The Unfortunate Story of Roddy Mayhem, Julie Steimle [i can read book club TXT] 📗

Moyra are both genetic ghoulies—and I do believe that Moyra’s mother is a witch.”

Mr. Deacon stiffened, genuinely affronted. “A witch’s child is going to my school?”

“The intent was to reform her,” Capt. Eifert explained. But she was pained by that.

Looking to Mr. Wilderman, Mr. Deacon said, “Apparently she needs someone to teach her the dark end for witches.”

Mr. Wilderman rose, paling. “You can’t be serious. You know hiring that former witch as a counselor would be a bad idea. How do you know she won’t turn—?”

“I don’t,” Mr. Deacon said through his teeth. “Except for the fact that her brother is one of the Holy Seven, and she was a talented witch who had left her coven—a dangerous act. And I know her father personally. A good man. If I am wrong—”

“I will vouch for Silvia,” Officer Mason said, nodding. She approached Mr. Wilderman. “I’ve known her since high school, and I believe strongly that she has broken all ties with her coven. In fact, I know it.”

But Mr. Wilderman gazed on her, almost pleading. “Why can’t you come and—”

Officer Mason laughed, shaking her head. “I am a police officer. Not a school teacher.”

“Maybe when you retire?” Capt. Eifert suggested, looking hopeful on the young cop lady.

Officer Mason laughed. It was beautiful. She was like pure light. “The Holy Seven does not retire.”

Several of the teachers in the room drew in breaths. Perhaps this was the first time one of them admitted in their presence to being one of that marvelous Seven. Dan and James had been there, after all, but I don’t think they said anything.

“Besides, why don’t you hire Selena Davenport?” Officer Mason suggested. “That’s her field of expertise.”

I was amazed the cop knew about her. But then I realized that Rick’s friends were perhaps all connected in some way. They had to have met at some point.

Tom moaned and shook his head. But then he nodded to Mr. Wilderman. “Jessica is right. Selena would be perfect.”

I could feel a tension in his words. I then remembered that this Selena was Tom’s ex.

“If she will work here,” Mr. Deacon interjected. He nodded to Tom. “Currently, she is entertaining the feelings of her grandparents and quite possibly entering Society again.”

“Of course she is.” Tom moaned. He walked over to Officer Calamori who still watched the room intently, his eyes raking over us all. Several teachers were already getting up to go. Ms. Amherst and Ms. Arntz were stiff, clearly put out over the whole deal. And Dr. Folger was glowering at us. The others, however, seemed relieved. In fact, some of them appeared a little ashamed, like they wanted to slip out before I could meet their gazes. After all, they had been prejudiced against us imps and it had been proven so.

Before anyone could go, Officer Calamori raised a finger, clearing his throat. “I have one question before we split up from his meeting. Who is Dr. Folger?”

All our eyes turned on him. Mr. Wilderman looked especially shocked for some reason.

I stared at Dr. Folger as he gazed back at Officer Calamori, surprised. He lifted a hand. “I am. Who is asking?”

Nodding, Officer Calamori approached him with a firm march. “Officer Matthew Calamori. If you will come with me, you are under arrest.”

“On what charge?” the teacher balked, pulling back from the police detective. Dr. Folger’s imps were shrieking for him to run.

With a quick peek at me, Officer Calamori said as if it pained him to vocalize in my presence, “For the rape of Wispy Duchene.”

I paled.

I looked at the man—the creep. It was him?

I nearly jumped out of my skin at him, but Tom grabbed me faster than I could go and wrapped his arms around me, holding me back with hisses in my ears. “Calm down. Let justice serve.”

Capt. Eifert also seized and held back Piranha while Spastic swore at the teacher from the arms of Col. Jefferson, letting out one shout for imps to rip off Dr. Folger’s clothes. The colonel clamped a hand over his mouth before Spastic could shout worse.

Right there in front of us, the teacher’s clothes were shredded by imp hands, Dr. Coffee flailing to get the invisible imps off without success. He soon lay panting on the floor, his shoes ripped off last—hairy, ugly, and foul. All of us backed away from him as he tried to cover himself.

“Please!” Officer Calamori snapped at Spastic. “I can’t take him out naked. That’s indecent!”

“He’s indecent,” Piranha shouted.

Capt. Eifert covered her mouth with the discarded spell tape before Piranha could say any more.

I wanted to scream something for the imps to do to the man, but I (for once) heard in my mind Wispy’s pleas for me not to go all demon.

And yet…

“Cover him in honey and feathers!” I shrieked.

Tom busted up.

“Tom!” Officer Calamori shouted at him. He eyed his good imp friend as if to say ‘do your job!’

But as Dr. Folger got immediately drenched, coated in jars of honey from the kitchens down below and feathers from several pillows which were shredded right there by the invisible imps, no one came to his aid.

Mr. Deacon sneezed, and he backed away.

Yet Ms. Amherst did speak up. “What proof do you have that he is guilty?”

However, Ms. Arntz tugged on her arm, gesturing to Officer Calamori. “He’s psychic. Matthew is a former student who I know can read through lies.” She shot Dr. Folger a scathing glare, shooting him a splitting headache. “And such behavior from a teacher is vile.”

Her imps were screaming for her to make Dr. Folger’s head implode, though I was not sure if she was capable of doing that. If she was, I really really really never wanted to get her super angry.

Mr. Deacon sneezed again.

“Sorry!” Tom shouted out, seeing him. He actually looked sorry too.

The wolf man shook his head at Tom and exited the room.

“You’re cleaning that up, Roddy,” Mr. Wilderman said as Col. Jackson heaved Dr. Folger onto his sticky feet and Officer Calamori beckoned Tom to help him deal with sticky-feather man.

I rolled my eyes, nodding.

“Just flood the room,” Tom hissed in my ear as he walked by.

I looked at him. He really was trouble. A flooded room would be way harder to clean up.

“I’ll help,” Lorelei announced, arm raised. She hurried over to me.

“Me too,” Piranha said, grinning at me.

“Let’s just flood the room,” Spastic declared.

“No!” moaned the headmaster.

But Tom cackled more as they pushed the foul teacher out, winking at Spastic.

“Cover him in paper also,” I whispered to the imps, still glaring after Dr. Folger.

Available paper flew up immediately, whipping around him like a storm.

“Roddy!” Mr. Wilderman screamed. 

However, the paper sticking to the creeper also covered his junk, which was the point.

“That’s better!” Tom announced. He grinned back at me as he heaved away their captive with Officer Calamori. “Less sticky now! Thanks!”

His Italian cop friend rolled his eyes.

Sgt. Kreiner unwound the binding on my wings. “You’re free.”

Looking back at him, I stretched them and flexed my wings, flapping to ease out the aches. As the teacher walked away with the tape, I wondered if there was a way to break those ties in case they were used against us in a bad way. I understood the reason for them at the school. We were still struggling to control our impulses. But what about when we left? What if some bad person got a hold of the tape and used it against us for some bad purpose? Now that I knew it could happen, I had to prepare.

“We need to find a non-imp way to break the spell on those things,” Piranha murmured, of the same mind.

“I was thinking the same thing,” Spastic said, his eyes on the tape.

“Ditto,” I said.

Most of the room cleared.

“I really am sorry,” Lorelei said.

We all looked to her. She really was still there. She actually did want to help.

Like a frazzled and scared thing, Lorelei looked like she would shrink into the carpet under our stares. However, Piranha wrapped an arm around her shoulder and said, “Just show us how to get the stuff to clean this up, and we’ll find a way to keep those girls off you until you can find a way to weaponize your gift.”

Yeah. All of us had to do that. It was time for us to quit being so ‘nice’. Or, maybe for us to be more tricky. I nodded. Even mostly harmless empaths like Lorelei needed help, just like the rest of us.

“Weaponize?” she asked, surprised. I knew violence wasn’t in her nature. Her imps were so starved.

“You know, for self-defense,” Piranha explained, matter-of-factly. Clearly she was going to let bygones be bygones.  

As we went to the janitor’s closet to get mops and a full hot sudsy bucket, we brainstormed together over what an empath could do, prying Lorelei for any small details about her gift that perhaps she had taken for granted or overlooked. There had to be something.

“So you just feel what others feel and that’s all?” Spastic asked, disappointed.

 “She could probably get out secrets about people and blackmail them,” Piranha suggested.

Lorelei shrugged. I could tell she was getting uncomfortable. Her imps were shouting for her to scare us with her ‘haunting’. I didn’t know what that was, but this gave me hope.

“She can calm people,” I put in, remembering what she had done for me back in her room when we had our ‘incident’.

“Really?” Piranha looked impressed. I could see she was also trying to figure out what kind of haunting Lorelei thought could scare us.

Lorelei cringed, her imps getting louder. “Um, actually I can also make people feel what I want them to feel—but I don’t like doing it.”

We all stared. This didn’t sound like a haunting, though.

“Like what?” Spastic asked, getting excited.

Cringing more, Lorelei said, “I can make people feel scared with a touch. I can make them angry. I can also…” she giggled at a funny thought, “Make them feel embarrassed for no reason—and sometimes I can make people think they are in love with someone when they are not.”

I was impressed now. But her imps were still screaming for her to shock us with her worst secret. We were all intrigued now.

Lorelei closed her eyes with another cringe and added, “But, my worst gift is evil. And I don’t like using it.”

We stared at her. Her imps were put out. Apparently she was going to tell us gently whatever it was she was keeping secret.

She drew in a breath and explained, “I was… I got that gift on a trip in Germany. The family calls it a curse. We were visiting the Rhine at this tourist spot and I…” she shook her head. “I blacked out. And when I came to, I was on the rock where the Lorelei statue was. I have no idea how I got there. But I had to be rescued.”

There was a statue in Germany with her name? I looked to Piranha to see if she knew anything about it. She also looked confused. Spastic nodded, waiting for the scary part.

“But… and this is what scares me,” she said. “I could feel the Lorelei’s pain and…”

“What’s the Lorelei?” Piranha asked. “You say it like it is someone famous we should know about.”

Closing her eyes, Lorelei said, “An ancient being. And entity who used to drown sailors on the river, lured them to the rocks with her song. Like a siren.”

We stared. After having been at the school, we realized a good portion of the ghoulies were part supernatural—elves or the like. But this Lorelei did sound famous. I wondered how come I had never heard of her.

“So… you felt the Lorelei’s pain and…her anger?” I could feel it as I stared at Lorelei. She didn’t just feel pain and take it away. She could inflict it if she wanted. But I could tell from her imps that she didn’t want to.

She nodded, meeting my gaze. “She said I was her heir.”

We stared more.

All of us returned