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“Did he hurt you?” the masked man asked. “Did he try to?”
I nodded slowly. “He cornered me in the girls’ locker room.”
“And you haven’t seen him since?”
“No. They said—”
“Not to worry about it.”
I stopped talking, suddenly afraid to know any more. My fingers smoothed over the top of the phone. I was tempted to put it down, to stop Mr. Blackbourne if he was listening. Part of me didn’t want to sever the connection either. I didn’t know what to do. “Yes,” I said quietly.
“The reason they don’t want to tell you anything is because it would be a lie, and they’re pretty good at manipulating facts enough to make themselves believe what they’re saying is true.”
I thought of Mr. Blackbourne and what he had told me. It took years to learn how to lie well enough to become undetectable. Instead, he taught me how to change the truth enough and how to think so when I spoke, even if I was unsure, it would sound like the truth. “What are you saying they did to Mr. McCoy?”
“Just don’t be surprised if you never hear from him again.”
“What?”
“He’s either dead, or they have him locked up somewhere, probably the same place they took your mother.”
My heart sank. “They didn’t ... they don’t do that.”
“Oh you don’t think so?”
“My mother’s ill,” I protested. “She’s under heavy medication. She has cancer.”
“I’m sure she does, but she was a risk to you, and right now they see you as an asset. So they’ll eliminate anything that stands in their way. They do it to win you over. When you’ve sold your soul to them, that’s when they let you know.”
“I don’t understand. What is the Academy?”
“It’s a private school,” he said.
I twisted my lips. That’s what they told me at first, but now I knew it was more than that. I wasn’t clear on what.
“Yeah,” he said. His head nodded. “You know better. You’ve seen a lot, right? How they operate? But if you ask any member what it is, they’ll say the same thing.”
“Why?”
“Who cares about some preppy private school? Parents they don’t eliminate are all too grateful to ‘enroll’ their kids into what looks like an elite school, and they get more excited when they learn tuition is free because their kid is being sponsored. Anyone that cares thinks it is a good opportunity, but most parents of the kids they enlist are abusive and are happy to get rid of their kids whenever possible. Then all a kid has to do is say, ‘I’m going to the Academy’ and parents don’t ask, don’t want to know. And the kids getting in are fed the lies and promises and are too grateful from being saved to look closer at what they are signing up for.”
It didn’t fit. The boys loved the Academy. Victor told me so. They all did. “But the Academy helps people. They’re at my school to help.”
“Believe me, if they are anywhere, it isn’t because they’re there to help. There’s something they want and you’re helping them if you work with them.”
I shook my head. “I can’t believe it.”
“I’m not here because of my own health. I don’t have to be here to warn you. You were hard enough to get away from them. And it won’t be long before they catch up to us.”
“What?”
“You’ve had that phone on and called Mr. Blackbourne, didn’t you?”
My fingers shook so bad, I dropped the phone. It slid to the floor at my feet. The screen was on. Mr. Blackbourne’s number had been dialed. I bent over for it.
“Don’t pick it up,” the man said, in a threatening voice now on top of the strange mechanical sounds. “Don’t touch it.”
“What do you want me to do?” I asked. “Where are you taking me?”
“I’m taking you as far as I can. I know they’re coming for you. I just wanted you to hear me out.”
“So you’re telling me to run away? I can’t do that. I’ve got a sister. And ... I can’t.”
“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll leave right now and not come back. Your sister isn’t interesting to them. You are. There’s a reason for that.” He sighed, shaking his head. “But you’re not going to listen to me. You’ll go back.”
“How do you know?”
“They suck you in. I know. And if you’re Academy material, you’re clever. And you don’t back down.” He half twisted his head again toward me. “Isn’t that what they tell you?”
I started to shake my head, wanting to deny everything, but I stopped short. I wasn’t very good at lying.
“You’re a smart girl, Sang. So I know you’re not going to listen to me when I tell you to run. You’re going to keep snooping around until you see proof of what I’m telling you.”
“You can’t expect me to trust you after kidnapping me.”
“I told you I do what I have to.”
“Why wear a mask?”
“I don’t trust you that much yet.”
“And you expect me to trust you?”
He shook his head. “No. That’s what I said. You don’t now. You won’t trust what I’ve said. But you will.” He punched the button to turn off the cruise control. He pulled into the right lane, passing signs for a rest area a couple of miles ahead. “You’ll go back and you’re going to look for the signs.”
“What signs?”
“Be more demanding,” he said. “Ask to see your mother. Say you won’t do anything else with them until you see her.”
“They’re smart Academy guys. I’m sure they can figure out how you can look in on your mother without her knowing if what you say is true. If she’s still around.” He pulled onto the exit for the rest area. “I hate to leave you here, but they’re probably really close now.”
“How do you know?”
“I know how they operate.” He parked, grabbed the keys and pulled them out of the ignition. “Plus Mr. Blackbourne really loves this car.”
My mouth was hanging open as he heaved himself out. For a while, I wondered if he just managed to get a good replica. No wonder I recognized the car. He stole it from Mr. Blackbourne.
I unbuckled and shoved open the passenger side door. “Who are you?” I asked over the top of the car. “What do you want me to do?”
“Keep your eyes open. Find out for yourself if I’m telling the truth.” The white mask caught the light of passing cars, causing the material to shimmer like plastic. “I’ll be watching,” he said. He tossed the keys over the top of the car and at me.
I caught them. “How do I reach you?”
“You don’t.” He turned around, and in a flash he was running toward a truck with an empty bed. He ran at top speed, launched himself, and caught the end of the truck bed and heaved himself on. The truck rolled out of the rest area and headed up the highway.
WHEN DOUBT CREEPS IN
My heart was still racing, and I was pondering what to do. I had keys. I had a car. I had no idea how to drive. I understood the phone was in the car but something had me hesitating, wondering about the man in the white mask. He was protecting me, or thought he was. He was once in the Academy. Or was he? Otherwise, how would he have known all those things?
Didn’t Mr. Blackbourne take over Mr. McCoy’s job? Mr. McCoy had attacked me, true, but could any of us had predicted it? Would he have taken the vice principal’s job in another way if he hadn’t?
He even knew the hospital I’d been in belonged to the Academy. The Academy infiltrated a school. What made it hard for me to believe they could take over an entire wing of a hospital?
How do you take over a hospital and not have anyone notice? Is that how Mr. Blackbourne and the others could guarantee my parents wouldn’t find out the last time I went for X-Rays and my MRI when my foot was injured? They knew because it was the Academy section. It would require an Academy-run hospital to be understanding if Dr. Green had to run off and help me, or help one of the others. Or had a strange girl assisting h
im who was nowhere near qualified.
If what he said was true, and for some reason I believed it, Dr. Philip Roberts was Academy. Marc was Academy. Even that old lady in the bed, and all the assistants. It felt incredible and impossible. I had no idea what it meant, but suddenly the Academy was everywhere. I didn’t know where it ended.
And if he did know these things, that had to mean he was part of the Academy. And if that was true, was the rest of what he was saying true?. I remembered Derrick said they once tried to recruit him, but he didn’t want that life. Maybe Derrick’s parents weren’t abusive. Was that why their recruitment didn’t work?
