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He took the photos from my hands. Another wave of feeling awkward swept through me. My cheeks heated but I felt I couldn’t focus on being modest when something more important was going on.
“There was another set on Victor’s car when we left the spa,” I said. “He was going to investigate and promised to take someone with him. But...”
Mr. Blackbourne looked up. “There’s more?”
“Someone followed us when we went to the spa. They took photos while we were there and managed to leave them on his car before we left. They had a message, too. Someone was following us. Volto, I guess. The guy with the mask.”
He frowned. His eyes shifting to the photos. “Miss Sorenson. I need you to wait here for me.”
“But...” I said, feeling the urge to ask him not to put me in a bubble, either. I had called him in because I thought he’d let me go with him after North.
Mr. Blackbourne closed the distance between us. He captured my chin between his fingers, focusing on my face. “Right now, I need you here,” he said in his commanding voice, but a couple of notches softer. “I’m going to call Nathan down to stay with you through the rest of fourth period. You’re to go to lunch, and attend all your classes. I need you to appear as normal as possible. Please.”
His gray eyes told me much more than he was saying. There was something in the works, something I wasn’t seeing. This plan required that I do exactly as he asked, to appear normal to other people.
I thought he was asking me to do the impossible, but I relented. “As you wish.”
The corner of his mouth rose a millimeter. “You’re getting the hang of this.” He released me and turned to the door.
“Wait,” I said.
He faced me again. “Miss Sorenson?”
“It’s Mr. Morris. Mr. Hendricks told him to follow you.”
He nodded and the look on his face told me he wasn’t too surprised. “I’ll be careful.”
I listened as his footsteps disappeared down the hallway. I sank into Dr. Green’s office chair, curling into myself. Mr. Blackbourne knew. That’s what we needed right now.
AMBUSH
When another knock at the office door sounded, I had been dazed out wondering what Mr. Blackbourne knew about.
Nathan popped his head in. He scanned the space until he found me sitting in Dr. Green’s chair.
“Peanut?” he called to me softly. He came in, closing the door behind him. “You okay?”
I had my feet up in the seat, my knees pressed to my chest. I studied Nathan with his red brown hair, partially messed up on one side, like he’d been sleeping in class. He hadn’t shaved in a couple of days. The hairs along his face blended into his tan so it was barely noticeable. The gruff look suited him. I nodded to him. “I’m supposed to act normal,” I said, in a small voice. I didn’t know what else to tell him.
“When are we ever normal?” he asked. He grinned. He opened his arms and moved forward. “Get up for a second?”
I stood, and he pulled me in, his arms encircling my waist. For a moment, I paused. I didn’t understand it at first, and then I hugged him around his neck, sinking into him heavily. I’d been so tense; this was the first moment I’d relaxed, when he hugged me.
“Peanut,” he whispered into my ear. He brushed his cheek against mine, the roughness of his stubble scratching lightly.
“Honey,” I replied, my voice almost gone. I swallowed. “Sorry. I’m just so tired.”
“You don’t have to be sorry,” he said. He backed his head up until those serious blue eyes could pierce into mine. “You’re going to come with me and eat something at lunch, okay? You’ll feel better. You just need to get through the next few classes. After that, you’re going to come home with me and you can sleep all you want.” He rubbed my back, smoothing his palms over my shirt to warm my body. “Is that okay?”
It sounded fine, it was the question at the end that made me pause. Kota never questioned, he just told me what to do. When Nathan asked, it made me second guess, like he wasn’t sure. Maybe that was the difference between the two. Maybe that’s why Kota was in charge. His confidence reassured me. Nathan was a comfort, but that little question made me feel like I was making the decision, and I wasn’t always confident about my decision making. “I think so.”
“Not exactly the fantasy birthday you expected, is it?” he asked.
“It’s not anyone’s fault,” I said, firmly believing that. How could any of us have predicted these circumstances? “Yours was kind of ruined, too.”
“Let’s make it up to each other,” he said. “Tonight, we’ll make pancakes. You’ll get chocolate chip. I’ll get strawberry. We’ll make banana strawberry smoothies and we’ll watch a movie. Something quiet and relaxing.”
“Zombies?”
He grinned. He reached for my hand, bringing it to his mouth and kissing the palm. “Actually, Kota gave me an idea. He asked his sister about her favorite movies. He thought it was a good idea to maybe throw in a few girly titles. We’ll pick one of those, if you want.”
“Like what?”
“Probably some romantic comedy,” he said. “I guess I could suffer through one or two.”
I started giggling. Relief washed over me. I understood what he was doing then. Trying to get me to lighten up a little before we met up with the others for lunch. He was probably right. If I needed to appear normal, I needed to at least relax around the guys a bit. And North and Mr. Blackbourne were going after Victor. They’d make sure everything was okay. If I stuck with them, it’ll be fine.
I followed Nathan out into the lobby, where he stopped holding my hand and guided me out into the main hallway. I was surprised it was raining outside. Because of it, instead of gathering in the courtyard for lunch, we ended up sitting on the main stairway. With Victor and North missing, and knowing Mr. Blackbourne had left, I felt out of sorts. Nathan filled them in on what Mr. Blackbourne told him. They knew about the pictures, and where North was going.
“All right,” Nathan said after everyone was filled in. He pulled out a package of chips from his bag, opening them. “Sang’s going home with me tonight, right? We’re supposed to appear normal? We’ll scout the grounds and keep an eye out for the photographer in case he’s lurking around. I’ll put plastic on the windows or something.”
“I think I should take her to my house,” Kota said.
“Well you can have her tomorrow night.”
“Tomorrow night I’ve got ... Academy stuff.”
Nathan grunted and shoved a chip into his mouth. He spoke while chewing. “Sang, what do you want to do?”
I blushed. “I’m not sure.”
“Let me take her tonight,” Kota said. “Since I can’t be there tomorrow.”
“Oy? What about the rest of us?” Gabriel asked. “You get her all week long. When do we get to hang out?”
Kota blinked at him, lifting his hands in the air. “It’s just that time-wise there’s—”
“I’ve been working for fucking two weeks.”
“Hey,” Nathan snapped. “We’ve all been working.”
“Well geez,” Gabriel said. “Let’s measure how hard we’ve been working. I’m saying I’ve got time off, now. I want to do stuff with her.”
Nathan grunted. “Get in line.”
“This isn’t about fun,” Kota said. “We should send her home if we wanted her to be completely normal, but I didn’t want to attract attention to her sister and have something happen to her.”
“Maybe she should stay with someone else for a change,” Gabriel said. “Can’t we take her? Luke and I could take her to his house.”
“She needs to stay close to home. We need her to settle into a normal routine.”
“Going out with us should be normal.” Gabriel pushed a palm into his eye. “Fucking shit. Sang. Say something.”
“I don’t ... I ...” I’d never seen Gabriel so worked up before. What did he want me to say? Kota was the boss, wasn’t he? He made the schedule.
Gabriel frowned, shaking his head. “Forget it.” He snatched up his bag, shoving it over his shoulder, and stood up. He marched off, up the stairs.
I wanted to call after him, but hesitated. I didn’t want to draw attention make it look like a scene. I glanced at the guys, who were looking into their own bottles of soda or their bags of chips, as if avoiding each other. Weren’t they going to stop him?
If they weren’t going to go with him, I would. I stood up, grabbing my bag.
“Aggele mou,” Silas said, he reached for my hand and squeezed it. “Maybe you shouldn’t. He’s really agitated today.”
“I’m just going to talk to him,” I said. I followed after Gabriel.
Up on the second floor, I caught sight of him just before he was turning the corner around some lockers. “Meanie,” I called to him.
He took a couple more steps as if he wanted to keep going. His sneakers screeched on the tile as he stopped short. “What, Trouble?” he asked in a low tone, not turning.
I stepped closer, but stopped a few feet away. “Where are you going?”
