The Academy - Black and Green (The Ghost Bird Series)

by C. L. Stone

  He shrugged. “I wanted to vacuum under there once Mom was done downstairs. It’s dusty.”

  “You keep saying that about everything. Dust. She’s vacuumed the living room three times.”

  His grin turned sheepish and he rubbed the back of his head. “Sorry. She’s really picky about that sort of thing.”

  Marie scanned the room, but my bedroom never had much inside it, just a bookshelf and trunk. It was always clean, except for perhaps some dust. There was more of it since I’d been out of the house for weeks.

  “Or delusional,” Marie said. She raised her nose at both of us and walked out, across the hall and then into her room, closing the door. It was still open a crack, though, and I sensed she’d be listening.

  I wished I had another room to run to. My heart thumped in my chest. There was an awkward silence as he looked at me, and I couldn’t meet his eyes. I glanced at the light maroon carpet, noting the flattened footprints along the fibers.

  A few going to the window, and to the attic door.

  “Sorry if I offended you,” he said. When I glanced up, he held a lopsided smile. It made his teeth look really big. “It was just what popped into my head. I couldn’t remember how old she said you were.”

  “It’s okay,” I said, although I didn’t really feel that way. I was angry and upset, but he wasn’t really the cause. It wasn’t his fault that his mom, and my dad, were turning my entire life upside down. “It’s just...”

  “Weird?” he asked.

  I nodded and studied him, looking for something to dislike about him. I didn’t want to be nice. I didn’t want to get to know him.

  I didn’t want to be here at all.

  I was trapped all over again.

  He was quiet for a moment. He kept a pleasant smile and stood straight, more confident. He put a hand out in offering. “I’m Jimmy.”

  I studied his lean fingers and the way his palm was pale compared to the darker tones of the back of his hand. I bit my lip, unsure of attempting to make friends. I didn’t want to get lured into trusting him and say something I shouldn’t that got reported to his mother. Gingerly, I placed my palm in his. “Sang.”

  He squeezed my hand snugly once and then released it. “I didn’t mean to rearrange your room on you. Figured since you were at camp, you’d probably be tired. I was going to try to get the cleaning part done before you got back.”

  My mouth twitched, wanting to smile since he was being nice. My face felt numb. I wasn’t sure if I was actually smiling or not. “I can help. I don’t mind.”

  “It’s not bad,” he said with a small smirk. He motioned to where the bed had been. “It’s just dusty. This wallpaper is coming down sometime, too. She hates it.”

  The maroon-and-white wallpaper matched the maroon carpet. She said she was moving, so why change it now?

  What else did she hate? Did she really want to change everything?

  I wasn’t sure I should even care what she did to the house. I said nothing and stared blankly at him.

  He laughed shortly, as if to cover up the awkwardness. “I didn’t mean right now,” he said and then grimaced and rubbed the back of his neck. “Listen, I know this is really weird. I just learned about you a few days ago, and then two days ago my mom said we were moving and to pack up my things. I’ve had to pack up some of my brother’s stuff, too, since he’s off at college. I’m not even sure how much he knows, just that we were moving. That’s how she is. She makes up her mind and that’s what happens.”

  Two days ago, he’d learned he was moving? The surprise threatened to choke me. She’d move us overnight if she could.

  She seemed to have made up her mind about moving. How soon?

  Could I stop her?

  If I were him, and I learned my possible new stepdad had lied from the start and we had to rearrange our lives, I’d be very upset with him. I couldn’t imagine what Jimmy thought of me.

  The hard pit in my stomach twisted tight. I glanced at the door, still hearing the vacuum downstairs. I pictured Carol running it over and over along the carpet. “I never knew...” I spoke softly, unsure about speaking so she could hear, or even Marie. I wasn’t even sure if I should be speaking to him at all.

  It wasn’t the complete truth. I’d known Dad was staying in another house with someone else, but I hadn’t known the details. Carol had been a faceless person, and he hadn’t existed at all.

  He smiled sympathetically and then motioned to the door. “Close it?”

  I did it automatically since he asked, but then realized I was alone with a boy in my room with the door closed.

  I stiffened, staying by the door, ready to open it and get out of here.

  I didn’t know him, and while I didn’t want to assume, my brain was super paranoid of any more surprises. I wanted easy access to the door if I wanted to leave.

  The last thing we needed was for Jimmy to try anything, and for the boys to see it and rush in to stop him.

  Because they would.

  He looked at the bed, and then knelt on the floor and then repositioned himself to sit cross-legged, patting the carpet. “Do you wanna sit?”

  Not really. However, I was tired. I considered whether I could beat him to the door if he did try anything.

  I knelt across from him, feeling the phone behind my back sliding around and adjusting it so it remained in the waistband of the shorts. Kneeling was the easiest position to rise from if he tried anything. I sat back on my ankles, putting my hands in my lap, waiting.

  He kept his hands on his knees. His shorts bunched up a bit on his thighs. “I just want to be honest,” he said. “She’s pretty ticked off at your dad for not telling her he was still married and had two kids. He swears the divorce was pending, just that your mother was in the hospital. Is that true?”

  He must have been as desperate for information as I was. “She mentioned divorce before going to the hospital,” I said in a quiet tone. Would Marie tell him exactly what had happened that night? I wasn’t exactly sure what my dad had said. I needed to dig for information on my own. I wanted to know the details, and I knew the guys might need some information if there was any chance of stopping this. “How did she learn about us if he didn’t mention it before?”

  He shrugged and smoothed out his sport shorts on his leg. “She got a call from your school, asking about you, since you weren’t in class. They said you were skipping.”

  I raised an eyebrow. I highly doubted they would call her about us. The school wouldn’t have had her number. My father wouldn’t have been stupid enough, if he was hiding us from them, to make that mistake.

  I had a feeling that perhaps she’d answered my dad’s cell phone when he wasn’t around and then discovered some information about us, or in some other roundabout way discovered about the school calling.

  I thought of Ms. Wright, the school counselor, who had said she’d called home and had spoken to my “mother,” and that she was disappointed in me for skipping classes or something like that. At the time, I’d been really confused and had wondered if she was lying. Now I realized she must have spoken with Carol. “There was an error in attendance, I think,” I said, wishing I could have fixed it before, although it was too late now. The damage was done.

  Jimmy scanned me and then nodded slowly. “Are you okay? You seem a little...” His lips twitched, his mouth moving without more words coming out. He shook his head. “Sorry. I don’t want to say you look bad. Trying not to offend you.”

  I wasn’t sure what to tell him. My mind was just as numb as my body. Something had clicked inside of me, and I was so tired, so stressed, I was shutting down.

  “I’m fine,” I said quietly. He seemed nice. Maybe his mother was a nice person, too, technically. Did she not assume she was coming in for the rescue? Was it just poor timing and circumstances that left me feeling I wanted to run?

  I could have handled Mr. McCoy. I could have handled Volto.

  Could I handle a situation like this, where I
was trapped in a ticking time bomb, waiting for Carol to expose the truth about me?

  The worst part was that I felt trapped now. Maybe I was safe, but I didn’t want to be here anymore. How would I ever see the boys now?

  I pressed my palm to my forehead. “I’m a little tired,” I said. “It’s been a long week. Do you think she’d mind if I took a bath?”

  He laughed. “Of course not. Cleaning anything is never a waste of time.”

  I sighed and nodded. I had already taken a bath, but I’d soak for a few more hours just to get myself together and figure out what to do. I got off of my knees as they were getting sore, stretching my legs a little in front of me. “I don’t want to make you do the cleaning alone. I just need a minute.”

  “Sure,” he said quietly and his smile softened. “Take it easy. This will go pretty quick once we have the vacuum in here.” He reached out, giving a small pat on my foot. “We’re kind of in this together at the moment. I know what you’re going through.”

  You have no idea. I stiffened at his touch, unsure how to respond. He was being nice, which made it so much more difficult for me when all I wanted to do was run back to Kota’s or Nathan’s and leave all this behind.

  I got up and went to the closet, looking in, finding old clothes that didn’t fit, items that I’d left behind to look like I was living here, even if I wasn’t. Most of my clothes were at Nathan’s now.

  Were there any left in the attic wardrobe? I couldn’t remember.

  I needed the boys to deliver stuff to me here. I wasn’t sure how they could, though.

  I took from the closet the closest things I thought could actually fit, at least for now, and brought them with me into the bathroom.

  The moment I was in the bathroom doorway, I felt the phone vibrate. Someone was calling.

  It sent a tiny tickle to my heart. The twist in my stomach eased. Just the feel of the vibration spoke to me in ways that relaxed me.

  We know you’re there.

  We’re watching.

  You’re never alone.

  Want and Need

  DR. GREEN

  Sean Green stood in the woods outside Sang’s house. He’d put on a thicker dark sweater he borrowed from Kota, and some cotton gloves. The temperature seemed to have dropped just standing there, waiting and watching the house.

  If he had driven, they would have gotten there before she had entered the house.

  Maybe then he could have checked her out. Maybe then he would have learned exactly what had happened at camp, and why she had been rushed to Victor’s.

  Maybe he could have stopped this.

  He hated the thought of her having to go back to this place.

  His lips curled and he rubbed his cold nose, looking away from the gray house. Owen continued to watch, vigilant. His glasses were foggy around the edges and his mouth was tight with concern.

  Kota, Victor and Gabriel were behind them. Victor was sitting on the ground with a laptop, watching, listening and waiting. Kota and Gabriel were plugged into their phones with earbuds in place, listening to the audio from the phone Sang carried. Kota occasionally relayed what was going on.

  “She’s heading upstairs with Marie,” he said. “They’re about to meet the son.”

  Sean glanced back at them. All three were frowning, and he echoed the deep displeasure at the idea of Sang having to face him alone. After such a crazy week, to come back to this, was truly horrible.

  He tried to think through what their next step should be. Nathan and Luke were on their way to the hospital to check up on the stepmother directly and to keep an eye on her just in case this new woman, Carol, decided to place calls. They had to set up new rules for contact. No one was to call her room directly; instead, callers had to speak with a designated doctor or nurse who understood the situation. No one was to visit without someone on their team being there to supervise.

  The Academy wouldn’t be happy to hear about the situation. Not at all.

  Silas and North were coordinating the return of everything from camp, checking in on the school to make sure nothing new happened during school break, and ensuring Mr. McCoy was still under observation.

  It had been a fight to get any of them to do anything at this point. The only way to get them to agree was the promise that doing so ensured getting Sang out of this new situation faster.

  Sean wasn’t so sure that was possible. Not now.

  Carol was a problem.

  “We have to do something,” Sean said to Owen.

  “We are,” he said. “We’re learning.”

  Sean groaned and motioned to the house. “We’ve got to get her. We can’t leave her in there.”

  “We can’t do anything now,” he said.

  “Are you kidding me?” Sean’s eyes widened. “We can’t just wait for something to happen. That’s what happened last time, and look where that put her? In a closet.”

  Owen turned to him, his expression still tight and filled with concern. “What are you going to do? Knock down the door and kidnap her? There’s risks involved here.”

  “Damn the risks!” Sean straightened, facing him full-on. “The longer we leave her in there, the crazier this gets, and the harder it will be to pull her back out.”

  He raised an eyebrow ever so slightly. “Should we?”

  With everything Sang had been through, giving her back to Carol and her father during all of this seemed like a huge step backward. Anger rippled through Sean, from his tightening stomach through to his stiffening face. He sputtered a few syllables before managing to come up with an answer. “Don’t you try your psychology tricks on me. I taught you that. It won’t work.”

  Owen relaxed his shoulders but otherwise was unchanged. “Don’t start screaming. Someone’s bound to hear us.” He turned fully to Victor, Kota and Gabriel. “Speaking of which, standing in the woods isn’t ideal. I know we want to be close, but from what we’re seeing, there’s no dire emergency.”

  Kota lifted his gaze from the computer. “She’s talking to Jimmy.”

  “Seems kind of stupid to me,” Gabriel said and then blew a raspberry with his lips. “Asking her how old she is. Please. Whatever, motherfucker.”

  Sean glanced quickly at Owen, ready to counter if he tried to get after Gabriel for his language.

  Owen merely tightened his lips more. “Let’s focus on the important things. Someone needs to bring her supplies. Mr. Lee...”

  Kota stood, holding his phone in his hands. “I’ll get her some clothes, and other things she can use. Her schoolbooks, maybe. She can at least pretend to do schoolwork if she needs to.”

  Sean rolled his head back, looking at the hazy clouds overhead. “Why? Why bother?”

  “What do you propose?” Owen asked.

  “Text her. Tell her to walk out. Or, hell, I’ll go get her.” He laughed mechanically. “You want to be nice? Have her tell them she’s off to live with other family.” He pressed his palm over his heart. “Us.”

  “You’re not thinking clearly. You’re stressed and tired,” Owen said, his tone becoming sharper. “We’re all tired. We’re all worried about her. But that woman is talking about divorce, which will expose everything.”

  “I’m not that worried about Sang’s Academy career,” Sean said.

  “Her career may be at risk,” Owen said, more sharply and loudly than before, “but her freedom is too.” He took a step toward Sean, turning those hard eyes on him. “He wants to send her to a boarding school, remember? That idiot father of hers allowed Carol into his life. If Carol is anything like the feedback reports about her suggest, taking Sang at this point will have Carol calling the police. She’s already starting to make inquiries about divorce lawyers...” He looked at Victor for confirmation.

  Victor confirmed with a silent nod and a scowl, all without lifting his eyes from the laptop.

  Owen redirected his attention to Sean. “We’re having to circumvent her phone calls and redirect her to Academy lawyers. She clearly do
esn’t understand what’s happened here, and no one is telling her the truth. This makes her way more dangerous. She’s unwittingly going to reveal the truth. Exposure of the past to the wrong people means attention to Miss Sorenson. McCoy. Hendricks. This Volto character. They’re dangerous enough without knowing what’s happening here. And if word about Sang reaches official channels, she’ll be gone. Out of our hands.”

  “Then let’s take her away from all of this,” Sean said.

  “Yeah,” Gabriel said, standing up. He folded his arms across his torso, shivering. “Let’s get her the fuck out of there. She doesn’t need to be in the middle.”

  “Do you want explosions, or do you want to walk away quietly with her?” Owen asked. “Explosions may give us immediate results, but what are the costs? Most of you are out of favors.”

  “I can get more,” Gabriel muttered.

  Mr. Blackbourne shot a look at each of the guys. “I’m not sure how many of you know, but Miss Sorenson sold her ghost bird status to the Academy, promising to work with them in exchange for the debts we incurred with her to be erased.” He motioned to the house. “Are you going to charge in and risk losing her status and her sacrifice for us, without even asking her what she wants?”

  Silence fell between them all. Sean clenched his teeth, trying to come up with an answer that wouldn’t allow for explosions, costing the last of their favors, and yet where Sang would end up with them, where she belonged. He knew she wouldn’t be happy without them.

  He’d be unhappy without her.

  From what he remembered about Carol, though, she reminded him of his own mother: strict and uncompromising. Maybe she wasn’t abusive, but she wouldn’t have Sang’s best interests at heart.

  “I don’t like this,” Sean said.

  “No one does,” Owen said, and he turned toward the house. There was the slightest of twitches at the corner of his mouth. He was perplexed, and unhappy. “But all of us need to agree not to do anything rash until we come up with a peaceful solution. Carol isn’t abusive, at least not from her reports. She’s just a strict mother. Not what our Miss Sorenson needs right now, but it might be better to handle this situation delicately.”