The Academy: Book 2 (61 page)

Asa thought it would be fun to go with Jen. She was easy to talk to, outgoing, and he always had a good time when he was with her.

A knot began to twist in his stomach as he thought of the light-hearted way in which Charlotte had spoken to him. Asa felt rattled by her confidence. He had never enjoyed seeing her in emotional pain because of him,
so why did our encounter today disturb me so much?

KNOCK
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

Asa looked over at the door and wondered
who it could be.
Jen? No, Jen wouldn’t knock; she would just enter.
A new wave of anxiety rolled over him and he wondered if it could be Charlotte.

Asa stood and straightened his hair.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

             
Or what if it is Derden, coming to interrogate me more on Teddy’s disappearance? Or another Multiplier?

             
Or what if it is Charlotte, and she was bitten by Joney, Michael, or Edna in the woods?
An image of her with an infected black hole where her ear had been came to his mind.

             
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

             
Asa knew that his fears were unlikely.

             
He took a deep breath, and opened the door. Stan Nuby stood before him—his face was a sick shade of yellow. His eyes were puffy, like he had been crying; he glanced around the room and then spoke in his Southern accent. “I need to talk to you. Anyone else here?”

             
“No.”

             
Stan shoved himself inside, and Asa shut the door.

             
“Is everything okay, Stan?”

             
Stan was pacing around the room, tugging at his blond hair with his small, veiny hands. “Piggy, I done somethin’ bad. Real bad. And, I don’t know if you’ll ever forgive me. I feel sick. I done somethin’ bad, Piggy.”

             
“Have a seat,” Asa suggested, but Stan ignored him. He paced around the room, clearly restless. He kept on looking over at the door, as though expecting someone dangerous to come in.

             
His left wrist was still in a cast, and the two black eyes he had gotten last week had gone from purple to greenish yellow. “I done somethin’ real bad, Piggy.” His eyebrows were pulled together and he looked like he was about to cry. “Like, go to hell for it kind of bad.”

             
“What did you do?” Asa asked.

             
“It’s somethin’ that a student should never do to another student. We’re supposed to be brothers, of a sort. We’re teammates. Ohhhh. Ohhh!” He was groaning, tugging at his hair, and a slow trickle of tears ran down his cheeks. “It makes me feel terrible. Listen, when I tell you what I’m about to tell you, you’re going to want to kill me. I know it. I would want to kill me to, if I were in your shoes. But, it won’t do us any good for you to come over this table, tryin’ to fight me, you hear? Because this is my last stop on my way out, Asa. I’m leavin’ the Academy. Janice and I are. She’s waitin’ in the woods for me. So, just know, before I tell you this, that I’m sorry and that this is the last time you’ll see me.”

             
“You’re leaving the Academy?” Asa asked. Fear came to the back of his throat like acid, and he again thought about Carmen telling him to leave the mountains.

             
Stan shrugged. “I know that I probably won’t make it too far before they hunt me down. But if I stay here, they’re going to kill me anyways. You know that I needed to ace all my tests and win the Winggame Championship to get my thousand points, right?”

             
“Did you get a bad grade on something?”

             
“No, not officially. I haven’t got my grades back or nothin’. I think I got mostly B’s. I could’ve gotten all A’s, but it seems unlikely. And, we’ll probably lose the match tomorrow, let’s be honest.” His eyes moved over to the door, and again Asa got the feeling that Stan was scared of someone barging in the door and killing him. “But anyways, I got somethin’ that I want to tell you, cause I’m a good guy, and I want to help you out. Now, I know that you’re going to be furious, cause what I did…well…it’s going to put you in a bit of a pickle. But don’t go gettin’ mad, cause that’s not gonna solve nothing, you hear?”

             
“I’ll be calm,” Asa assured Stan. “Now, tell me.”

             
Stan shook his head for a moment longer, and then began to sob. His chest rose and fell with wheezing, fast breaths. “I’m a traitor, Piggy. I am. I—I—I…” but then he broke into such violent sobs that he wasn’t able to continue talking.

             
“Calm down. Just try to breath.”

             
Stan nodded, and tried to compose himself.
What has he done to become this upset?
Asa wondered.
This is the same guy that murdered both his parents, and the police officer that came to investigate when he was only a child. And here he is, in hysterics with guilt over something that he’s done to me.

             
“I’ve been a spy,” Stan was finally able to get out.

             
“A spy?”

             
Stan nodded, still braying with tears. “Giving information. But it was so that they wouldn’t kill me.” Stan’s chest was expanding and contracting at an alarming rate, and tears were flooding down his face.

             
“So who wouldn’t kill you?” Asa asked, but he had a cold certainty that he already knew.

             
Stan’s crying was only getting worse.

             
“Calm down, Stan, you’re going to make yourself sick!”

             
As if on cue, Stan threw open the bathroom door and vomited heavily into the Academy-issued toilet. When he was done, he spat what was left into the bowl and flushed the toilet.

             
“
Jesus, Stan!
You’re really scaring me! What’s going on?”

             
Stan stood up and wiped his mouth. He looked slightly more composed. “Don’t use the Lord’s name in vain.”

             
Asa was slightly annoyed at Stan’s call to morality, considering his history. But, he apologized anyway. “Sorry. I’m just nervous. What’s going on?”

             
Stan inhaled heavily through his nose. Tears continued to wash down his face, but he was now composed enough to talk. “It was two months ago, I think. Benny Hughs came up to me after one of our practices. He asked me if I hated you. I said yes. But you gotta understand, Asa, I thought you were killing other students at the time. Now I know better.

             
“Benny said that I could help bring you down. I says, ‘yeah, I’d like that.’ So, he brings me out into the wilderness, and I have to meet with this guy in the woods somewhere. He says that this guy is going to help me to bring Palmer down. Sounded good to me, Asa, but I didn’t know! I didn’t know you were innocent!

             
“Well, anyways, when the guy gets there, his name is Allen, and he’s not
really
a guy. He’s a Multiplier. And he wants to know all sorts of stuff about you.

             
“At first I was kinda startled, and didn’t know if I wanted to say nothin’ to him, but he had a gun, and shot into a tree right beside my head and said he would blow me to bits if I didn’t start talkin. So I did.”

             
Stan’s crying eyes flickered back over to the door. “I am scared they’re comin’ for me, Asa. They have ways of monitoring. I’ve got to make this fast, okay? I’m going to tell you the essentials, then I’m gettin’ my ass outta here.” He looked back over at the door. “If they saw me talkin’ to you, I’d be dead.”

             
Asa nodded. He had so many questions to ask, but decided it would be best to remain silent and let Stan finish.
Did he come into contact with Multipliers from the Hive?
Asa wondered.
Or are these Multipliers that work for the Academy? And why is Benny Hughs involved?

             
Stan sniffled, then wiped his nose. “You gotta believe me on somethin’, though, Asa. I don’t know why, but there are Multipliers out there that want you dead. I never heard the reason. It doesn’t make sense to me. But they told me about how last semester
they
were the ones responsible for all your teammates dying. I thought it was you. I think that’s what they wanted—to make you look like a bad guy. And I called you a murderer, and, well, I’m sorry.” His eyes moved to the door again, and Asa couldn’t help wondering if Charlotte was still alive out there. “Anyways, me and this Multiplier, Allen is his name, have been meeting pretty frequently. And, tonight, when you and the rest of the Sharks have your team meeting in the Lab, they’re plannin’ on raiding the classroom. You can’t go tonight, Asa. They’re coming for you,
tonight!
”

             
Asa thought about what Stan had said about the Multipliers knowing things, and about how if they were watching, they would have seen Charlotte leaving to go on a run. “Have they said anything about any other students? Does it seem like they want to kill anyone else, or just me?”

             
“Just you, Piggy. And they’re going to git you if you go tonight.” Stan’s eyes moved over to the door. “I got to get goin’. I’m sorry about this.”

             
Asa looked into Stan’s green eyes and believed that he was truly sorry. “It’s okay. I forgive you Stan.”

             
Stan nodded solemnly, and walked over to the front door. He turned, looked at Asa, and said, “the two of us got a deadly road up ahead.”

             
“Take care, Stan.”

29

The Decision

After Stan left, Asa put his back against the closed door, and stood there, breathing. He could feel the cold weather through the wood. His mind was racing; it was hard to gather his thoughts.

He felt like he had just dodged a bullet.
If Stan had just left, and hadn’t warned me, I would have been bitten tonight.

             
He was once again overcome with the odd premonition that a Multiplier would bite him. He knew it was only a feeling, but the sensation felt so
real
to him.

             
He inhaled slowly, trying to calm down. If he weren’t careful, he would hyperventilate.

             
“Calm down, Asa. Think about this. What is the first thing that I need to do?” he said to himself.

             
The first thing that I need to do? I need to get out of here! Multipliers are coming for me tonight!

             
“Calm down,” he said again.

             
For a moment he just stood there, breathing, trying to clear his mind.

             
“Charlotte,” he heard himself say. He opened the door just a crack, peaked through it, and did not see her returning. He closed the door.