Souls of the Never: A Fantasy Scifi Romance Time Travel series, with Dragons, Elves and Faeries. (Tales of the Neverwar Series Book 1) by CJ Rutherford, Colin Rutherford Read Free Book Online Page A

believe I gave you a chance.”
    Perri stood her ground. “What chance did you ever give me, Whit? To be one of you, or like the other victims in the school?” She glanced at the bloody form on the ground. “Katheryne is the only girl who ever had the balls to stand up to you, but you lot couldn’t break her, could you?”
    As Whitney lunged toward her, her face connected with Perri’s fist travelling in the opposite direction. Whitney’s nose exploded in a fountain of blood as she collapsed in a heap, redness pooling on the ground.
    Perri looked across at Katheryne, grinning widely. “You have no idea how good that felt.”
    Katheryne smiled back. “Well it certainly took you long enough, you silly cow!” She wiped blood from the corner of her mouth.
    Perri walked over and took the hand of her new best friend, helping her up just as a teacher entered the room and rushed off in a panic to the school office.
    The icing on the cake came when Whitney attempted to lay the blame on Katheryne and Perri. On the surface her claim that the two of them had started the fight was pretty plausible. After all, there were the injuries inflicted on Whitney and the other two girls, who, of course, backed up their leader’s claims.
    Katheryne expected this; in fact she’d planned the whole encounter, as she explained to Perri later. Perri wondered what might have happened if she hadn’t intervened.
    So, when the headmaster questioned them, Katheryne was able to point to the imprint of several heart shaped marks on her face, which matched the ring Whitney wore on her right hand. This in itself meant little, but when word of Whitney’s defeat got out, it spread like wildfire around the school; Katheryne had ensured this would happen. It provoked a small stampede of pupils to the headmaster’s office. Each story turned out to be spookily similar, and always involved Whitney, either directly or by association.
    The investigation took two days, and at the end of it, Whitney and five others of the group were expelled from Victoria College, the incident marked on their permanent school records. Along with more than a dozen other suspensions, the halls almost overnight become a haven for intelligent, shy and brilliant girls. Exactly as it had been when Perri’s mother had been there.
    Whitney’s father apologised to Perri, saying he let her and the school down. His offer of resignation from the board of governors was accepted.
     
    *
     
    Back in the present
    Perri watched as her friend and champion looked at her with an expression of hostility. Her heart broke in half as she lost the closest thing to a sister she’d ever had. The memories of Grace in the school dormitory flooded back.
    As quickly as this terrible moment materialised, Katheryne wilted, bending over to put her head in her hands and cry.
    Perri had never seen her friend cry like this. Even at her mother’s memorial service, her tears had barely run down her face before drying. Perri had known she was putting a brave face on, unable to open up to her father who blamed himself, unwilling to add to his grief.
    Perri and Katheryne were close friends at this stage, but the sisterly bond which would develop between them was still in its infancy, so Perri assumed Katheryne had done her crying in private. Now she was certain she hadn’t, that the sobs now shaking her violently were the first true outpouring of grief she’d allowed herself since her mother had died.
    Perri held Katheryne gently in her arms, crying herself, as she tried to support her friend, but feeling useless. A part of her still wondered about the brief distance and hostility Katheryne had imposed a moment before. She thought now, even as Katheryne curled into a ball and pressed herself against her, that the moment had passed and she needn’t have worried.
    “I’m so sorry Perri,” she heard Katheryne jerk out, in between the sobs.
    What are you so sorry for? Perri thought. 
    “I’m so, so sorry,”