emotions in, I was completely in control again.

Unfortunately, he didn’t give me a chance to respond.

“Never mind where you’re supposed to be! You’re coming with me to the office right now! You too, Ms. Copeland!” he added, more so in acknowledgment that she’d been the center of this situation, and leaving her behind would be a bad decision. “I’ll be back to talk to the rest of you in a minute! No one leaves this room, unless there’s a literal fire, understand?!”

He didn’t wait for a response as he started dragging me with him to the main exit.

Despite all my rage at the incident in the locker room, I’d managed to keep my slight transformation hidden underneath my clothing, and overall had remained in control of myself even when I was highly pissed. However, that didn’t prevent Gwen and Serenity from sensing that something major was going on, stopping what they were doing to focus intently on me.

Avery and I were promptly taken to the principal’s office -- with Mr. Morrison having apparently called in my unexcused disappearance from class even before we showed up to the admin department -- and promptly placed in separate rooms as we were questioned about what happened.

Thankfully, Avery and I didn’t need a chance to speak with each other to settle on a believable story in a matter of seconds.

The principal was questioning me while the assistant principal was questioning her.

Our responses were almost identical, with me going off Avery’s excuse for how I knew.

“All the guys barged into the girl’s locker room, and Trey cornered me. I was sending my boyfriend a text message right when it happened, and typed out ‘help.’”

“Avery sent me a message that said ‘help’ and I knew it must be something serious, because she wouldn’t do something like that normally. I thought it must be a true emergency. I knew she had gym, so I headed straight there.”

We didn’t even have to make an effort to coordinate, for our story to be in sync.

“He was grabbing my arm and shaking me. I thought he was going to hit me. Kai pushed him away and protected me.”

“He was holding onto her and shaking her. I grabbed him and pushed him away. I think he hit me twice, but I was too focused on making sure she was okay.”

Our thoughts were in perfect harmony.

“I think Trey hit him a couple of times, but he ignored it. Didn’t seem like the asshole put a lot of effort into it, like he was trying to just provoke Kai into hitting him back.”

“Didn’t really hurt. Felt like he was just trying to provoke me into hitting him. But then the coach showed up. Other than pushing him away, I didn’t touch him.”

They didn’t ask to see our phones to verify our story about the messages, and after hearing from the coach about what the girls in the locker room had to say, they felt like they had a pretty clear story of what happened. Especially since all the women involved seemed to be on Team Kai too, at this point.

Pretty much all of them had been at least annoyed to have the guys barge in when some of them were still changing, if not downright outraged, and even though my entrance had sincerely terrified them, my actions once I was in the room had won them over as the savior of the day.

I was almost cringing at the potential rumors that would be spreading tomorrow…

Unfortunately, the guys were let off a lot easier than I was hoping, with the punishment for those involved ultimately ending up as being more of a serious warning.

“If this happens again, you’re all suspended for a week. And even if you don’t care about that, don’t forget you might lose your scholarships if news of this reached their ears! One phone call from me is all it would take!”

I heard, because I was trying to pick up on what the principal was saying on the other side of the school, and he practically yelled that last part. No doubt because a couple of the guys had shrugged off his first threat, as if a week suspension wouldn’t do much to hurt them at this point.

I was glad he was at least taking it seriously, probably realizing that this situation could turn out to be very bad for the school’s reputation depending on what got out to the public. For example, if I were to press charges against the guy for hitting me, no doubt the whole situation might get blown out of proportion if a local news station caught wind of it.

I could almost see the headlines now, about how a bunch of guys aggressively barged into the girl’s locker room so that one of them could corner a girl over her dating choices -- by a guy she’d never even dated to begin with.

Someone who wouldn’t even classify as an angry ex.

However, having the situation resolved for now didn’t mean it was resolved entirely. Even before I was released back to class, only having ten minutes left before the last bell rang as I was escorted down the hall by the assistant principal, I was already beginning to think about what might need to be done about Trey.

Shit, the guy had literally not even been on my mind in over a year, with me not anticipating him being an issue in my life at all, and then suddenly this happens. And it wasn’t just me.

Even though Avery had a couple of classes with him, one of them being gym, and even though she did speak to him on occasion, even she’d thought he’d let it go -- that he’d understood that her rejection to date him had been permanent.

Maybe he thought the fact that she wasn’t with anyone else indicated that she was at least still available or something. That maybe she’d come around sooner or later.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure what was going on in his head, but my mind was going to some dark places as I thought about how best to neutralize the problem he posed. Everything from beating the shit out of him, just to show him not to mess with me, to flat out making him disappear…all of which had Gwen finally speaking to me uncomfortably.

‘Master, control your rage. It will not be favorable for you to draw too much attention to yourself. This insignificant human isn’t worth it.’

I was a little surprised by her use of the word ‘rage,’ since I wasn’t at all out of control right now, but her overwhelming concern for me immediately sobered me up. Especially since I realized my thoughts were in direct opposition to everything Miriam lived for. Truly, the short redhead was a sincerely good person, and Gwen had likewise lived most of her life having a very high respect for life and all things living. They both loved humans and had spent a long time protecting them, primarily by guarding that transdimensional gate.

Honestly, the short succubus might actually be appalled if she knew I was considering the idea of killing some random weak human guy simply for slighting me.

But I supposed that was the purpose of Miriam’s warning several days ago, to be careful to avoid becoming evil. It was one thing to kill someone to stop their evil, like I’d done with those serial killers, but another to kill just because I found an individual annoying.

Taking a deep breath, I decided to clear my mind and not worry about it right now, instead letting go of the situation entirely -- to just stop thinking about it, in favor of focusing on the task at hand.

Which in this case, was simply returning to class.

Mr. Morrison did not look happy when the assistant principal showed up with me at the doorway. However, my escort surprisingly had my back, as he began explaining in front of the whole class that there was an incident in the girl’s locker room, and that I broke up what might have otherwise been a very bad situation.

He further elaborated that Ms. Copeland had apparently informed me in a message that there was an emergency, and that I promptly responded.

Which resulted in Mr. Morrison mumbling in frustration about how ‘phone use’ isn’t allowed in his classroom, and that the other teachers must be slacking, all before demanding I take my seat while informing me that he didn’t want to hear a word out of me unless called on.

I simply did as he asked, acting calm and collected as I went to go sit in my previously abandoned chair.

The teacher then thanked the assistant principal in an insincere tone and resumed his lecture.

Avery was of course back in gym, but had no intention on working out at this point, sitting with some of her friends from track as they chatted about how crazy the incident was and how fast everything happened. Avery also made an effort to contradict their stories a little when they commented about how hard Trey punched me, with them arguing that he put his whole body into the hit, while Avery pressed that he was just putting on a performance, trying to provoke me into hitting him back, so that he could try to get me in trouble.

Of course, we both knew what the others had seen was accurate.

Trey really had put everything he had into hitting me, but because I was braced against the lockers, he might as well have been hitting a literal wall. Which of course meant, there was definitely one person in particular who wouldn’t be fooled -- Trey himself.

But ultimately, that might just accomplish my goal of intimidating him so that he didn’t try messing with either of us again. And it wasn’t like him telling the truth would become a problem, because most people didn’t believe in the supernatural, and it wasn’t a crime to be exceptionally good at ‘taking a punch.’

Not to mention, if he did insist that something weird was going on, then most others would assume he just misjudged how hard he hit me. Plus, I was fairly certain the guy was too prideful to disclose something that might be misconstrued as embarrassing on his part.

Hard to say, but I realized it was probably just best to not worry about it.

I hadn’t thought about this guy even once in over a year now, and I didn’t want to start focusing on him now when he truly was an insignificant human like Gwen said.

Honestly, I was pretty much just done with the day at this point, and thankfully the last ten minutes of class zoomed by in the blink of an eye. I almost half expected it to drag on forever, but I was so lost in thought as I absentmindedly listened to the teacher, that I was surprised when the bell rang -- unsurprisingly, Mr. Morrison had lectured right up until that point, with the whole class knowing that he’d be pissed if anyone started getting ready for the bell prematurely, as pretty much all other students did in all other classes.

Like damn, it was the end of the semester, and the guy was still super strict.

Taking another deep breath as I collected my things and stood, I began filing out of the room with the rest of the class, a little surprised by all the glances I was getting, realizing they probably wanted to ask about what happened, but still uncertain if they should try talking to me.

Which I was fine with.

Even if Avery and I had gone public, I didn’t exactly want everyone to think I was suddenly approachable. However, the glances and direct stares definitely increased once I was meeting Avery at her locker, with her then deciding to hold onto my arm again as we walked down the hallways to get to the student parking lot.

A few girls worked up the nerve to say ‘Bye Avery’ as we passed, almost seeming shy, but before long we were finally filing out of the school and heading to my car on the far side of the student parking lot.

I used the opportunity to ask what she’d decided to do about Claire, just to have the appearance of normalcy as we walked across the parking lot, only to be surprised by her answer.

“Oh, she wasn’t in gym at all. I guess she left early for the day. Our coach will probably let it slide, since it’s the end of the year.”

My brow furrowed. “That’s…kind of strange,” I admitted, wondering if it had to do with our situation, or if it was unrelated. At the very least, I was aware Claire kind of had a thing for me too, but I’d always felt like the interest was more so because she wanted to stab Avery in the back by stealing her guy.

Was it possible she was taking our newly disclosed relationship harder than I was expecting?

I supposed it didn’t matter either way.

She was still a mega bitch, and if she got her feelings hurt, then she had no one but herself to blame. Because she could have a happy life, where she actually got along with people, but instead she spent all her efforts being envious of those who were sincerely kind, and speaking poorly about them behind their back.

Needless to say, Avery just shrugged in response to my comment, since we were almost at my lone car at the edge of the lot.

I was relieved to finally only be a few steps away from not having so many eyes on me, but unfortunately it seemed the universe wasn’t done throwing problems at me.

Because unfortunately, just as we were walking up to my vehicle, I realized that a black car that had just pulled into the lot was heading directly for us. And when it began slowing down as it neared, I felt confident that whoever was inside intended to stop close by, especially since there was no other reason for someone to be driving this way at this time of day -- if it was a parent picking up their kid, then they’d head toward the school entrance on this side of the building.

Turning to face the vehicle just behind the trunk of my car, I froze solid as the heavily tinted window began lowering, revealing a mature woman with dark brown hair and sunglasses focused up at me.

Dressed in a feminine black business suit with a white blouse, looking like either an extremely fancy secretary, or possibly even like she was the actual CEO of a company, she spoke without hesitation.

“Kai Ashworth, I presume?” she began simply.

“Umm, yeah?”

She reached out of sight and then held up a simple white envelope, her extremely tinted sunglasses making it impossible to see where she was looking, or even just what her eyes were doing at all.

“My name is Elizabeth Monroe. I’m here on behalf of Mr. Abrams. Please accept this letter and read it. I’ve been instructed to verify you’ve received the message before departing.”

I was immediately starting to panic.

Shit, what in the hell was going on right now?

Who was Mr. Abrams and why was he sending me a message?

Did he know my secret?!

Was he some kind of detective, or something?!

Shit, I was confused as hell, and the racing pulse suddenly jumping to my throat was threatening to cause my skin to gray. And to make it worse, I quickly realized this situation might begin drawing unwanted attention from my classmates if I didn’t deal with this immediately.

Which meant I had to pull myself together. Now.

I had no idea who Mr. Abrams was, or why he would be sending me a message, but when this woman otherwise didn’t say anything, I realized I should probably read this quickly to avoid as few people noticing this transaction as possible. I mean, shit, it was like we were doing a drug deal in broad daylight!

Why even deliver this at school? Why not just send it in the mail or something?

Everything about this situation seemed off.

Way off.

I cleared my throat as I opened the envelope, and began pulling out the thick white paper, the weight of the single page implying it was the extremely expensive kind of stationery, deciding to mention my most obvious concern as I did so. “Umm, why deliver this at my school?” I asked seriously. “People might ask questions.”

She again responded without hesitation, giving me the eerie impression that she’d been staring directly at me underneath those sunglasses this whole time.

“The concerns of children, I fear not. I was instructed that our first interaction should be in public, so that you had the opportunity to understand who this letter was from, before making any unwise decisions.”

My brow immediately furrowed at that, her words prompting me to skip over the handwritten letter just as I opened it, in order to focus down at the signature, as if expecting to see something other than ‘Mr. Abrams’ written there…

My heart instantly froze in my chest, the fine hairs standing up on the back of my neck, when I realized the letter was, in fact, signed with a different name.

One I recognized.

One I’d seen very recently, in the exact same fancy handwritten script…

Absalom…Melchizedek.

My father.

It was a letter from my biological father!

Unexpectedly, Gwen spoke to me through our bond, Miriam apparently right there with her, having already reacted to this news.

‘Master, a message from my mistress. She requests you come over again as soon as possible. Your magic training begins now.’ 

FEEDBACK: As you can probably tell, things are about to get a little crazy. Probably not in ways you were expecting.

How was this chapter? Was it intense? Do I need more details on certain parts?

Chapter 88 >>

LIST OF STORIES >>

LIST OF ARTWORK >>