Free Mayhem by Artist Arthur Page A

a connection with what we’re going through now.
    Lindsey, she’s still an enigma to me. She talks a mile a minute and eats just as fast. I think that’s probably so she doesn’t really taste it. But she’s small as a bird and doesn’t seem to haveany issues about gaining weight. She looks a little pale today and that worries me some.
    â€œAren’t you hot?” I ask.
    I was hot earlier today so I took my hoodie off. Meagan Helmper was sitting behind me in Geometry and she sort of gasped when I did. I haven’t been without my hoodie in school for years so I guess she was just surprised that I’d taken it off at all. I just wore a T-shirt underneath it and it was a clean one, so I didn’t think there was any offensive odor. Still, every time I turned around Meagan was staring at me. And not in a bad way.
    Lindsey rolls her eyes. “No. I said I’m fine.”
    â€œAre you trying to block out somebody’s thoughts?” Sasha says taking a bite of her sandwich.
    I’d been thinking that, so when I nibble on the cold grilled cheese that was on the gourmet school lunch menu today, I wait for her response.
    â€œI’m trying to survive one day at a time,” she says in an exasperated tone. She picks up her grilled cheese and takes a small bite, chewing it like she has a toothache.
    There’s definitely something bothering her.
    â€œFatima says that in the Majestic, telepaths are highly coveted. Higher-level magicals want to harvest their power to give them a better advantage,” Sasha says like she’s relaying the daily gossip from around Lincoln.
    â€œOh great, so I need to worry about somebody else wanting this freaky power.” Lindsey is definitely not in her usual happy-go-lucky mood today.
    â€œAnybody else think it strange we haven’t seen the creepy darkness for a while?”
    As soon as Krystal says this I think about the voice in myhead, about what it said about Styx being a servant of the Underworld.
    Sasha nods and crunches a celery stick in her mouth. “Fatima says we should beware of the calm before the storm.”
    â€œDoes Fatima ever give real answers?” I ask, and it sounds like an explosion of words. I’m just saying, Sasha puts a lot of credence in what Fatima says. And I get that she’s the Messenger, but she never really tells us anything that we haven’t already guessed or figured out. “Why can’t she just tell us what the deal is, who we’re fighting and why we were selected?”
    For a minute Sasha just stares at me. Lindsey sort of hunches down in her seat a little more, rocking back and forth. I really would like to know what is going on with her but I’m not about to push her on an answer.
    â€œAre we in a mood today?” Sasha asks. “And what happened to your face? Yesterday it was all bruised up, now it’s not.”
    â€œJeez, my face is fine and no I’m not in a mood. I’m just tired of not getting any straight answers from this Fatima person. I mean, if she’s a messenger, isn’t she supposed to deliver messages about the unknown?”
    â€œWell, for your information, she can only tell us certain things at a time,” Sasha answers.
    â€œWhy? We need to know everything now so we can be prepared,” I insist.
    Lindsey shakes her head. “I don’t want to know everything.”
    â€œOkay, why don’t we just calm down,” Krystal says looking from me to Sasha with pleading eyes. “We all want answers, Jake. But maybe there’s a reason for Fatima telling us a little at a time. I don’t know about you, but I’ve learned enough new stuff in the past few months to actually last me a lifetime.”
    My head’s hurting, my temper’s boiling now, temples aching as the anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach grows. Slamming my hand down on the table makes each of the girls jump. “We may not have