I grunted, getting up. Raven pushed on my butt as I hauled myself into the back.
The floor was stiff, but Corey had rolled out a small foam mat and a couple of pillows.
He patted the spot next to him, opened his arm. “Relax,” he said. “Catch some sleep before we hit Charleston.”
Corey was the only one I openly could snuggle up with and the boys didn’t seem to care. It was like they all knew Corey wouldn’t make a move, and none could be jealous about him being so close.
I used his bicep to rest my head on instead of the pillow. Corey rested an ankle over one of my legs. He took my hand, holding it between us.
His cerulean eyes held mine. The light smile on his face was a little tired but still incredibly happy.
The boys started talking in front of us. Since they seemed distracted, I leaned into Corey to whisper. “Thanks. I mean, you know. About Blake…”
“Don’t worry,” he said. “But I want the full story when we get back.”
I nodded. I squeezed his hand. I had flashes for a moment of all the other worries that invaded my mind. Now that I was somewhat relaxed, my brain wanted to solve the problems, but I didn’t have answers.
“You okay?” he whispered. “You worried about Wil?”
“Yeah…”
He squinted at me, and his thumb traced the back of my hand. “Something else?”
My lips tightened. I wasn’t sure I could talk about it here.
He stared at me for the longest time. He released my hand to put his palm against my cheek. “I know you still don’t know me that well…”
“It’s not that.”
“Still,” he said, “I just want you to know, I had a good feeling about you from the start. And everything you’ve done so far, I probably would have done the same if I were you.”
I swallowed hard. I nestled my cheek against his bicep. “Maybe not everything.”
“Okay, maybe not the crazy driving. I don’t know if I could pull that off.”
I huffed and giggled.
His smile relaxed. He leaned in. I thought he was going to whisper something closer.
Instead, his lips pressed against my cheek, close to my temple.
My heart fluttered. I closed my eyes. Too sweet. I pulled in closer. I didn’t know how to react. I breathed in deep, telling myself not to get too excited. He was being cute but I wasn’t his type. He was just being friendly.
♠♠♠♠♠♠
I didn’t think I slept, but in a blink, I was being shaken awake.
“Little Thief,” Raven said. “We’re here.”
I sat up sharply, looking around, spotting a parking lot. Next to it was a plain brown school building. Wil’s school. I’d only been here a handful of times.
I swallowed hard as I realized my body was more sore than before.
The rear of the SUV opened. Marc stood by, Axel was combing his hair. Corey’s face was smudged with a red crease like he’d been sleeping, too.
I yawned, grinding the sleep out of my eyes. I hopped out and stretched, dying from the soreness working through to my bones. The crash was starting to affect me harder. I wondered if there were injuries I didn’t see. I tugged the lower part of my shorts down and tried to smooth out my clothes. “We can’t all go in.”
“I’m going in,” Axel said. He passed the comb to Marc. “Everyone else stay in the car.”
Marc took the comb and started combing his own hair. “I should go.”
“We don’t need a squad,” Axel said. “Besides, we’ve got someone waiting for us.” He turned, looking at the entryway.
There was a man standing by the door. Gray suit, red tie, glasses and tight-lipped.
“One of yours?” I asked.
“I informed him we were coming today. He’ll escort us.”
“He didn’t check on Wil?”
“Wil was spotted in the hallways, according to him. He’s been letting us know that Wil’s records show he’s been in class. He checked in with the homeroom teacher after it was over, asking if Wil had been there and he said yes. So he’s here today.”
I nodded, my heart in my throat. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. I wanted to see him, but what about after? Should I pull him from class and demand an answer?
We left the boys with the car. They all waved, smiled, supportive.
I was on pins. I didn’t know how to talk to Wil. I had so many questions. Did he hate me? Why didn’t he tell me?
Axel and I got close to the man by the door. Now I realized he was only our age. His face was stark perfection. I could tell he was the type that scrubbed under his nails every morning, and knew exactly what time it was at every moment. The gray eyes were striking.
“Mr. Blackbourne,” Axel said, he held out a hand.
Mr. Blackbourne accepted it, shaking quickly. “Mr. Toma. We can’t stay long. If I’m seen letting strangers on campus, it’s going to look bad.”
“This is his sister,” Axel said, presenting me. “She’s requested just a look to confirm he’s safe.”
Mr. Blackbourne looked at me, nodding grimly. “I understand he ran away from home,” he said, moving forward and holding open the door for us.
I breathed in, letting it out slow and entered. “I don’t know why. I may want to ask him.”
He nodded slowly. “If you should need it, I’ve got an office in administration. It’s private. You should be prepared, though. If he left, there’s a reason. Was it abuse?”
“Nothing we couldn’t handle,” I said quietly.
Mr. Blackbourne shared a look with Axel.
Axel nodded. “She’s safe now, and so is he. We’ve got them.”
Mr. Blackbourne nodded. He pointed to the stairwell. “It’s best to handle this as quietly as possible. Don’t draw attention. If you see him inside, and want to talk to him, we could wait. But if you can’t, I’ll pull him out. I’d prefer to wait, though, without disrupting the class and calling attention to us or him.”
I nodded, swallowing, nervous.
Axel put a hand on my back as we climbed. “It’ll be fine,” he said. “Well get a visual for now. If he’s attending class regularly, that’s good. If you need to, we’ll keep our distance.”
“It might be a good idea,” Mr. Blackbourne said as he kept up with us. “It depends on you, of course, but if he’s left home and still feels safe enough to go to school, if you confront him head-on, he may change his plans. I don’t want to have to pull him out of class unless we have to.”
“Why not?” I asked.
His lips pursed again, frowning. “This isn’t the safest school. Drawing attention to your brother may do more harm than good, especially if I’m the one showing interest in him.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to ask about the missing vice-principal, about the students that were gone, but I kept my lips closed. I was looking from the outside. I needed to remind myself there might be more to the story.
On the second floor, we followed Mr. Blackbourne through a series of hallways. Each one started to blend in with each other. There was graffiti on the lockers, and the classrooms were packed. We passed by a couple of kids looking to be on their way to the bathroom, or in trouble.
Yup, school never changed.
We came up to a door, one with a glass window so we could look in. Mr. Blackbourne stopped. He pressed his back to the wall and encouraged us to stand aside so we weren’t spotted. “This is the one,” he said. “Look in. If you spot him, check his attitude. If you think he’ll go with us to talk, we’ll take him out, but I highly encourage you to wait. It’d be better if he came looking for you. I can make arrangements so he finds a contact number for you.”
I nodded, sighing. He was certainly Academy.
I eased sideways slowly, taking on a row at a time, angling my head and trying not to move and draw attention.
Heads were either down as they took notes or focused on the teacher. This had to be some advanced class, so they were smart kids
who paid attention.
I scanned the bodies. I blinked, scanned again, studying each one.
I shook my head, pulling back, my heart starting to thunder. “He’s not here.”
Axel looked down at me, touching my arm. “You sure? Look again.”
“He’s not in there,” I said. I looked at Mr. Blackbourne. “You sure this is his class?”
He nodded sharply. “He attends advanced computers first period. Then he takes this applied mathematics.”
“He’s not in there,” I said. “Is he somewhere else?”
Mr. Blackbourne stiffened. “It’s possible he’s downstairs, in the office or somewhere else. I doubt it, though. I would have been notified. We’ve got people watching that area right now.”
“We can’t track him?” Axel asked.
“He doesn’t have a cell phone,” I said.
“Maybe if we put something in his book bag,” Mr. Blackbourne said, “but it’ll take time. We’ll have to follow him on foot next time we spot him.”
“What about his next class?” I asked. “What’s his next one? Maybe we can wait to see if he shows up for it.”
Mr. Blackbourne looked at me, his eyebrows furrowed behind his glasses. “He doesn’t have one.”
I stared at him. The information wasn’t clicking. “What, do you mean it’s a study hall?”
“Mr. Winchester only attends two classes in the morning,” he said. “He then goes home. He’s on a special half-day. He’s really ready to graduate except for these last two classes.
My heart froze in my chest. My body stiffened. I forced myself to twist, looking in the classroom, looking over the faces again. “I didn’t know.”
“You didn’t?” Mr. Blackbourne asked.
I shook my head. “He came home late. I didn’t look at his report cards or anything. He just told me he was doing well in his classes and…” My brain was looking for answers but I couldn’t piece it together.
Something so simple, and I hadn’t even noticed. I didn’t even know which classes he was taking. I couldn’t recall the last time I looked at his report card. He usually got such good grades, I didn’t think I needed to ask.
Maybe he really did think I didn’t care.
“Are you sure he was in his first class?” Axel asked.
Mr. Blackbourne frowned. He used his cell phone, typing something in. “I’ll find out,” he said. He motioned to the two of us. “Let’s get out of this hallway. We shouldn’t linger.”
Mr. Blackbourne escorted us back to the stairs. We followed him to the main lobby. He led us down a hallway to an unmarked door. He opened it, revealing a small office with two desks facing each other.
It was very odd to me, given he was our age; he didn’t seem old enough to be working in a school like this.
“Have a seat,” Mr. Blackbourne said.
I sat in one of the chairs facing a computer. Axel leaned against the desk, his arms crossed. “Should we be here?”
“Probably not,” Mr. Blackbourne said. He put his phone down on top of one of the desks, and stared at it, waiting. “Tell me something” he said. “You said you didn’t know he only took two classes. Did he not tell you?”
“No,” I said. “I had to work. He showed up at home well after school was closed, usually not home until six or so since he had to travel. He never said anything about leaving early.”
“He never said, or did he lie and tell you he had a full day of classes?”
In the moment, I couldn’t remember. “I don’t think I questioned it when he went to school. He talked about classes sometimes. I just assumed.”
“He led you to believe he was here all day, though?”
“Maybe? It was the same routine he’d had last year. He came home at the same time. I don’t remember him lying about it.”
“He may not have needed to,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “If you didn’t ask, he didn’t have to tell. I thought you knew he only had two classes.”
“We showed you the transcripts, didn’t we?” Axel asked. “Didn’t Corey show you?”
I nodded slowly, remembering. “I did look at them, but I don’t remember this. I must have overlooked it when I saw it. They were hard to read.” I recalled the screen Corey had shown me. The list of classes showed them all together, going back to his freshman year. I didn’t look at the dates. I thought maybe he was in some advanced courses, but he’d never said anything about the computer classes and I was wondering how I missed that.
Apparently I missed more than I thought.
“Where does he go?” Axel asked. “Does anyone see him after school?”
“We didn’t approach him, like we were asked,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “He’s been spotted once or twice by our team here, usually just going through the hallways. There’s one member of my team he’s friendly with, but he’s not talked to her in a few days.”
“Her?” I asked. “He mentioned there was a girl who I thought he said he was interested in.”
Mr. Blackbourne’s lips fell a little into a deeper frown. “I don’t know his personal interest, but I don’t think she’d return his affection. I think she’s just on friendly terms.”
Axel tapped his fingers on the desk. “Can get her to talk to him?”
Mr. Blackbourne turned his head, frowning. “He’s acting very suspicious. I’m not sure I want her anywhere near him at this point.”
“He’s not suspicious,” I said. “He’s… something’s wrong.”
“He’s skipping class,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “He’s manipulated you.”
“He’s not a troublemaker,” I barked at him. I stepped forward, pointing a finger at him. “You don’t have any proof. He’s not…”
“Hang on there,” Axel said, catching my wrist and redirecting my finger. He held on to me. “We’ll find him. We can’t jump to conclusions.” He turned to Mr. Blackbourne. “Listen, Wil’s had a rough life. He’s probably avoiding returning more to protect her.”
“We’ll need to ask around about him,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “I can have my team keep an eye out for him. We’ll find out.”
“We’ll do it,” Axel said. “We can track Wil. You need to do your job here. But if you can keep an eye out for Wil here and give us a starting point, we would appreciate it.”
“We’ll be watching for Mr. Winchester,” he said solemnly.
“He’s an abused kid without a home right now,” Axel said. “We need to make sure he’s not sleeping under a bridge and knows he can contact his sister. She’s recently moved locations.”
“Where?” he asked.
“She’s staying with us,” Axel said.
“Then we can probably get word to him somehow, but we need to keep an eye on him and find a way to track him down. What I’d like to know is why he isn’t reaching out to contact his own sister.”
“He wouldn’t run away from me,” I said in the steadiest voice I could muster. I had to believe this. Somehow this was Wil’s way of helping, and I didn’t really understand it. I had to hang on to the idea that Wil just needed time. Any other possibility left me too angry and confused. I didn’t want him to hate me. “Wil’s the nicest person I’ve ever known. If he left, it’s because he thinks he’ll be out of my hair. He probably thinks he’s doing me a favor, perhaps hoping I won’t worry about him.”
“Alleviating your worry?” Mr. Blackbourne asked. “Or keeping you from being an accessory to whatever he’s planning.”
“That’s not fair,” Axel said, stepping slightly in front of me. “There’s no reason to think that.”
“I don’t think you know what I’m dealing with here,” Mr. Blackbourne said.
“But she knows her brother,” Axel said.
Mr. Blackbourne quieted, scanning Axel’s face and then mine.
The phone on the desk started to buzz. Mr. Blackbourne picked up the phone and read the message. He frowned. “Don’t be so sure.” He held out the phone for me to read.
I held my breath, wa
iting for something horrible. I read the text.
Dr. Green: Checked with the first period teacher. Wil never goes to class. He tested out early, and the teachers agreed to mark him as attending classes. It was an order by Mr. Hendricks. He may be working with him.
Mr. Hendricks, the principal that had reported his missing vice-principal, the one who had been worried about the Academy.
If somehow Wil got wrapped up in it, and was working with Mr. Hendricks to figure out how to stop the Academy in whatever they were doing, Wil may have backed away from me to avoid bringing the Academy to me.
He was on the outside, looking in.
~ A ~
Corey Henshaw sat on the couch of Apartment 737 at Sergeant Jasper, playing a game on the Xbox while Kayli was in his room, asleep. Most everyone else had gone to bed, all except Axel, who had gone out to finish up his report to another Academy member. Checking in was required after a job was done, and others within the Academy would go over the details.
Corey had been awake for hours, at the computer for who knows how long, but the end result was still the same.
No news on Wil Winchester. Their only chance was that another team at the school would catch him in the hallway and begin the process of tracking him and finding out what he was up to. They also monitored communication with the principal, since he seemed to be in control of him now.
Corey had hoped to find another answer for Kayli, but the data was too little to put together into a solid hypothesis.
He hoped this principal wouldn’t manipulate Wil into doing something really stupid. Axel had requested they leave and let him talk to Mr. Blackbourne alone to make plans. Kayli had wanted to stay but Corey was the one to convince her to give her brother space, to let them take care of it.
Corey had a feeling, as did the others, that this principal was possibly the reason Wil left. If Wil thought he was digging into trouble, he was avoiding Kayli to prevent it from spreading.
Much like Kayli had done for him.
Corey pushed buttons on the Xbox controller as he played through Skyrim. He was firing arrows at dragons, but his brain was processing the physics and the code it took to get the images on the screen to look the way they did. These days, he got so he didn’t even see the dragons anymore. He saw the errors, and the room for improvement. He was fixing code in his head.