Chapter 6

Bruce

Bruce rubbed his face as the fighting continued around the table. They had been assembled in the headmaster's office for the past three hours and nothing had gotten done. If Darren raised his voice one more time, he was going to have a belt full of knives being thrown at his head.

They had barely skirted another attack. The last one had lasted for two days and nearly ended in the destruction of the rec center. Mitchell had electrocuted some of the Shades that had been coming after then just as Simon let loose a torrent of arrows. With the forge destroyed they didn't have the ability to sharpen their swords and the fighting had put a halt on their rebuilding the stables. Luckily the horses had makeshift quarters in one of the buildings. Very nasty to clean.

The only good news about the fight was they had two more Knights. Two sophomore girls who were on the equestrian team had stepped forward after the first night of the battle. Ashley Cross was a fiery red head with the temper to match. When she had ridden into battle on her grey horse properly named Shadow, she was a blur of motion, her sword glistening in the moonlight as she battled.

Her best friend, Madison Hart, was the complete opposite. Shy and quiet, Madison was dark headed with dark brown eyes. Her shyness disappeared when she let loose a battle cry only heard in Westerns when a Native American went into battle. The girls were night and day but a force to be reckoned with when riled, and boy, had Casey riled them.

Darren slammed his hand down on the table and Bruce reached for his belt, chucking the first knife he found. Everyone stopped to look at him in shock.

"That's enough, both of you. We're supposed to be talking about how we're going to get in touch with Drew and the two of you are bickering about who's the first to talk to him. If you can't get your act together, I'm going to lock you in the same room and watch as you fight to the death," he growled. He already had a nasty temper, but recently it had been even nastier because they were bickering over the stupidest things.

Mitchell sat back in his seat and crossed his arms. Little bursts of electricity jumped off his skin and crackled in the air. "I agree with Bruce. We're only going to get destroyed if we keep arguing amongst ourselves. We're supposed to be a united front."

"Darren's still pissed that Drew took Maddie out of his sight," Bianca chimed in. "It's been five months and she hasn't called you. Take a hint, Darren! She's got bigger fish to fry than to deal with that damned ego of yours."

Darren opened his mouth to speak but Bruce cut his eyes to him. "If you open your mouth, I will hurt you. And this isn't about her being my girlfriend. She's a Knight and we need her."

"That's right. She is a Knight and she's under me. I control her," Darren seethed. "You're lucky I'm allowing you to sit there and speak to me like that."

Bruce was up and out of his seat crowding the other young man until his back was resting against the wall beside Simon. The headmaster just allowed it to happen.

"Or you'll do what? Because the last time I checked, I'm only fighting to help Maddie. Not you. I really could care less if you died tomorrow because you're an ass with an ego the height of Mt. Everest. Now degrade one of the women again and you'll find my fist planted in your face and a foot up your ass. Do you understand me?" Darren nodded but there was a rebellious fire in his eyes. "Good. Now sit down. I'm taking over until you can get your head out of your ass."

Once Darren slumped into his chair and began sulking, Bruce sat down.

"All right," he continued. "We need to beef up the security of the buildings. Luckily, the campus is pretty much deserted this time of year but next month all the students start coming back. They'll be in even more danger because Casey keeps adding to her army."

"Where is she now?" Simon asked. He still hadn't argued with Bruce when he claimed to take over. He hadn't done much at all except stand his ground.

"She's in Tulsa. Most of the ones she persuaded to join her are living with her at her family's summer house. They're planning something very nasty."

"What if they attack Dallas?" Matt asked. Everyone stopped and looked at him. He sighed and rested his head in his hand. "Please tell me you've thought of that scenario before now."

Simon scratched his head. "Actually we haven't. We were so busy trying to make sure the school stayed intact that we didn't consider them attacking Dallas."

Carlos leaned forward on his arms. "If they attack Dallas and succeed, it's all over."

Bianca mulled it over as she shifted her chair from side to side. "It's something we haven't thought of because Merlin is there. He can protect her."

"Merlin's power is waning. He can't protect their house for very long," Simon said.

"Have we found out how many Knights Maddie's found since they've been there?" Bruce asked.

"No. Drew refuses to tell."

Bruce rubbed his temples. Leave it to Drew to leave them hanging. He was a sitting duck in Dallas if he didn't find the other Knights there soon and Maddie would go with him.

"All right. Darren, you're on first recon with Carlos and Mitchell. Matt, you're with the girls. Bianca, Simon and I will take the third watch. It's going to be tight for a while but I think we can handle it until the others get back. Dismissed."

Darren stormed out, passing behind him. Bruce sighed as the others filed out quieter than their supposed leader.

"He's just mad that you stood up to him," Bianca said. She and Simon had remained just in case.

"Well he should get used to it. If he keeps acting like that, he's going to get killed by his own men and women."

"He's just insecure at the moment. He can't find Excalibur and Maddie's gone with his best friend, as well as his sister. He has to lead a new group of Knights without knowing their names and he hasn't figured out what's going on with him." Simon sighed. "I have someone on the inside at Casey's. At the moment, she's sitting pretty on forty-three people."

Bianca sighed. "How did she get all those people?"

"Mostly blackmail. She's very good at that. We have to be careful."

"We will. We'll keep the younger ones as safe as we possibly can until you're able to start training them." Bruce rubbed the side of his jaw then shoved away from the table. "I'm going to the lake. I'll see you at watch change."

He stalked out of the room so his anger wouldn't get the best of him and also so he didn't lash out at the others.