Chapter 18

Megan woke from her crappy sleep feeling tired and cranky. Last night had been 'a real night at the picture show' as her mom used to say. And just the thought of her made her heart sink into her stomach; she still missed her every day.

Out of habit Megan picked up her picture that sat in a pewter frame on her nightstand. It had been silver once, but each year since her enlightenment she had grown a deeper aversion to the metal. Now her stepmom called it an allergy and she went with it.

Her finger lined the contours of her mother's beautiful face so much like her own. They looked like sisters now her mom had been so young when she passed . Megan even had her bright red hair, but their eyes were different her mother's were an emerald green; Megan had her father's crystal blues. The shape of the eyes and face and even the small upturns noses were identical though which made Megan wonder if that was why her father had disowned her, because of the resemblance.

But if only it were that simple, she knew he blamed her for her mother's death. A familiar feeling of guilt and shame washed over her, but she pushed it down to the deepest recesses of her soul with a jagged sigh.

As she shimmied out of her too big bed she thought of Cam and how much he'd love her bed. Then she blushed and thought how much she'd love to have him share it, before grabbing her nearby crutches and heading for the shower.

The shower was sweet bliss; she let the hot stream hit her directly on her back where the constant pain resided. She couldn't wait for her swim after school today. And just maybe she'd trick Cam into the water again. That brought a smile to her face just thinking about it.

Megan exited the wet shower careful to grab the built in railings. What she wouldn't give to have the freedom of movement that others took for granted. But she was lucky she guessed, she could remember the scene her father had thrown when the doctor's had told him she would never walk again. He had her on a plane to Switzerland that night and that was when the years of tremendously painful surgeries began, but he had been right. She did walk again with the aid of crutches; at least she had that much mobility.

Megan got dressed for the day. She was a casual clothes kind of gal. What she wouldn't give to wear high heels and miniskirts, but they really didn't work for her. Thankfully, she could wear: long flowing skirts, off the shoulder and scoop necked blouses that gave her the appearance of being a little curvier, and of course jeans of every description, as long they were feminine and fun, but they still needed to be functional. She wasn't into heavy makeup either. Some liner, mascara and lip gloss was usually all she wore unless it was a special occasion like at the Yule ball. Then she'd splurge and have someone in to do her makeup and hair for her.

She checked her face in the mirror. She had deep purple circles under her eyes so today she used a little cover-up she kept on hand for her acne days. She brushed and blow-dried her hair deciding to leave it down today. Cam seemed to like that the best. Whenever she did it was like he couldn't keep his hands off of her. She liked that. Yeah she'd leave it down, a small smile spread across her face.

Looking at her watch on her wrist she cursed realizing she was late, she'd have to hurry if she wanted to have time to pick up Cam. He always seemed to leave her waiting in his driveway for at least five or more minutes, so getting there early was usually her strategy for not being late, but now she was the culprit.

Meg raced past their chef in the kitchen yelling. "Thanks," as she snatched the bagel off her already prepared breakfast.

"Sorry," she yelled over her shoulder, "No time for breakfast."

"Will Miss be home for dinner?" he asked in a detached manner. Like he couldn't care less just didn't want to waste his time if she wasn't.

Ouch! She thought. But she said aloud instead, "There's no way to know. Please don't go to any trouble. Just something simple will do," as an afterthought she yelled, "Thank you Simmons."

He may not be allowed to call her by her name, but that didn't mean she had to call him chef like her step-monster insisted.

He smiled at her and yelled back, "Your Welcome Miss have a nice day," at her quickly departing form.

She smiled back as she thought best not to get attached he'd be gone soon anyway.

"You too," she yelled as the door swung closed behind her.

The elevator was taking forever and she cursed her useless legs. If it weren't for them she could have easily run down the twenty or so flights of stair. Instead she was stuck waiting while she tapped her foot in frustration. Finally it came and she was in front of her little red beetle before she knew it.

It took her five minutes to get to Cam's and she gave the horn a slightly more persistent honk. And surprise, surprise he was actually at the door right away as she thought things were looking up. Maybe they wouldn't be late after all.

If they went to any other school, but a magic one, there wouldn't be any classes at all today they would still be in repair and clean up mode. But of course not. You'd be surprised how fast things can get done when you can put the whammy on the school board reps and city planners, the rest as they is 'magic.'

She didn't even wait for Cam to buckle up before she was speeding down the quiet urban street.

"Hey," Cam complained churlishly, "I didn't even get a chance to give you a good morning kiss. He sat back in his seat to sulk theatrically.

OMG! He was so cute. She just had to laugh. It was a foggy drizzly morning so she turned on the radio and turned it up to drown out the squeaking from the wipers. When you have preternatural hearing little noises like that can grate on your nerves.

When Phil Collins came on, but it was another of his songs, her and Cam started to sing along. She had to laugh at the memory of him serenading her a few weeks ago. He was always so thoughtful like that. She really was the luckiest girl in the world to have found someone like him.

They pulled into the parking lot. Normally she hated parking in her designated handicap parking spot but today she was grateful that they were so closed to the door. She grabbed her bag and her crutches from the back seat before quickly giving him the kiss he'd whined about earlier and they were out the door like a shot.

Tuma was tapping his foot and looking at his watch at the top of the steps as she crested the final set of stairs. That's when she saw it. The metal detector -- a human metal detector? Since when were they an inner city school with a problem of violence? Then she saw the school cops everywhere. They patrolled the front of the building and stood on either side of the new device.

Meg looked at Cam with a what the hell is going on here look. He just shrugged his massive shoulders and said:

"You got me."

Of course the thing would go off as she went through her god damn crutches were made of metal, but as she went through she was surprised that she didn't set off any alarms which could mean only one thing – they weren't looking for something metal they must be looking for something magical.

She just looked at Cam that went through without a hitch right behind her and she leaned in to say quietly from the corner of her mouth.

"It's not a normal metal detector. I think they're looking for magical weapons."

"Great," he complained, "how are we going to get our weapon past that?"

They met up with the rest of the gang in home room and it was abuzz with rumors and speculations on all sides.

Knight shut them all down though with a commanding, "Be seated!"

Meg took her stool next to Cam and waited for Knight to explain the increased security, but apparently he didn't feel he needed to explain their new demilitarized zone. There was no surprise there; none of the teachers were doing much talking as of late.

The kids settled in for a boring class of discussing the properties and groupings of the periodic table. BORING! And of course Cam loved it. He was so excited by the topic he couldn't even sit still he kept swinging his swivel stool in a wide arc left and right over and over again. She had to poke him several times just so she could concentrate. By the end of the class her writing hand was cramped and her brain was fried.

The remainder of the morning classes was a little better. She had English for last period and got her paper back on To Kill a Mockingbird. She had an A she showed it to Cam from across the room and he just smiled at her and gave her a silent thumbs up. She signaled him to show her his, but he just nodded his head no emphatically.

She mouthed COME ON and rolled her eyes at him. He just laughed and flash a C+ at her. She had to wonder when her guy was going to start taking school a little more seriously. She heard from a fifth year once that the subject just got harder and harder to grasp both the human and magical ones.

She made the universal sign of talking with her hand, and then pointed at herself and then him, which made him point at himself comically and raise his eyebrows all the way to his hairline which made her laugh out loud. There little pantomime attracted the teacher's attention who mimed for them to cut it the fuck out. Their teacher Calliope or Cally as she preferred to be called is one of the three muses of the school. Unlike her librarian sister's Clio's blonde hair and her music teacher Eutie brown hair, Cally's hair was an even brighter red than Megan's. She's also tall and beautiful with freckles all over her face. Meg just loved that each one represented an artistic thought that had become reality. She liked to fantasize that one of them could be there because of Picasso or a Rembrandt.

She apologized to the teacher and turned in her seat to listen to the reading of their new book study Animal Farm, which was really interesting because apparently it was also a treatise on communism.

After class she and Cam walked to the cafeteria together. The halls were crowed with students, but they were also a number of new faces, they were the faces of the new guards of the school. They might look like security/mall cops but she knew them for who they really were – the council guards. They were protecting whatever was hidden in the magical wing.

If anyone from Liam's crew showed up on the human side glammed as a normal student and thought they were getting into the magical wing from this side, they'd better think again. The Enlightened and Unenlightened alike were weirded out by the newcomers. They kept craning their necks this way and that to get a better look at the ultra serious cops. Not a one had the pot belly or the soft features of the lowly security guard. They were built and ready for battle. Meg could feel the menace wafting off them.

She felt sorry for the humans they had no clue what was going on. The cafeteria was buzzing like a beehive when she dropped Cam off at their table. She took a moment before meeting up with Zach and Xan to buy a sandwich and chocolate milk for the road.

They had an Oracle to see.

****************** THANKS FOR READING********************

I hope you all liked this chapter -- What do you think Delphi's going to say?

How are they going to get their weapons past the device?

Tune in tomorrow to find out.

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