Free Given by Lauren Barnholdt, Aaron Gorvine Page B

present, Natalia,” he says. He starts to walk toward the front doors, and he motions me to follow him.
    “You can’t go in there,” I say. “It’s Sunday. The school’s locked.”
    Of course, that doesn’t make any difference to Reed. He points his finger at the door and then opens it.
    “I’m not going in there with you,” I say.
    “Natalia,” he says. “You have no choice.”
    He’s right. He’s proven he can move me wherever he wants. And so against my better judgment, I follow him inside.

    ***
    It’s weird being inside the school on a weekend. There’s no one around, the halls are empty, and everything is quiet.
    Reed leads me down to the junior hall, where he stands in front of my locker.
    “This place,” he says, “is special.”
    “The junior hall is special? Doubtful.” Obviously he doesn’t know the kind of ridiculousness that goes on in this hall – kids making out, fighting, yelling, screaming, swearing, running. There’s nothing special about any of those things.
    “Yes, now it’s the junior hall.” He runs his fingers over the lockers, touching them almost lovingly. “But hundreds of years ago, this land was where the first members of our clan were born.”
    “Great,” I say. “So what do you want me to do about it?” I’m being flippant, but inside, adrenaline is pounding through my body so hard I’m afraid I’m going to jump out of my skin. I’m alone, at the school, with Reed. No one knows where I am or who I’m with.
    “They were born here,” Reed goes on, “five hundred years ago. And they were peaceful for most of those years. Until the clan split into two factions.”
    “I don’t need a history lesson.”
    He stares at me, his eyes sad. “Natalia,” he says. “You have no idea what’s about to happen, do you?”
    “I know you’re about to take me home.” I cross my arms.
    “Fine,” he says.
    “Fine?”
    “Fine.” He shrugs. “I’ll take you home. On one condition.”
    “What is it?” I ask warily.
    “That you listen to my story. Listen to what I have to say, Natalia, and then if you still want to go home, I’ll let you go, no questions asked.”
    I don’t really have a choice, and so when he heads down the junior hall, I follow him, past Adrianna’s locker, past Cam’s locker, past my homeroom, my study hall, everything. Finally, when we get to the big floor to ceiling windows at the end of the hall, he points outside to the courtyard.
    “There,” he said. “That’s where the battle took place.”
    “The battle?”
    He nods. “When our clan split, the rebels began trying to take over the land.
    There were battles, lots of them.” He has a faraway look in his eye, the kind of look that normally I would think meant he was trying to cast a spell or mind control someone. But now I just get the feeling that he’s remembering something, that he’s sad.
    “They were fighting over the land?”
    He nods. “The land was what they wanted control of, yes.”
    “What’s so special about it?” I try to imagine why anyone would want to kill someone over land.
    “It’s sacred,” Reed says. “It’s where our first king was born.”
    I resist the urge to roll my eyes. “Okay,” I say, shrugging. “So there was a war and a bunch of people died a long time ago. Is that all you wanted to tell me?”
    “The past will become the present,” Reed says again. “Do you understand what that means, Natalia?”
    “That there’s going to be a war? Isn’t that what you guys have been claiming this whole time?”
    He gives me a wry smile. “You say it like you don’t believe me.”
    I shake my head. “I don’t, really. You people keep talking about this war that’s going to happen, and so far, nothing.”
    “The past is going to become the present, Natalia,” he says. “Things are already playing out that way, things have already begun happening. And when it’s all over, Santa Anna will be destroyed. Your school, your house, Cam, your