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“Yeah, me too.” I wasn’t sure what I was nervous about, more about hearing what was going on. Hopefully, news of my brother, if he’d been found. “Can I ask you something?”
Lake nodded. “Sure.”
“Why do you…what would make you want to join this Academy? From what you know about it?”
“I know it did a world of difference for Axel,” he said. “And they’ve done a lot for me. It’s dangerous, like this past week… but they take care of you.” He shrugged. “That’s all I know. I’m still figuring out. But they’ve done more for me than my own family. Except for Axel. He’s always helping.” His eyes looked away, toward the ground. “I’ve got to fit in somewhere, maybe?”
I reached out to him, holding his arm with a light grip until he looked at me.
“If they don’t let you in, if you don’t fit,” I said to him. “You come find me. If they won’t take you, they sure as hell won’t take me, either. We’ll start our own team.”
He seemed pleased with this, and even chuckled.
But I was serious. Even after he went off to finish with the cleaning up, I hated to think what would happen if the Academy wouldn’t take me.
And was it worse if they did?
People returned, including the guy who went out for supplies with Blake. I scanned the area, looking at the people, counting off. “Where’s Blake?” I asked him.
He hesitated to answer me. “He had to go. Back to the city.”
I was surprised to hear this. “What? Why? Is he in trouble?” I was thinking the police were demanding him for questioning.
“It’s his brother, and his wife. I overheard. Something happened. He left to go to that hospital. That’s all I know.”
Maybe the baby had arrived. I supposed if it was at the hospital the Academy owned, he was safe enough going back.
It bothered me though. He didn’t even stop to tell me. He just left. My heart was beating wildly, worried about what was going on.
If he couldn’t come back to tell me…I was worried it was for the worst.
??????
An hour later, we were on the road and approached Hunter’s Island. It’d been a long road, and the further we went, the less we saw of civilization.
The campground gates were open, with no one in the booth watching who was coming in. We were surrounded by tall pines. There were narrow lanes going around to different parts of the grounds. There were signs, some pointing to where the beach was, a couple pointing out trails to hike.
Liam was driving slow to be able to take the turns in the RV. “I think we need to park in the back,” he said. “I heard something that RVs were further out.”
We rolled in, and Marc, seated in the passenger seat, pointed out the wooden signs. “RVs that way. There’s arrows on those poles.”
When we got to the RV grounds, we were parked by a few others RVs hooked up in various spots. Liam parked. From the windows, there were other people in view, walking around, setting up.
More Academy.
I was a little intimidated leaving the RV amid the others. I stuck close to Corey, following him like a puppy.
I counted some of the RVs, fifteen that I could see. That seemed like a lot.
“We’re supposed to go to the center,” one of them told us. “You guys are just in time for the welcome session.”
“Isn’t it fun they picked camping this year?” another mentioned. “Last minute, but I see why. Good excuse to come out.”
They hadn’t been told, at least the ones we talked to. They thought this was some Academy camping experience. A little get together.
Maybe Lake had a right to be nervous. How were we supposed to hide that we were the reason they were here in the first place?
That we were hiding from people who sought to possibly kill more than a few of us?
Liam and Lillian and a couple of others stayed with the RV to unload and set up. The rest of us went on to the campground’s meeting spot.
On the way, we were joined by other people, all headed the same direction. I zoned out, just following the others. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this, being amid all these people within the Academy.
Would they want a thief? Would they want someone who brought in all this trouble?
Did I want to join? I didn’t even know if I should be here. What if I didn’t want to? Would they separate me from the guys?
I was still inside my mind, trying to make a decision until Brandon said loudly, “Axel?”
Someone ahead of us turned.
He was wearing glasses, and his hair was pulled back from his head in a short ponytail to keep it out of his face. He waited for us to catch up with him.
The others moved in on him, but it was Raven who beat us all, reaching out to embrace him in a hug.
“Didn’t know you were back,” Raven said, squeezing him around the midsection.
Axel spoke like he was out of breath. “Let me go.”
Raven didn’t. “I’m sorry I fought with you.”
Axel raised an eyebrow. “When?”
“All the times.”
Corey approached, dragging Raven back away from him. “Let him go, he was in that car accident, remember?”
“Oh,” Raven said. “Right.” He released him.
“I’m fine. Just a few bruises.” Axel scanned them and then looked to me. He stood still, like he wasn’t going to approach me. “I’m sorry,” he said.
I was confused. “What?”
“I couldn’t find him.” His shoulders slumped then, something I’d never seen him do. His expression was dour, defeated. “I had to leave before I could find your brother.”
He stayed behind to find Wil. My heart went wild, both sad about the news but happy to see him and that he was alive. “He’s probably okay, isn’t he?”
He nodded slowly. “I’ve a feeling he’s fine. It’s just the trail went cold. I’m sorry.”
I reached for him.
He reacted then, like he hadn’t been sure I’d let him. But now that I made the first move, he hugged me, hard. Enough that my breath escaped.
“They didn’t tell me you were coming this early,” he said. “I heard it would be later. I was brought here immediately.” His hand smoothed over my lower back and his other hand’s fingers threaded through my hair.
“Liam wanted to get here as soon as possible,” I said.
He breathed in through his nose, like he was sniffing my hair. “Don’t talk about…us…the relationship. Keep it simple. For now. Just tell them you want to stay with our team. That’s it.”
I remembered what Lillian said. “They already know.”
“Now’s not the time for it. If they ask, redirect to the main point. We can’t separate now. We have to stay together.”
It was a warning. Why was it even mentioned right now? This made me think they were going to do what they did to Lillian, like she said. Encourage me to join another team.
I couldn’t.
I wouldn’t.
I didn’t even know if I wanted in, still. They’d done a lot for me. They were trying to track down my brother. They helped my father.
But there were a lot of things I still didn’t know.
We moved on together as a group. There was a gathering area, sunken into a slope that evened out at the bottom. There were wooden benches surrounding the bottom to overlook a staging area. The center of it all was a firepit. A little campfire was going, some smoke drifting up, not enough to warm anyone, more like a signal to draw attention.
As we approached, my heart beat faster and the more confused I became.
Kids.
Young teens.
Lots of them.
There were more that were older, but the majority that were here, they were kids. Mostly boys, a solid group of girls.
Tears sprung into my eyes as I realized how many there were, some filling the seats, some still coming in. I couldn’t count their numbers, at least a couple hundred.
Their voices rose together, many of them cheerful.
As we approached, Marc slowed down, stopping to tap one of the younger girls on the shoulder.
“Hey, it’s the little doctor,” he said, a grin on his face. “I remember you.”
She seemed startled and didn’t answer right away, her cheeks flushed.
It was odd to me he knew her. Now seeing the size of this group, it made me wonder how many they actually knew.
Axel stepped ahead of us, scanning the seating. He stretched out an arm, pointing. “There’s space for us down there,” he said.
