The Last Phoenix- Book 1 of the Legends of Henge Series

Chapter 23

Lark Tanning

It had been quite a few weeks since I'd gotten out of the Med Tent. Nearly the end of September now. I'd tried to keep my head low but so many people had been avoiding me.

Looked like I was trouble. I thought back to that night, the night that the Nocturnal Section had apparently burned down because of me.

I hardly remembered anything. I had just been standing guard by the flag when something had happened to me. I felt myself turning without any control over myself.

The rest was a blur of flames and darkness. The others said that I had shifted and instantly taken off towards town.

Thanks to my forced diet of mashed up worms, my broken wrist had healed very quickly. I still wasn't sure on the science behind that but whatever.

Unfortunately, it hadn't healed my reputation. Aurum was adamant that I hadn't done anything but she still didn't know what had actually happened. I was determined to find out what had.

Another attack had occurred but the boy caught claimed he'd been controlled. I wondered vaguely if I had been too and I really was responsible for all the destruction in the Nocturnal Sector. But that still wouldn't explain how I had conjured a fire out of thin air. And I had reacted after the whole thing had started, so it couldn't have been me, right?

I looked up as Bailey and Arielle sat on either side of me at our picnic table in the courtyard. I glanced down at my katana, lying the grass. "So, how'd you feel about that test?" Bailey asked us.

I shrugged. "Pretty good, did you study?"

"Hell no!" Bailey laughed. "Probably did fine though, it wasn't that hard. How about you, Ari?"

Arielle looked up thoughtfully. "It was fine," she muttered. Bailey didn't seem to notice anything but I knew something had been bothering her lately.

"So, I think it's time we celebrate this weekend with the points we get," Bailey suggested.

"We don't know if we got that much yet," I pointed out.

"Don't be such a downer Lark!" Bailey chastised. "I'm sure we kicked ass." I grinned at her. "Anyways, we should have a girl's weekend!"

"Yeah, it's not like we live together 24/7," Arielle said sarcastically. Bailey stuck her tongue out.

We followed each other out of the courtyard and around the corner to the leaderboard. The positions hadn't changed since yesterday, even with the new test scores in. Our team was still in second, but we'd each gotten a considerable amount of points.

It looked like we'd each gotten at least 50 each. That brought me up to nearly two hundred points. "Well it looks like your girl's weekend will work out," I stated as we walked to our next class.

"Ha! I told you. Don't question the Amazing Bailey!" she cheered. Arielle just shook her head, laughing slightly.

The week seemed to pass in a blink of an eye. Bailey had convinced Anvi and Harper to come along as well while we went out to go shopping for Bailey's sake.

"Okay, first order of business," Bailey started. "You all need to get real clothes." I swapped a confused glance with Arielle.

"What are you talking about?" I questioned.

"Y'all don't look badass enough," Bailey quipped. Anvi pursed her lips in disapproval of the language. She led us all into a store full top to bottom with clothing. There were so many colors it was starting to make me anxious.

I touched the hilt of my katana, instantly feeling comforted by the smooth leather under my fingers. Bailey grabbed my forearm and threw a flurry of clothes at me.