House of Korba: The Ghost Bird Series: #7 (The Academy) (25 page)

I stared at them for so long. I didn’t know at first what struck me as odd about it. “Kota,” I breathed. I didn’t dare say it any louder, afraid to catch anyone else’s attention.

Kota turned back, and I kept staring at Mr. Morris as he was walking away. I was afraid to point and draw any attention from to some of the other people sitting at desks and talking on phones. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kota checking what I was looking at.

“Is he... married?” I asked, trying to go through the possibilities. Would he carry his wife’s phone? Or a daughter’s? Would he use two?”

“Outside,” he said, and he took my elbow in his hand, turning me back to the door.

In the hallway, we moved together, Nathan leaning in. “What’s up?” he asked. “Something wrong?”

“He’s got two cell phones,” Kota said. “Sang caught it. One black, one pink.”

“Ha,” Nathan said, and he clapped a hand on my shoulder, leaving it there as he held onto me. “Nice job, Peanut. But it could be a student’s. Or who knows who it belongs to.”

“Would he keep one he apprehended from a student in his pocket? And this early in the morning?” I asked. We were walking among the students, and had to take turns cutting through because it was getting crowded. We had to trek our way back to the courtyard.

Once we were back out in the open air, we walked over to the benches, where North, Luke and Silas were sitting. Gabriel was with them. Victor wasn’t there, but I remembered he would be watching over Theo today.

Once I was close enough to the others, Silas immediately reached out a hand to me. He was wearing his fake school uniform, all except the blue jacket, which he had hanging over the bench. The white shirt was buttoned all the way, but was untucked. His shoulders seemed broader with the way he filled out the shirt.

North shoved his book bag off the side of the bench until it fell on the ground, moving over to leave me room. He was in his uniform, too, but his shirt underneath was black instead of the usual white, and his pants were a different shade than normal, a little darker. His shadowed eyes were as intense as ever, and they never once left me.

I let Silas take my hand and I sat down between them, feeling small.

Silas picked up his jacket and put it around my shoulders. “You cold out here?” he asked.

I hadn’t had time to even think about if I was hot or cold, but I tugged his jacket tighter around me, smelling the ocean scent and catching North’s musk nearby. “We just ran into Mr. Morris,” I said.

Kota filled them in quickly, sitting on the opposite bench between Nathan and Luke.

“He’s not married,” North said, his voice a little more gruff than usual. When I looked at him, he was looking at Kota, and I caught the shadows under his eyes. I looked back at Silas and he had the same. They really had been up all night.

“So it isn’t his wife’s phone he’s hanging onto,” Nathan said.

Kota pulled out his own cell phone and tapped into it. “Looked a lot like one of Sang’s,” he said. “Maybe I’m paranoid.”

“All her phones are accounted for,” North said. “But he’s on my shit list, so I want to know who it belongs to, too.”

“We don’t need to add more work on top of what we’re doing now,” Luke said. “We can’t jump at every little thing.”

“We don’t want to take chances,” Kota said. He finished his message and then held the phone and waited. A minute later, it vibrated and he checked the screen. “Mr. Blackbourne agrees. We’re to go see who it belongs to.”

“Aw man,” Luke said. He rolled his eyes but was smiling and stood up. “I need another coffee if I’m going to make this pull. Where’s the phone?”

I wasn’t sure how Kota managed to relay the message and get a response so quickly from Mr. Blackbourne if we weren’t supposed to discuss Academy business on the phone. Were they using some code? My nerves were jumbled and alive for Luke. I knew he could probably steal the phone, but I wasn’t sure about the risk if he got caught. “He’s got it in his back pocket,” I said. “On the...left hand side. The pockets are small, so both phones are sticking out.”

Luke made a ‘come here’ gesture at me. “Can I borrow your phone?” he asked.

“You can’t trade phones,” North said. “Not using hers.”

“Just need the cover,” Luke said. “If you guys think it was hers or an old one, then we can swap out one with the same cover and he might not notice a difference long enough for us to check it out.”

I pulled my phone out, and before I could hand it to Luke, North took it from me. He slid his fingernail between the cover sections and removed it. “Anyone have a spare? Preferably a dead spare? I don’t want him to have access to any of our live phones.”

“I’ve got one,” Kota said. He shuffled through his bag, finding a phone and handing it off to Luke. “It’s a blank. Never been used.”

“Never thought to carry a spare,” Luke said, taking it and the case and putting it together. Once he had it, he flipped it once in his palm. “Luckily Sang likes pink. She earns a brownie point.” He approached me, patted me on the head and then winked. “And I get twelve if I pull this off. That means we make brownies tonight. I’ll be back.”

Luke started walking off across the courtyard. I turned to North. “Should he go by himself?”

“If he needs someone, he’ll tell us,” North said, although his eyes followed his brother and stayed on the doors even after Luke had moved beyond them. North’s shoulders seemed to swell a bit, and the intensity on his face increased. “Sometimes having another person around him can throw him off. It’s best to let him go.”

Maybe he thought so, but the moment Luke was out of visual range, I felt the intensity North seemed to carry. I was listening, watching, waiting for Luke to return.

Silas put a palm on my back, smoothing the material of his jacket against my back. “Don’t worry, my little night flower,” he said in a low voice. “He’ll be fine.”

North instantly broke his gaze with the door and focused on Silas. “What did you just call her?”

My spine rippled and I sat upright. I looked straight ahead, but my full attention was on Silas and North, listening to every word.

Silas hovered closer to me, his arm tugging me into him. “What? Does that mean something else here? I thought it was cute.”

“You’ve never called her that before.”

Silas was quiet, but I felt his shoulders move in a shrug.

I dared a look at North, but my movement caught North’s attention and he turned his full stare on me. “Is there something going on I don’t know about?” he asked, although I sensed he was asking Silas and not me. “Why call her that now?”

“Is it wrong?” Silas asked.

I checked with Kota and Nathan, who were staring, mouths open and eyes on Silas and North. Both looked confused. Neither looked like they wanted to get in the middle of it. Kota scratched at his elbow. Nathan simply watched, his jaw set, his blue eyes intense, mostly on Silas.

My heart raced. Would Silas tell them all right here that he had asked me out and I said yes? I was itching to send a message to Mr. Blackbourne, but North was holding onto my phone, and I wouldn’t dare ask for it now.

North grunted. “I just want to know why it’s not that
aggele
shit now. What’s it mean?”

“I can’t call her anything but that now?” Silas asked.

“Stop changing the subject,” North barked at him. “You always do that. I ask a simple question and you pull it in a different direction.”

I cringed. Don’t fight! Why was North so agitated? It was the first time I felt Silas was actually trying to pick a fight back. Sitting between them made me feel divided. The edge was cutting through my heart. Was it because they were tired? I shot a panicked stare at Kota.

Kota started to stand, looking like he was going to say something when the courtyard started to ring with the sound of alarms going off. Within the walled space of the courtyard, the sound was echoing, amplified. It was a shock and I instinctively covered my ears.

North push a palm against his eye. “Christ, not another one.”

“A bomb threat?” Nathan asked. “School hasn’t even started yet.”

“Whoever it is, he isn’t wasting time,” Kota said. He picked up his bag and then motioned to me. “Let’s get out of here. North, I wouldn’t normally ask, but make sure Luke’s okay.”

“On it,” North said, getting up quickly.

Everyone moved, joining the throng of people starting to go back out toward the parking lot. Silas grabbed my bag. Kota was on one side of me, Silas had an arm around my shoulders, but eventually, we were squished into a line. I ended up behind Kota, Silas behind me, with a hand on my back. I kept my hand on Kota’s shoulder so he knew I was behind him. I lost sight of Nathan. North split from us in the hallway, heading toward the main office area.

The space was chaos. Streams of students flowed out the door and walked through the lot, while people were still trying to park and figure out what was going on. Parents dropping off kids were out of their cars and asking questions. A cop car rolled in, driving on the grass to get around the commotion. He must have been close by and a first responder. Another cop car showed up, and started directing traffic, getting parents dropping off kids to stop coming through, and clearing the entrance.

The moment we could get out into the open in the parking lot, Kota moved toward the stands near the baseball field, while everyone else was directed to the long strip of grass on the far side of the parking lot.

Kota scoped out the area, checking the underside of the seats. He gave us the okay and we climbed on and sat on the very top facing the ongoing chaos, checking out what was going on. Our feet dangled below. The seats were cold metal, the chill biting into my clothes so I stuffed Silas’s jacket tighter around me.

“What a mess,” Kota said. “I wouldn’t want to be in charge of this. Those parents are creating more problems. Our bomber planned a good one this time.”

“Should we do anything?” I asked. “Aren’t we supposed to be catching him?”

“Wait it out,” Kota said. “Keep an eye out for anything unusual. So far, no one is in danger. It’s just chaotic. We should probably look for anyone acting suspicious. But just in case, we should stay out of range. The kids are riled up and could be dangerous right now.”

It was hard to focus, but I found it easier if I was looking out for individual people who looked familiar. Among over two thousand students trying to stand along a strip of narrow land, it was hard to pick out anyone that I knew.

Then I found Derrick, and Karen was with him. They skirted around the outside of the crowd of students, focused, like they were looking for someone. Karen had on a leather jacket with the sleeves pushed up a bit on her arms. Derrick had his hands stuffed into his jeans, his lips pressed together into a thin line.

At first, I was going to dismiss them. Maybe they were looking for another friend. But the more I observed, the more they studied the students, looking for something or someone. They leaned over and whispered to each other. Karen looked upset. Derrick’s lips twisted into a frown.

Kota leaned over me, putting his head near mine. I smelled his soothing spice and continued to watch Karen and Derrick. “What are they doing?” he asked.

“You know,” I said. “Remember the last time we went to the football game and I sat with them?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Did something happen?”

“When that one kid got crazy and started attacking people, she got really interested and went off to go ask what was going on. Derrick stayed behind and I mentioned what Karen said and then he followed her and they never returned.”

“Sang,” Nathan said. “Derrick was never interested in getting involved. H wouldn’t stick his head into trouble. Maybe they’re just looking for another friend.”

“I’m not sure,” I said. “Karen seems involved with Mr. Hendricks. He uses a lot of students and teachers to do whatever it is he’s doing. I think maybe she’s wrapped up in that. Derrick might not be involved, but Karen’s his friend. He might at least help a little. Maybe without even realizing it.”

“It could be,” Kota said. He touched gently at the corner of his classes. “It might make any situation she’s in more dangerous if we interact with her.”

“She’s not a threat,” Nathan said, his tone deep. “Trust me. I know she isn’t.”

Kota turned to him, frowning. “Just because she helped...”

“She was flipping out, too,” Nathan said. He looked at me. His entire face turned serious. “If it wasn’t for her, Sang could have ended up a lot worse with Jade. I know we shouldn’t take anything for granted, but I saw her face. She was terrified for Sang. I can’t imagine she’d be up to something that would harm us.”

The sound of Jade’s name sent a ripple of dread through me. Whatever I’d wanted to say got caught in my throat. I drowned out the thoughts creeping into my head by forcing myself to think about the bomb threat, to scan the crowd of students. I’d lost track of Karen and Derrick. They’d disappeared among the others.

Still, something didn’t feel exactly right. During gym class for the last few weeks, I’d been dismissed from attending, thanks to Dr. Green and giving me a medical excuse. So I’d been sitting on the sidelines in my normal clothes, watching everyone else participate. I’d said hello when Karen came by, and we’d exchanged some words, but we never got a chance to talk about what had happened. The longer I went without talking to her about it, the more I realized I couldn’t bring up the topic for some reason. I couldn’t even say thank you. I know Nathan and the others had. I simply couldn’t talk about it.

I wasn’t sure if it was Karen, or if I simply wasn’t ready to talk about what had happened yet. I’d come to realize the way I dealt with things that affected me so strongly, was to wait as long as possible, until the feelings and emotions about the situation numbed themselves inside of me. I preferred to handle it slowly, bit by bit, over time.

A warm hand touched the back of my neck. It was Kota. His touch steadied me, and encouraged me to look at him.

“If you think this is something we should look at,” he said quietly, “we’ll keep an eye on her.”

I found strength and comfort in his touch, and leaned into it. “I know dealing with Mr. Hendricks will mean dealing with his hold on everyone. Focusing on Mr. Hendricks and trying to stop him helps everyone. If we spread ourselves out too much, we’ll never catch up to him. We already know some of what he will do to distract us.”