The Dawnvel Druids by - (summer beach reads TXT) 📖

you talking about?” Warren demanded, looking at Bobby with renewed loathing.

“Absolute nonsense, as usual.” Simone met Lana’s frosty gaze.

“Calm down, hulk,” said Lana. “The jealous ex-boyfriend is so cliché.”

Wait, what? Now it made sense. Of course, the hottest girl on campus would’ve dated the rugby captain muscled like a Greek god.

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“Maybe you’re the one who’s jelly.” Mo smiled around a slice of toast.

“Didn’t you have a fling with Warren before he and Sim happened?”

The level of awkwardness permeating the table made Bobby want to physically cringe.

“As if,” Lana laughed. “I just got out of a relationship with Athena.”

“Oh, the less we hear about that witch the better.” Mo rolled his eyes.

“Has Warren hooked up with you too, Mo? Trying to go for the whole set.”

Bobby said light-heartedly, trying to break the tension.

“He wishes,” Mo snorted.

“New guy’s got jokes.” Warren eyed him coolly.

The chatter of the students around them faded as two police officers entered the cafeteria and the constable made a bee-line straight for their table.

“Have you come to arrest the Perfects?” A boy called out, standing up at his table and grinning around at his mates. He was in Bobby’s Maths class. Nate, Bobby recalled his name.

“I always knew the Perfects would eat their own,” Nate continued loudly.

“Let us know which one of ‘em killed Zander, will you?”

“You what, ya gobshite?” Warren leaped off his chair, but the police officers blocked his path.

“Settle down lad.” The chief officer gestured for Warren to return to his seat.

Constable Dennings, going by the name on his badge, had a square head and a moustache that looked like it had been squiggled on with a pencil.

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“You were the roommates and closest friends of Zander Murphy?” Dennings asked.

“Yes, officer,” Mo replied politely, looking the picture of innocence.

“I’m very sorry for your loss, but I’ll need you all to come down to the station and give statements,” said the Constable.

“Are we suspects?” Warren growled.

“I wouldn’t go that far.” Dennings laughed nervously. “At least, not yet. We just need to clarify a few things. There are two squad cars outside. Please, come this way.”

“How about you,” the female officer pointed at him. “Were you a roommate too? We only have these six on our records.”

“No, he’s new to Dawnvel,” Simone said. “He didn’t even know Zander.”

“Very well,” the officer nodded and Bobby sighed in relief, though his dread remained as he saw the six of them led away. What if the police found something they couldn’t explain? They’d never believe magic was real and might try to arrest one of them, maybe all of them.

What if one of your new friends is the killer? A dark voice whispered inside his head. What if they all are? Some people believed druids performed human sacrifice. What if they sacrificed Zander, and you’re going to be next?

*

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Bobby tried to ignore his disturbing thoughts that his newfound ‘friends’

were all lying to him. Luring him into a false sense of security so they could sacrifice him. Maybe that’s what tonight’s Joining was. But even if he truly thought that, how could he go about escaping?

He knew he was being paranoid. And he couldn’t imagine Simone and Mo were secretly planning to murder him, or that any of them had harmed Zander.

They all seemed to care for him deeply, even to the point of near-worship.

Gossip around campus was already rife.

“I bet that Warren killed Zander,” he heard one girl tell her friends, and another say, “that Dreg’s always been the biggest weirdo, maybe he did it.”

“I heard Zander cheated on her and Niamh did him in,” another boy claimed.

“Maybe it was Mo. It’s the nice guys you’ve got to watch,” said another.

Bobby tried not to ignore the gossip, until some of the students turned their attention to him.

“Oi, you,” said Nate as the students filed in for Maths class. “You were sitting with the Perfects this morning, what’s that about?”

“Oh, nothing,” he mumbled, hoping Nate would drop it.

“Come off it,” Nate’s replied. “You seemed well chummy with ‘em, especially with Maurice.”

“Not really,” Bobby answered, frantically trying to come up with an excuse.

“Uh Maurice is my cousin, that’s all.”

“Your cousin,” Nate frowned. “But Mo’s black?”

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“Uhh, yeah. I’m adopted, Mo’s auntie is my foster mum.” He said quickly, which wasn’t a total lie. Technically, he’d been fostered before.

“So what happened to Zander?” Nate pressed. “We heard he overdosed on something. Dreg’s a drug dealer on the side, isn’t he? But now people are saying it wasn’t an overdose, but someone stabbed him to death.”

Bobby looked from side to side, aware practically the whole class was staring at him. Damn, why did the teacher have to be late for his own lesson.

“C’mon guys, leave him alone,” said another voice.

Bobby turned to see a strikingly pretty girl across the room. At first, he thought she was just pale, before realising she was actually an albino. Half her hair was white, whilst she’d dyed the left half a dark blue.

“Why’s that, Julia,” said Nate. “You got a crush on the new kid?”

“You’re just being insensitive. Besides, he’s not going to know anything.”

“You’re probably right,” Nate said. “We’ll have to ask one of the actual Prefects what happened.”

“Yeah, I’d love to see you question Warren,” Julia replied.

“I ain’t scared of him,” Nate proclaimed, looking around the class and daring anyone to say otherwise.

“Whatever you say.” Julia shook her head before returning to her Maths book.

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It struck Bobby as ironic, considering Julia looked like some sort of supernatural creature, or a mythical druid herself, that she was just a regular student, and unremarkable old him was supposed to be the magical one.

At last, Mr Rustin arrived and the class began. Lana and Dreg were supposed to in his Math lesson too, but were absent due to the questioning. But by the time his science class came around, Mo and Simone had returned to campus.

They took the seats either side of him, gaining a dozen stares from pupils nearby. Until Simone asked the room at large what they were looking at and they all turned away.

“So, what happened,” he whispered as Mrs Aylen addressed the class. “Did the cops say if they know anything?”

“They mainly asked if Zander had any enemies we might know of, that kind of thing,” said Simone.

“And we can’t very well tell the police, ‘of course officer, there’s a load of monsters who probably have motive,” Mo said.

“They’re confused about how he died though,” Simone whispered. “Zander had a wound on his chest, but also showed signs of suffocation. Obviously, they couldn’t explain his unnatural skin or the fact his veins had turned red either.”

“They’ve quietly decided Zander’s death is a murder inquiry,” said Mo.

“They don’t want to announce it and spook the whole town. But I bet everyone will know by the end of the day. You can’t keep secrets in Dawnvel. Other than our clan, of course.”

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“So what happens next?”

“Our guild will sort it,” said Simone. “Us and the clans like us ensure that humans never encounter stuff like this. But in the rare times it happens at this level, our Elders make sure it doesn’t become a government incident and stuff like that.”

“Are you telling me the older druids control the government?”

“Hardly,” Mo snorted. “But they have influence.”

Mo was right about the whole school learning the police were actively investigating a murderer on the loose. Bobby sat once again at the Perfects table, where he felt like was on stage with the number of students watching them, trying and failing to be subtle. He could barely eat, his stomach like writhing worms and before long he excused himself to his room.

“Just stop by our house at ten,” Simone called after him. “We’ll make our way into the forest from there.”

“The forest?”

Bobby saw the tip of Simone’s wand protrude from her sleeve as she waved her hand and suddenly her voice was directly in his ear, so no one else could overhear.

“It’s where our grove is hidden, where the ceremony must take place. Just avoid any of the school security as it will be after curfew, and you’ll be fine.”

“What if Cairnath are around again?” he muttered.

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“They shouldn’t be, but I’ll know if you’re in danger,” Simone’s voice was a nearby whisper.

He just nodded before leaving the cafeteria, wondering how she’d know if he got himself in trouble and if that was unsettling or not.

The dread that had lived in the pit of his stomach all day quickly turned to panic once he was enclosed in his small bedroom. He paced back and forth, trying to push it down. Before he knew it, curfew had passed and he found himself staring out into the night outside his window.

After pacing, he’d packed his bags once again, ready to leave. This was his last chance to run from Dawnvel. He had no doubt the Perfects would follow him, but there was a chance he could lose them. And then what? Get killed by another Shade? Eaten by a Cairnath? Or just wait to explode from the inside out from magic? There was danger in running, but would it be any less if he stayed?

Someone or something had already killed Zander and Bobby couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d be next.

Whatever he chose, there’d be no turning back after tonight. He still didn’t know what he was going to do as he left his room, setting off into the night.

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Chapter Nine– Down to the Woods Today

Simone was reaching her limit. Her breath spiralled around her in the cold night air, increasing as she huffed in annoyance.

Mo, Warren and Niamh stood outside the house with her, but Lana and Dreg were making them run late. The Joining had to take place at exactly midnight.

That might still be two hours away, but everything had to be prepared just right.

“I still don’t know why we can’t wait inside,” said Mo after a long yawn. “I was halfway through Titanic.”

“You’ve watched it like a hundred times,” she sighed. “And you know why.

We have to be on the verge of leaving before Lana actually hurries up.”

“Good point,” Niamh agreed, allowing a faint smile, one of the first ones Simone had seen since Zander’s passing.

“It’s probably best I don’t finish the movie anyway,” Mo lamented. “It always sets me off. Poor Jack.”

Warren remained silent, not even looking their way as he leaned against the wall, the smoke from his cigarette mixing with the steam from his breath. He always acted like he didn’t want to be there when it was time for official druid business. Simone suspected the only thing Warren enjoyed about being a druid was killing things.

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“Boudica. What’s taking Dreg so long again?” she asked.

“Feeding his wibbersnake,” Mo replied.

“Uh, is that