Chapter 5

Priya limped back to the table-fort, her hand covering her nose as she said in an awkward voice, “My nose is bleeding.”

Shane was first to respond, “Just tilt your head back and pinch it.”

“No, you’re not supposed to do that anymore, that like, causes the bad blood to go back into your bloodstream,” protested Heather.

“Really? Then what? You just let it bleed?” asked Shane.

“Whatever, Priya, just do what Shane said. It’s not like we have a bunch of tissue paper.” Perry turned on his flashlight, glancing at the battery life as he did. 45%, that’s a third off from when he first used it. He pointed it at Priya as she held her nose, thrust her bosom forward and lifting her shirt enough to expose the bottom of her midriff.

“Maybe we could use the paper from the books as tissue,” said Katie.

“Yeah ... we could use the paper,” Shane spoke slowly. “Does anyone have a lighter? Greg, you smoke a lot right?”

Perry moved his light over to the bookcase, then swiftly to the fireplace, making the same connection as Shane.

“You want to light the paper in the fireplace? Sure, I got a lighter.” Greg pulled out his zippo lighter and sparked it up, then put it out quickly just to demonstrate.

“But...” said Katie.

“But what?” asked Heather.

“Okay, I think the blood stopped,” said Priya.

Perry pointed his light at Katie and she held her hand up over her eyes. “Now this feels like an interrogation. Hah. But, before we start burning paper, shouldn’t we figure out how we feel about what that guy just said? Or figure out a plan? Maybe we need that paper for something.”

“Sure, I don’t think anyone would have objections to that right?” said Shane. “We seem to be pretty safe in this room. So, what do you all think about what that guy, whatever his name was, said?”

Perry turned off his flashlight. “I don’t know, but he was clearly an alien,” said Perry. “Heather, what do you think?”

“My nose is bleeding again.”

“Just do the same thing as before,” said Heather. “And just keep your head back a while after it stops bleeding. What do I think ... I think we have to operate under the assumption the alien guy was telling the truth. If he’s lying, it’s not like we can do anything about it. That sprite thing it entered our heads and there was nothing we could do to stop it. I even tried to stop it. I tried to hit it with this stick, and I couldn’t, it was too fast. If that thing wanted to kill us, it could have.”

“I agree with Heather,” said Priya, in a weird voice, likely since she was still holding her nose.

“I think we all agree with that,” said Greg. “So, if he’s telling the truth, what are we gonna do? We gonna kill that minotaur?”

“Sounds like it,” said Perry. “We--”

“Shut up, Perry,” said Greg. “None of us, except for maybe Shane, cares about what a delinquent like you thinks. Not after you beat the shit out of Tony.”

“Tony had it coming...” Perry said under his breath.

“Fuck you Perry!” shouted Greg. “I can’t believe you weren’t kicked out of school. What! What are you gonna do? I had to swallow my thoughts earlier since you two had the knife, but now I don’t need to listen to your shit!”

Perry remembered that meeting in the Principal’s office after the altercation with Tony. He walked into the room shaken and nervous, his rage had left him and all he felt now was regret. “Mr. Summers, have a seat,” said Principal Wellers. Perry sat down as instructed, his head sunken down as far as it could go, his hands tightly gripped the armrests of the chair. “This is not good, you know we have a zero-tolerance policy. You know what that means?”

“I think so. But, he said—”

“I know what he said. That’s the only reason I’m even having this meeting with you. Your parents, well, your dad at least, is on his way and we’ll have to figure this out.” Principal Wellers acted more casually then Perry expected, he was leaned back in his chair tapping his pen against the desk. The principal looked up at his ceiling thinking through his options. “Some of your teachers, your math and physics teacher, have already talked to me. They said you’re a good kid. They said you did amazing on that provincial physics contest.”

“Yeah...” said Perry. Unconsciously he had scrunched his shoulders into his body, and sunken even lower into the chair, as he tried to make himself as small as possible. “I like math, I like physics.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” Principal Wellers leaned forward. “Perry look at me.”

Perry raised his eyes and made eye contact with the principal. Principal Wellers’ eyes were filled with genuine compassion.