The rest of the day passed in a blur.
After the bell had rung, he separated from Henry. They had different classes. Eli had gone to his next classes like normal, though normal was probably the wrong word for it.
His mind was too occupied by what he had learned. Kanima. The possibility that his own will could be lost to a so-called master. What had happened to his ring. What had happened to Harley. And who had sent that damn text. It was bothering him much more than he would allow himself to feel. So much so that he did not even realize he had already reached his next class.
"Mr. Eli?"
Eli blinked.
The math classroom came back into focus around him. Everyone was staring.
Mr. Harris, his chemistry and apparently math teacher, sighed from the front of the class.
"Would you care to join us for the lesson and answer the question on the board?"
A few students laughed quietly.
Eli looked at the board, noticing it for the first time during his daze.
It was just basic calculus. A rate of change question. It almost felt mocking.
"The answer is negative fourteen point three," Eli said flatly.
Mr. Harris stared at him for a moment.
"…Correct."
The faint laughter in the class stopped completely until some boy in the background whispered, "What a damn nerd."
Eli's mind spread back outward through the school. He deciphered dozens of voices. Thoughts and emotions surrounded him.
Scott was somewhere near the cafeteria. Stiles was in English class again. A girl near the office was trying not to cry, her hands shaking strangely. Eli didn't care enough to investigate.
He wanted something more than just explanations from a failing vegan. Maybe, just maybe, he could catch the person that sent that text. Maybe he would find Harley and stop worrying about what the hell he might have done to her.
Suddenly Eli's head twisted toward the window.
That was strange. Was someone watching him?
Ding. Ding. Ding.
The bell rang.
The noise snapped Eli out of his daze. He looked up at the ringing bell, then back out at the forest through the window.
That feeling was gone.
Still tense, he got up and headed for the door, occasionally glancing at the forest. He seemed to have come to a conclusion. His mind could stretch to cover the entire school and his eyes could read everything they could see. Twice now he had had the feeling of being watched. The first time he hadn't cared because he was at the hospital and too focused on the mountain lion. The second was now. Each time, almost exactly after he had almost exposed himself to the non-supernatural world, someone had covered up for him.
"Eli."
He stopped.
Mr. Harris motioned for him to stay behind.
The rest of the students filtered out of the classroom while Eli waited silently.
Mr. Harris adjusted his glasses.
"I reviewed your file this morning," he said. "You won't need to take the competency assessments."
Eli frowned slightly, still not quite forgetting about the feeling he had just had.
"You're more than capable of keeping up with this class," Harris continued. "Frankly, you're ahead of most of it."
Eli nodded once.
"Alright," he said quietly. "Thank you."
His answer was automatic. His mind was completely focused on the forest.
Harris got up and walked out of the class. So did he, his eyes still fixed on the forest through the window. The moment he exited the classroom he immediately pressed himself against the wall, breathing heavily. Harris had walked off without him.
He might indeed be unlucky enough to have a master.
Harley was not at school.
At first he thought she was probably still shaken up from what had happened yesterday.
But after that feeling…
Eli cut the thought off immediately.
No.
Eli's expression darkened slightly. He had one more class to get through before he could leave this school. Maybe public schooling wasn't such a great idea.
His next class was physics. And he was going to get there without passing any windows. If that so-called master wanted to watch him, they would have to enter the school, and from there it would be over for them.
Crouching low, he walked under the window frames heading to his next class.
Just as he reached the hallway leading toward the room, Eli stopped suddenly.
It was another set of people he did not want to see.
Scott.
Stiles.
Coming this way.
Eli immediately stepped behind a row of lockers.
A large bald black student walking past slowed slightly, giving him a strange look before continuing down the hallway.
Eli ignored him completely. There were more important things at stake than his dignity.
His focus narrowed entirely onto Scott and Stiles.
Their footsteps got closer.
Closer.
Eli's muscles tensed slightly.
Then—
They passed the physics classroom completely and entered the room across from it.
Eli exhaled slowly.
For a second he remained perfectly still before finally stepping back out and entering physics.
The classroom was already mostly full. Thankfully the teacher was not there yet.
Eli scanned the room once—
Then paused.
It was the Agitant. And without Scott to rightfully occupy all her attention, she was staring at him.
Not warmly either.
She seemed completely confused.
And unfortunately for him, the only empty seat left was beside her.
Hmm.
Maybe he should just leave, but that would probably look even stranger, wouldn't it.
So he walked over and sat down beside her silently. One good thing about this classroom was that it was upstairs, and if you sat sufficiently far from the windows you could see the forest, but it could not see you.
The Agitant kept staring at him for another few seconds before finally looking away. She seemed to want to avoid him.
Though her thoughts said otherwise.
Wait… how is he even at school?
Did my mom not actually hit him?
Was he faking it? Like one of those money scams she would see on TV — the poor trying to get money from the rich.
Eli's eye twitched slightly.
Right.
That was fair, actually. While they might not be rich, here family was indeed a bit more comfortable than most.
The rest of the class passed quietly. Or as quietly as the Agitant's thoughts would allow. She kept switching back and forth between Lydia, Scott — that "really cute boy she liked" — and the strange boy sitting next to her who, by all means, should still be in the hospital.
Eli mentally gagged.
By the final bell, Eli's head was beginning to hurt. Surprisingly, not because of the Agitant.
The web of thoughts spread across the school began collapsing inward as the effects of the level three ant tea started wearing off.
Eli's breathing slowed carefully.
He reached into the thick brown leather coat he had borrowed from his mother and pulled out one of the syringes hidden inside.
Most people would have panicked carrying something like this around school.
Eli had stopped caring several injections ago.
He pressed the syringe against his arm through the sleeve of his hoodie and injected the liquid smoothly.
A few seconds later the pain dulled.
The noise stabilized.
His mind expanded outward again.
If his powers wanted to give him more information than his brain could handle, then he just had to become an ant junkie.
Then — ding, ding, ding.
"Oh thank god, finally."
Before Eli could get up, the Agitant jumped up, all her books spilling out onto the floor.
Eli's face twitched.
"You have to help me pick them up, right?" she said, hands stretched out toward him with a broad smile on her face. "If you do, then my mother's car clearly didn't hit you. If you don't, I can feel a little better that we kind of did."
Eli looked at her outstretched hand with utter disgust.
He looked back up at her, tilted his face upward, then completely ignored her and walked past.
Maybe my mother should have driven a little faster, the Agitant thought, with a flicker of annoyance.
Eli stopped.
He turned around.
She looked slightly guilty. It seemed like he had just been putting on airs and was actually going to help her pick up her books. She felt a little bad about what she had just thought.
"Wait who did you say was it in the car with you the other day?" he asked.
"It was my mother—"
"Your mother?" Eli cut her off with a look of genuine surprise. "Are you sure? I read a story once where a grandmother took her daughter's child and told everyone it was hers, to protect her. Is that the same for you too?"
The people still in the class stopped dead in their tracks.
Alison's face hardened slightly and her thoughts stilled like the surface of a dead lake.
Then—
"Pfft." Some random student finally got the joke.
Watch how I hit you with a car socially, Eli thought maliciously.
Walking toward the school exit. Sometimes people just needed to hear the thoughts you kept to yourself, to leave you alone.
Though he could not enjoy hes victory against "The aginant "for much longer...
That strange feeling returned.
Stronger.
Eli immediately snapped out of it.
He turned sharply.
The hallway behind him was completely empty.
But he knew, that think. Was in the building now.