Chapter 17

He thought to himself that he would use the power only twice, and then sparingly. But he was tired, and he was hungry, he admitted ruefully, hungry. The rabbit hadn't been enough.

Worry about that later. He told himself. He found his last class and sat down. And immediately he felt the presence of that mind again...the one he couldn't read.

The aura coming from her was powerful, and for the first time, he could locate the girl it was coming from. She was sitting right in front of him.

She turned around, and he saw her face. It was all he could do not to gasp in shock. Princess! But of course, he couldn't kidnap her and take her straight to the shadow world right away. He knew he would complete his mission the moment he took her to the king, but one part of him wanted to see what befriending the princess would be like.

She fixed her eyes on him and smiled.

He looked away from the smile quickly. He had absolutely no feelings for her at all; he kept telling himself this as he sat.

He could smell a subtle hint of some perfume. And her slender white neck was bent over her book.

In anger and frustration, he recognized the seductive feeling in his teeth. It was hunger, a specific hunger.

The teacher was pacing about the room, asking questions and Corner deliberately focusing his attention on the man. The questions kept coming. And just now, he found another victim, a small girl with black hair. Corner watched as the teacher pestered her with questions. She looked wretched as he turned away from her to address the entire class.

Corner could feel the fear in the student's mind. They were all afraid of the man, except for a boy sitting across the window.

"All right, let's try another era." The teacher asked the same girl he'd been questioning. "During this Renaissance, the Europeans and Native Americans had various religious viewpoints and practices. In your opinion, did religious diversity encourage conflict and violence between Europeans and Native Americans?"

The girl swallowed hard. With a weak smile, she looked away, embarrassed.

"Excuse me, sir."

The quiet voice stopped the teacher. Everyone turned to stare at Corner.

"Go on," the teacher said.

Corner removed his glasses and stood up. " Native American religions, from the indigenous peoples, lived by certain ceremonial ways and beliefs based on spiritual stories in their tribes, mostly related to allegories related to certain experience, travel, and animals. They were monotheistic, polytheistic, animistic, or could even combine these options. They passed on their traditions orally within their communities." He said. To the teacher, he added. "Maybe you shouldn't focus on one person when asking questions."

The students were grinning, even Chase. The teacher's face became red, and he was sputtering. But Corner continued to hold his eyes, and after another minute, it was the teacher who looked away.

The bell rang.

Corner placed his glasses on quickly and gathered his books.

Inez watched him as he walked out of the class.