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He turned to Caleb "That wasn’t Brynna, was it?"

Caleb shook his head "That was so of sick, Nick felt ill over it His stoony for her "Can you tell who?"

He did that weird head cockonly he could hear "No idea But it was done for sheer malice"

"Brynna will die when she finds out"

"I know" A tic started in Caleb’s jaw "Can you feel the hatred behind it?"

"Now that youis down hed heavily Well at least he kneas causing that symptom "Is it demonic?"

"No This is human evil Demon hatred comes with a distinctive odor to it"

"Yeah, well, this stinks, too" Nick was repulsed by whoever had done so so vicious to someone so kind Why would anyone hurt Brynna so? In all the years he’d known her, he’d never heard Brynna say aabout anyone

Not even him

"All of you!" Tendyk snapped "Line up in the hallway and be silent Stone, I want you to go to the office and tell Mr Head that I need hi, Stone went to obey

Nick reached for his backpack

"Leave it, Gautier," Tendyk snapped "No one is to take anything out of here"

Nick hesitated His gri with his Malachai dagger If his bag was searched and they happened upon those …

It would get ugly, especially since his grimoire ritten in blood Granted, it was his blood But adults didn’t sees during school hours

I’ve got it covered, Caleb said in hisa relieved breath, Nick headed outside with everyone else

Caleb crossed his arht red steel lockers "You knohat the only thing worse than an evil demon is?"

"My mother when she’s really ticked off at me, especially when it’s justified"

Caleb snorted "No, Nick Human cruelty All the centuries I’ve lived, I’ve never understood it Instead of banding together, your kind seems ever determined to tear each other down And for what? Jealousy? I just don’t get it"

And co from a demon, that prettyme that demons are never cruel?"

"So You can smell them from days away Humans, on the other hand, are insidious You don’t see it coh the heart"

Nick scowled at his i, Cay?"

"I can’t tell who did this, but I can tell why they did it This was meant to shame Brynna and hurt her to the deepest level"

And as those words left Caleb’s lips, Nick became aware of the conversations around him

"I told you Brynna was a slut My oody-two-shoes persona was an act"

"Man, I wish I’d known she’d do that You think she’s busy Saturday night?"

Nick cringed at their ugliness "It wasn’t Brynna," he said defensively

Mason scoffed at him "You’re an idiot, Gautier"

"Yeah," another student concurred, "didn’t you see that in there?"

"With farine how that horse felt"

They all burst out laughing

Nick started to respond, but Caleb stopped hio"

That was easier said than done "Brynna’s my friend"

Before Caleb could comment, the principal stalked past them and into the room Nick stood on his tiptoes so that he could see Tendyk show the principal the horrific h thein the classroo Nick pulled out his Nokia 9000 and flipped it open to see he had a new e-mail As he tried to access it, his phone bleith texts about Brynna and the photographs Apparently, their classroom wasn’t the only one spammed with that filth

An instant later, a door down the hallway opened Brynna ran out, sobbing hysterically Laughter frohter of the jerks around hihter that was only drowned out by a few dickweeds o after her and calrip "I can’t stress enough to you that you need to stay out of this"

"Why?"

"Use your powers, Nick Look at what’s about to happen"

Nick glanced around until he found so … the silver on the water fountain It wasn’t very big, but it was enough that he could focus his poith it

And there in that slimpsed the horror that was about to becole act of cruelty