The Academy - Drop of Doubt (Year One, Book Five) (The Academy Series)

by C. L. Stone

  “There might be other times, too, where it was out of sight. I don’t think Kota would have left your phone anywhere, but we’ll ask to see if he might have put it down for a moment. We need to get to another phone and let them know they might be tracked. We’ve all got to get new phones. We can’t risk using these any more. He’s able to track us too easily with them.”

  “Did you get a plate number?” Silas asked. “Did you see who it was?”

  “There wasn’t a plate. He’d thought ahead enough and took it off I guess.”

  “We could track the make and model. Did you get a good look at it?”

  “It was light blue,” I said softly. “Four doors. It looked like a Corolla. I’m pretty sure it was. My dad used to have one.”

  Victor smiled. He reached over with one hand and squished my cheeks until I made a kiss face. “I knew we kept you for a reason. I can find all the cars in the area that match that. There might be a lot, but we could probably narrow it down to students going to Ashley Waters.”

  “Some of us could go back tomorrow,” Silas said. “We can watch the parking lot for that car.”

  “It also might belong to the parents of the kid,’ Victor said. “But we need to check in with the others and put together a better plan.”

  I pulled my arm out from Silas’s vice grip around me so I could rub at my nose. “He was wearing a mask. A white one. The dashboard’s lights were off. He said something about ... he said not to listen to you guys and to get into the car.”

  “Of course he did,” Silas said. “He was trying to kidnap you.”

  “He said, ‘I know what they do to you’.”

  Victor frowned. “He thinks we’re doing something to you? Hurting you?”

  I swallowed. “I think he thinks you might be. I don’t know how or why. But why wear a mask? Why try to track me down like this? It’s not like I’d get in the car once I realized it wasn’t you.”

  “He assumed a lot,” Victor said. “He may have thought you were trying to get away from us and would have willingly jumped in the car to escape. But this might make things harder. He’s not just a nut; he’s a nut who thinks he’s helping.”

  “Can’t we send him a message?” I asked. “Can’t we text him and tell him I’m not hurt and he needs to back off?”

  “He’s already proven to be unstable,” Victor said. “We’ll talk to him, but not until you’re out of range. You’re staying at my house tonight.”

  “I’m staying, too,” Silas said. His arms wrapped around me a little tighter.

  “Right,” Victor said. “I don’t care if everyone stays over tonight. I’d probably feel better if they did. He’s already manipulated us once.”

  “Silas,” I squeaked. I tapped at his forearm. “I can’t breathe.”

  He huffed but let go. “Sorry.”

  I stayed in his lap, but relaxed against the door frame, sucking in air. “We need to call the others quickly. We can’t let them think I’m texting them if that’s what he’s doing.”

  Victor nodded, punching the gas pedal. I avoided looking at the speedometer and crossed my fingers a cop wouldn’t pull us over.

  ♥♥♥

  When we got to Victor’s house, I followed the boys up the back stairs. I heard voices deeper in the house as we entered, but Victor nudged me onward.

  “They might have guests,” Victor said. “I don’t want them knowing I’m here. I don’t want to entertain right now.”

  We snuck up as quietly as possible. On the third floor, Victor opened the door he’d said earlier was his bedroom. He stepped inside, finding a light switch.

  This room was bigger than his office. A white marble fireplace, unlit and clean, took up one edge of the back wall. The large bed and several overstuffed chairs matched white plush rugs. All the white was a sharp contrast against the dark wood floors. The walls were a mix of a dark gray along three walls, with one wall on the far side being an almost silver matte.

  A baby grand piano took up an entire section of one of the rugs. The key cover was pulled down.

  I recognized Winter by Vivaldi on top of a pile of other sheet music clustered together on the piano. The bent in the pages of Winter where Silas had creased it were still there. My heart warmed at seeing it but it also gave me a flashback to that time long ago, that felt like years instead of just a couple of months.

  The bathroom door was open. I padded over to take a peek. The stone tiles looked to be hand carved as there wasn’t any sort of standardized shape. There was a glass-walled shower, with an overhead showerhead built into the ceiling. In the far corner of a bathroom was one of the biggest bathtubs I’d ever seen. It was a perfect circle, big enough for at least three people, although I didn’t imagine he bathed with anyone else. Even though the tub had three faucets, I imagined it took a lot of time to fill up. Still, I was tempted to try it tonight. A long bath in such a big tub would settle my nerves after such a crazy day.

  “Are we going to be okay here?” I asked. Somehow looking in at his rooms had me wondering and worried about the masked man finding us. “If he could track your cell phone, wouldn’t he already know where you live?”

  Silas and Victor laughed. “He won’t be able to get through security,” Victor said.

  “What security? We got in without anyone seeing us.”

  “There’s security. Trust me.”

  “Couldn’t someone just scale the wall and walk in the front door?”

  “They wouldn’t make it over the wall. The only reason you got in was because you were with me.”

  “What if I scale the wall?”

  “Please don’t scale the wall, Princess.”

  I sighed, turning around.

  Silas sat in one of the overstuffed white chairs by the fireplace. He was pulling off his shoes and socks. “Did I leave a replacement school uniform here by chance? Just in case we get called in.”

  “I’m pretty sure. Check the closet,” Victor said. “I’m going to contact the guys.” He left the bedroom, going across the hallway toward his office.

  Silas got up, walking to the closet door and twisted the handle. When it was open, I expected a short, shadowy space. Instead it opened up to what looked like a room the size of my own at home. I tiptoed behind Silas, peeking around his arm. The walls were lined with various levels of shelving and places to hang clothes. There were racks of shoes ranging from waist to eye-level along one wall. Most of the clothes near the front were white Armani shirts and dark slacks like those Victor wore most often.

  My mouth was still hanging open as I inched through the collection of very expensive looking tuxedos and suits on a rack, like they were on display. It seemed the more expensive the suit, the more space was given to it.

  Silas tapped the underside of my jaw. “You’re catching flies, aggele mou.”

  “Are you sure we’re not in a men’s clothing store? Because that’s what this looks like.”

  “Most of the stuff near the back is actually clothes Victor’s holding for us.”

  “Victor hangs on to your clothes?”

  “Gabriel really likes shopping,” Silas said. He pointed to the racks near the back. “And we keep spare clothes for most of us here. Gabe’s got it organized somehow. I think it’s by season.”

  I fingered a pair of black jeans hanging up near the back, finding a collection of nearly all black clothes that I guessed was North’s. “Gabriel goes all out,” I said. I glanced down at the skirt and blouse I’d put on that morning. When I looked at it, I shivered, thinking of the image that was sent to the boys’ phones. “I don’t suppose he left any here for me.”

  “Probably not yet,” Silas said. He went to a spot along the wall which held clothing that looked similar to his style. He fingered through a number of shirts before pulling one out. “Here’s something for you. It’s not pink.” He held it up. It was a large Red Sox T-shirt. “But it’s long enough for you if you wanted to sleep in it.”

  “Sang?” Victor ma
terialized in the doorway.

  I turned. “Yeah?”

  “Nathan’s on the phone in my office. He wants to talk to you.”

  My heart warmed. It felt like it had been forever since I saw the other boys. “Is everything okay?” I asked.

  Victor smiled. “Sure. They’re just bugging me about your birthday and I didn’t know what you wanted to tell them.”

  “Shit,” Silas said. “We can’t do her birthday now. Not with this bozo lurking out there.”

  Victor shrugged and then nudged me by the shoulder. “Just go talk to them.”

  I wandered over to the office alone, leaving Victor behind with Silas.

  I found a corded phone on the long table off the hook. I picked it up. “Hello?”

  “Sang,” Nathan said into the phone. “How’s it going?”

  My heart picked up at the sound of his voice. “Where are you?”

  “At home, for now. About to leave actually.”

  “Tonight?”

  “Yeah. We’ve got some work to do. I wanted you to know I checked in at your house with your sister. She’s fine. The house is fine.” He paused. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes,” I said. I wasn’t sure how much Victor may have told him, but I didn’t want to add any more strain on him if he was going out. “It’s kind of weird to be spending the night here.”

  He laughed into the phone. “I have to admit, it’s kind of weird when you’re not next to me. I’ve gotten too used to you.”

  My heart fluttered. I wanted to say a million things to him. I wanted to keep him on the line and get him and the others to come over. After the night we’d had, I thought it best if everyone stayed safe behind Victor’s walls and the security. I said the only thing I could come up with: “I miss you.”

  He breathed into the phone. At first I thought maybe I said the wrong thing. Maybe I should have said something funny.

  His voice deepened. “I miss you, too, Peanut.”

  There was a pause between us. I didn’t know what else to say to him then. My mind went blank.

  He mumbled something away from the phone like he was talking to someone else. “I’ve got to go. Stay with the others, okay?”

  “Yes.”

  “Bye.”

  After he hung up, I listened to the quiet in the phone, thinking about calling him back. I wanted to call Gabriel, too. And Luke. And Kota. And North. I wanted them all here. Slowly, I released the phone back on to the cradle.

  I thought I needed sleep. I was strung out. I was oversensitive. Still, I couldn’t help feeling the tugging in my heart, in so many different directions. I brushed the thoughts away like flies hovering around me. Trust. They knew what they were doing. I had to believe in that.

  A DREAM AND A SONG

  I dreamed I was shot.

  “Sang!” Victor called to me. In my half-asleep state, I sensed him hovering over me, shaking me.

  “Victor!” I slurred his name as I sat upright in the bed. The dream’s images hovered in front of my eyes still. I wasn’t sure what was real and what wasn’t.

  “What is it?” he asked. His eyes caught the soft glow of street lamp lights from outside, and now they really did look like candle flames.

  “Aggele mou,” Silas said softly. He was sitting up next to us, gazing down at me. He was in shadow. I just caught the outline of his hair and cheek. “You were shaking and moaning.”

  I grasped at the sheets, clutching them around my hips as I stared off into the near dark. I willed myself to calm down, but I couldn’t shake the images from my head. My heart wouldn’t stop thundering. The best I could do was keep quiet. I was afraid if I started talking, I’d scare them.

  “Sweetie,” Victor said. His hands found my back, and he rubbed. “What’s wrong?”

  I swallowed, shaking my head. I pressed a palm to my cheek, willing myself to say something. “A dream.”

  “What was it?”

  I pulled away from Victor, crawling to the foot of the bed. When I got there, I stumbled to the floor. I wobbled around the edge of the room to avoid bumping into the piano, heading toward the bathroom.

  Victor lunged himself off the bed, snapping the night lamp on. It caused me to pause as my eyes readjusted to the onslaught of light. “Where are you going?”

  “I need to wake up,” I said, hurrying to get the words out. My voice cracked, betraying my shaken state. I shoved the bathroom door open, snapping the light on. I went right for the sink, turning on the faucet.

  “What are you doing?” Silas asked, coming to stand in the doorway. Victor appeared next to him, looking pale and unsure if he should enter.

  “Give me a second,” I said. I cupped my palms under the faucet, collecting the cold water and then splashing some at my face. Despite the coolness of the water, it wasn’t enough: no matter how many times I pressed my wet hands to my cheeks, the images remained.

  Hands found me, sliding against the ribs along my back. Victor pulled me into his arms, dripping and shaking where I stood. “Sang,” he whispered.

  “It won’t go away,” I cried, unable to hold it back any more. His arms around me forced me to relinquish every last bit of strength I had. The water wasn’t working. The memory wouldn’t fade.

  “What won’t, Princess?” he cooed. His fingers found my hand at my cheek, and he pulled it away so he could press his own palm there, warming my skin. “What was the dream about?”

  “Some guy with gray hair and a moustache. I don’t know. He had Silas.”

  “What do you mean?” Silas asked. He’d moved closer, standing over us, watching. His hands were clenched. His eyes darkened as he gazed down at me.

  “He had you in his house. I don’t know where it was and I didn’t recognize it. And he kept threatening you. He’d scream and then wave his fists like he was going to hit. I was there in the house. I was telling him to stop, and I was trying to get you to go with me and leave.” I sucked in a breath for more courage, finding little. “The guy had a gun behind his back. A big silver one. He was pointing it at me and said to leave without you. He was so angry. I yelled back at him, not sure he would actually shoot. I wanted you to go with me.”

  “Did I go?” Silas asked quietly.

  “You tried. You got up and walked with me out into his yard. I ran ahead out of the house, around the curb and I thought you were right behind me. Victor was up the road.”

  “I was?” Victor asked.

  “You were waiting with some sort of truck. When I checked and didn’t see Silas, I thought the guy did something to him, so I started running back for him. At the house, I couldn’t find Silas, just the old guy. And the guy had his gun...” I broke off, choking on the words.

  Victor pressed his fingers over my forehead, stroked my hair. “Did he get you? Did he shoot you?”

  I closed my eyes, turning my head away from him. I nodded.

  “Did you feel it?” Silas asked.

  I nodded again.

  Victor breathed out what almost sounded like a curse. He embraced me, pressing my head to his shoulder. I wrapped my arms around him loosely, holding to his back and pressing my wet eyes against his shoulder.

  “I don’t usually dream about anyone I know,” I mumbled. “I was so worried about Silas. And then you were coming up behind me and I couldn’t stop you. I woke up after the second shot hit me.”

  “It’s all right,” Victor said. “It’s just a dream. He didn’t really get you, and Silas and I are right here.”

  I had nothing left to say, and no energy to say it. I was exhausted, shaking, a mess of nerves. I wanted to say I was sorry for waking them.

  “How do we stop this?” Silas asked. “She can’t keep getting these dreams. It sounds like they’re getting worse.”

  “They don’t always get me like this,” I said. “Most of the time I can wake up and shrug it off. I don’t know. I guess because you two were in the dream that this one just felt bad.”

  “Things have gotten pretty rough late
ly,” Victor said. He smoothed his hand across my back, not letting go. “Between your parents and McCoy and now this.

  “I have to tell North,” I said.

  “Let me go call him,” Silas said. He turned around, heading back into the bedroom.

  “What do you need, Princess?” Victor asked. He pulled back enough so he could gaze down into my face. “Tell me what I can do.”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I feel a little better now. I just thought waking up a little would get the images out of my mind.”

  “Do you want some more water?”

  “No.”

  “Do you want a shower?”

  I trembled again at the thought, unexpected. I stiffened to try to stop myself, but my knees betrayed me by locking up, overcorrecting.

  “What? What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” I said. I pulled away from him, pushing my palm to my cheek. “I don’t want a shower right now.”

  Victor blinked after me, his eyebrows furrowed. “What can I do?”

  “I don’t know. There’s nothing to do. You’re right. I shouldn’t be so freaked out about it. It’s not real. It doesn’t mean anything. It’s probably just because of everything that happened yesterday.”

  “Aggele mou,” Silas stepped through the door to the bathroom again. He held out a cordless phone. “I told North what you said about the dream.”

  I nodded, forcing a grateful smile at Silas. At least I didn’t have to repeat it and think too much on it. I took the phone from his hands. “North?”

  “Are you okay, Baby?”

  “Yes, sorry.”

  “Stop apologizing. Are you really fine?”

  I sucked in another deep breath. “Yes. I just needed to wake up.”

  “You didn’t stop breathing this time, did you?”

  “No, Silas said I was moaning, so I guess I was okay there.”

  “Baby, stop worrying about us so much. It’s going to drive you crazy.”

  I guess this was what he interpreted the dream to mean to me. He was probably right. “Where are you?” I asked, not meaning to sound so pitiful, but hearing his voice was as soothing as Victor’s hug and Silas’s touch.