Page 16

Maggie Grey

The sweet smell of fruit and flowers drifted into the air as we felt around for any type of support or walls.

“Are we caught between a door?” Isis whispered. I felt the panic jump in my throat just as dim lights slowly simmered on, illuminating a large office with a sofa, coffee table and a counter that held coffee and a sink. I looked back at the office door that probably led to the dark red hallways of the Holmes building.

“Where…are we?” Asha whispered. “What is this?”

“We’re back at Drew Collins.” I said as I looked around. “This is her office.”

“ Who ?” Isis questioned with her mouth lingering in the shape of a small O.

“Wilhelmina Holmes…”

The girls looked at me as I began to step further into her office, careful not to touch anything. The family portraits on the wall of black women wearing black faded dresses sat perfectly still as their eyes carefully watched us move about in the office. I pulled my hoodie off, thinking that it would provide some sort of familiarity but instead, the heads just slowly turned, following my every move like a security camera instead of some old plantation portrait.

“I don’t know if she has an alarm or if this is some sort of trap so don’t touch anything.” I warned, glancing at the pictures on the wall. “This used to be Dr. Marvin T. Holmes’s office at one point…”

“How the hell did we get here?” Asha asked. “What does this have to do with The Hill?”

“I think the party was probably a lock-in…Maybe that’s why a key was needed,” Isis suggested. “And we got there too late, I’m assuming? I don’t know…”

“How is something like this here and we as students have never seen this before?” Asha questioned. “As many times as I got sent to the Holmes building, I’ve never seen this before.”

“Because they hide it,” I said, for once having the leg up on something dealing with this school. “There are doors within this building…and I guess, apparently locked doors.”

“Look at this y'all,” Souxie whispered. I whipped around to see she was already standing behind the desk. “It’s a bunch of folders for different students… Maybe Asha and Celeste’s files are here too.”

As much as I didn’t want to, I found myself walking over as Isis shuffled in her heels behind us and crowded around the desk to look over Souxie’s shoulder. There were different names and student ID photos. Blood types. Health records. Vaccines and list of allergies. Souxie reached to turn the small lamp light on with a yank of the dangling chain as we found a stack of papers with the cover page labeled, ADI. Advanced Discovery Institution. The Hill Laboratory.

“This…” Asha pointed to the words, confused. “This is where they kept me… ADI. I remember those letters…”

“Are you certain?” Souxie asked but Asha began looking through the pile of other folders.

“Oh shit, this is my teacher!” Asha whispered loudly before pointing down at the folder labeled Birdie. We flipped through the heavily inked file filled with notes and an outline of every detail concerning her body and health from the strain of her hair type to a list of health concerns and diseases she might have carried in the past. Even the number of abortions and trauma to her uterus.

“Classified as 100% human,” Souxie read with her sky blue nail trailing the paper. “They’re using her sample of blood for some of these experiments…look…They have other humans…a woman…mother of two daughters…blood type O… This is for…the Vampire Induction Trials .”

“What does that mean?” I asked. Isis began to scan the documents.

“It means they are injecting students with some sort of new drug they’re calling…” Her studies in the medical portion of her education were kicking in as she picked the papers up to skim through. “They are creating a new in jection called IPV-13…Immortal Pathogen Variant. A viral mutation that…”

Isis grew silent but her face said it all. She was reading and comprehending something bad happening.

“What is it, Isis?” I asked. She looked up at us with a worried expression.

“They are creating vampires out of these students to where they’re able to pass it along to whoever they infect.”

“ What ?!” I freaked, snatching the papers from her hand.

“Am I mentioned?” Asha asked. “Is my file on here?”

“No and neither is Celeste.” Souxie replied before bending down in her heeled boots. “Let’s check her drawers.”

“Y'all,” putting the papers down, “I don’t think this is a good idea.”

The loud clunking noise echoed in the office. Souxie yanked the drawers open to see dozens of files and papers stacked neatly together.

“Aye, look at this,” Asha said as we turned to see the shelf she was poking around at suddenly cracked open. “I knew one of these things on the shelf would trigger something. ”

Souxie closed the cabinet drawer underneath the desk as we started for the hidden archived room but out of nowhere…we heard voices. Voices that turned into growing chatter as I panicked. Isis began jumping in place with her hands flapping back and forth like wings as we started to look for some sort of place to hide.

“Go! Go!” I hissed. “Hurry up and close it!”

Asha stupidly closed herself into the hidden room before Souxie decided to slide in with her. Isis could barely move in the damn thigh high boots as she and I crouched down behind the desk, sliding just underneath the nook where the legs and feet go. I pulled her in before taking the chair to roll closer to us as we heard the door unlock. I grabbed my vibrating phone from my back pocket, seeing a series of messages from Bellamy. I put it on silent mode altogether and dimmed the screen. Isis looked so distraught at me touching my phone that I almost broke character and laughed before remembering how serious this is.

We were about to get caught snooping around this old lady’s office until I heard the voice…

“Dr. Holmes…she has been running this school straight into the ground.” The small timid voice said as the lights turned completely on. “She has her own agenda and it has nothing to do with the well being of the st udents and staff here. I’m so glad you’re finally back to take your rightful place as dean of this school.”

Isis and I stared at one another as the deep voice drew closer to the desk. You could hear the movement of the papers and folders we were just looking at right above us. I began texting Bellamy like a mad woman, pleading with him to get here and help us out of this office.

“She’s taking these students, paying teachers extra on the side to have them removed from the class and used for her own purposes…” the timid voice said. “I never agreed with it, Dr. Holmes. Never.”

“Of course not…”

Isis and I almost choked on our own breaths as our eyes popped out of our heads at the same time. So it was him! The rich baritone floated throughout the office as he spoke. Dr. Marvin T. Holmes has returned! He was here in this office right now!

“What about my granddaughter?” I looked up at the wood as if I could see through it to stare directly into his eyes.

“You would be proud. This school agrees with her. I know you wanted to do your best to keep her away for safety reasons but she is excelling. All of her professors have nothing but amazing things to say about her. I believe Wilhelmina knew not to bother her on account of Bellamy keeping a close eye on her. Lovely is under his guidance.”

“ Did somebody say my name ?”

I almost jumped when Isis grabbed my arm, eyes staring daggers into mine to silence me. Bellamy Holmes had entered the office, wasting no time getting here.

“Have my office restored back to its original decor,” Dr. Holmes said. “Bellamy, you and I have nothing further to say to one another–––”

“Where have you been resting, old man?” Bellamy pressed. “You look good…if not, younger…”

Bellamy came to sit in the chair behind the desk as his legs pressed up against Isis and I. I tugged at his joggers to let him know I was here and to silently thank him for the distraction.

“Do you know what your psychotic aunt is up to?” Marvin asked, sounding ticked off.

“As long as she doesn’t bother my sister, I don’t give a damn what she’s up to–––”

“She won’t have a need for you or your sister after this,” he retorted.

“What are you talking about?”

“She’s trying to create a dozen more Maggies…and Bellamys. She’s been experimenting on students at the labs…injecting them with some sort of shot that will allow them to move, think, act exactly like us…I should have…I should have killed her when I had the chance…I left the ideology of expanding our kind years ago. Once this school was created, I gave it my all, and dedicated my time, energy and money into building what you see today. I wanted this place to be a safe haven for the mythical and magical blacks of today and tomorrow. This is my legacy.”

The sound of the door opening caused them both to stop as I heard Wilhelmina’s panic stricken voice.

“Marvin!?” She blurted out with a cracked tone. “What are you–––Who told you–––”

“What the hell is going on, Wilhelmina? What is the meaning of all of this? Testing students? Injecting them with our blood–––”

“I’m doing exactly what I said I was going to do. I told you our numbers are dwindling and you ignored me. None of us can bear children. Carmilla and Maggie are our only surviving young females with Maggie possibly having a useable womb but she’s wasting it away with some werewolf–––”

“Watch your mouth when you speak about her,” Bellamy warned.

“Oh pullease…” Wilhelmina spat angrily but she was losing it right before our eyes…well ears. She was losing her mind! “Maggie is a waste of fucking space and body. Nothing came of us. Just hype and white hair. She’s not Gaia. She’s no God. No moon! She’s nothing! Nothing special or unique but it doesn’t matter…I no longer have a need for her as I have the ability to create others like her who are more than capable of showing the type of power I desire for our kind.”

“Wilhelmina.” Marvin said with a strict tone. “You need to leave–––”

“My sister doesn’t have to have any ability or magic to be exactly who the fuck she’s meant to be,” Bellamy said as he stood up. “You’re upset because she turned out to be exactly like Marvin–––”

“A waste!” Wilhelmina spat angrily again. “Just like her grandfather! Just like our siblings that I finally got rid of! All of that power and does absolutely nothing with it but play around with this school! I’ll step down the right way and I can promise you, there will be teachers following behind in support of me.”

Isis tapped my leg and I almost forgot we were even hiding under the desk when she motioned to something on the floor. Something Bellamy had slipped us. A small tiny plastic bag filled with black powder. Isis silently pressed her hands together as I reached to grab the baggy and shuffled closer to the inside of the desk.

“Get out, Wilhelmina,” Marvin said. “I have nothing else to say to you.”

“Of course you don’t,” she laughed. “Forever weak and submissive. Accepts what is reality instead of looking at the possibilities. I’ll have my assistant clean off my things in the morning. ”

“You will come clean in front of the entire student body and staff about what you’ve been doing here and–––”

“Sure, sure,” she blew off with a laugh. “I’ll do that. You have my word brother…”

“You will leave Maggie alone–––”

“I have no need for a useless body like her anymore. She is no real power or threat to anything I’m doing and no potential for me to even be curious. I just played the role of a protective Auntie making sure her beautiful niece is unharmed. Nothing more.”

The way she laughed out of the room could have been something straight out of a film where the villain thinks they got away with murder. I waited a few seconds before Marvin took a phone call, declaring for a search beneath the schools of the Underground. Not just Drew Collins, but every school where it could be a possibility students were being taken.

It wasn’t until the door was closed shut did Bellamy push his chair back to look at us with a grin.

“Oh my God, oh my God,” I freaked, taking his hand to stand up.

“We have to get Asha and Souxie out.” Isis exclaimed, almost stumbling in Bellamy’s lap before rushing to the shelf. He didn’t seem to mind as he carefully eyed her obvious figure in the bodysuit before looking back at me .

“Did you know he was alive?” I asked.

“I had a feeling but I didn’t know for sure,” he shrugged. “Y'all may wanna make this quick before he returns.”

“How are we supposed to get out of here without walking out?”

The shelf slowly pulled back with Asha and Souxie holding a book and stack of folders. They looked just as distraught as we felt but Bellamy gathered us together, and with the black powder, made us all cover our palms in it. No instructions were given, Bellamy simply grabbed my hands as my body suddenly felt sucked into thin air before collapsing on the ground in the middle of a courtyard of Drew Collins dorms.

“What the hell?!” I coughed on all fours. Bellamy took one look at his phone, made a face. “What the hell was that about?!”

“What do you mean?” He asked, distracted as he texted on his phone. I stood up on weak legs, gripping my stomach that felt so lopsided and weak.

“All of that! What the hell was all of that and…”

“Careful…First time traveling through smoke can make you nau–––”

Asha was already leaning over in a planted tree puking up spit and air. Souxie was sitting on the ground. Isis was the only one who clicked her heels towards Asha to comfort her .

“Alright so…what now?” I asked.

“Now you know the truth and you need to move accordingly,” Bellamy said as he looked around. “I will call on you tomorrow. Go see your boyfriend. I have to go.”

“Wait, Bellamy!? I–––”

He shot directly into the air turning into a dart of blackness into the night sky while the rest of us were just trying to recover from the overload of information. Nobody, I mean nobody said a word on the way back to the house. It was the silent death march back to Traditional Row which was its typical quiet self with cars lined up against the curb for the weekend. Wisteria House that used to look soooo whimsical with swinging branches of purple flowers now looked like the place where plants go to die. The trees were bare, the vines wrapping around the home were dried out from the cold and the house just looked old…dated. Namir’s truck was just outside beside my car and I couldn’t help but run straight for the door, ready to rush in to tell him everything.

Nevermind that he lied to me about Hillary. We had bigger problems now with Wilhelmina! The evil mistress that basically kidnapped this entire school for her personal gain. I yanked my shoes off to toss in the corner before flying upstairs, passing up Quan who was curled up on a pillow on the living room couch .

“Where the hell have y'all been? It’s almost 3 in the damn morning!” He argued.

“It’s a long story,” Souxie replied. I turned the corner of the hallway and ran to my bedroom at the very end to shove the door open.

“Namir I…”

Stopping, I saw Namir sitting on the edge of my bed with a bouncing knee, eyes swollen red with tears when he looked up at me. My heart fell…tanking to the pits of my stomach as I closed the door with a lock. He looked like he was on the brink of relapsing as he shook his head and squeezed his eyes tight. His entire body trembled and shook as his emotions took over. For the life of me, I didn’t have it in me to attempt to crack a joke or make him smile because this ... This felt different. I felt different. Protective even. I wanted to burn whoever thought they could hurt this man who did nothing but try to appease everyone and their feelings.

Coming to my own silent assumptions, I wrapped my arms around his head to bring him close to my chest. You don’t cry like this if you’re as strong as Namir unless there was a close death in the family, a family he was no longer a part of. I felt him move his hand as he managed to give me his phone to see the multiple texts from his mother going off. Maze kept calling, trying to get a hold of him but the messages were clear. Tyee’s body was found above ground in an apartment somewhere just outside of Atlanta. Self inflicted gunshot wound but I don’t know if I was buying that.

I put the phone down and stood up to go into my bathroom. I was pissed. Beyond pissed actually. Between Wilhemina showing her one eyeball having black ass to Namir’s family who at this point, uses him when they see fit, and manipulating his feelings. I squeezed the wash cloth, letting the cold water run through my fingers before coming back as I picked Namir’s head up. He was running hot to the point where it felt dangerous to touch him. So I gently slab the cloth across his forehead and watch a shaky exhale escape his nostrils. He calmed down almost instantly.

“Namir?” I called out, voice calm but I was seething underneath and I knew he could tell. He hung his head low, only moving it just a bit like the sound of my voice physically hit him. “I’m not gonna tell you what you should or shouldn’t do…or how to respond or what to say.”

Although its FUCK THEM! FUCK THOSE FLEABAGS! Fuck your murderous brother! Good riddance! The whole family can kiss my ass! Right behind Wilhelmina and her sick crimes against students!

“I just want to say,” I added calmly. “I’m with whatever you wanna do. I’m right behind you.”