House of Korba: The Ghost Bird Series: #7 (The Academy) (37 page)

Some people were pointing, laughing.

“It’s on me, isn’t it?” Silas asked.

“Yes,” I said. “Mr. Blackbourne, we’ve got a problem. Volto painted his mask on the backs of the costumes.” I turned, showing Silas my back. “Do I have one?”

“No. Must be just the guys,” Silas said.

“Didn’t the costumes get mixed up?” Mr. Blackbourne asked.

They did. It struck me all at once then. The masks at Tissu being left behind. Later, after Gretta made her costumes, it must not have been the assistant who messed things up, it was Volto, painting his masks and tucking the outfits into the wrong bags.

I caught North and Dr. Green turning their backs to each other, catching on. Kota, Victor and Nathan were crossing the tent, charging at me.

Suddenly, through my earpiece, a voice spoke.

“I helped you once,” said the electronically distorted voice. “I’ll help you twice, but you owe me.”

I waited, assuming Mr. Blackbourne had heard what was said, and perhaps Victor, Kota, and the others, but neither of them changed course. Silas didn’t acknowledge that he’d heard anything.

“What?” I asked, my heart pounding.

“Tell Kota the next time I leave a sign for them, he needs to pay attention. I tried to tell him his car was being stolen.”

“Did you steal it?”

“Not this time. By the way, the thing you were waiting for? It’s happening now. Take your dates out to the parking lot. Don’t let them talk you out of going. You need to see this. Don’t let them keep you in the dark.” Then there was a distinct click: a phone hanging up.

I grabbed Silas’s arm. “We have to go.”

“What?” Silas asked. “Why?”

“You didn’t hear?” I asked. “Volto was talking to me. Through the earpiece.”

“Miss Sorenson,” Mr. Blackbourne said now through earpiece. “You can hear me now?”

“We have to get everyone out to the parking lot,” I said. “Something’s happening out there. Maybe we can stop it.” I checked for the exit, and started to hurry as fast as heels would allow.

“Sang,” Silas took my elbow, pulling me until I nearly fell, but he caught me. “We can’t just run in. It might be a trap.”

“What’s going on?” North asked, coming up next to me.

“We have to hurry,” I told them both. “We’ll miss it. We need to know. And we have to go quietly, or else we won’t find out...”

“You can’t trust him,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “Whatever he’s told you.”

“Some need to stay here and watch over the students,” I said. “But don’t we need to investigate and make sure this isn’t going to be a trap sprung on anyone else? And what if...”

“I’m not seeing anyone out in the parking lot,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “Wait...my feeds. Victor, the feeds have been diverted somehow. The timestamp is frozen. He’s cutting through the signal.”

“It was the risk we were taking going wireless,” Victor said, looking around at the other boys as they gathered around. We were probably causing a scene and with the masks on their backs, they looked intimidating. “Anyone can jump on the lines.”

My heart was racing, and I kept trying to pull away from them. Maybe I sensed it in the air, and in the way Volto had spoken, but we were running out of time. We were going to miss whatever he was trying to warn us about.

That’s what it felt like: A warning.

“Please,” I begged. “We need to go see.”

“No,” North said. “We have to...”

There was thud in the ear piece. Mr. Blackbourne was saying something, but it wasn’t into the microphone.

Suddenly, the earpiece gave off a piercing squeal. Instinct took over, and I covered my ears, but since the earpiece was inside, I quickly scratched at it until I could pull it out, leaving it hanging off the side of the mask.

The boys had all done the same. Kota spoke into his mask, “Hey, you there? There’s a...”

“That’s not feedback,” Victor said. “That’s a disruption to the line. He’s cutting off communication.”

“He might be in trouble,” North said. He snapped at me. “Stay here with Silas. We’re checking out the parking lot. Some of us may need to go after Mr. Blackbourne.”

“But...”

North pointed a finger at my nose. “Don’t,” he said.

Kota started directing the others. Kota, Victor and Luke were going to head to Mr. Blackbourne and find out what was going on. Silas stayed with me. North and the others were going to circle the parking lot.

I hovered where I stood, indecisive, but wanting to obey the boys. The urge to get involved was overwhelming, especially knowing Mr. Blackbourne could be in trouble, and that whatever Volto had done, it was happening right now. Whatever favor he’d planned, we were missing it.

I swallowed every ounce of wanting to disobey Kota and North. Trust.

Silas stood by me while the others ran off. There were curious looks from other Academy members around us. Some looked like they were talking into earpieces. Everyone was trying to figure out what was going on. There was a flurry of movement as the music blared a little louder. They were possibly masking their movements. The Academy was on the move.

It all happened at once. There were people on the floor offering food, people taking photos. Everyone was checking what the students were doing. I suppose if anyone was on a cell phone, or acting weird, they were looking for those people.

“Sang,” a voice said. It was faint. I realized it was coming through the earpiece. I put it back in again. “Mr. Black—”

“Now that they’re gone,” Volto’s voice rang through. “Go inside the estate. I’ll guide you from there.”

“Silas,” I said.

“What?” he was putting his earpiece back in. “Is he back?”

“Volto is,” I said. “He said go inside the estate.”

“Oh shit,” Silas grumbled. “Why?”

“Better hurry up,” Volto said.

I tugged at Silas’s arm. “I don’t know,” I said to him. “But listen, Volto hasn’t hurt us, right?”

“Are you kidding?” Silas asked.

“Please,” I said. I’d had enough of being told to stay behind. “We’re the only ones here, and maybe he’s diverting their attention or whatever, but... please, Silas?”

“We should stay,” he said.

“We need to find out what’s going on. Isn’t that what we’re doing now? If we’re going to catch up with him, we have to find out what he’s doing. We can’t just stand here.”

Silas looked longingly toward the exit that the others had disappeared behind. He looked toward the other Academy members, all seeming to scramble in different directions, giving orders. “I don’t know.”

“We’ll go slowly,” I said. “Together.”

Silas groaned and then tucked his hand around my elbow and started out. “If we end up kidnapped, I’ll kill him.”

“Down, doggie,” Volto said in my ear. Silas didn’t react, so I guessed Volto could hear what they were saying, but I was the only one who could hear him.

I followed Silas out, and then around the tent. My heels sunk into the grass, and I kicked them off and picked them up to walk barefoot. The dance was over for us in the Academy. We needed to hurry.

Silas and I jogged toward the estate, going through the open back door. The lights were mostly off. I’d heard there were tours available early on to those going to the homecoming dance, but they were cut off once the dance started to keep everyone in one spot. The only part left was the bathrooms, which were on the side of the house and lit up, along with a couple of Academy people watching it.

My feet met with the hardwood floor. In the dimmer lights, the place gave off the illusion of being a real home, feeling less like a museum.

Silas reached for my hand. “No matter what happens,” Silas said, “no letting go.”

I agreed. I squeezed his hand in return. Silas was here with us. He might actually be staying. I wanted to hang on and make sure I wasn’t leading him into something worse.

We walked quietly, listening now to figure out why we were here. Volto had called it a favor.

As we moved through the rooms, I eventually heard a voice. I squeezed Silas’s hand again, pointing in the direction it was coming from.

We crouched, keeping to the deeper shadows. The spaces were lit up by normal lamps, so there were spots that were a bit dark.

As we approached, I started to recognize Mr. Hendricks’s voice.

“...realize what you’ve done?” There was a distinct stamp of a hard sole against the hardwood. “You’ve got the police making inquiries. They’ll...”

“They’re not going to let you off the hook, this time,” a voice grumbled.

But I knew that voice too well, and hearing it made me stop in my tracks, not wanting to go any further.

Silas tugged me forward, until we were peeking around a door.

Mr. McCoy stood in the front entrance, his hands on his hips, wearing dark slacks and a suit coat. His mustache was thinner now, like he’d shaved it and now was re-growing it. His focus was sharp. I could only see Mr. Hendricks’s back.

“I thought we were getting rid of the little shits that got too nosy,” Mr. Hendricks said. “The plan was to do it slowly. Not all damn week.”

“It would have given them more time to catch on,” Mr. McCoy said. “You said to work tactically. I did. Did you see them scatter? Those Academy punks didn’t know what to do with themselves. He won’t dare bring in any more Academy kids.”

He thought there were more? Mr. Hendricks thought I’d been in the Academy before. Somehow he’s associated Arthur and others with being involved, too. I didn’t think that was true. Mr. Blackbourne would have said something.

Silas had his phone out. I thought he was going to make a call, maybe let the others know what was going on, but instead, he pushed a record button. I could see the timer ticking off seconds as it recorded.

Silas was brilliant. I didn’t have a phone at the moment to be able to do anything.

“The police are too close,” Mr. Hendricks said.

Suddenly we had our answer: Mr. McCoy must have been behind the bomb threats. He knew the protocol. He knew how to get away with it. Somehow he was able to get to the students, and trick them or threaten them to call them in all week.

He’d been so close, and we never knew.

“So? Let them. They’ll be investigating those guys. Point a few fingers. Put kiddie porn on their laptops or something. Whatever it is, get the police to find it.”

Mr. Hendricks grumbled.

“Hey,” Mr. McCoy snapped. He took a step toward the principal. “Whatever you’re up to? I don’t even want to know. I’m doing this to get those Academy people out of our school, and get my job back.”

“We won’t have jobs at this rate,” Mr. Hendricks said, his voice altered slightly, though distinctly. “Next year, I’ll be lucky if I have any decent students left. It’ll be a prison, not a school.”

It struck me that the change in his voice was like when my sister would lie. When she did, she lowered her voice. While Mr. Hendricks didn’t do that, his voice did alter. I didn’t pick it up before, because I wasn’t sure exactly what might be a lie. But now, I knew Mr. Hendricks talking about being around next year was a lie, because of his plan with the superintendent and the other partner, they weren’t planning on coming back after the year was over. One more year. That’s what Mr. Hendricks had muttered under his breath.

I’d figured out how to distinguish when Mr. Hendricks was lying.

“Was the fog machine ploy really necessary?” Mr. Hendricks asked.

“Wasn’t me,” Mr. McCoy said. “That was someone else. Maybe you can blame that on those little shits. I just did the display board. That’s why I had you call in the security team. Distract them so they weren’t looking at the board. I was about to call in the bomb threat when all that fog rolled in.”

“What do you need now?” Mr. Hendricks asked. “I’ve got to get back to this thing. I told you we shouldn’t mess with Middleton.”

“I’m not here to mess with it,” Mr. McCoy said. “I scoped out Mr. Blackbourne and he’s where he said he’d be. He’s been tapping at his phone, and talking into a mic. I scoped out the area, and he’s got more of his gang there. I identified some of them and I’ll be able to start following them. Maybe we’ll find out where this Academy is after all. It was just like you thought: Someone would be around watching his back.”

“Good,” Mr. Hendricks said. “We’ve got them. Just a matter of time.”

There was a sudden crash behind us. The back door opened. Footsteps echoed.

My heart raced into a panic, and I pulled back, tugging Silas along, not wanting to get caught.

Silas didn’t move. He kept watching them. I leaned into him, to look again out at the foyer.

Mr. McCoy was already walking away. Mr. Hendricks was turned, staring down a different hallway than the one we were in. He started off in that direction, walking toward the noise.

Mr. McCoy went through the front door.

Silas immediately, backed up, stepping into the corner. He sent a message, texting furiously into his phone. I saw it before he sent. He was having Academy members follow Mr. McCoy.

When Mr. Hendricks yelled at students who had stumbled into the house to check it out, Silas and I made our escape out the front door after Mr. McCoy.

Out on the front steps, Silas’s phone lit up. “They’ve got him,” Silas said when he glanced at it. “They’re not capturing him, but they’re going to follow him to see where he’s staying. We’ve got him. If he’s not hurting anyone, we’ll be watching him to figure out what their next move might be. We want to catch Mr. Hendricks, too.”

“How did we not catch him before? And who did do the fog...”

“Oh that was me,” Volto said into my earpiece. “And you’re welcome, by the way. He was going to pin the scoreboard on your friend Karen, you know. She was next on his list.”

A chill ripped down my spine. Karen! She could have gotten expelled or arrested.

“Thank me later. Oh and by the way, thanks for your phone. I’ll hang on to it. Nice pictures, by the way.” Again there was the sound of him hanging up.

I ripped my mask off, breathing in the cold night. I was fuming, a mix of terror after seeing Mr. McCoy and that Karen had been threatened.

“What?” Silas asked. “Did he say something?”

“Yeah,” I said. “We should find the others.”