Free The Demon's Apprentice by Ben Reeder Page B

glaring at me over the narrow lenses of her glasses. Mom looked down at the folder, then at me, so I opened it with shaky, sweaty hands.
    Detention for fighting. Suspended for assault. Suspended for trespassing. Expelled for carrying a weapon. Expelled for possession. Expelled for fighting. My school record read like the rap sheet for a thug in training. I'd never actually seen what my old boss had been putting in my academic file, but none of it came as a surprise. Most of it was watered down for public consumption. I looked back up at Mom, but I couldn't meet her gaze for more than a few seconds.
    “I'm sorry, Mom,” I said to the floor. I could still feel Mom's eyes on me, and my gut churned at the thought that I'd let her down already. Bad karma really sucked.
    Mom's gentle hand on my face was the last thing I expected. She lifted my chin up until I could see her face, and she laid her other hand on my file. “This isn't the boy I see in front of me. It's not the young man I think you want to be, either. But it is who Principal Ravenhearst, here, thinks you are, and she doesn't think this young man,” she patted the damning file, “should be in her school. She's only willing to give you one chance. If you step out of line even once, she'll expel you.” Mom's voice was sharp as she spoke, and I couldn't tell if she was angry with me, Miss Ravenhearst, or both of us. Miss Ravenhearst gave us a cold smile, and I figured this was playing out the way she wanted it to. The conditions were almost impossible to meet, and I was betting she knew it.
    “If you don't want to deal with this crap, say the word and we'll figure something else out,” Mom offered. Ravenhearst's smile get a little broader, a little colder, and I made my decision.
    “I'll take it.” I narrowed my eyes at Ravenhearst, and her smile flipped.
    “Chance, you don't have to…”
    “I'll take it, Mom. If she's going to give me just one shot, I'll take it.”
    It was Mom's turn to smile, and I could see the gleam in her eyes as she turned to face the principal. “Well, then, you heard my son. Get him enrolled.”
    I was about to start high school.

Chapter 6
    ~ Among the cowan, be mysterious. They’ll come to far more useful conclusions on their own than you could suggest. ~ Myrddin Wyltt, 6 th century Master
    Tuesday morning took its sweet time to show up. My breakfast was sharing space in my stomach with a bunch of butterflies as Mom pulled into the school parking lot again. We passed kids milling around near the front doors and along the narrow strip of grass in front of the school. The groups were easy to sort by their wardrobes. Polo shirts and ass-hugging designer jeans didn't mingle with the baggy, strap-laden pants and dark t-shirts; and the sports jerseys and angled ball caps didn't mix often with the dress shirts and earth-tone pants and fedoras.
    I took a quick look down at my clothes, and tried to see where I might fit. Black cargo pants tucked into my new black, mid-calf combat boots, and a gray t-shirt with black sleeves under a black leather jacket. The only groups that even looked remotely like me were the pale and tragic goths, and the equally pale group of pimple-faced guys in black trench coats and combat boots. I wasn't sure I wanted to hang out with anyone who dressed like I did.
    The van came to a stop. “I'll pick you up here around four-thirty,” Mom said. I nodded, too excited to talk, and I tried for surly acceptance when she kissed my cheek.
    “See you this afternoon,” I managed as I hopped out and slung my backpack on my right shoulder. Mom's van sputtered away, and I looked at the school. My brain tried to register everything, lock it away as vividly as possible. For anyone else, this looked like me transferring in from another school. But for me, this was another first. My first day of high school. I wanted to remember this.
    I closed my eyes and opened my aura sight. Like any public building, the school wasn't