by Jody Klaire
I waited for the slap or for her to yell but instead she threw herself into my arms. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry you felt you couldn’t tell me.”
I gripped her to me. I’d missed her hugs. Her energy flowed around me, soothing me, sheer comfort in a cwtch. She pulled back and beamed up at me.
I cleared my throat. “You’ll have a lot of explaining if Owens struts in right now.”
Renee shot away from me, her eyes on the door.
I chuckled. “Missed you too.”
Renee straightened up, brushed herself off. She glanced at the teenagers then turned and shot me a scowl. There was the Renee I knew. “Yes, well . . . That leaves us with a situation to fix.” She turned back to Miroslav and Miranda who didn’t know where to look, judging by the way they stared down at the floor.
“Aeron blows electrical things.” Both of them raised their eyes to Renee who was attempting some kind of control. I knew full well she wanted nothing more than to hug me again. “So . . . let’s make it part of the show.”
I cocked my head.
She smiled. “We’ll record you playing it, which Miranda can mime to.” She held up her hand to stop me butting in. “And you’ll be on stage to cover it. They will know it’s coming from you.” She walked over to Miroslav. “A duel sounds like a perfect way to get through Chaconne.”
I looked at Miranda and Miroslav. “But Miroslav will have to get it to play when I stop.”
He grinned. “I can do that.”
Miranda frowned. “But it means you’ll have to be there the whole way through.” She fiddled with her sleeves. “How will you get to the bus in time?”
“He’ll have a mountain to carry him,” I said.
Renee grinned at me and I grinned right back. It was a plan. It could work. It was worth a shot.
Chapter 44
THE IDEA TOOK all afternoon to put together. We did our best recording of me playing the parts that Miranda would mime. Then we rehearsed our on stage duel. If she looked like she couldn’t keep going, I’d step in.
Thing was, I hadn’t played in front of nobody but Renee, my mother, and Frei. Playing in front of a crowd of people didn’t sound like something I wanted to do either, let alone could do.
I didn’t do crowds all that well.
When Miranda and Miroslav headed back to their dorms, Renee walked with me through the building. I didn’t know where Owens was but I was relishing having Renee to myself. I guess that was selfish but I’d missed her.
The place was silent. The floors shimmered as a cleaner buzzed one of those polishing things along. It reminded me of when Aimee, back in Serenity, had gotten out of her cell and found one. The thought made me chuckle. Considering where we’d been, we’d made the best of it.
We strolled past an office. Its energy reeked of Owens soapy scent. “Guess she’s pretty stuck on you, huh?”
Renee’s aura jiggled like it always did when I asked her a personal question.
“Think by now, you would want to share with me.”
Renee nudged my shoulder and flashed me a quiet smile. “We’ve had this conversation.”
“Yeah, but I’m kinda fond of you.” I shrugged. There went my cheeks heating again. “If she’s making you happy and you don’t want to let me in, it hurts.” I shoved my hands in my pockets. “How come I don’t get to share in your happiness?”
Renee shook her head up at me. “Dimwit, it hurts me that you think I’d fall for someone like her.” She poked me in the side. I flinched. “Besides, I like to keep you all to myself.”
I smiled even if I was confused.
“I don’t want to share you,” she said as if reading my mood. “If I start telling you everything, you’ll have nothing to find mysterious then, will you?”
I didn’t get that. I didn’t get her sometimes. “She irritates me. I don’t like her.”
Renee’s chuckle came from somewhere deep inside her belly and wrinkled up her nose. “Good, because I doubt she likes you very much right now.”
“Huh?” I lifted my eyebrows.
“You told Jäger that you and I were . . .” She cleared her throat, glancing back at the guy cleaning. I doubted he could hear himself think over the polishing thing. “Well . . .”
“I know, I got crossed wires. You’re back to a shrink all over again, huh?” I chuckled. “If he didn’t terrify me so much, I’d find it funnier.”
“Do you need to talk about it?” Renee threaded her hand around my arm.
“Oh, so I can share but you can’t?” I raised my eyebrows. “You go seducing the staff and I’m not allowed to know.”
Her cheeks colored up nice and rosy. I nodded.
“I haven’t. I can’t explain here but she is definitely not the one.” She met my eyes then stared off ahead. “I love someone so much it hurts.” She smiled a sad smile. “And before you say it, I’m a sad sack, it’s official.”
“No, you ain’t. You’re telling me the truth and it’s real welcome.”
It felt odd to walk through the building when everybody had headed home. The energy of the day still reverberated off the walls. “Why ain’t you told this mysterious woman that you love her?”
Renee squeezed my arm. “What makes you think I haven’t?”
I sighed. Who was the dimwit here? “If you’d told her and she knew you like I did, there’s no way she couldn’t love you right back.” I smiled down at her, then reached for the door. “You’re the most incredible . . . and difficult . . . woman that I’ve ever met.”
Renee followed me out into the evening gale and blew out a shuddering breath. Her eyes were locked on the distance as though she was trying to hold back tears.
“So why me? What made you think of me.” She held up a finger. “I know you like to create the aura that you don’t know a lot about love but even you must have cottoned on to what you were saying.”
“You’re giving me way too much credit.”
She lifted her eyebrows.
“Seriously. I was panicking. Nan said I had the tools to get myself out of it.” I shrugged. “My mouth just started running away with the fact I was locked up and you helped me.”
“And it didn’t cross your mind that it might mean something else?” She was staring at me like I was a dumb kid. I rubbed the back of my neck. I already felt like a dumb kid, she didn’t need to highlight it.
“I thought he meant mentally unhinged, a screw loose, crazy as Mrs. Squirrel on a nut hunt.” I shoved my hands deep in my pockets. “If I’d been quick enough to think of that, and I didn’t think you’d have shot me for saying it, I’d have blurted it out in a second.”
She blinked at me like I’d grown a beard.
“Anyhow he said if he found out I was lying, I’d be in trouble so . . . let’s hope that he don’t change his mind ’cause I ain’t got one iota how I could convince him.”
Renee looked away and mumbled something under her breath. I pulled her around to look at me. “I didn’t mean to impose that on you or nothin’, I’d never use what you shared with me to get myself out of a pickle neither.” I sighed. “I feel pretty bad that it has put you in that position.”
“I’m not mad.” She smiled up at me and held my arms on her shoulders as if she wanted me to keep them there. “Okay, I am mad but with him. If I’d have caught him, I would have aimed higher than his kneecaps.”
Ouch. I sucked in a breath.
“I told Frei when I got in ’cause I was real worried you’d never talk to me again.” It sounded stupid now. In the evening sun, the green lawns, the quiet stillness of the empty pathways, it all seemed so dumb.
“Ursula should have told you I’d be fine.” Her aura fizzled and she held my gaze. It felt like she was searching for some kind of answer.
I dropped my hands away, unable to stand the scrutiny. “You forgetting the whole pinning you up against a wall thing?”
Renee opened her mouth then closed it. Enough said.
“I was thinking
’bout home the other day.” I smiled at the memory of it. Renee kept close by, her hand on my arm. “You, me, and Mrs. Squirrel, the waterwheel rumbling. Kinda silly ’cause you’ll be shacked up with somebody.”
I shook my head. A wave of loneliness crept over me. Desperate loneliness. Why hadn’t I ever figured that she would want to be all domesticated with somebody? She deserved that, she deserved happiness. Only I didn’t know how I could not miss her. It had been hard enough pretending I didn’t know her when I could see her every day.
“It doesn’t have to be that way.” Her eyes filled with unspoken words. Her voice soft. Her aura rippled like it was screaming at her to say something, to let me in.
I cocked my head, waiting for her to say whatever was on her mind, hoping she’d trust me enough. Her shoulders slumped, she shuddered out a breath and looked away. She’d been close, she’d wanted to share something with me—I sighed and opened the gate to the villa—Just not enough.
“Yeah, it does. You’ll want to share everything with the woman you love.” The gate clattered as I pushed it harder than I’d meant. “I’ve known you a while and I’ve had to fight for every scrap of affection I got from you.” I tried to hide the brimming tears. Why I was being so melancholy, I didn’t know.
“It’s not like that.” Renee hugged herself, watching me. “I don’t mean to make you fight.”
She looked so beautiful bathed in the gentle glow. Her blonde hair fell into her eyes. Even with the make-up masking all the natural accents she had, she was still kinda mesmerizing. The sunlight glimmered through her, from her, her irises deeper on the edges around the stormy gray. Yeah, she was incredible alright.
“Like anybody who knew you would believe it’s true ’bout me and you, huh?” I laughed, shaking off how dumb I was being. Why was I surprised that someone could be head over hind in love with her. She was worth fighting for.
I guessed it was all the worries, the stress of gala night or maybe just that I could feel all the kids’ emotions now a whole lot more.
I headed to the door and went to reach for the handle but Renee pulled me back by the arm. Her aura rippled, her eyes intense. “Why?”
I shoved my hands in my pockets. I could hear music, I could feel music. Her blonde eyelashes caught the sunlight and I smiled. Whoever the woman was, she was blessed, real blessed. “I guess that you just want to share with your someone special is all.”
“Not that.” Renee shook her head, the intensity built until it pulsed from her. She bit her lip, gazing up at me. “Why wouldn’t they think we aren’t really together?” Her aura fizzed like she was tensing to get hurt. “Would it be that hard?”
“I’d have had a lot to say about Owens.” I nodded, wagging my finger at her. “I can barely stand her as it is.” I scowled at the thought of Professor Slimy. “Besides, you love another woman. I can’t even imagine how much it would hurt to watch you waltz off with somebody else.”
Although, judging by the way I felt as it was, I’d miss her like crazy. It hurt, thinking about her not being in the cabin. It hurt, realizing how I wouldn’t get to tell her all the little stuff. I sighed. It sucked even if I was glad she’d be happy.
I turned to open the door, wondering why I was being so dumb.
Renee gripped my elbow.
I glanced over my shoulder at her. Her energy hit me with a wave of electricity.
“There’s something else.” She scoured my eyes. The pulse rippled up and down my arm. “What aren’t you saying?”
I smiled down at her and rested my forehead to hers. “I ain’t that lucky and you ain’t that insane.”
I went to open the door again. She hauled me back around to face her. Her aura danced around me, her eyes rolling with emotion, her shoulders hitched. “Lucky?”
I nodded. Why would she think anyone who held her heart wouldn’t be? I kissed her on the forehead, hoping she’d soak up every ounce of support I could give her. Even if it hurt, I wanted her to know I was right behind her. “Yeah . . . and you ain’t that insane.”
Renee looked to the door and then back to me. She touched her fingers to her forehead. “You think you’d be lucky . . . to be with me?”
I nodded, real slow, watching the light show burst through her aura. I loved her light show. I didn’t get why she was so stunned at my words. “Uh huh . . . You want it in writing?”
She glanced at the door again. She closed her eyes and took my hand. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. Her aura shimmered with light and pinks and sparkles of energy and a barrier, a big one, lowered. Her eyes looked misty as they softened. The flecks of sunlight oozed through them. “Aeron, I—”
Frei yanked open the door. “Why are you standing out there? We have things to do.”
I jumped. Renee clamped her eyes shut. Frei raised her eyebrows at me then looked at Renee. “Well?”
Renee let out a long breath. She looked up at the sky for a second. “Remind me to kick you, hard,” she shot at Frei as she stormed inside.
I raised my eyebrows, my heart was still clattering from Frei ripping open the door. I was trying to wrap my head around the way Renee had been outside. Now her aura rolled like she wanted to hurl something.
I didn’t get it.
Frei seemed unfazed and motioned to the table. “We need to get the plan straight in your heads.”
I strolled inside. Renee was at the liquor cabinet, looking like she wanted to get well acquainted with a bottle of something. The woman confused the molasses out of me. “So, how do we get sixteen teenagers out of a heavily armed school?”
Renee sauntered to the dining room table and placed the bottle on it, her mood harder to read than since I’d known her.
Frei took a seat and turned her laptop around. “With some illegal skills.” She grinned and started to run through what we had to do.
It was some plan . . . if we could pull it off.
Chapter 45
THE STUDENTS WERE all quiet the next morning. I felt their tension before I saw it in their faces. There was no way we could sugarcoat it for them either.
I’d spent that morning meditating. It had been difficult but I was thankful that I had persevered. Now I could feel more. It was important I made sure my armor was in place.
During lunch break, I snuck to the garage to check if the bus was ready and cover Jessie slipping in to load the last of the cases.
Frei’s SUV was gone. She’d taken it to meet Huber. As far as Caprock was concerned, Frei wouldn’t be back until tomorrow. I wasn’t sure how she was going to sneak back in or how we were going to get the bus to the airstrip. I’d learned however that Frei could do a lot of things. I just needed to trust her to do what she was good at.
As Jessie fiddled about in the trunk of the bus, I wandered around the pretty empty space. There were a couple of staff cars parked inside. I knew that Jäger and the principal had people to drive them. One was a long car and looked like something out of the fifties or maybe thirties.
I stopped at a chunky, mean-looking Jeep. I squinted at it and hovered my hand over the hood. Jones in a temper gunning it down a dirt track flickered before my eyes.
Next to it was a battered red suburban. It didn’t look like it had ever been cleaned. I peeked in the window. Owens, cell to her ear, swearing at whoever was in her way.
“Miss Samson, do any of you have luggage to go in?” Jessie was in the trunk by the sound of her voice.
“Nope, all good.” Frei had taken all our stuff to the airstrip ready. She and her group had spent the morning wiping every trace of us from the villas.
I wandered to the far corner as Jessie mumbled something about making sure there was water on board for Miroslav. A black racy-looking bike sat looking sad and alone. I knew whose it was because I got the flash of Sawyer astride it, some woman he’d picked up in a bar draped over his shoulder. It looked as mean as the man who rode it.
Next to it was a dirt bike. That made me smile. I knew enough about bikes
to know it was a lot flashier than the ones I’d ridden back in Oppidum.
No, this one looked like a real racer. She looked pretty beat up but fast. I cocked my head. It looked like bullet holes had riddled it.
“Hey, Jessie?”
The scurrying of mini-feet echoed as she scampered over to me. “S’up?”
“That bike still work?” Jessie had been Frei’s understudy and that meant there wasn’t much she wouldn’t know.
“Not sure you should touch it,” she whispered. It would have been convincing if her aura hadn’t wriggled like it was desperate to spill the truth.
“Why?” Apart from the dinks, it looked fine.
“It belonged to . . . er . . . one of the staff.” She nodded as if she was trying to convince herself. “He disappeared.”
I tried to keep my smile in check. “Really?”
She nodded again, this time with enough force to make her wobble. “They say he haunts the garage.” She looked around for effect.
My burdens may have been depleted but I knew enough from looking at her that she didn’t believe a word herself. I hovered my hand over it and smiled. “It work?”
Jessie shrugged.
“Can you make it work?”
She gave me an innocent “Who me?” look. I returned it with a “Yeah, you” one.
She sighed, rolled up her sleeves, and slid something out of her pocket. “Don’t tell Jed . . . or Miroslav . . . or Miss Locks.”
I chuckled. “Why? ’Cause Jed stole it before you could use it?”
Jessie’s eyes widened in shock.
“He wanted to learn to ride to impress Miranda.” I folded my arms. “He fell off it and broke his arm in two places?”
He was lucky he’d only broken his arm.
“Bribing members of staff ain’t a clever idea.” I frowned at her.
Jessie glanced around as if wondering where I was getting the information from.
“It don’t matter if they were messing around with Kevin or not.”
Jessie bowed her head.