House of Korba

  I grimaced. Gabriel had pretty strong opinions about clothes.

  Gabriel sighed and then pulled down a jacket I didn’t recognize. “This is an old one of mine,” he said. He showed it to me. It would be big, but it was thicker than the thin hoodies I had. He grinned and his crystal eyes lit up. “Always stealing my clothes when you don’t have what you need.”

  I smiled at him. “My fault, I guess.”

  “Shut up,” he said. He leaned out of the closet, checked around and then curled his fingers at me. “Come here a second.”

  My eyebrows went up and I jumped up off the bed. After being successful today, I was feeling energized. Maybe the football game wouldn’t be too bad. Maybe we’d find out who the bomber was and be able to have a good time at homecoming.

  I followed Gabriel into the closet. At first, I turned to check out clothes, sure he was going to have me try something on.

  He slipped an arm around my waist and leaned in and before I could think, he planted a quick kiss on my cheek. I turned my head, realizing what he was doing, and then he dropped his head and kissed my neck.

  I sucked in a breath, eyes wide. I was excited that he was excited, and also watching the door, listening for others in the house. “Gabriel,” I breathed.

  “I’m not going to see you all night,” he said. He dropped the clothes on the floor and then slipped both arms around my shoulders, hugging me tight into him, nearly hard enough to pick me up off the floor. My toes traced against the carpet. He buried his face into my shoulder, his lips against my skin. “Fucking shit, Trouble. I feel like we’re never going to get out of this shitty school.”

  My heart raced with his passion and then dropped at his stressed plea. I circled my arms around his waist where I could, holding tightly. “Meanie,” I whispered. “I know I can’t leave, but I know...”

  “Shut up,” he said. He squeezed me a little too tightly, causing me to lose my breath for a split second and then relaxed his hold. I was on my feet again and he threaded his fingers up through my hair at the back of my head. He gripped, holding tight, not pulling, just holding firm to keep me where he wanted. “You’re coming with us. I know none of the others will let you spend a minute in that school without us around.”

  “There’s no way,” I said.

  “There is a way. I bet you’ll be Academy by the time we’re done.”

  I swallowed, looking at his crystal eyes. “Maybe,” I said. “I don’t know if...I mean how...”

  “It’ll happen,” he said quietly. “I asked Mr. Blackbourne about it the other day. You know, at the other family meeting. I’d been wondering how we were going to manage to get you in. He’s working on making sure the others want you in, too.”

  “Kota didn’t want me in,” I said. “How was Mr. Blackbourne going to get him to change his mind?”

  “I don’t know,” he said. “He asked me about you, what I thought about you, though.”

  “Oh?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” he said. He smiled and then massaged his fingers against my scalp deeply, like when he washed my hair. “I didn’t lie. I wasn’t really honest with him, though.”

  My eyes widened and my heart started beating harder. I kept my lips together, afraid to say anything.

  He smirked, then leaned forward and kissed me on the nose. “Don’t look at me with those fucking eyes, Trouble. I’ll never make it out of this closet.”

  “I seem to end up in closets a lot,” I said quietly.

  He laughed, a low rumble against me. “I can’t complain about the company,” he said. He pulled his head back and looked me dead on, those crystal eyes wide. He leaned in, and I thought it was going to be another kiss, and then I felt his tongue flat against my cheek and licking up.

  Out of reaction, and with a giggle, I pulled my head back, and gently pushed. “Hey!”

  “If I lick it, I own it right?”

  I made a face and licked my own hand. “My hand is mine.”

  “That doesn’t count,” he said. “It only counts with me. I lick, I claim. You can try to run.”

  He said it like a game. I smiled, almost rolling my eyes.

  A knock and a rustle in the bedroom, and I instinctively took a step back away from Gabriel. He released me, but put an arm around my shoulder and we both turned to check.

  Nathan popped his head in. He looked at me and then at Gabriel and then his eyebrows shot up. “Gretta’s here,” he said.

  Gabriel released me, sucked in a breath, and then combed his fingers through his hair to smooth it down. He looked down at his clothes, a black shirt with neon green writing and jeans. “I look like shit,” he said.

  “Are you trying to impress her?” Nathan asked.

  “At least to look professional,” he said. He flipped through some of the clothes in the closet, pulled out a white button up shirt and then threaded his arms through the sleeves. “If we need her again, we don’t need her thinking we’re slobs.”

  I looked down at what I was wearing: the same long skirt and blouse.

  A chop landed on my head. “Shut up, Trouble. You’re perfect.” I hadn’t said anything, and he just smirked at my reaction.

  “Damn right she is,” Nathan said. He reached out to take my hand. “Come on.”

  Gretta was in the living room. The coffee table and the leather armchair had been moved over to the side of the room.

  Luke was already in a black suit, with a baby blue tie on. “I like these,” he said as we came in.

  Gabriel leaned into me and whispered. “These are really good,” he said. “At this dance, we could shed the tie and the masks, and blend in with shadows easier if we need to creep around. We can also change ties and confuse anyone.”

  I nodded, understanding he probably didn’t want to openly talk about that part of why they wanted black suits in front of Gretta.

  Gretta slapped Luke on the thigh and then pinched the material at the cuff of his suit coat. “Either you’ve grown an inch since two days ago, or you put on the wrong jacket. Take that off.”

  “It was in the bag with the blue tie,” he said, slipping the jacket off his shoulders.”

  Gretta frowned, and then tilted her head. “Are your...the cuffs of your pants don’t look right.” She turned to Gabriel. “A little short.”

  Gabriel moved away from me and then looked closer at Luke’s feet. “Might need to let it out.”

  Gretta groaned. “What the hell? I double-checked my measurements. She bent over and then started adjusting the bottom of the leg, and folded a crease. “I’m going to have to pin you and make adjustments here. I don’t have time to go back to the shop.” She turned to Gabriel. “Can you get everyone to try theirs on at once? Maybe my assistant mixed up the tie colors and the sizes in different bags. There’s so many of you, maybe she got confused.”

  Gabriel nodded. He left the room, as did Nathan. I watched Gretta do what she needed, pinning the pants. I supposed the gown they ordered for me could wait. They needed to sort out their suits.

  “Sang!” The voice was Victor’s. “Come in here a minute?”

  I glanced at Luke, who shrugged. I scurried away from them and headed toward Mr. Griffin’s bedroom.

  There were clothes spread out across the bed. There were the various colored ties next to different suits, and I spotted a darker blue and a black and others for the rest of them.

  Victor was shirtless, with the start of his pants undone, and was holding up a pair of slacks. He put the slacks up to his waist, and the legs were clearly too long for him. “I know I’ve got a black suit somewhere at home,” he said. “Or I can just wear the shirt.”

  “It’s the shirts, too,” Gabriel said. He pulled out one that had a green tie, and I imagined it was for Kota. Gabriel held up the shirt to his body, revealing how it was a little too small for Kota. “Maybe this is yours.”

  “Do you want me to help?” I asked quietly.

  Victor pointed at the suit bags left for the guys that weren’t
here. “Can you open those up, Princess?” he asked. “Maybe she’s right and there was just a mix up. I’m just hoping we’re not missing a set.” He swapped the shirt from his bag with the one Gabriel was holding.

  I moved to the other side of the bed and pulled the shirt out meant for Silas. When I spread it out, and then compared it to North’s, it was clear that neither one would fit those two. They were a couple of sizes too small.

  “Gabe!” Nathan’s shout came from the bathroom. The door opened to reveal Nathan standing in the doorway in his boxers a shirt hanging off his hand. “What the fuck, dude? This one is a tent.”

  “Mix up,” Gabriel said. “Maybe that’s Silas’s.”

  “This one might fit you,” I said, holding up the one that was in North’s bag.

  Nathan stepped a bit into the bathroom again, and then took out the pants and held them up to his waist. “These seem like mine.”

  “Yeah,” Gabriel said. “See? Just a mix up. There’s so many of us. Her assistant probably mismatched them somewhere along the way. We’ll be fine.”

  “We didn’t pay enough for them to not mix them up?” Nathan asked.

  “Shut up and put this shirt on,” Gabriel said. He snapped his fingers and then gestured for Nathan to go back into the bathroom. He snatched the shirt I was holding and brought it over to Nathan. “Back up a second. I want to make sure.”

  They closed the door. I sucked in a breath, holding it. I hoped they weren’t snapping too much at each other because of the stress.

  “Sang,” Victor said in a low breath. He curled his fingers, encouraging me to come to him.

  I circled the bed, trying not to stare too much since he had his shirt off, and the top of his boxers were exposed now with his pants half undone. Had they gotten so comfortable with me that they could walk around half-naked?

  Then again, they’d seen me in less, too.

  Victor picked up my hand and then kissed the palm before holding it between his hands in front of his chest. “I know you’re supposed to be going with Silas, but I’m hoping we’ll find a chance to dance at this thing.”

  “Are we supposed to?” This was something I hadn’t considered. We were to attend, but the thought of actually dancing didn’t seem to fit. “I thought we were going to...I don’t know. We need to watch out for Mr. Hendricks and—”

  “If the Academy is watching, there’s no way a bomb threat, Volto or anyone will ruin the night. We’ve got it under control.”

  I tried to feel relieved, but it was hard. The Academy might be trustworthy, but I was more worried for their safety and being exposed.

  He released my hand and opened his arms up. “Come on,” he said, smiling. His fire eyes lit to an amused flicker.

  I moved closer and he wrapped his arms around me. His fingers smoothed over my blouse. He started tracing my ribs through the material. The gesture was warm, and I fell into him, with my cheek pressed against his shoulder.

  “Don’t worry,” he said. “We’ve all been through worse. This won’t be so bad.”

  “You’re not nervous?” I asked. “Aren’t you worried about Mr. Hendricks?”

  “Worst case scenario,” he said quietly, “we leave the school and we fail our job. Will we try not to? Yes. We’ll work at it as long as we can. Will it kill us? No. If nothing else, we hand over whatever evidence we’ve got to the police, let them cook up an investigation. It isn’t the best option, but if we’ve done our best, that’s all we can do.”

  “And you’ll go back to the Academy?” I asked.

  “We’ll go back to normal. You might actually like normal.”

  I couldn’t imagine what normal for the Academy might be like. I was excited that he was including me with the idea.

  “So don’t worry so much,” he said. He massaged between my ribs a little more, and then did circles across my spine. It was small, at first, but then his fingers put more pressure, and it felt good. I closed my eyes.

  He swayed a little bit, and I thought I heard him humming. It was soft and at first I didn’t recognize the tune.

  His lips met with my skin quickly at my neck. “So maybe at homecoming, we can sneak in a dance...or two.”

  “If we can get away with it,” I said.

  “I’ll find a way,” he said softly.

  “Everything okay?” Kota’s voice jolted me until my head was upright. He was at the door, now wearing a fresh pair of jeans, a green polo and a jacket. His hair was freshly combed. The green eyes behind the black-rimmed glasses were wide with curiosity.

  Victor pulled his head back, but kept his arms around me, holding firm. “Nothing,” he said. “Just talking about the dance.”

  “Let’s worry about the football game, for now,” he said. He stepped into the room, scanning the clothing. “Should we try ours on?”

  “Seems like some might be mixed up in different piles,” Victor said as he released me. I backed up a few steps as Victor approached the bed and picked up one of the shirts. “You’re going to have to find the one that’s yours.”

  “Odd,” he said. “I saw her write down names and sizes.”

  “I think she’s got an assistant that might have mixed things up.”

  Kota looked critically at the clothing, picking up a sleeve and smoothing his fingers over the material. He picked up the shirt that was with his tie and then put it up to his body. “This one seems okay.”

  “Well, just try it on,” Victor said.

  Luke shuffled into the room. His shirt sleeves had been rolled up. “Yeah, this one isn’t mine,” he said. “Remember that time we were like thirteen and we all decided to go for Halloween as superheroes and five of us showed up as Batman?”

  Kota picked his head up quickly, and turned partially. “Did you switch our clothes around? Like how you swapped out Silas’s Batman costume for Gabriel’s and he ended up ripping a hole in it?”

  Luke made a surprised face, but it was hard to read. “Would I do that?”

  “Yes,” Victor and Kota said together in a loud, accusing reply.

  I put a hand to my cheek. Was it really Luke that swapped things?

  “I couldn’t take the credit,” Luke said, but then he winked.

  “Ugh,” Victor said. He turned on the pile of clothes. “Just come help us figure out the right ones.”

  The boys eventually sorted out their clothes. I tried on my dress last, and Gretta and Gabriel only spent a few moments going over the final details. I liked it. The sleeves hung around my shoulders. The corset was lower on my hips. I didn’t put on shoes or a mask this time, but Gabriel looked very excited, so I was, too.

  Soon, though, I was in jeans and Gabriel’s jacket, and in the back of the black car Kota had borrowed from North. Nathan and Luke were with us. Gabriel and Victor were in Victor’s car.

  The crowd at the school was one I’d never seen before for any of the football games I’d attended.

  “Alumni sometimes come out for the game,” Kota said. “Let’s hope we’re able to get through this without too many issues.”

  “I think everyone’s hoping something happens,” Luke said, his nose almost against the window as he looked through the crowd. He turned his head back. “I forgot to look. Was anyone following us?”

  “I think it was Mr. Morris,” Kota said. “It looked like his car. He seemed to be the only one. Everyone else might be busy.”

  “What happened to Mr. Morris and the pink cell phone?” I asked, suddenly remembering it.

  “Nothing,” Luke said. He pulled back to look at me. “I mean, I pulled the phone, and replaced it with ‘your’ fake one, but his was busted. It wouldn’t even turn on. Victor’s been trying to fix it.”

  “We thought maybe it was a student’s or someone lost it, but since it was broken, there wasn’t a way to find out who it belonged to,” Kota said. “There didn’t seem to be any data on it.”

  “Oh,” I said. I looked out the front at the cars. It seemed odd of Mr. Morris to have a blank c
ell phone.

  “Luckily that alarm went off when it did,” Luke said. “It actually gave me some cover.”

  After we parked, we met up with the others. We stuck together this time. It didn’t seem to matter if we appeared together. The crowds around us were thick; mostly adults where we were. The parking lot was full, and some people were starting to park in the grassy areas.

  We got to the gate, and Kota bought all our tickets.

  We didn’t have a chance to say much with all the people around us. I didn’t know how their plan was going to work with so many people here. My throat thickened, and I was making fists against my thighs, trying to make myself as small as possible.

  Nathan walked close to me. He found my hand, and covered my fist with his palm. “Hang in there, Peanut,” he said.

  We made our way to the stands. Luke, Gabriel and Victor broke off, waving back at us. I wished we could have sat together, but we really needed to focus and I understood. I told myself it’d be over soon.

  Kota, Nathan and I found seats near the top of the stands. The metal was cold and I huddled, hoping my body heat might warm it up a little so I wouldn’t freeze tonight.

  Kota and Nathan were standing, scanning our end of the seating. I stood up, too, after I realized I probably should be keeping an eye on things.

  I was still a bit short and there were people in front of us who were hard to see over. I held on to Kota’s arm to climb up on the seat and check.

  Kota put an arm around my waist to hold me steady.

  The seating was filling up fast, and it looked like the opposing side’s seating was just as bad. Maybe some from our school decided to sit over there since rows were filling in.

  “Sang!” called a voice.

  I scanned the area, but it was Kota who pointed out Karen. She was on her way up the steps, waving, with Derrick right behind her.

  I looked down at Kota but he wasn’t looking at me. I wanted to see if it was okay if she and Derrick sat with us.

  Kota and Nathan didn’t say anything to discourage it, so I waved back at her.

  Karen weaved her way through the crowd, splitting through people and Derrick followed along behind her.