by C. L. Stone
“Take her home, Vic,” Kota said, utilizing his commanding tone. “No detours.”
Victor rolled his eyes. “But first, we should get you back home for now.”
I caught the feeling that this was the plan in the first place, except perhaps Kota had meant to come along and now he couldn’t.
Victor’s thumb drifted over the back of my hand. Kota collected his green messenger bag and dug his keys out of his pocket. “I should be back tonight. I’ll text to check in, Sang. Okay?”
“Okay,” I replied, with my free hand touching my finger to my lower lip. Did I need to be checked in with? Should I be doing something like that?
Kota smiled, catching a lock of my hair between his fingers. He tucked it behind my ear, and it held in place. “Listen to Victor.”
“Was I not going to?”
They both laughed. Kota headed to the stairs. “Let’s get out of here before my mom gets home and she has to ask why I’m not taking you with me.”
He kept secrets from his mother. What would he say later if she asked? Would he lie?
I collected my book bag downstairs as Victor picked up his overnight bag. Now that the house was nearly empty, it felt as if the night before might have only happened in my head. How sad.
I stood with Victor outside in the driveway as Kota started his car and turned onto the street, disappearing around the bend. The sleepover was done. Back to reality.
♥♥♥
I walked in the back door to my house with my heart thundering and my knees shaking. Victor was climbing to the roof and would meet me back in my room. We were back to this secret Academy protection. This time I had the disadvantage of being gone for a day not knowing my mother’s condition or location in the house; if she was awake and anywhere other than in her room, I could be in trouble.
My father’s car wasn’t in the garage so I knew he wasn’t home yet. I stood near the back door, listening to movements in the house, trying to reacclimatize myself. Music from a radio drifted toward me. Was Marie home? It had to be hers since mine was broken. No television, but it could mean my mother was asleep. Or awake and roaming the house.
I snuck up the back stairwell, tiptoeing to my room. I didn’t want to alert my mother to my presence before letting Victor inside if I could help it.
When I made it to the upstairs hallway, the sound of music drifted not from Marie’s room, but from mine. I froze in the hallway. Was Marie in my room? Was my mother? Did something happen? I strained to hear any noise, any movement to confirm the location of either my sister or my mother. The only thing that made me hesitate checking with either of them first was the risk of getting into trouble and leaving Victor on the roof waiting.
My door opened from the inside. I took a step back, pressing myself to the wall as if that would conceal me in some way.
Victor poked his head out. He checked the front stairs and turned, finding me against the wall.
I pressed my hand to my heart to try to calm it. “Victor,” I whispered, “you’re not supposed to...”
“It’s okay,” he said. He held out a hand to me and winked. “Come on, princess. You were taking too long. I can’t wait to show you.”
“Show me what?” I asked, reaching for his hand.
His fire eyes sparked and his long fingers enveloped mine as he lured me into my room. He shut the door behind us and stepped away from me, putting his back to the door frame, his eyes expectant.
I sensed differences in stages. The air wasn’t stale, as I expected after a night with the windows closed, but electrified with warmth of recent visitors. The air smelled of cypress and vanilla and berries and spice, familiar. At first glance though, it was all the same. There was still the single bookshelf against the wall, the broken stereo on top. There was still the same bed next to the window, the bed made with the soft green comforter. Or was it?
I tiptoed closer. It wasn’t the same comforter. The stitching was different and the color was a couple of shades off. It was a slight difference, but to me, it was noticeable.
It wasn’t the same bed, either. It was bigger, about a foot wider and a little longer.
I angled my head to try to get a different perspective, suddenly unsure of my own memory and my own eyes.
A second look at the bookshelf forced me to turn my attention to it. It was the same dark brown color, but it was definitely wider and taller. The torn books had been replaced with new copies, plus additional volumes by the same authors and some other titles I didn’t recognize.
The stereo, too, was different. The music playing was a piano piece. I recognized a song by Yuko Ohigashi, who I’d mentioned was one of my favorite composers, but it was a tune I hadn’t had the chance to download yet.
With my mouth hanging open in surprise, my hand drifted to the edge of the bookshelf. My fingers hovered over the wood but stopped short. The top was intricately carved.
I was terrified to touch as if touching made it real, or would make it disappear. Either option felt like too much. It was impossible.
“The last time it fell over, the back support was fractured,” Victor stage-whispered to me. I gazed back at him. His head rested against the door frame, his eyes on me. “North was pretty sure it would have fallen apart if you put anything more on it. He and Silas made you a new one.”
They made it! I forced my fingers to it now, tracing the details of the carving. It was mostly a leaf and vine pattern with roses mixed in, but when I peered closer, I caught hearts replacing a few of the leaves. Hidden hearts.
“And the books?” I asked quietly.
“Kota.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat, reading the titles of the books on the shelves. Thick volumes of Sherlock Holmes, Gone with the Wind and other stories I’d told him I liked but didn’t personally own filled the space, in alphabetical order according to author name.
“And the bed?”
“Wasn’t sure if you’d notice,” Victor said. His footsteps alerted me that he was moving closer. I couldn’t make myself face him. I stared at the books. “Gabriel tried to match your blanket. It was thin and needed replacing. There’s a spare, too. And new sheets.”
“It’s bigger,” I said, still not turning. I didn’t want him seeing me confused, touched, terrified, warmed, a mix of so many emotions at once.
He stepped closer behind me until I could smell the rich moss and berries of his cologne. His palm smoothed over the bare skin of my forearm. “Sweetie, no one liked your bed. Maybe you didn’t notice, but there were springs poking out. You really needed a new one.”
“The stereo?” I whispered, a tremble spilled down my spine at his touch. I gazed down at his hand on me, staring blankly at his lean, strong arm, and the way the start of his white shirt fell across his bicep.
“Mr. Blackbourne found something similar to what you had. It isn’t exact, but I think it’s close enough. I was going to get you a new one, a nicer one, but we were taking a lot of risks as it was with the bed and the shelf. I’m willing to bet they won’t notice a thing, though.”
They replaced everything. I had new clothes thanks to him. I had new bedroom furniture thanks to all of them. I didn’t know where to start. I didn’t know what I should do. I knew the answer to my next question, but I asked anyway. “How?”
He inched closer. His breath fell on my hair. “Last night.”
The admission forced another shiver through me. It was obvious. Scenes from the night before raced through my mind, suddenly becoming clear, like Nathan pulling me away from checking in on my mother to keep me with them instead of trying to talk myself out of spending the night and going home. There was Silas and North and Victor, my guardians, had placed me next to them so I wouldn’t notice the others were gone. Nathan the courageous ninja, Luke the silent thief, and Gabriel the ever-demanding stylist weren’t there when I had the nightmare and instead were in my room, putting everything into place. Kota walked in after North had started shouting. Was he observing from h
is bedroom or was he outside as a lookout?
It was perfect timing, and the perfect night to do it. Marie had been gone. My father wasn’t going to be home. I was under their protection. With my mother, another sniff of Luke’s brown bottle would ensure they could move everything in without being noticed.
My heart thumped so hard, I wavered where I stood. I forced out the last question I could think to ask. “Why?”
Victor’s fingertips traced the soft side of my arm, sliding down to my palm. He took my hand in his, warming. The thumb traced the skin on the back of my hand.
“You belong with us,” he breathed against my neck. “And this is who we are. Whatever you need. From now on.”
The tear traced my cheek, circling my chin before I realized it’d fallen from my eye. I wrestled with the idea that they shouldn’t have. I didn’t need a new bed. I didn’t need a new shelf. I didn’t need new clothes. Part of me wanted to fling my fears back at him, not wanting to accept any of this. I wanted to demand my old things back. The thought of them putting so much effort into me felt like too much. They’d already saved my life. They’d already protected me at school. They stood by me when no one else would. What could I have possibly done to deserve it? What more could I ask of them?
But they did it without asking. The Academy gave them whatever they needed, like Mr. Blackbourne had explained to me in what felt like an eon ago. I had thought about it since that day, trying to understand what it must be like for them. They lacked nothing they needed so they wouldn’t be distracted when they had other things to do. Like saving a school.
Or saving me.
I thought of Gabriel cutting Silas’s hair, of Victor driving Gabriel in from downtown to school, and of Kota and the others pitching in at the diner. They took care of each other, and sometimes without asking. They got what they needed and worked together so they could do their job and move forward.
Family first, Kota had said. Family first and when that was in order, we moved on to other things.
And I was now family.
I spun around to face Victor, my arms finding his neck and my cheek tracing the crook of his shoulder. I wanted to say thank you. I wanted to find the words.
I wanted nothing more than to no longer be the one who got help, but to be one of them that fit in, that knew my place where I could give back to them in every way possible. If it meant quietly accepting so they would no longer feel I was in need, so we could move past it and do something else, I would swallow back all the pride forever. But I would always thank them. I would always remember.
My voice caught, and my lips trembled too much to say what I was thinking. I could only rub my cheek against Victor’s shoulder, begging silently that he would understand.
Victor’s arms wrapped around my body. His fingers traced the spaces between my ribs. His breath tickled the top of my head as he chuckled. “Don’t start thanking me yet, princess. There’s still a lot to show you.”
I pulled back from him, pushing my fingers to my cheeks to wipe at my eye. “What do you mean?” I whispered. How could there be more? There was nothing left in the room.
“First things first,” he said, his fire eyes ablaze and the curl of his lips stoking the flames. He took my hand again, guiding me to the closet. He twisted the handle, opening the door.
The old traded clothes from Derrick and Danielle and my sister hung neatly on the rack. My old shoes were at the bottom. Nothing else looked touched.
“Oh,” I said, unable to hide my tone of surprise. I assumed he was going to show me the new clothes were in place.
“It’s part of the secret,” he said. “We wanted to make sure Danielle or your sister wouldn’t be able to take your new clothes. So we’re leaving these here. They won’t be able to steal your new things if they can’t access them.”
“Where did they go?”
“We’ve been after Nathan to clean that closet of his out for a while. You make the perfect incentive, I guess.”
“They’re in his closet?”
Victor nodded, a gentle wave of his brown hair falling across his forehead. “I’m sorry. It means more effort on your part. You can keep a handful of things in the attic. The rest you can keep at his house. You can trade off as you need and do your laundry at his house. If they happen to discover the attic, there won’t be much there to take. It’ll limit the damage if they try.” He hovered his face over mine. “But if they do try it again, we won’t hesitate to make them stop and return everything. They got away with it this time. Next time won’t be the same.”
I had to agree with this. I didn’t like the idea of a confrontation. It could easily escalate with my parents, or with Danielle’s parents perhaps. It might turn into something bigger that no one would want to deal with. “I guess I could have gone over and asked for my old things back. Now that she probably realizes she can’t wear them to school. Maybe she wouldn’t have made a big deal about it.”
Victor rolled his eyes. “Gabriel’s been dying to take you shopping for weeks. I haven’t had a conversation with him since school started that didn’t involve him asking about taking you out.”
I pressed a palm against my heated cheek. “Gabriel would have done it anyway.”
“Gabriel likes having a new doll to play with,” he said, gently squeezing my hand. “And you’re a lot more appreciative and patient with him than we are.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “You’re kidding.”
“When he goes shopping with me, I barely last through two rounds of trying on clothes before I’m yelling at him.”
I giggled at the thought of Victor and Gabriel shopping together, or from that thought, of Silas or North shopping with him. I couldn’t imagine them accepting Gabriel’s demands.
“A couple more things,” he said, his fire eyes cooling to a simmer. “I don’t know if you’ll like this part, though.”
“What?” Was there a catch? Of course. There had to be. Maybe I had to work off the expense. Maybe it meant working hours at the diner or doing favors for them at school.
He closed the closet door and slanted his head toward a vent in the wall. “Look close.”
My eyes drifted to the vent. The grate was standard, painted white. It didn’t need replacing. It still looked the same.
Victor stepped away from me, pointing. “Right here,” he said.
I followed him, squinting. Light reflected against a peculiar spot behind the grate’s blades. My eyes adjusted enough to catch the hint of a lens. “A camera?”
“Mr. Blackbourne’s orders,” he said. “I’m sorry. There was no talking him out of it. It was the condition to let you stay.”
“You’ll be watching?” I asked, but I knew this answer. There was no way the boys could stay here with me every night. The risk was too great to get caught, something else had to be done.
I had assumed when my mother calmed down and didn’t dispense punishments as often, they would realize it wasn’t that bad. I thought we were waiting for that moment and they would back off.
Instead, they were ten steps ahead of me, only thinking the opposite direction. They were going to keep their promise to ensure I would never again end up tied to a chair or something worse.
“It’s not recording,” Victor said. “It’s not even on right now. The cameras will only turn on if for some reason we can’t reach you on the cell phone. There’s one in every major room and the hallways.”
“And the bathroom,” I realized, feeling the thread of a shiver starting at the base of my spine.
Victor breathed a sigh. “Yes, but also not on right now. The procedure is to text you if you’re not with us and we haven’t heard from you within an hour or so. We’ll text three times within ten minutes. It gives you an opportunity to reach us in case you didn’t hear your phone the first time. No text or call back, we start with your bedroom, and then all other major rooms before checking something like the bathroom.”
I wasn’t sure I liked this new plan. They
could look in on me at any time. But would they? Did I trust them?
I swallowed back the fears. I had promised I would do what they asked in order to remain here. Otherwise Mr. Blackbourne would remove me from the house. They weren’t ready for that sort of thing, not without involving the Academy. I wasn’t sure what it meant, but wasn’t sure I was willing to find out just now. I wanted to know about the Academy, but didn’t want to do it at such a high risk. I had to trust them.
“What about at night?” I asked. “Am I supposed to check in every hour?”
“No. You can sleep. Keep your phone with you.” He shifted on his feet, putting weight from one foot to the other. “I can’t promise they won’t check on you while you sleep.”
My fingers fluttered to the base of my throat. It was surreal, but perhaps since they’d already slept in the room with me, some even in the same bed, it didn’t feel intrusive. It felt almost lonely.
Did I prefer to have them with me?
“You’re not mad, are you?” Victor asked, stepping closer to my side.
I glanced over at him. “Mad?”
“I know it feels... invasive. I felt the same way when it happened to me.”
This surprised me. “Is your house rigged up like this?”
“Yes. We all have cameras.”
My eyebrows flew up and my eyes widened. “And you get checked up on?”
He shrugged. “Only if no one can reach me by my phone. It’s a security precaution. We’re not at risk due to our families so much now, so we’re not required to check in. Your situation is a little unique to us.”
He didn’t have to say it. His tone did it for him. My parents were a high risk. Theirs weren’t.
But how could I be mad about something they lived through already? Maybe I had been wrong. If they all went through it, maybe the cameras would have been something they would have eventually done. Maybe I was wrong about not being a part of them because they didn’t include me in the morning workout or a few of the other things they had to do. Maybe they were getting around to it, working it in slowly as they thought to do so.