Blood and Beasts by L.M. Miller

to her left and
right, hoping that nobody had noticed.
    The short-haired, Asian girl from
earlier was staring at her. She was staring at her intently. Why? Did she have
something on her face? The girl had dark eyes, but they were brown, not black
or grey, meaning that she was not a vampire or a werewolf. So that meant she
was a… witch? That would be the only other option. Why was she staring at her?
She obviously was not friends with Ruby, or maybe she was and they were just
having a bad day today, of all days, but she doubted that.
    The girl… what was her name… Linda…
She was fairly pretty. She had full lips, a shallow nose, wider eyes, and
arched brows. She wore a black choker around her neck, but it was plain and
simple, unlike Seph ’ s with its silver chain and charm.
Her fingers grazed the crescent moon dangling from her neck. Nate… Was he okay?
She was suddenly swamped with feelings of emptiness, relief, and intense
longing. She nearly gasped, sitting up straighter in her desk as the emotions
washed over her.
    No one was looking at her, save
that strange girl. Her heart was pounding, and by pounding, she meant it was
going about normal human speed. Had she just felt what Nate was feeling? Phin
had mentioned something about that… What had he said? He had told her a lot…
Maybe she would ask him during their vampire class. That was so strange,
feeling somebody else ’ s feelings as thought they were her
own.
    Her fingers skimmed down her
schedule. Vamp class was not until last period. That was a long time from now.
Maybe she should just forget about it. It wasn ’ t a life-threatening matter or anything. It was just…
weird. Everything was weird now. She should just forget about it… and she did.
The rest of the class Seph zoned in and out as the Guth Man droned on and on
about Atlantis, the actual civilization, and the distinct culture it possessed
to this very day.
    The bell rang, startling Seph back
to reality. She had been preoccupied reading the thoughts of the short,
red-haired boy that sat in front of her. He was nervous about having a vampire
at his back. She seemed really vicious, especially the way she had handled
Ruby. That look in her pale eyes was going to haunt him for a few days. She was
pretty though and wearing a short skirt. As his thoughts started to become more
and more perverse, as only the minds of teenage boys ’ could, she quickly moved out of his thoughts, not
wanting to hear anything more and get all angry again. She probably should not
be able to read others ’ thoughts so easily, but
who knew… maybe this was a vampire skill that Phin hadn ’ t mentioned, and all vampires could do it. Maybe this
was not something even stranger about her. That was a cheery thought, a bit
optimistic for her taste though. She was going to Monster Academy after
attacking her best friend. She had nothing to be particularly cheery about
nowadays.
    “What class do you got next?” It
was the Asian girl from before, at her elbow and helping her to rise to her
feet as the classroom was mostly empty by now.
    Ruby seemed to be meandering in the
room with three other werewolves though, two girls and a guy. Warily, Seph
walked out with Linda while they both kept their eyes on the quadruplet.
Outside in the open hallway, which was simply bustling with other students,
they breathed a little more freely. Linda walked confidently down the hall, arm
still on Seph ’ s elbow, towing her along like a
lost child at the mall.
    “So what ’ s your next class again? What ’ s your name? I never caught it,” Linda asked, pushing
through the crowd boldly.
    Linda obviously had a destination
in mind. Seph wondered what it was, briefly. Her walls were draining her,
dulling and slowing her thought process, so she slowly allowed them to falter
just a little. Linda immediately caught her eye.
    “That ’ s not a good idea, hun. My specialty is mind reading,
and I could read you like a book right now unless you put