The Thief (10 page)

Camille risked a peek around the corner.
Charlotte stood between them, her hands on Tailor’s shoulders,
keeping him at bay. “It’s time to leave,” she told him. Tailor
glared at Gabriel, who just shrugged.

“
Now,” Charlotte
snapped.

“
Didn’t you want to ask him
something, Charlotte?” Tailor said bitterly, though he backed off
some.

“
No, I don’t,” Charlotte
said firmly.

“
You sure? You didn’t wonder
why Simon went missing the day before
he
turned in his ward’s enrollment
papers?” Tailor accused, pointing at Gabriel. “Or was that a
coincidence too?”

Gabriel was silent.

Simon? Who was Simon?

Tailor threw up his hands.
“Fine, don’t answer. Deny it. Deny everything. I’m sure horrible
things are just random, and you always being there is
just coincidence
. You can
smile and lie your way around everyone else, old man, but you don’t
fool me.”

He stormed out the front doors and Camille
ducked back against the wall. As they shut behind him, it was
almost like a pressure change in the air. Camille’s hearing
improved immediately. The sound of Charlotte straightening her
shirt was crisp.

“
For the record,” the
chemistry teacher said. “I don’t think you had anything to do with
Simon. I’m sure he’s fine, wherever he is.”

“
You don’t think he was
kidnapped, like they say?”

A slow breath. Camille could hear her
muscles moving. Shaking her head no, perhaps? “Not Simon.”

“
That would mean he
abandoned his daughter, then. I wonder what would make him do
that?”

“
Who can say,” Charlotte
said softly. She sounded sad.

“
Coincidence or not, the
timing is suspicious. John’s instincts are not bad,” Gabriel
admitted.

“
You think someone is trying
to frame you?” Charlotte asked.

“
Possibly. Though that seems
too easy,” he said wryly. “I’m more concerned about what Simon has
gotten involved in over the last decade or so. I should have kept
better tabs on him. Without John or Kyra to hold him back, I fear
his lack of caution will cause problems for all of us. He’s almost
as selfish as I am.” Camille could hear Gabriel smile. “Do you mind
if I ask you something?”

“
Um, sure.” She could hear
Charlotte blush. Yes, her hearing was definitely back to normal.
And her chemistry teacher was totally into her guardian.
Gross.

Gabriel paused, like he was going to ask her
one thing, and switched to something else. “There hasn’t been
anything unusual going on at the school in the last week, has
there?”

Charlotte laughed. “You mean more unusual
than usual? Not really. I mean, there’s been a small rash of theft
in lockers, but we’ll figure out who that is soon enough. It’s
probably Hyde, anyway,” she sighed. “I’m not sure that boy is worth
the trouble he causes.”

“
Oh, alright.” Some papers
shuffling. Gabriel was probably turning away to his inventory
lists.

“
What were you actually
going to ask me?” Charlotte asked.

“
No, it’s stupid, don’t
worry about it.” He only said things like that to draw you in, and
it worked on her like a charm.

“
There are no stupid
questions. I’m a teacher, I’ve heard just about everything,” she
teased.

“
I was going to ask if you’d
heard from Simon at all recently. Like I said, a stupid question.
Of course you haven’t.”

“
No, of course not,” she
laughed nervously. She was disappointed in his question. She was
also lying. Camille was taken aback. What was really going on
around here?

“
If I knew where he was I’d
feel better,” Gabriel said. “I suppose it’s up to the New York City
police at this point.”

“
I guess so,” Charlotte said
awkwardly. “Well, I’d better go. I’ve got lesson plans to finish up
before tomorrow and a cat that will tear up my drapes if I’m not
home soon. I’m looking forward to when this place is done - it’ll
be nice having a place close to school to get good tea. You will
have good tea, right?”

“
Promise.”

“
You’d better.” She paused.
“Why Benvolio?”

“
Hmm?”

“
The name of the cafe, why
did you pick Benvolio? It’s kind of odd.”

“
Is it? I just liked the
sound of it.”

Charlotte shook her head. “Goodnight.”

And then she was gone, the door clicking
lightly in her wake. Camille descended the stairs.

“
I have bad news,” Gabriel
said, bent over his inventory sheets. “This is going to be harder
than I thought.”

“
Why, because Ms. Miller
lied to you?” Camille asked.

“
You heard it too? That’s my
girl. I need you to help me keep tabs on her. She knows something
about Simon Graham, and I need to know where he is as soon as
possible.”

“
Graham? Like Jul
Graham?”

“
Yes, that’s his daughter.
Keep tabs on her, too. I doubt Simon will contact her, but stranger
things have happened.”

“
What was that Tailor said
about a sword?”

Gabriel waved the question away. “Old family
heirloom of theirs. I don’t have any swords. He would blame me for
the common cold if someone suggested it. Extremely useful boy
though...well, technically he’s a man now...” He looked up from the
papers at her, eyes narrowed in thought. “Did you say what extra
classes they’d given you?”

She handed him the folder of her class
schedules. “What’s so bad about this Simon guy anyway?” Camille
wanted to know.

“
The most dangerous people
in the world are idiots who think they’re geniuses. Simon is one of
those, except he’s got talents that make him even more dangerous.
In retrospect I should have dealt with him years ago, but at the
time...” He shook his head. “Getting to the bottom of this Graham
problem is numero uno.”

“
I thought you said we were
here for my education,” she said, folding her arms.

“
I lied. A little. The
sooner we find Simon Graham, the safer you’ll be. In the meantime,
what say we humiliate these Havenwood snobs a little, hmm?” He
began flipping through the folder.

“
I’m not going to be awesome
at English by tomorrow,” Camille grumbled.

“
Well, Rin Umino may have
given you that,” he said, sifting through her folder and holding up
a green piece of paper. “But she also put you in kendo. Are you
ready to kick some ass?” he grinned.

Camille grinned back. If there was one thing
she did well...

Chapter 6

Mac

At lunch the next day, Destin reiterates his
disapproval of yesterday’s tactics. We carry our trays of food to
our usual table. Other people tend to not sit by us. Because we’re
cool like that.

“
Just to be clear - your
brilliant plan was to ambush her coming out of Umino’s office and
show up late to English so Tailor could publicly ridicule
you.”

“
Your sarcasm, while
hilarious, is not helpful. My plan was to offer gentlemanly
assistance to a disoriented new student.”

“
And then get publicly
ridiculed in front of her.”

I sigh, sitting down. “You know what? Public
ridicule is getting to be a sort of daily thing for me, so I
figured, why not?”

I cast a glance to our right, where Jul sits
alone at a table, forlornly stirring a bowl of vegetable soup. “We
should go sit at her table,” I say in an undertone. “Do you see how
sad she looks?”

Destin glances over the top of the comic
he’s already cracked open. He has a bad habit of reading all
through lunch and forgetting to eat. “Far be it from me to stand in
the way of young love, but I think that’s a bad idea. I mean I feel
bad for her and all...”

“
She’s all alone over
there!” I exclaim as quietly as I can. “It’s like a
tragedy!”

“
And yet...”

Splat.
A bowl of pudding upends onto my head. Laughter erupts from a
couple tables away. Hyde slides onto the bench beside me, arm
around my shoulder. “How’s my favorite leprechaun? I found you a
hat.”

Oh, how I love that all the grades eat lunch
together. It is so cozy.

I push him away. He smells like cigarettes
and old laundry. Now I feel like I need a shower, for more reasons
than the pudding in my hair.

“
Thanks, that was all that
was missing from my life,” I say through my teeth.

“
You’re welcome, little
buddy,” he says, squishing the bowl into my hair one more time.
“Don’t forget to drink your milk so you can grow up big and strong!
You remember what day it is, don’t you?” He cackles, returning to a
table with some other juniors who give him a round of
high-fives.

I slide the bowl out of my hair and towel my
head with my napkin.

“
My point is,” Destin says,
handing me his napkins, “I don’t think proximity to us will improve
her situation. Exhibit A,” he nods at my hair.

Maybe he’s right. At least for today. It’s
Tuesday, and Tuesdays and Thursdays put Hyde in especially high
spirits, because that’s when he gets free reign to beat people up
in kendo. As you might imagine, this is not my favorite class. I’d
rather be pretending not to be totally tiny in karate the other
days of the week. With kendo, I still have to pretend not to be
totally tiny, but with a sword. What the heck am I supposed to do
with a sword when I can’t reach? My only comfort is that Destin
sucks at it too, so at least I’m not the only one looking like an
idiot. We do a lot better as a team of idiots.

The thing about karate and kendo, like all
the other “extracurricular” classes, is that you aren’t just with
your homeroom, or even your grade. You’re with whoever signed up
for it – or had been signed up for it whether they wanted to or
not. In the case of karate and kendo, the only people from our
homeroom are me, Destin, Jacques Olivier, and Brandon Underwood.
Jacques is from Canada, and speaks French as easily as he does
English, and likes to let everyone know it. He’s surgically
attached to his cell phone and thinks he’s superior because he
hangs out with seniors. Brandon is a lot calmer. He’s pretty much
permanently attached at the hip to his girlfriend Kenna, also in
our class. When they’re not breaking up, they’re getting back
together. Again, to each their own.

Anyway, we’re thankfully spared the company
of Hayley’s fancy-pants band, but in return we get Hyde. I’m still
undecided as to whether the tradeoff is worth it.

I hit the front of my locker as three of the
juniors elbow roughly past me, laughing. I straighten my gi, my
white uniform, and glare at their backs as they leave the locker
room.

Like clockwork. If kendo is my least
favorite thing, it’s the highlight of these guys’ week. They get
free reign to attack people with a freaking sword. It’s a dull
wooden sword, sure, but it leaves some bruises, let me tell
you.

To make matters worse, Hyde is
Ikeda-sensei’s best student. A couple of the others can get hits in
on him, if they’re lucky, but he’s as yet undefeated. A senior,
Poggio, had come close last week, but then Hyde almost broke his
wrist. Now Poggio sits on the sidelines with his arm in a sling and
Hyde’s back to trying to trip Destin when Ikeda-sensei isn’t
looking.

I sigh with resignation as I step out of the
locker room into the dojo. It’s Tuesday, so I’d just have to live
with it. But today ends up being a lot more...entertaining than I
had anticipated.

We have a new student.

There’s Camille, getting a tour of the dojo
from Ikeda-sensei while the rest of the class sizes her up. General
consensus looks to be ‘I bet I could take her,’ ranging from
completely innocent she’s-way-tiny to you-don’t-want-to-know lewd.
I mean she’s super thin, you can tell, now that she’s in a gi
instead of that baggy sweater, and she isn’t any taller than me.
Goldilocks ringlets aside, though, she somehow looks...correct...in
her gi. Maybe it’s her posture. I don’t remember her standing this
straight before, or looking so formal.

Ikeda-sensei likes to start every lesson
with an exhibition match. Most of the time this involves Hyde
getting to beat on some poor sap with a full audience. I’m busy
crossing my fingers that it’s not going to be me, and sparing a
couple of crossed toes that it won’t be Destin.

But Ikeda clearly has something different in
mind.

“
Today’s exhibition match
will be...” Ikeda’s gaze slides across the room, his lips curling.
“Hyde and Teague.”

Hyde laughs and hoists his wooden sword onto
his shoulder, shoving his way between Brandon and Destin to get to
the front of the room. Camille merely walks around the edge of the
group, coming to a stop in front of him, one hand resting on the
identical practice sword at her waist.

“
Everyone else have a seat,”
Ikeda says, amusement coloring his voice. As the rest of the class
sits where they were, placing their swords beside them on the mat,
he steps back to lean against the wall. The two look totally
mismatched – Hyde tall and sinewy with dark spiked hair and metal
glittering from every facial feature, Camille tiny and golden, with
the exception of that weird iron bracer on her left arm. You’d
think she’d take that thing off for something like this.