Torn (11 page)

"The rumors
totally worked. Dom and Jasmin both said they heard people talking
about them all day."

Rachel ducked
backwards as I absently reached out and made as if to paint the end
of her nose.

"Yes, you're a
genius. Your plan worked as intended."

"You're waiting
for the other shoe to drop aren't you?"

"I have to Rach.
I don't think I'm wrong, but even if I do, we're better off treating
her like a threat and being wrong than letting her position herself
to hurt us."

For a second it looked
like she was going to argue with me, but instead she shrugged and
turned to leave. Just before she disappeared she turned back.

"Alec, Les
Miserables is coming to Vegas. Can I go?"

At my somewhat
hesitant nod Rachel broke out in a big grin. "Aren't you at
least impressed that Adri hasn't let all of this go to her head?"

I pushed the question
out of my head once Rachel was gone and tried to concentrate on my
painting. There was no telling how long our reprieve would last.
Apparently Brandon's people had taken too severe of a beating last
night to push us again tonight, but it was only a matter of time
before he bullied them back into another series of provocations.

I fully intended on
using the time to finish off as much of my current piece as possible,
but I was already running into problems. I'd never had a hard time
painting before. Normally I just let my hand begin a piece and it
took shape almost of its own accord.

This time that worked
only up to a point. The borders were all progressing nicely with a
series of dark, almost black colors, but the center remained
steadfastly blank. I'd heard about artists, painters and writers who
lived in near-constant fear that they wouldn't be able to continue to
create, but I'd never thought it would ever be an issue.

I wasn't there yet,
but I was beginning to glimpse some of what they must experience. I
wouldn't be able to move on until this piece was done and it was
beginning to appear as though it would never fully take shape.

I still hadn't made
any progress on the mystery painting and the effort was starting to
get in the way of other things. Even so, I spent nearly the whole
day thinking about the project. Only physics, and the danger
represented by Adri, if she was really what I was afraid of, sufficed
to tear my mind away from the painting.

Adri smiled at me as I
slipped into class and took my seat. It seemed impossible that she
was happily plotting the destruction of everything I held dear.

Mrs. Alexander brought
the lab equipment over and I began setting up for the lab. I tested
the breaking point of our string and then began running through
calculations on just how many pulleys we'd need to pull the weight up
our ramp and over the other obstacles.

I made sure I was
using the coefficient of starting friction and then acting more on a
hunch than any solid calculations, I loaded the system with an extra
sixteen grams and then caught Mrs. Alexander's eye and waited for her
to come grade us.

Once she'd arrived I
smoothly ran the weights through the obstacle course she'd
stipulated.

"Sixteen grams.
Most impressive you two. An entire gram more than I would have
ventured to risk myself, and done before anyone else. I thought that
the pair of you would make a great team."

I expected Adriana to
keep her mouth shut. That's what people usually do when they are
given credit for something they really had little if any part in, but
amazingly enough she didn't remain quiet.

"Mrs. Alexander,
I didn't actually do any of it. I kept making mistakes."

Mrs. Alexander laughed
so hard that the pencil that was habitually behind her ear wobbled
and nearly fell off.

"I rather
suspect you're understating your accomplishments my dear. Didn't
contribute indeed. As if Nora's favorite student would just sit
around while there were equations to solve."

I couldn't help but
stare at Adri. She hadn't taken credit for my work, and then turned
out to be Mrs. Campbell's favorite student. Nora Campbell wasn't
anyone's dummy. There were a few teachers who hadn't clued into the
tension between the two packs, but she wasn't one of them. In fact,
she'd occasionally let information drop that hinted at a rather
better grasp of the situation than I would have liked. Rachel was
relatively easy to fool, but it seemed much less likely that Adri had
managed to fool Mrs. Campbell as well.

I fielded the call
from Mayor Wilkenson between Physics and Pre-cal.

"Graves, I've
got a note for you."

"I don't think
we've really got that kind of relationship Mr. Mayor."

"It's from the
girl. I went over and told her they had the job as you instructed
and she started asking questions about why things turned around so
quickly. She tried to blackmail me into telling her who her
benefactor was but I set her straight. Only she wanted me to pass
along a message."

I felt a sudden chill
run through me. Somehow it hadn't ever crossed my mind she might
have the resources to realize what was happening; that it was me
who'd just helped her.

"I don't think
it will be necessary for you to physically give me the note Mr.
Mayor. Please read it to me now."

"It says,
'Whoever you are, thank you so much for what you've done. Not
just for the job, but for smoothing things over with the bank as
well. I wish there was some way I could repay you for everything.'
And then she signed it Adriana."

"Is there
perhaps any type of symbol on the note? A picture, anything other
than the words?"

"Looking for a
secret message, Graves? Nope, that's all there is to it."

"Thank you Mr.
Mayor, you've been most helpful."

Rachel came to my room
when she got back from tutoring.

"Alec, thank you
so much for helping Adri. I know you're taking grief from Jasmin
over it, but I really appreciate you doing what you could for my
friend."

I leaned back in my
chair to consider her for a moment and then turned on the white noise
generator that would allow us actual privacy.

"Rachel, how can
you be so sure Adri's a normal human being?"

"I just am. I
can't really explain it, but she doesn't feel like a shape shifter.
Why are you asking all of a sudden?"

"I got a note
from her. She realized something had to be up with the sudden
reversal of the city's decision to make the brochure. In hindsight I
probably didn't help the situation by using the mayor as an errand
boy, but it's too late to do anything about it now. She blackmailed
him into passing along a message to her mysterious benefactor."

"What did it
say?"

"That's not
important, sis. What is important is that I'm finally fully
realizing just how good of an individual she is if she isn't a shape
shifter. I'm no longer content with just letting events play
themselves out. If she's a human then she deserves our help for
everything she's done."

Rachel's eyes were
bright with excitement. "That's great, Alec."

"No, I'm afraid
it's not great, but it's the only path left open. Can you think of
anything that she wouldn't miss for the world?"

Rachel's answer came
immediately. "She'd never in the entire world miss a showing
of Les Miserables."

The arrangements were
surprisingly easy to make. Each member of the pack had at least one
fake ID, and a credit card to match. I pulled the black American
Express out of my wallet and headed to Donovan's office and the
computer he'd had set up to spoof a fake IP address. It probably
wouldn't stand up to a full-blown federal investigation, but it would
shelter the transaction from anything short of that.

I ordered five tickets
on the third to last row of the main level, one on the very back row,
just to the side of the first five, and then thirty in an
uninterrupted block up on the mezzanine.

The date didn't look
important at first glance, but I'd very carefully picked the night of
the next full moon. If Adri really was one of us it wouldn't matter
how strong her control was. If she came to the performance I'd know
for sure what she was. Either she'd give off a noticeable tingle of
shape shifter energy, or she'd remain the same, normal human that she
generally appeared to be.

My mind shied away
from what I'd do if she did turn out to be one of us. First things
first.

I left for school
before any of the others, arriving more than half an hour before
classes were scheduled to start. Mrs. Pendely looked up in surprise
as I walked into the office.

"Oh, hello,
Alec. What brings you into school so early."

"Hi, Mrs.
Pendely. Could you please see if Principal Gossil has a few minutes
available to speak with me?"

"Oh, dear. I'm
afraid you'll need to come back a little later. Maybe around lunch?"

"It really is
important. Maybe you could just ask him?"

I let a hint of steel
touch my voice. Mrs. Pendely was a nice lady, but she was used to
taking orders. After just the slightest bit of hesitation she nodded
and walked over to knock on the Principal's door. I quietly followed
her, thereby negating the first line of defense.

Principal Gossil was
busy telling her why he couldn't meet with me when I slipped around
her and stepped into the office.

"I'm really
sorry, but this will only take a second."

I had him. He didn't
want to talk to me, but he wouldn't appear the ogre to the people he
worked with.

"Very well, Alec
what can I do for you."

I waited until Mrs.
Pendely had retreated back out into the main office area and then
pulled out thirty-one of the tickets I'd printed off earlier that
morning.

"I'd like to
make a donation to the school's art program."

"Fine, leave a
check with the secretaries and they'll see it gets to the right
people at the district level."

"It's not that
kind of donation sir. I've come across a number of tickets to the
Vegas showing of Les Miserables. I propose that you offer them to
the student body at a discounted rate and then after you've deducted
the transportation costs of getting everyone there the remaining
funds can go to the art program."

It was a reasonable
offer, but any hope of things going smoothly evaporated as he leaned
back and shook his head.

"I know your
type Graves. You're just like the Worthingfields. What are the
strings?"

"Nothing to
worry about, sir. I would like to remain anonymous of course. Also,
I think you should conduct a free drawing for the top five tickets."

"Let me guess,
you already have the five individuals who'll be winning the tickets
picked out don't you?"

"I would like
you to make sure that Adriana Paige is one of the winners."

He leaned forward with
a satisfied grin. "Absolutely not. You want to make a
donation, make a donation. You want to play puppet master, go
somewhere else. You don't own me, and I'm not going to let you start
dictating how I'll run my school."

I'd been hoping it
wouldn't come to this. I didn't really enjoy playing the heavy, but
some things were more important than the hypocritical
self-righteousness of one small-town principal.

"That's an
interesting stand. I think it's especially enlightening when coming
from someone who's recently racked up more than ninety thousand
dollars in gambling debts. How do you think the school board would
react to finding out you've been betting against our football team?
I'll bet you've been giving the football coach all kinds of ulcers.
Unless maybe he's in on it too?"

He was gasping like
he'd just been punched in the stomach, but now wasn't the time to let
him collect himself. I dropped the tickets on his desk and stood up.

"Make the trip
happen, keep my name quiet and make sure the Paige girl is one of the
winners when you do the drawing tomorrow during fifth hour."

I pulled his door shut
again behind me and smiled at Mrs. Pendely as I left.

The next piece of
unpleasant business was something I put off dealing with until lunch.
I waited until the entire pack was assembled and then calmly began.

"At some point
today the Principal is going to announce a school-sponsored trip to
Vegas on the night of the next full moon. I'm going to be on it."

Instant, if quiet,
chaos was the predictable result.

"Are you crazy?
Brandon's pack always spends at least part of that night pushing us
really hard. How do you expect us to stand them off without you?"

Jasmin was the one who
voiced the question, but it was obviously heavy on everyone's minds.
I verified that none of Brandon's pack were within hearing range
before responding.

"Isaac will be
in charge during my absence, so it will ultimately be his call, but I
expect that he'll decide to run a patrol right up to the boarder of
the other pack's territory. If we temporarily take a more aggressive
stance it should push them off balance enough for my departure to go
unnoticed."

James' fingers had
gone white on the table as he tried to stop himself from ripping fist
sized chunks out of it. The disagreement had raised the discussion
up into the audible ranges as everyone tried to shout each other
down, but the crackle of the loud speaker interrupted the rapidly
escalating fight.

"This is
Principle Gossil and I've got an exciting announcement. The school
is sponsoring a trip to Las Vegas to see the production of Les
Miserables that just started. Tickets are available at a discounted
rate in the office for the next two days."