Clemency

I raised my hand to knock on Colum's door, and, for once in my life, I hesitated. He was going to be less than pleased with me. I shuddered to think of what the punishment would be.

How could I have lost it? One little trinket that meant so much.

I rolled my shoulders and knocked. "Enter," Colum called. He'd been expecting me, I knew.

I opened the door and immediately winced, expecting swift punishment, but he did nothing. In fact, Colum hardly looked mad at all. And he was… smiling? "My lord," I muttered automatically, dipping my head respectfully.

"Carrick, my lad. I've just had great news, and I have a new assignment for you."

I frowned. He was trusting me with another job, so soon? That couldn't be right. "Begging your pardon, sir, but did no one tell you that I've lost the Clemency Stone?" I wanted to punch myself for bringing it up, but I knew that, if I didn't tell him now, the punishment would be much, much worse later.

Colum nodded gravely. "A grievous loss- or maybe it isn't," he said cryptically.

"What do you mean?" I asked, thoroughly baffled.

"I mean, a human girl has it. A human girl by the name of Jade Donahue."

I grinned. "This is great! I can go get it back, and-"

"No," Colum cut me off. "Arden and his cronies, they don't know that she has it. They'll never think to look in the hands of a mortal. The Stone is much safer with her, for now."

"Then what do you want me to do?" I asked in a carefully restrained voice. What was he thinking? Letting some human have the Stone was ridiculous. Ludicrous. But it wasn't my place to question his decisions.

"I want you to look after her. Make sure no one takes the Stone, make sure she's safe. Make sure she keeps it." I nodded slowly. Maybe this was a good thing. It would let me win back his trust and prove myself. I nodded.

"When do I start?"

Now Colum smiled. "As soon as possible."

That's how I found myself standing outside of Grant High School, looking at a map and the schedule of a girl I'd never even seen before and working out the best way to handle this. The best option I could think of was to enroll as a student, as much as I wished I could find some other alternative. I had been through high school once already, and I had no wish to go back.

But how else could I watch over Jade? For now, it would have to do.

I walked in the front doors and walked until I found the main office. The secretary looked up at the sound of my footsteps and smiled kindly.

"What can I do for you?" she asked.

"Well, I need to enroll. Who would I speak to about that?" I flashed her my most charming grin. It worked, just as I'd known it would. She scrambled to find me some forms and told me about the paperwork I would need to present, as well as the transcripts from my former school. I nodded and listened, then after she'd finished, I completed the paperwork as quickly as possible. There were some things I simply wouldn't be able to produce, but I had a couple of tricks for that.

No more than five minutes later, I walked back up to her desk and handed her the forms. She frowned and I knew she was about to ask for my identification and transcripts, but I quickly said, "that's everything. You did receive my transcripts alright, yes? They were sent in this morning."

A handy little trick, was the way I could use my voice to convince people of things. She nodded and smiled and set to work entering my information, accepting my lies easily. I nodded, satisfied, and walked out the door, working my way to room A203, where Jade would be in AP Physics. Smart girl, I thought approvingly. It would be tragic if some moron had guardianship of the Clemency Stone.

I walked into the classroom and scanned over all of the girls in it. Which one was she? The teacher looked confused about my intrusion. "Can I help you?" he asked.

"I'm Carrick Hayes. I'm a new student. You received an e-mail from the main office about my addition to your class, did you not?" I asked, knowing that he would remember that non-existent e-mail as soon as I said that.

"Oh, right! Welcome to the AP Physics. Why don't you just go and take a seat next to Miss Donahue over there? She's a new student, too. I'm sure you'll get along marvelously." I grinned and crossed the room toward the girl he indicated, thinking, that was easy.

I examined her out of the corner of my eye as I took a notebook and a pen out of my bag. Both were for pretense, of course, as the textbook that the teacher was fetching for me would be. She was a pretty girl, I thought. Long hair, such a dark brown that it was almost black. Sage green eyes lightly rimmed in black kohl eyeliner. A pale, pale complexion that somehow didn't look sallow, but vibrant. My stomach twisted in relief when I noted the familiar chain hanging around her neck. So it was safe, and it was here. That was a great comfort.

Jade was small and thin, which wouldn't be good if she needed to defend herself. I would do my best to ensure she wouldn't have to, but Arden and his thugs would stop at nothing to get the stone back. If they found out she had it, I would need backup.

I resolved to teach her some basic defense and felt a little better about the situation. It wouldn't be easy, convincing her to let me help her with this, but I was sure I could manage.

I wouldn't be able to trick her into going along with it, as I had the secretary and Mr. Barnes, the teacher. The pendant hanging around her neck made her impervious to that. In fact, that wasn't the only effect it would have on her. Soon, she would be able to do the same things he could. The longer she spent with the Stone, the more it would change her.

I almost- but didn't quite- feel bad about that. She had no way of knowing, when she picked the trinket up, how much it could change her life. There was no way to warn her now. So we would both just have to deal with the consequences of it.

Luckily, class was almost over, and Mr. Barnes let the class have the last five minutes to talk.

"Hello," I said, turning to her. "I'm Carrick Hayes."

I knew that the smile Jade pasted on her face was forced. But she still said, "Jade Donahue. It's nice to meet you."

She was lying. I could feel it in the air- she actually wanted me to ignore her like everyone else in this school did. But I didn't call her on it. What was I supposed to say? 'I know you don't actually think it's nice to meet me'? Or maybe 'Do you always lie to people you've just met'? I almost laughed at the idea.

"What class do you have next?" I asked, knowing full well that it was Calculus.

"Calc," she answered shortly, and pulled out a worn-looking notebook from her purse.

"Really?" I asked in the most surprised voice I could manage, and fished out my copy of her schedule for show. "Do you have Ms. Johnson?"

Jade glanced at me, and her eyes were almost comically round. "Yeah."

"Hey, me too. Would you mind letting me walk you to class? I don't know the way."

"This is only my second day here," Jade said. "I don't really know my way yet either."

"Then why don't you let me walk you to class simply because I'm enjoying your company?" I asked, flashing my most charming grin in her direction. I didn't forget that I still had to convince her to spend time with me outside of class, too.

"Well," she began reluctantly. Then she shrugged. "I guess that's alright."

I smiled wider. Note to self: Jade is very shy. Reluctant to be around people she's not familiar with. Or was she just uncomfortable around people in general? I had no way of knowing.

The bell rang, and we walked out into the hallway. She didn't say a word, and she didn't look at me. After we turned a corner, I finally spoke up. "How do you like it here so far?"

She blew her bangs out of her eyes and shot me a look. "Do you know how many times I've been asked that? It's not really all that spectacular, to be honest." Then she winced. "I'm sorry. I'm not being fair to you. Here you are, being perfectly nice and I'm being a total bitch. I don't mean to. I just… I'm not here to make friends. And even if I was, I think it's a little obvious we fit into totally different groups around here." This was the longest speech I'd heard her make, and I raised my brows. Interesting. Very interesting.

"What do you mean?"

Jade winced. "I always do that- I say too much or not enough. Just forget about it, would you?"

I shook my head, amused. "Not a chance."

Jade huffed, but nodded, accepting this. "Well, I don't know if you've noticed, but you're kind of gorgeous."

I grinned. "I'm inclined to agree with you on that one. But what does that have to do with anything?"

Jade's cheeks flushed a flattering red. "I'm kind of… not." I shook my head, processing this. I knew normal humans tended to be insecure, but that was just ridiculous.

I didn't get a chance to respond, because we arrived then at room B117, the math room. She quickly brushed past me and sat in a seat in the very back of the room. I, on the other hand, had to go talk the teacher into thinking that I really was supposed to be in this class.

When Ms. Johnson told me to sit in any of the free seats, I picked the one right next to Jade. She glanced at me and her cheeks flushed again. What was that about, I wondered? But I had no chance to ask, since class was starting.

I made a point of acting like I didn't really know what the teacher was talking about throughout class- I scribbled furious notes with a lot of additions in the margins, groaned a few times, and even tugged at my hair a couple of times.

It was all for Jade's sake, of course. I had a plan. I would ask her for tutoring. It would probably work, too. She was polite. And I liked to think she was interested in seeing more of me. Besides, I could tell from the occasional glances I shot her way that she understood the material. In fact, if anything, she looked a little bored.

After the Ms. Johnson told us we could pack up our things, I turned to Jade. "I guess my old school was pretty far behind. That was like a foreign language to me." That was a lie, of course, and I fought back the urge to wince. Nothing bothered me more than lies.

Well, nothing except for Arden and his thugs.

Jade frowned. "Really? That's pretty lousy." She had her notebook out again and was drawing something. I tried to catch a glimpse of it, but the angle was bad, so I couldn't. Her pencil froze and she started tapping it against the desk. "I could help, if you want," she offered diffidently.

Well, that was easier than I'd expected. "Really? That would be great! When are you free?" Jade stiffened and glanced up at me, her eyes meeting mine momentarily. She seemed surprised at my easy acceptance.

"Actually, I'm not doing anything tonight. Or tomorrow. Or the night after. You get the picture." She was blushing again. But why? If only I could read her mind. Unfortunately, that was a skill I'd never been able to develop.

"You know, tonight would be perfect. You wouldn't mind if we did this at your house, would you? My place is crawling with movers right now." Another lie. But I had to make sure her house was properly secured.

Now she smiled. "Yeah. That's fine." She tore a page out of her notebook and scribbled something down, then passed it to me. Her address. "Come over whenever."

I tucked the paper safely away in one of my backpack pockets. "Thanks." Success.