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He pulled out one that didn’t have a title, my journal, and absentmindedly thumbed it open, looking at the pages. His eyebrows shot up and he turned to me. “Sang? What’s this?”
Did he expect me to answer? Frustrated that they kept forgetting, I used sign language to quickly spell out, “Journal.” If Luke knew it, the others probably did, too. They were smart Academy guys.
Gabriel turned when I was making the last two letters. “Did she just flip you off?”
Kota laughed. “No. She’s using sign language. She spelled out journal.” He looked back at me. “What language is this?”
I spelled again. It frustrated me because it felt like I was taking forever to communicate something that would have taken a second to say out loud. My sign language skills were rusty.
He repeated what I spelled for him, “Korean lettering, and English words.”
“Let me see that.” Mr. Blackbourne held his hand out to Kota.
I sighed, exasperated. I shot a look at Gabriel. He completely understood. “You can’t go reading her journal,” he said. “That’s private chick stuff.”
“I can’t read it,” Mr. Blackbourne said. He took the book from Kota and flipped through the pages, checking it. “Is there a key to this puzzle?” he asked.
Kota watched as I signed “She doesn’t need one.” He smiled, catching on. He slid a finger up to the bridge of his glasses, pressing to his nose. “I get it. She used Korean lettering so she wouldn’t need a key. If she ever forgot, she could just check a book to translate.” I signed to him again and he relayed the message. “So her family couldn’t read it.”
Mr. Blackbourne checked the floor, found a pencil and brought it and the journal to me. “I want to see you write in it.”
I lifted an eyebrow. Why?
“Write: The five boxing wizards jump quickly.”
I twisted my lips, confused that he picked such an awkward sentence. I opened to a random blank page, scratching in the lines and circles. When I was done, I passed it to him.
“You’ve done this for a while,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “You did it too fast to be a new trick.” He checked my work.
“Sang’s full of little secrets,” Gabriel said.
“Tell me about it,” Kota beamed at me. “When were you going to tell me about the sign language?”
I shrugged.
“One of these days,” Mr. Blackbourne said as he snapped the journal shut and passed it back to Kota, “Miss Sorenson, you and I are going to have a conversation to catch up on what you can actually do. You are surprisingly useful.”
Kota shot him a look but Mr. Blackbourne turned away, ignoring it.
I was finishing up the trunk and closing the lid when Silas poked his head in.
“Sang, where does your dad keep his tools? Are there any spare wood scraps?”
I blew out a sigh, spilling onto the carpet on my back and rolling my eyes. I looked up at him from my upside down position, smirking. Was everyone going to forget I couldn’t talk?
He laughed, shaking his head. “Can you please show me?”
I looked over at Kota, wordlessly asking him if he needed me.
“Go help,” he said.
“Kota,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “Grab the other end of her bed, will you?” He half bent over, his tie swinging free from his blazer as he pushed my bed away from the wall.
I got up, confused at what they were doing, but Silas grabbed for my hand to tug me out of the room. His large, strong hand enveloped mine and I let him guide me down the hallway. I glanced into the bathroom on our way. North was pulling the loose bit of frame out of the door with a pocket knife. The stool was gone. The shower behind him was in pieces, the plumbing pulled from the wall and spread on the floor. Did Silas do that?
I followed Silas down the back stairs and out into the garage. I lead the way across the drive to the shed in the back, opening the side door and stepping out of the way so Silas could enter.
I was hitting the switch as Silas shut the door behind us. We were cast into darkness. The old fluorescent lights above our heads crackled but needed time to heat up.
My skin tingled and my heart thundered. I was alone with Silas.
Silas’s hands found me in the dark. He hugged me close, tightly enough that my breath escaped my lungs. I froze, too stunned to move. His chin dropped to the top of my head, and the breath from his nose mixed into my hair.
With trembling fingers, I slipped my arms around his neck to hug him back. Was this what he needed?
His right arm went under my butt to hold me up and his other holding at my back to press me to him. He scooped me up off the floor. My feet dangled on either side of his legs.
I buried my face into his shoulder, too breathless and consumed by his embrace. It was too close and everything I wanted right then. How did he know?
“Aggele mou,” he whispered, and he moved his face until his cheek was next to mine. “Sang, don’t ever do that to me again. Don’t you ever fucking wait...” His breath was hot against my ear.
I couldn’t speak. Tears stung my eyes. I hadn’t realized until that moment that Silas had been holding back something from everyone, waiting until we were alone to tell me this. I swallowed heavily, tightening my arms around his neck. My fingers slipped into his hair, feeling the smooth black locks. I felt so bad. I’d scared him.
“Don’t you ever wait to call me,” he said. “I don’t care if you stubbed your toe or you’re just lonely. You don’t even have to wait until then. You call, I’ll be here.” He sighed, pressing his lips close to my ear and whispered. “If it were up to me, you wouldn’t be here at all. I’d take you home with me now.”
“Silas,” I croaked out a whisper. My mind whirled and I sucked back a sob. I didn’t want to cry. If I cried now, I wouldn’t be able to hold it in any more. Silas’s hug felt good but I was trying my best to be brave around the guys and not show how scared I was. Monsters. Demons. All the scary things my dreams held and my mother whispered to me over the years. I could handle anything she threw me into. I couldn’t handle this. I couldn’t see Silas so freaked out.
Silas shuddered against me. His large hand smoothed across my back. “Whe
n you called my name on the phone, I knew. Your voice squeaked but I heard you. The line cut out and I couldn’t get here fast enough. I came as quick as I could. Kota and the others were across town and couldn’t get back sooner. I called Nathan. I stayed on the line with him when I couldn’t get back in touch with you. I knew something was wrong. When he couldn’t find you, I thought maybe we were too late.” He growled softly in my ear. “Aggele mou, Sang. We were almost too late.”
“Silas,” I whispered. “You came for me. I’m here. It’s okay.”
He pulled back enough until he could press his forehead to mine. The light finished warming and fluttered to life. I was caught up in those soft brown eyes of his, dark and soothing, glistening. “Promise me,” he demanded. “Say it.”
“I won’t wait,” I whispered. I swallowed hard. “Silas, I promise. I’ll call.”
He grunted, pulled me in close against him once again and sighed into my shoulder. “I hate this,” he said. “I don’t want you here with them.”
Where else did I have to go? I couldn’t go home with him or anyone else. I couldn’t join the Academy, even if I’d wanted and even if Kota said it was fine. My parents wouldn’t allow it. The only way to leave would be to call the cops but the results wouldn’t be what any of us wanted. “It’s not for forever,” I whispered. “If I ran away with you, they’d come after me. Won’t everyone else get into trouble?”
He grunted again and lowered me to the ground, keeping a hand on me to make sure I was stable. He pulled away to rub at his face. “Fine. Let’s fix your damn shower.”
“Was it broken?” I asked. I turned from him, my head buzzing after all of the emotions. I sucked in some air and looked for the toolbox on the shelves.
“I felt like breaking it,” he said. His eyes moved to the collection of boxes that took up the majority of the floor in the garage. It was a mess and I was embarrassed by it but he didn’t seem put off. “So I just took it apart. I’m going to put a timer on it, though. If she even attempts to do it again, it’ll only be on for a half hour before it cuts off. You can flip it off and turn it back on again but it’ll stop it from being run for hours on end like that.”
