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Books by C. L. Stone
The Academy Series:
Introductions
First Days
Friends vs. Family (Coming Soon!)
Other C. L. Stone Books:
Spice God
Smoking Gun
Turn the Page for a Sneak Peek of Book Three in The Academy Series, Friends vs. Family.
READ AN EXCERPT FROM THE NEXT BOOK IN THE ACADEMY SERIES
T he A cademy
Friends vs. Family
Year One
Book Three
by C. L. Stone
S ecret L ives
I dreamed a wind swept through, laced with fire and blinding anyone that it came across. I was tied to a tree, unable to dodge it no matter how I struggled. All I could do was wait what was coming for me. Part of me felt like I deserved it.
“Sang?” a voice woke me from my dream.
I sat up in bed, shivering, confused. It was dawn. My alarm hadn’t gone off yet.
A knock sounded at the door. “Sang?” my father called. “Are you awake?”
Was something wrong? Was he going to the hospital with my mother? I kicked back my blankets, my heart rattling hard against my half-asleep body. My father never came to my door unless something was wrong. I swallowed back my fears, smoothing my t-shirt on my body as it had crept up my stomach while I was sleeping. When I was decent, I opened my bedroom door, peeking out.
My father loomed in the hallway, dressed in dark slacks, white collared shirt and tie. A suit coat hung off of his arm. If he was going to the hospital, he wasn’t going to be wearing that. He peered in at me with his dark eyes.
I opened the door more, tilting my head. “What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I’m going on a business trip,” he said. He nodded toward the stairwell, to the direction of his bedroom, where my mother was likely still sleeping. “I won’t be back for a couple of days. I need to make sure you get your mother to eat something while I’m gone. You know how she gets when she doesn’t.”
I nodded. Since I was about nine years old, my mother had been sick. She first went in for a sinus infection but came back weeks later with bottles of morphine for an illness I wasn’t privileged to know about. She’d never been the same since, traversing in and out of hospitals almost as often as I went to school.
Her illness was bad enough as it was. The drugs, however, made her paranoid. My sister and I spent most of our childhood and early teenage years at her mercy, keeping us isolated in our rooms. She told us that men would rape us; monsters would kidnap and kill us. If we disobeyed, if we left the house and she found out we’d talked to anyone outside the family, she punished us by getting us to kneel in rice or sit on a stool for hours at a time. If she didn’t eat, didn’t take her medicine, the punishments got worse.
“Where are you going?” I asked. It was Friday, and not only did I have school, but I also had something secret to do with the Academy. I’d have to hope it wouldn’t take all day.
“Mexico,” he said. “I’ll be back soon. Tell your sister.”
Marie, my older sister, was probably still asleep across the hall. I wondered why he told me and not her. I couldn’t remember the last time he went on a business trip. I usually didn’t notice until he was already gone. I hardly saw him anyway, he was always working. It had me wondering why he mentioned it this time. Maybe he expected to be gone longer.
He marched down the stairs, turned the corner and was gone. A moment later, the sound of his car starting echoed through the house. His suitcase must have already been in the car. Telling me he was leaving was like an afterthought. No goodbyes. No promises to call.
A hollow household with hollow people. We did what we had to do.
The shower that morning was almost too chill for my liking. No matter how much I twisted the hot water handle, I couldn’t get the heat. It was perfect timing, since my father had already left. I wasn’t sure how to fix it. I thought of mention it to the guys later. Kota, North or one of the others might know.
I got dressed for school in shorts and a blouse. When I was ready, I went to the kitchen downstairs. I found some crackers in the cabinet and grabbed a yogurt cup and a spoon, along with a bottle of water. I tiptoed through the quiet house toward my parents’ bedroom.
My mother was slumped over her pillow, her mouth open and she was snoring. Her mostly graying hair was pulled back in a ponytail, recently brushed out and fixed up. If I didn’t know any better, she looked almost normal, peaceful.
I didn’t want to wake her. I dropped the crackers and everything onto her bedside table. I hoped it would be enough if she woke up and was hungry.
Something glinting under the bed caught my eye. I checked my mother again to make sure she wasn’t going to wake up. I dropped to my knees next to the bed, ducking my head.
There was an open shoebox on its side under her bed. I recognized her handwriting on some of the notes that spilled out. The silver metal glint was a picture frame. The picture was a little faded, and it took a moment for me to realize it was my mother. She had to have been no more than twenty or so at the time the picture was taken. Her hair was longer then, and her eyes clearer, sharper than I’d ever remembered.
It was in that moment that I couldn’t recall ever seeing a picture of anyone in my family. I didn’t think she owned a camera. Why hadn’t it occurred to me before? It was a small thing, but something that never crossed my mind.
This photograph, as far as I knew, was the only one of any of us in the entire house. S
he’d kept it hidden.
The sight of this had my heart thundering in my chest. Why was it under her bed? Did she not like it? She didn’t want anyone knowing she had it. Did my dad know?
There were other objects in the box as well, needles and old bottles of prescription medication, some dating back before I was born.
I didn’t want to go through her private things or get caught doing so. I closed the lid for her, slipping the box back underneath the bed again. I scrambled to get out of her room.
I would let her keep her secrets. I had my own to deal with. Adding hers to mine right now was too much. I needed to get to school.
That afternoon, I was flat on my back in a thin, pale green hospital gown as I waited for the MRI machine to start. The guys had taken me to this nondescript medical building in downtown Charleston with the promise that my parents wouldn’t learn about where I was or why. I’d skipped my last three periods of class to get here, with Mr. Blackbourne covering for me. I wasn’t sure how late it was. I was worried we were running short on time for me to get back into my neighborhood, preferably before my mother noticed I was late from school.
“Just lay still for a second, Miss Sang,” Dr. Green’s voice filtered through to me in overhead speakers.
It was difficult to be still. The room was cold and the table I was on rattled with the movement of the MRI machine. I was naked, except for the thin gown around me. I knew Luke, Gabriel, Victor, Nathan, and Kota were probably watching from the same room Dr. Green was sitting in.
I shifted my head to the side, trying to glimpse into the glass window where I knew they were standing, but from my position, and the glare of the fluorescent lights overhead, I couldn’t see their faces.
