The Healing Power of Sugar: The Ghost Bird Series: #9 (The Academy Ghost Bird Series) (8 page)

I tried to talk vaguely, just in case. “Kota asked me to find out why Luke keeps running off,” I said in a quiet tone similar to his. “North couldn’t do it; he’s been harsh on him lately and he’s not so sure Luke would open up to him right now.”

“And Kota can’t do it?”

“He wanted me to try first, before he goes to Mr. Blackbourne and asks him to talk to Luke. Even Gabriel tried talking to him, but Luke’s been eluding him for a week or so.”

“It’s not a bad thing if he does need time to think,” Nathan said. “And Mr. Blackbourne’s not a last resort. He’s not going to kill him or punish him if he’s really having a hard time with something. Has anyone told Mr. Blackbourne about any of this?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I assume Kota has or will. Or North.”

“Maybe you should text him.” He turned his head to look at me briefly before refocusing on the road.

I picked up my phone, hesitating. “I don’t know. I’d hate to bug him now since he’s being chased all over the city. I don’t know who might be listening on his phone... Is it a good idea to do that now?”

Nathan tilted his head. “I don’t know. I don’t feel like dealing with Luke should be your sole responsibility.”

My fingers traced the outside of the phone, debating. Did he think I couldn’t handle it? I didn’t feel like I was doing it alone, but I would be the only one to go talk to Luke. It wasn’t that I minded telling Mr. Blackbourne about it, but I didn’t want to worry him about both Volto and Luke before we even know exactly what’s going on. I also didn’t want to get Luke in trouble if it was one of his pranks. “I’m going to tell him about the Volto masks,” I said. “But I don’t know what to say about Luke.”

“He’ll want to know why Luke needs time to himself.”

I sighed, putting the phone in my lap and pushing my head back against the headrest. “What should I do?”

“Text Kota,” he said. “See if he’s mentioned any of this to Mr. Blackbourne. And let him know what we’re up to.”

That sounded like a reasonable idea. If anything was important, Kota would know what to tell Mr. Blackbourne.

I picked up the phone again, eager to reach out to him so he could help me figure this puzzle out.

Sang: Nathan and I are on our way to check on Luke at his house. He ditched work. Should I tell Mr. Blackbourne, or can you tell him about the masks and Luke? I don’t want Luke to get into trouble.

Kota: Already letting him know. I’ll check the cameras.

It took me a minute before I realized he meant Luke’s cameras at his house. I touched my forehead. “Oh yeah, we could have just checked the cameras,” I said.

“I thought you wanted to take him out,” Nathan said, glancing over at me. “And talk to him?”

“If he says he’s busy, but wants to be alone, then we probably need to give him some space, right? Maybe we can just get a visual, and stay nearby in case it was Volto. He shouldn’t be alone.”

“Yeah,” Nathan said and then sighed heavily, shifting his body in the seat. “Looks like you and I might need to babysit. What do you think is wrong with him, anyway? He hasn’t done this in a while.”

I didn’t want to tell him what I was really thinking, but instead of lying, I shrugged.

My phone vibrated in my hands. I touched the button to light up the screen.

Kota: I used the GPS to track him in the house, but he’s not with his phone. You’re on your way to his house?

Sang: Yes, with Nathan.

Kota: Pick up Silas and head there with him. One of you should stay nearby, even if he wants to be alone. I want a visual on him as soon as possible.

I agreed even if I just talked to Luke for a minute to make sure he was okay. “Kota said to pick up Silas,” I said. “He wants us to take him with us.”

Nathan sighed and then looked over his shoulder before changing lanes. “Good thing I hadn’t gotten too far,” he said, waiting in line to make a U-turn. He looked over at me. “So he’s updated Mr. Blackbourne?”

“Yeah, and he checked cameras for Luke, but he doesn’t see him at the house, even though his phone is there. He wants a visual and at least one of us to stay near Luke.”

“Should we warn Luke about Volto?” Nathan asked. “Maybe we should text him.”

I pressed my lips together, as I thought about it. There were a hundred little decisions to be made, and my brain was getting tired trying to anticipate possible outcomes. I didn’t know the right answer.

“Let’s check in with him first,” I said. “Don’t you think? Let Kota figure out about Volto. Let’s just make sure Luke’s safe for now. We can only figure out so much, right?”

Nathan nodded slowly and then a small smile turned up the edge of his lips. He reached out, pulling my hand toward him, and brought my fingers to his mouth, gently biting a knuckle. He lowered my hand and put it in his lap to hold.

I smiled. “I’m sorry,” I said. “We kind of got roped into this. They wanted to give you some time off before school tomorrow.”

“Peanut, we do what we have to do. I’ll happily sit in a car for a few hours with you watching over Luke.”

I squeezed his hand gently as a quiet thank you. He squeezed back and drove on, my hand still in his.

The way to Silas’s building was becoming familiar. The apartment complex seemed quiet at the moment: mid-afternoon on a Sunday. The pool was covered over in a blue tarp, done for the season. There were clear bags of leaves left near the dumpsters. Some of the doors had jack-o-lanterns and pumpkins left over from Halloween.

When we made a turn toward the last apartment building, Silas was already waiting at the foot of the steps and came out when Nathan stopped the car in the middle of the drive.

Silas was wearing dark blue jeans that were a little tight around his thighs. I did a second glance when I realized that what I thought was a jacket, was actually a workman’s shirt. There was a patch over his chest, something in a script I couldn’t read, and below, it said ‘plumbing company’.

I hopped out quickly, leaving the door open, and opened the back passenger door, about to get in.

Silas walked up, and grabbed the frame of the back door, getting my attention. His black hair was longer now, dipping across his eyes, darkening the olive complexion around his face.

“
Aggele mou
,” he said. “Where are you going?”

“Giving you the front seat,” I said, pointing. “There’s more room up there. The back is small.”

He moved his thick lips, like he wanted to protest, but before he could, I got into the back. He couldn’t argue if I was already settled.

Even for me, the back was crowded; I sat upright with my knees nearly touching the back of the front seat. He would have been completely uncomfortable.

Silas got in, stretched a bit and closed the door, looking over at Nathan.

Nathan glanced down at Silas’s shirt before he raised his eyebrows and smirked at him. “He had you working?”

“I mentioned I had a day off, and he drags me on an emergency job with him,” Silas said. “I’d take off the shirt, but I didn’t bring a T-shirt to wear underneath.”

“Yeah, keep it on,” Nathan said, turning the Jeep around. “Can’t let Sang go crazy seeing you shirtless.”

I held my lips together so I wouldn’t giggle. Was this a clue? Was Nathan okay with the plan? Plus, once he mentioned it, I couldn’t help but think of Silas shirtless.

Silas gave Nathan a small punch in the arm. Nathan laughed, turning the car back onto the main road.

Silas peered over the back of his seat at me. I reached forward, touching his shoulder to let him know he had my attention. “So you were working?”

“My dad’s still on my case about going into plumbing.” He shook his head, and combed his thick fingers through his hair, pushing the strands aside. “He thinks college is expensive and a waste of time.”

“Are you going to college?” I asked, suddenly very interested. The only time I ever really heard any of them talk about the future was that they couldn’t wait until after they were out of Ashley Waters and back to whatever was ‘normal’ for them. “You said you’d already taken some college courses.”

“Just for fun,” Silas said. “But he thinks the reason I’m in the Academy is into get into a better college later. He’s telling me unless it’s scholarships the whole way, I wouldn’t be able to afford it, so what’s the point in trying? Plumbing school to get a license is much less expensive.” He let out a heavy sigh and tilted his head back onto the head rest. “Maybe on my days off, I should tell him I’m working at the diner and hang out at your place.”

“I just can’t wait until we’re all eighteen and can tell people we’re off at college,” Nathan said.

A little alarm went through me. “College?” I asked quietly. “Were you planning on going?”

Nathan shrugged. “It’s what we’ll tell people if they ask what we’ve been doing all day. It’s easy to blend into a college if you really needed to.”

I wanted to ask why we would need to blend into college, but was he talking about me, or them? Before I could think of how to ask, Silas started talking to him about the plumbing job he’d been working at.

I lifted my feet onto the seat, resting my knees against the door. I stared blankly at the scenery as we drove back toward Luke’s. It bothered me that I hadn’t thought of much about what would happen after high school, whether I would stay through senior year, which was what I’d assumed would happen before I met the boys.

What did it mean to belong to the Academy and not have to go to high school or college? What did you do for work? How did you learn?

What happened if I didn’t join the Academy? Would I have to stay at Ashley Waters then? The boys had told me often if they didn’t stay, I wouldn’t either. But the reality was, I had to do something. Perhaps they’d have me working at the diner while they were on Academy jobs or whatever they did when they weren’t in school.

I leaned my head against the seat, tired of all the questions I didn’t have answers to.

I stopped thinking about it for now. Instead, I considered what I would say to Luke if he found us poking around and watching him.

When Nathan finally pulled into the laneway that lead to the Taylor Compound, he paused halfway down the drive and stopped the car. “If I go any further, it’ll trigger a warning bell for Luke if he’s here. Do we want him to know we’re coming?”

“Didn’t Kota say he wanted a visual?” Silas asked. “That’s all I heard. Is he grounded?”

“He might be,” Nathan said. “I might ground him if he’s done what we think he did.”

“Do I want to know?” Silas asked. “Are
Kota’s
tires orange now?”

I peered out the window at the trees but couldn’t see anything. “Do we need to walk up?”

“Yeah,” Nathan said, opening his door. “Let’s walk it from here. Depending on where Luke is, we might just camp out in North’s trailer.”

We got out. The road ahead was gravel. I could see little of the sky, the light blocked by trees around us, making it appear to be closer to twilight than late in the afternoon. Everything had a green-orange hue from evergreen trees and the fallen leaves and my nose was overwhelmed with the smells of pine and decaying leaves.

Before I could step around Silas and start down the road, he held out a hand, catching me by the waist. “Hang on there,
Aggele
,” he said. “Hang on. Let me toss you over the line.”

I didn’t understand what he meant, but walked behind him.

I watched as Nathan walked up to a spot and then took a jump, hurtling himself over to land on his feet several feet further. He turned back, looking both ways down the drive. “Did I trip it?”

“I don’t see a light,” Silas said.

“There’s a sensor somewhere?” I asked.

“A pressure plate,” Nathan said. “Walking on it will trigger it. North says if a deer walks over it, it’ll go off. Anything about the size of a dog and up will set it off.”

Silas came around me and held onto one of my shoulders. “Do you want me to toss you over? Or can you jump it?”

I guesstimated from where Nathan jumped from to where he landed was doable. “I can run it,” I said, “and jump, but I may need Nathan to catch me.”

Nathan moved to face me, stepping back a bit to give me room, but spread his arms out. “Why am I always catching you?”

“I’m not in a tree this time,” I said.

“Huh?” Silas asked, but stepped away to give me room.

“Long story,” I said, and dashed toward where Nathan had jumped from. I lifted off and in a second, I was crashing into Nathan’s shoulder. “Ugh,” he grunted but held me upright so I didn’t fall on the gravel.

Silas chuckled. “What’s wrong? She too heavy for you?”

Nathan made a face, and then bent over, scooping me up and draping me over his shoulder. I wasn’t expecting it, and ended up with my face in his hip, and my hair spilling, the clip falling from my hair.

“Just for that, I’ll carry her all the way to the trailer,” Nathan said in a deeper, challenging tone. He turned toward Silas, and from that point I was just looking at the gravel.

“Do it,” Silas said, challenging him back.

I shifted on Nathan’s hip. The phone in my bra fell out, clattering to the gravel. I gritted my teeth. Luckily it landed face up, so if anything, it was probably the cover that was scratched. “Hang on, I’m dropping things.”

Silas scooped up my clip and phone and held onto them. “I’ve got them, Sang,” he said. “Don’t fall off. I want to see him carry you all the way.”

I made a noise that was supposed to be a sigh, but when Nathan adjusted me, it ended up as a snort.

Silas laughed in his big, booming tone. “Shit. Too cute.”

“What, you don’t think I can do it?” Nathan asked, shifting me higher on his shoulder as he started walking again.

It wasn’t worth getting between them, so I just accepted that I was going to be carried. I wondered about Silas egging Nathan on. Did he do it a lot?

Nathan moved quickly while Silas trailing behind—I could see him smirking, even though I was upside-down.

I kept expecting the edge of the Taylor Compound to come up soon, but remembered any previous time I’d been here, I’d been in a car, so hadn’t noticed how long the drive was.