Chapter 16

Second Quest

“What's the matter? Scared?” A large blond boy with the beginnings of a mustache pushed Jason against the lockers.

“Chicken,” said boy two. “Bauk bauk bauk.”

Boy three held Jason's pack. He slammed it against the lockers with a loud bang, making Jason jump.

“Everything okay?” Leo said, walking up to the four.

They all ignored him.

Blond-mustache boy held out a pill bottle. “These aren't even illegal, just Bio-Blessed mixed with all-natural herbal extracts. I charge ten bucks apiece for these, but the first one's free. Take it.” He held out a large green capsule to a frightened-looking Jason.

Without thinking, Leo lashed out at the pill bottle with his fist, knocking it from the larger boy's hand and sending it flying across the hall, bouncing off the floor, green capsules scattering through the hallway.

“Aaugh!” Blond-mustache boy cried out, desperately trying to pick up the green capsules before someone stepped on them.

“That shit's bad for you,” Leo said. “Stay away from it.”

Leo never even saw the fist that collided with the left side of his face.

“Congratulations,” came Imp's annoyingly cheerful voice. “You completed your quest and defended the defenseless. The three boys completely forgot about their victim. In addition, you have leveled up in getting punched in the face and head and have received 15 Demon Tears.”

Leo groaned.

After they kicked his ass, the three boys forced him into a locker and locked him inside. Then they pounded on the locker for what felt like forever until they got bored and left. His vitality was down to 2.8. He was surprised it wasn't lower.

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“Mr. Osmond doesn't like Bio-Blessed?” A man's voice said from the hallway, either not noticing Leo stuck in a locker, or not caring.

“Yeah,” came a second adult voice from further down the hall. They were walking away from him. “He's anti-Bio-Blessed. Thinks it's some alien hoax or something. That man is living proof that smart doesn't equal sane.”

“Crazy,” the first man said as they walked away.

“Leo. Leo. Are you okay?” It was Jason this time, from just outside his locker.

“What do you think?” Leo said.

“What happened? Are you trying to commit suicide?” Jason asked. “Once you messed with that guy's stuff, they forgot I existed. That was insane!”

“Please get me out of here.”

“So what happened yesterday?” Jason asked. “You were supposed to come over, but then you didn't show, and you didn't respond to my phone texts. I even sent you an e-mail. What's going on?”

“I had a run-in with Brick on the way to your place,” Leo said. “He destroyed my cellphone. The last day has been really difficult. Sorry.”

“Give me a sec, Leo. Need to figure out these bolt cutters I borrowed from the janitor's office.” There was a bang and thunking noise. The locker door opened and Leo fell out. Groaning, he slowly pulled himself to his feet.

“Man, you look like shit,” Jason said.

“I'm fine,” Leo said. He spat some blood onto the dirty, white-tiled hallway and grabbed his pack from Jason. A couple of teeth felt loose, but he was pretty sure they were baby teeth.

From the gum wrappers and coke stains on his backpack, he guessed Jason had rescued it from the garbage. “Where can I find Mr. Osmond?”

“The honors math and science teacher? Why?”

“I'll explain later. I need to talk to him,” Leo responded.

“Down that hall, farthest classroom on the right,” Jason said. “That or the teacher's lounge.”

“Thanks.” Leo took off, walking as fast as his aching body would let him, dodging other students trying to get to their homeroom classes. He spotted a short, chubby man in his thirties with short dark hair and a friendly smile walking in the same direction. “You're Mr. Osmond?” he asked. It was a good guess because if the two people who spoke earlier were right, Mr. Osmond didn't use Bio-Blessed. And one of the first things Bio-Blessed did was remove excess weight.

“Yes, I am, Leo. Are you okay?” he looked concerned.

Leo was pretty sure he'd never had a class with this man. He wondered how the man knew his name.

“I'm fine,” Leo said. “I need to speak to you about something important.” He moved in front of the man, so other students wouldn't see, and activated the violet band around his wrist.