Chapter Ten
Bella saw Cassie walking along the hallway and ran to meet her.
"Cassie, have you seen Marc? I haven't seen him all morning?".
"No, I haven't seen him".
"Can you please let me know if you do?".
Cassie nodded and walked away.
"What's wrong with her today?" Bella said as Cassie walked away.
"I should ask Linda if she has seen him" She thought to herself and headed for the dorm.
"Come in!" Linda said as she heard a knock on the door. Bella walked in and was stunned to see Cassie sitting next to Linda.
"Cassie? When did you get here?".
"What do you mean? I've been here all morning" Cassie replied looking more perplexed than Bella.
"No... I think I just saw you walking along the hallway few minutes ago".
" Are you sure it was me? I've seriously been in here all morning".
"I'm really sure it was you. I even asked you if you had seen Marc and you said you hadn't".
"Woah slow down. Did you take some of your mom's alcohol last night?" Cassie asked her.
"Yeah, and?".
"Well that explains everything. You were hallucinating. It's one of the after effects".
"I'm serious! I wasn't hallucinating!".
"I believe you" Cassie said sarcastically.
"No you don't. You think I'm stupid".
"I won't say stupid, maybe you're going cray cray?".
"I'm not crazy!" Bella said and stormed out of the room.
"What's wrong with her?" Linda asked. Cassie shrugged and said she had no idea.
"Cassandra Olsen, can you see me in my office?" The principal asked over the speaker. Cassie sighed and left the room. As she was walking to the principal's office, she came across a familiar face.
"Hey, I know you. You're that owl guy. Nice meeting you again" Cassie said stretching out her hand for a handshake.
"Same" The boy replied and walked away.
"Weird" Cassie shrugged and continued walking.
"Come in!" The principal said and Cassie walked in. She saw the same owl guy standing in front of the principal.
"Cassandra, this is Louie Shapiro. Remember him? The boy that's an owl descendant?".
"I remember him" Cassie replied and turned to the boy, "Didn't I just see you on my way here?".
"I don't think so. I've been here with the principal waiting for you" Louie replied.
"Wait but...I can swear that I saw you outside not too long ago".
"Cassandra, this is not the time for your jokes. Louie here needs to improve his hunting skills and since you're one of the best hunters I've got, I was thinking maybe you could help him?".
"Of course but..."
"No buts. Now run along you two. I look forward to a great improvement from you Louie". The boy nodded and left but Cassie stayed back.
"Why aren't you leaving?" The principal asked her.
"Something isn't right. I can..." Bella walked in and Cassie stopped talking.
"Mom, sorry I mean principal Margaret. What are you doing here? I saw you at the selection hall like 10 minutes ago".
"Selection hall? Why would I be at the selection hall?". Cassie immediately stood up.
"Don't you see what's happening?!" She asked.
"I don't see anything" Principal Margaret replied.
"We keep seeing someone but at the same time it's like we didn't see the person. Like earlier, Bella claimed she saw me walking along the hallway but I was in my room all morning and I can swear that I saw Louie before entering here. And now Bella says she saw you at the selection hall but you were in here..."
The principal stood up, "It can only mean one thing".
"We're under a hallucinating spell?" Bella asked.
"No. The both of you just encountered a shape shifting spirit".
"Pfft, shape shifters aren't real" Cassie scoffed.
"Neither are we, well according to red bloods we don't exist but here we are".
"How did this shape shifting thingy get here?" Bella asked.
"It was locked up behind the stone door unless..."
"Unless it was able to get out when Lisa opened the door" Cassie completed the principal's sentence.
"So what do we do now?" Bella asked as she felt a cold shiver run through her spine.
"Shape shifting spirits are really dangerous because of their formless nature which makes them highly deceitful and they feed exclusively on human flesh".
"But none of us are humans" Bella said.
"Yes that's why we can be able to stop it from going through the boundary as it could cause utter chaos. The only problem is we might not be able to differentiate between a shape shifting spirit and the real person".
"I have an idea!" Cassie exclaimed, "What if we use human flesh as a bait?".
"And where will we get human flesh?" Bella asked her.
"There are a lot of stray red bloods yet to be released in the detention center. We can use one as a bait" Cassie suggested.
"So you want to risk the life of a human?" The principal asked her.
"We don't need to kill the person. We can just use the blood".
"That might work. The both of you, give this to the detention officer" The principal said giving them a piece of paper. The both of them headed down to the detention center without talking to anyone because like the principal said they wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Cassie gave the detention officer the piece of paper. He read it and nodded.
"There's a blood bank for red bloods down the corner. Take as much as you want". Cassie and Bella nodded and headed over to the blood bank. They took out two blood sachets and headed back to the principal's office.
"Good job! Now sprinkle it from the basement to the stone door. One of you will have to open it using your blood and wait in there till it enters then you have to run out quickly so the door can shut".
"I'll do it mom" Bella volunteered.
"Okay but be careful".
"Don't worry principal Margaret. I'll be with her and make sure nothing goes wrong" Cassie assured. The both of them did as they were told and waited for the shape shifting spirit. Soon they heard footsteps approaching, it drew closer and the both of them were shocked to see the principal enter.
"Is that actually the principal?" Cassie whispered to Bella. Bella shook her head and the both of them watched closely.
"Bella! Cassie! Are you in here?" The spirit called.
"I think it's her" Bella said to Cassie in a low tone and wanted to come out but Cassie held her back.
"That's not the principal, I'm sure of it. She's never called me Cassie before" Cassie replied Bella.
"So what do we do now?" Bella asked her.
"Let's wait for it to go further then we make a run for it". Bella nodded and they waited patiently. The spirit in form of the principal went around sniffing the walls till it got to where the girls left the blood sachets. Before it could realize that it was deceived, Bella and Cassie hurriedly ran out and the door shut behind them.
"That was close!" Bella said panting.
"Great job Bella. High-five?".
"I would love to but my palms are currently blood stained".
"Mine too, let's go to the wash room". Bella nodded and they left.