15. Giselle #2
I gave her a mini-salute, then headed to my car.
The drive to my school was peaceful, thankfully, and I got in early enough to get a good parking spot.
But as I drew closer towards my classroom, my thoughts became more slipshod.
I had the whole lesson for the day planned, with lots of breaks for the tons of questions my students would undoubtedly have, and I wanted to sit at my desk for a bit and soak in being back in my environment.
I knew I was still very early in my career, but I had a calling to teach.
I’d needed the rest, but going too long without seeing any of the happy, shining faces of my students left me feeling a little lost.
And considering everything that I had learned on Friday night, that sensation was more exaggerated than ever.
“Hello there,” I murmured to my desk. It wasn’t exactly as I’d left it, since my sub had needed to use the space, but it was mostly the same.
I trailed my fingers along the wood before finally sitting down in the chair I’d shelled out quite a bit for.
It wasn’t the school’s standard issue, but it had a footrest and extra cushioning, as well as lumbar support. “I missed you.”
At least it didn’t answer back. Given that I’d just found out that werewolves, werehorses, werebears, and who knew what else existed, I supposed I couldn’t be sure.
I sank into the seat and closed my eyes for a minute.
It was time to start my first day back.
As much as I tried to hold my focus, it occasionally slipped out from my grasp throughout the day. Thankfully, my class didn’t notice, and I liked to think it was because they were happy to have me back before evaluations.
I did go a bit softball on the lesson. I figured asking them to concentrate after an entire week without me and my rather dramatic exit on my last day was rather unrealistic, so there was a lot of talking, answering questions, crafts, and drawing.
Not to mention thumbs-up–seven-up, which was always a hit.
At lunchtime, I was confronted with the paranormal in the form of Benny Jr. He approached my desk, smiling from ear to ear, and I rapidly figured out that his father hadn’t told him anything. Which meant Benny had no idea that I knew what he was. Confusing, but not impossible to navigate.
“Here you go, Miss Fischbacher,” he said, offering me a ripe mango. “You smell too hungry.”
“I smell too hungry?” I repeated.
He nodded enthusiastically, and I decided not to comment on it. If I didn’t know about his, uh, alternative heritage, I would have assumed he was a kid being a kid. So, I figured I’d act normal about it—even if it was difficult to act normal when I was abruptly reminded that shifters existed.
“You okay?” Benny asked, because he was far too insightful for his age.
“Just very appreciative,” I said, knocking myself out of my frazzled thoughts.
Even though Benny seemed to have an extremely developed nose, he was just a kid.
His father had said he wouldn’t get any shifter abilities until he hit puberty, which hopefully was a long way off.
So, I needed to treat him like any other student. “Thank you very much, Benny.”
“You’re welcome! I’m gonna go to lunch now!”
“You do that.”
He skipped off, joining his friends who were waiting for him by the door. Seeing him so happy really soothed the apprehension coursing through me. Plus, now I had a delicious mango.
Not a bad way to end the first half of my first day back.
I got through the rest of the day in one piece and without any sort of incident.
Normally, after the final bell rang, I remained in my class so students could do homework or have a place to stay until their extracurriculars started, but I knew my limits.
Thankfully, the school was onboard, and they sent a sub in.
I’d heard horror stories from other teachers of different ways their schools shafted them, but I had to acknowledge my privilege.
Sure, the school could improve on our salary and benefits, but they treated us well.
I didn’t expect to be so physically exhausted considering I’d been sitting most of the day, but I was ready to soak in a hot tub, then curl into bed with a good book. After I finished my lesson plan for the next day, of course.
Another light day tomorrow. Less crafting and more reviewing chapters from the beginning of the year so students wouldn’t be?—
I stopped dead in my tracks, my thoughts dying mid-syllable. Someone was standing next to my car.
And not just anyone, but the man who’d kidnapped me.
“Stay back,” I said, my voice going hollow.
In the last few days, I’d learned that was my flight-or-fight tone, and my instinct was fight.
Not what I would have assumed. I slipped my hand into my bag, where a canister of pepper gel was waiting for me.
Not pepper spray, of course, because that was illegal and I could get fired for bringing that on school property, but pepper gel, which was a legal means of self-defense.
He straightened slowly and turned to me, which allowed me to see that he was wearing an eyepatch. It was a visceral reminder that when push came to shove, I would do things I didn’t think I was capable of in order to survive.
“I’m not here to hurt you,” he said, holding up his hands.
“Then why are you here?”
For being shoved out of my little cozy, first-grade teacher bubble into a paranormal thriller, I liked to think that I was doing pretty good on that whole transition. Man, I missed when the most exciting part of my day was a kid showing me the quarter they got from the tooth fairy.
“Figured there were some things I needed to do.”
He took a step towards me so I rapidly took a step back and whipped my gel fully out of my bag, aiming it towards him.
“I may not have silver on me, but that doesn’t mean I can’t hurt you,” I said. “There’s wolfsbane in this.”
I was full of shit, and maybe he could smell I was lying, but sometimes bluffing was good enough—at least, that’s what the nature documentaries showed me.
“Actually, that’s part of why I’m here.” He slowly, carefully, reached a gloved hand into his pocket and pulled out a familiar little plaque of silver attached to a matching chain before extending it to me. “This is yours. Seemed important, so I wanted to return it.”
My bracelet! I was waiting until my next paycheck before ordering a new one. Regular medical bracelets were already expensive, but I had to have one in silver to alleviate my metal allergies, and those were pricey.
“You can throw it to me.” I thought that might annoy the man, but he just chuckled.
“Suspicious little thing, aren’t you?”
“I’m not a thing,” I said. “And can you blame me?”
“No. I suppose I can’t.” He tossed it to my feet and took a step back, which allowed me to study his face. He looked largely the same, except for angry, red veins that spread out a few inches from under his eyepatch.
“I have the bracelet now,” I said, although I didn’t bend down to retrieve it. That could wait until he was gone. “You can go.”
“That wasn’t the only reason I showed up,” he said after sucking on his teeth for a moment. I hated that sound, and apprehension made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. “I owe you an apology, to put it lightly.”
Was this a trick? If we were in an action movie, this would absolutely be the moment where the bad guy lured me close enough to grab me and finish his revenge quest against Ben, the dashing hero.
“Oh yeah?”
He huffed a laugh, then leaned against my car. “I suppose I deserve that derision in your voice right now. We didn’t exactly leave things on good terms, did we?” Although there was some dry mirth in his tone, there was a lot of anger and bitterness too.
“We can agree on that.”
“All right then. I’ll get this over with then. I’ll admit I was downright pissed at you, and I did want to hurt you, not just the alpha who killed my baby brother. My pride was raging that you, a weak little human, was able to take me down—no offense meant.”
“Of all the things you’ve done to me, that’s what you’re worried about? Offending me?”
“Point taken.” He shook his head. “Gotta admit, this went a lot smoother in my head. I kind of hoped my big redemption moment would be a lot more cinematic.”
“Is that what’s going on here?” I asked, bending to grab my bracelet without taking my eyes off him.
“I suppose that depends on you. Because I’m just gonna say what I gotta say. You’re the one who decides where this goes.”
I nodded slowly. I didn’t trust him, but I could hear him out.
However, I was beginning to wonder if maybe there was something wrong with me and my survival instincts.
Because while I could apparently tackle an oversized wolf and stab it in the eye without even blinking, I also only had a mild adrenaline response to being face-to-face with my attacker at my place of work.
“The stage is yours.”
“Right. Well, like I said, I didn’t really come here with the best intentions, and I still do want to hurt Poynter. It’s like a weight deep in my gut, and it makes me sick.”
Uh, that didn’t really sound like a redemption to me?
“But then I saw you with those kids through your class window. And I heard them laughing and being so happy to see you. They said something that made it seem like you were gone for a while. I’m guessing it was that sickness you mentioned in the car?”
I nodded again.
“Yeah, I thought as much. And something about hearing their little voices so excited made me realize something.”
“And what was that?”
“That I’d become the same monster that Charlie had turned into.”
So, he was Charles’s brother!
“I ran away from our home when I was sixteen, ya know. I always told myself I would come back once I was old enough and strong enough to save my little brother, but by the time I was big enough, he and my mom had already gotten away to another pack.