The Academy: Book 2 (69 page)

He and Jen stayed silent as Joney chugged down half the bottle, turned, and threw it with amazing velocity into the
arctic jungle. It went so far that Asa never heard it crash.

Jen turned to Asa and smiled, as though to say,
I told you this trip would be worthwhile; we found their hideout.

Asa didn’t return the smile. He wasn’t sure that celebrating would be appropriate until they got out of there alive.

Jen pulled herself close to Asa and whispered softly into his ear: “
He came out of the waterfall.”

At first, Asa didn’t know what to make of this. He looked blankly at Jen, and then she pointed. Asa moved his body so that he once again could view the sheet of thick, falling water, and saw something he hadn’t seen before.

Lights on the other side of the falling water.

Asa couldn’t exactly make out what kind of lights they were; they could have been from a fire, or a light bulb, but he could see lights. “There must be a cavern on the other side of the waterfall,” he whispered. 

Jen nodded, and then put up her finger to hush him.

So this is where they are hiding,
Asa thought. He wondered if this was the Multiplier’s only lair, or if they had many. He guessed that they would all want to stay in one place, but was having a hard time imagining the cave behind the waterfall being big enough to hold a few thousand Multipliers.

Joney was now leaving the bank and walking into the jungle.

“
Let’s leave while we can,
” Jen whispered. Asa had no problem with that; they had seen where the Multipliers were hiding out, and so he saw no need to stay one second longer.

They crouched low as they moved through the woods. They were forty yards in when Asa heard Rose’s slurred voice yell out in their direction.

“HEY!”

Asa and Jen crouched where they were, directly between two bushes. There was no point in running; Multipliers were too fast. Asa hoped that Rose was still drunk, and even if she had seen them, she would forget about them.

This hope was short lived. Asa heard Rose’s footsteps approaching them. There was another pair of footsteps too, coming from the opposite end. Asa saw through the leaves that it was Joney.

But neither Rose nor Joney was looking at the bushes. They were looking at each other.

“How ya doin’, Rosey. ‘is good to see yuh. I heard that the students weren’t in the classroom like ya thought. Real bummer, it is.”

Rose nodded. She was smoking another cigarette, and passed it over to Joney, who took a drag. Rose was still covered in blood, but wasn’t wet, like Joney. “It was a real, real downer if you ask me.” Her face lit up. “But we did get to kill one of the students. I ripped his throat out with me teeth. You should’ve been there, Joney.”

Joney nodded, exhaled and passed back the cigarette. “Good for you! I’ve been telling Allen that you needed to see some action. I think it heartens you—there’s somethin’ to be said for self control, but there’s also somethin’ to be said for sinkin’ your teeth into a human e’ry once in a while, right?”

Rose was smiling back at Joney. Asa wondered if they were romantically involved. “Right.” She took a drag. “So, did you hear back from the little one on the
radio? Ned thinks he’s legit…I don’t know. I just don’t know if I can trust him. There’s the whole blood thing…. I don’t know.”

“No,” Joney said. “Little bugger didn’t check in tonight. But you know that he
doesn’t want to blow his cover.” Joney looked around, as though to see if anyone was listening. He didn’t see either Jen or Asa. “Come out here with me, Rosey. Let’s go a little deeper into the jungle. I want to have a chat.”

“I’d love to.”

Asa and Jen watched them walk. They stayed still a long time before moving out of the bush’s cover. It was Asa this time who encouraged them to move. 

33

Deception

             
An hour later, Asa and Jen had retraced their steps and gone back to the Academy-side of the mountain.

The steaming water lapped up against the shore. Asa crouched beside the Moat. He dipped his cupped hands in the water and splashed it over his face. He gasped, but that was what he wanted. He desired to feel something. After being so terrified for so long, he felt numb and apathetic.

              He knew that Teddy was locked up, and that he could not get out of his jail cell, but still, Asa wanted to be mentally sharp before going and speaking with him.

             
He looked up at the moon and couldn’t believe that earlier in the day, Stan had come to visit him and told him about Allen’s planned attack. To Asa, that felt like years ago. He dipped his hands in the Moat, and splashed more water on his face.

             
He was alone. He and Jen had moved back through the jungle together, and then she had turned and told him that she was going to bed. Asa looked at her bloody suit, hands, and thighs, and asked if she should clean up before going to the female Fishie dormitory.

             
“It’ll be fine,” she said. “I’ll fly in through the tower. It’ll be dark enough that no one will notice. If someone does notice, I’ll tell them that I was out hunting.”

             
She smiled, and met Asa’s eyes with a peculiar look. She was exhausted, and Asa had sympathy for her. But there was something else in that look.
Admiration, maybe?
There was something unwavering in her eyes; there was a certain feeling that he got when he glanced down at her slightly opened mouth. Asa believed that she wanted him to kiss her then, before they left.

             
“Be safe,” Asa said, shortly. “And I’ll see you tomorrow.”

             
Jen nodded, and the corners of her mouth tugged downward for a moment. “You too, Palmer.” Then, her wings shot out and she took off.

             
Asa splashed more water on his face. “Wake up,” he said to himself. He felt that he couldn’t think. He felt like he wasn’t smart enough to find a solution to all the problems he was facing.

             
Without warning, Asa began to cry, alone, by the waterline.

             
It was all of it, he supposed. Things were just piling up, one after another. There was, of course, the biggest concern—which was the upcoming Multiplier attack on the Academy. But there were other things, too. Like, considering how he would explain to Roxanne that Bruce had been killed in front of their eyes. Or, worrying about Stan, and Janice. Then there was Charlotte—Asa did not know if she was dead or not.
Did she make it back from her run?

             
“STOP CRYING!”
Asa said to himself loud enough to make crows take flight in nearby trees. He looked around, wide-eyed.
I’m going crazy,
he thought with a little chuckle.
All the stress is making me lose it. You’re talking to yourself. Get it together, Asa!

             
He stood, wiped the tears away with the heel of his hand, and began to trudge up the dirt path towards Conway’s cabin. He felt disturbed and upset. He wished that he could go back to feeing numb.

             
When he reached the door, he borrowed the key Conway kept atop the doorjamb and let himself inside.

             
Ozzie roared ferociously, and came tearing over the living room toward Asa, teeth exposed.

             
“It’s me, Ozzie. Hush.”

             
The polar bear’s grimace was gone in a flash, and Ozzie wagged his little white tail. He wiggled up to Asa, whining with his ears back, begging to be greeted.

             
“You and me have come a long way, friend,” Asa whispered to Ozzie as he scratched behind the polar bear’s ears. The living room was dark and quiet, except for the dozens of clocks ticking away on the wall. Asa guessed that Conway was away on some mission. Otherwise, he would have come out to see who had entered.

             
Asa wondered what it would be like, being a graduate. He wondered what kinds of things the Academy sent them out to do. He imagined that some of it must actually be humanitarian work, otherwise, why would Conway and McCoy and all the other graduates stay?

             
“Asa? Everything okay?” Mama croaked from her bed in a room off the back hallway. Her hearing was so good that she would have known it was Asa by his footsteps, even if he hadn’t spoken to Ozzie.

             
“Yes, ma’am,” he said to her. “I’m sorry to wake you. I know it’s late. I just wanted to go see how Teddy was doing.”

             
“No problem. Go right ahead. He’s still up. It sounds like he’s talking to himself down there. He’s whispering. I can’t make out what he’s saying.”

             
“Okay, goodnight, Mama.”

             
“Yes, dear, goodnight.”

             
Asa moved towards the basement, and couldn’t hear a thing. Once again, Mama’s hearing amazed him. He hoped that Teddy was mentally well. Talking to himself didn’t sound good. Asa sometimes worried about Teddy, being locked inside a cell all that time.

             
I just got done screaming at myself,
Asa remembered.

             
Ozzie crawled back into Mama’s bedroom and Asa opened the door to the basement. The door was well oiled, and didn’t make a sound. Asa crept down the steps, and it wasn’t until he was four or five steps from the floor that he was able to hear what Mama could from her bedroom—Teddy’s hushed voice.

             
Asa peaked around the basement wall, and looked past Conway’s workout equipment to Teddy. He was hunched over some red and white contraption, whispering hurriedly. There was a quiet metallic voice talking from the machine. Teddy looked angry.

             
Teddy looked up, saw Asa, and blushed. He turned something on the small, red and white device, and then classical music began to play instead of the voice.

             
“Hello, Asa!” Teddy said, getting to his feet.

             
Asa moved across the room and sat down on the bench press. Closer now, Asa could see that the small machine that Teddy had been talking into was made out of coke cans. “What is that?” Asa asked.

             
Teddy turned red and smiled nervously, showing his black gums. “It’s a radio.”

             
“Oh yeah?” Asa said. “I forgot you said that you were going to make one. That’s impressive.”

             
Teddy nodded. “Thanks. It still can’t get very loud, but I’m able to get some AM stations.”

             
“Teddy, were you talking into the radio?”

             
A small chill went up Asa’s spine as he remembered something that Rose had said to Joney out in the jungle.
“So, did you hear back from the little one on the radio?”

             
Teddy waved a hand. “Yeah. But it’s stupid. I like to listen to talk radio, and well—this is embarrassing—I like to talk back to it. I don’t get many visitors here. It’s no one’s fault, just a bad situation. But I like to sometimes pretend like I’m arguing with them.”

             
Asa looked at the little box again, and wondered if Teddy was somehow communicating with other Multipliers. He decided against it.
How would Teddy even know that they had a radio? And, he probably does get bored down here—he needed a radio—it makes sense that he was talking to it. And he does look embarrassed. He’s not talking to Multipliers, that’s crazy.