Chapter 114 - Scary-Reaper-Mode

  Jenna likely mistook Morrigan’s hesitation for fear, as a smug smirk spread across her face. However, the knife in her hand was not the main source of Morrigan’s unease. It was a reasonable conclusion to come to, and while the knife did bring up a certain very bad memory, the reality was that getting stabbed would only amount to an inconvenience. The real reason for Morrigan’s tension was the changeling; it wasn’t just bubbling, it was boiling and lashing against the seal, angerly demanding freedom.

  Morrigan bit the inside of her lip and froze, focusing all her energy on calming the creature. She channeled her thoughts into one singular reassurance: We’re not in danger. Everything is fine. Just stay down. But her anger over what had happened to Pepper made it almost impossible to maintain control. Pepper’s breaths were still wheezing as she tried to stand back up. Seeing them attack her like that (actually physically assault her!) ignited a fury that the changeling fed on as its nature was tightly bound to her emotions.

  “Back off, Jenna,” Morrigan said, her voice steady despite the fire boiling within her.

  Jenna’s smirk widened, and she tilted her head, mockingly confident. “Just hand over your phone, and we can forget this ever happened. Morrigan, did you really think you could pull this off? If you were serious about taking me down, you should’ve stayed hidden.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, Morrigan caught Livy’s subtle movements. The other girl was leaning slightly, her gaze checking the space under Morrigan’s bed. She was probably trying to piece together how Morrigan had managed to stay hidden and where exactly she had come from. Morrigan felt no obligation to satisfy her curiosity, however.

  Instead, she kept her focus on Jenna. The changeling pushed harder against the mental barriers she had erected, desperate to react to Morrigan’s anger, to lash out at the threat before them.

  Not right now… Keep it together.

  “You’re not going to stab me, so just put it away.” Her voice emerged gravelly, betraying the effort it took to maintain her composure. It felt like trying to keep a straight face while holding a two-hundred-pound weight, her legs trembling from the strain. Every muscle in her body tensed with her singular focus of keeping the changeling contained. Yet, for all her effort, it wasn’t enough to stop its relentless pounding against the seal. If it broke free, the danger Jenna and Livy posed would pale in comparison to the chaos that would be unleashed.

  It’ll hold. It’s always held before. Morrigan tried to reassure herself. The changeling will just start tearing into my body before it gets through the seal…

  That’s… not exactly a great alternative, though.

  “Listen,” Morrigan said, her gaze flicking to the side briefly as she steadied herself. “I don’t care about whatever little hierarchy you’ve set up here—trust me, I really don’t give a shit. You can keep hogging the TV downstairs or bossing people around however you want. But one thing is changing. From now on, you’re leaving me and Pepper alone. If you keep trying to blackmail me, I’ll go straight to the counselors. Once they find out you’ve assaulted another resident, your reputation is going to crumble.”

  Jenna smirked, tilting her head slightly. “Nice theory… but here’s the thing—you’re in no position to call the shots right now. There’s no one upstairs, no one to hear you scream. Once I take that phone from you, you won’t have any evidence against me. But if you hand it over now, I won’t have to hurt you.”

  “What? You’re actually going to stab me?” Morrigan asked, her lips quirking into a smile.

  Jenna shrugged one shoulder casually. “I wouldn’t be smiling if I were you. Its really no big deal. You won’t have any proof it was me, and I’ll just tell everyone you’re crazy and probably did it to yourself.” She smiled. “You already have all the signs of a cutter, after all.”

  “You’re an idiot if you think that’s how things will go,” Morrigan snapped, her eyes narrowing, and for a moment Jenna backed up. A sudden fear coming on her face that Morrigan recognized immediately. Her glamour had dropped—how badly, she had no idea—but for at least a flicker of a moment, Jenna must have seen something. Her red eyes, her white hair or unnaturally pale complexion.

  Morrigan quickly turned away, crouching down to check on Pepper and to turn her back to Jenna. People’s faces don’t just randomly change, so Jenna won’t understand what she saw and convince herself she hadn’t actually seen anything at all.

  “Hey, Pep, you alright?” Morrigan asked.

  The smaller girl nodded, though she was clearly shaking. “Y-yeah, I’ll be okay.” At least she seemed to have caught her breath.

  Jenna clicked her teeth, and said one word— “Livy,” — with a commanding tone to her voice and Morrigan knew this was about to escalate.

  Livy grabbed Morrigan’s shoulder, intending to spin her around, but Morrigan pushed up from her crouched position. She used her meager body weight to throw Livy off balance as she jammed her elbow into the redhead’s stomach.

  This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

  Easy enough, but then, Jenna was on her, grabbing her arms and tackling her onto the bed. “Hand it over!” she yelled as her grip clawed at Morrigan’s hand, but Morrigan refused and kept her fingers tightly clenched around her phone.

  These bitches were not going to give up, Morrigan realized this was getting out of hand and she had to scream. “HEL—” she didn’t get far as Livy clenched her hand over Morrigan’s mouth, getting behind her and hugging her in a tight grip. Jenna continued to pry at Morrigan’s hand, trying to break the phone free, but Morrigan refused to let go.

  Morrigan’s mind briefly went back to one of the physical altercations she’d had with her mom when she had drank too much. Those were rare, but they unfortunatly did happen.

  She never expected these girls would take things so far, though. She didn’t expect them to actually assault Pepper, or to pull a knife on her. But she decided she wasn’t playing cold war with them after this, these bitches were taking a quick trip to juvy once this got out.

  Pepper suddenly bolted for the door. One hand was held over her stomach, still probably in pain. However, Tyler abandoned her station to intercept Pepper. Tyler was easily the weakest of the trio, but Pepper was… well… Pepper.

  “Stop!” Tyler hissed at her, “You’re not going anywhere.”

  Pepper tried to pull her arm free, but didn’t have any luck and instead yelled into the hall, “S-somebody! H-help!” But… Pepper was Pepper, and it wasn’t very loud, and Tyler had no trouble dragging her back into the room.

  “Just let go!” Jenna sneered, frustration clearly boiling over her face.

  Morrigan continue to struggle and thrash as Livy kept a hand over her mouth. The changeling continued banging at the seal and she could feel wetness start to coat her undershirt, knowing the changeling was becoming violent enough to rip into her flesh. With Livy latched onto her back, releasing the changeling with instantly turn this room into a bloodbath—she’d be torn to pieces in seconds.

  This had to stop, Morrigan could only take so much, so in a desperate move she pivoted forward into Jenna, then slammed backward with all her might, bashing her head into Livy’s face.

  “Gyaaaaah!” The redhead vocalized as her grip loosened. Morrigan curled her knees toward her stomach as much as she could then extended her body, kicking out like she was an uncoiling spring and getting a solid hit to Jenna’s midsection.

  The tall girl was relentless, though, and her grip on Morrigan’s arm remained firm, pulling her off the bed as she fell backwards.

  They turned in the air, Morrigan ended up under her and the taller girl fell on top. Then, pain exploded in Morrigan’s midsection—an unfortunatly familiar type of pain. It was cold pain that cut right through her nerves and radiated as a pulsing soreness deep inside her—she had been stabbed.

  Jenna instantly let go, stepping back in shock.

  “J-Jenna!” Livy gasped.

  What the hell… why does this always happen to me? I mean, its only the second time but two times is way too many…

  She thought she should take a self assessment on what it meant that her inner monologue tended to be sarcastic at the worst moments. The levity didn’t last, however, as the changeling grew suddenly furious.

  Morrigan’s scream of pain caught in her throat as her back arched off of the ground. The phone slipped from her grip, falling beside her as her fingers tensed along with a full-body spasm.

  It’s okay, calm down! That knife can’t kill me and you’re only making things worse, you asshole! Morrigan thought at the changeling. She also briefly wondered if the changeling was an asshole or a bitch, because if she were to assign it a gender it would probably make more sense that the changeling was female…

  “Shit, shit, shit! What do we do!?” Livy said, panic seeping into her voice. Jenna just stood back, her hands shaking, probably a future behind bars flashing through her mind. Tyler still held onto Pepper’s wrist, stopping her from running for help

  “Th-the phone!” Jenna hissed.

  Livy crouched down, reaching for it as Morrigan’s face twisted in pain. But, she wasn’t going to let her have it, not after all of this.

  Nuclear option, Morrigan thought, Hilda’s phrase popping into her head.

  She suddenly grabbed Livy’s wrist, drawing the redhead’s gaze back to her.

  Morrigan barred her teeth and dropped her glamour, willing the energy away from the charm around her neck. Livy’s reaction was immediate and did not dissapoint.

  She froze where she was, mouth falling agape. Morrigan’s eyes were red, glowing red in a way that not even specialty contact lenses could achieve. Her skin, not just pale, but otherworldly in its complexion and her gold blonde hair likewise turned unnaturally white.

  Fuck it. Scary-Reaper-Mode engaged.

  Livy screamed, stumbling back, her heel finding the edge of the bedpost and falling, hitting the ground hard then scrambling backwards.

  Morrigan chuckled softly, sardonically, maybe trying to laugh off the pain of her flesh being burrowed into. The hoodie was well on its way to being soaked through with her blood, and it’d be finding its way down to the floor soon. But, that’s why she had to stay serious, and put an end to this.

  Morrigan placed a hand on the ground, and slowly picked herself up. The dramatic effect of slowly rising wasn’t entirly purposeful, she was legitimately in a world of pain, but when she lifted her head, all four girls including Pepper had varying expressions of disbelief at what they were seeing.

  “You stupid fucking bitches don’t know when to stop testing your luck, do you?” Morrigan asked. She placed her hand around the knife that was still sticking out of her stomach and pulled it free. It slid out surprisingly easily and the pain from that wound was truly nothing compared to what the changeling was doing to her. Her eyes briefly glanced down, noting the drips of blood hitting the floor.

  Morrigan returned her gaze to them, smiling, then threw the knife to ground at their feet as she straightened her posture. “Its time for you to run.”

  Read FREE!

  Read for only $1.25 !!!

  (limited time, deal ends in 4 days)

  Read FREE!

  Read for only $1.25 !!!

  (limited time, deal ends in 4 days)

  10 $ - 20 more chapters