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“It may compromise his current job,” Mr. Blackbourne said. He crossed his arms over his chest. “We try not to submit Academy details about jobs via text or phone calls. It’s too easy to intercept.”
“Isn’t there a secret code or signal you could use?”
“Not now,” he said. “Especially since Volto went silent. We secured ourselves as much as possible, but it’s limiting now when we aren’t sure where he might be. If we use code, it’ll be obvious.”
“So no Bat Signal?”
Gabriel cracked with laughter. The others grinned, except for Mr. Blackbourne, who simply said, “No. We need to talk to him in person.”
“Do you want him to come back?”
“We want to tell him to hurry with his job, without compromising it, and without alerting anyone else as to why we need him back. We just need to know if he’ll be back in time to take this new job or if we need to tell them to go to someone else. Everyone else either can’t do it or they’re busy.”
It took me a moment to think of what to do, but after I had it, I dipped my fingers into my bra, pulling out my new iPhone in the pink case. The old one had cracked. I couldn’t remember how many phones I’d been through the last few months. I punched a message at the screen.
“What are you doing?” Kota asked. “We said not to ask him directly to come back.”
I finished my text and sent it. “I didn’t.”
Mr. Blackbourne gave me a scrutinizing look. “You just sent him a text?”
“Yes.”
His eyes narrowed. “I wish you would have shown it to me first.”
My phone vibrated to life in my hands. I checked the screen. “He’ll be back tonight.”
The room silenced. Did they not expect me to help? Isn’t that what they asked me to do?
“What did you say?” Dr. Green asked.
I shrugged, holding out my phone, allowing them to read the screen.
Sang: “Miss you.”
Silas: “7.”
“That means he’ll be back at seven, right?” I asked.
Surprised filled each of their faces. Victor was gawking. There were smiles on the other faces, and Mr. Blackbourne’s stood out the most, a millimeter at most, but dazzling me with its warmth.
It was Kota who finally nodded. “Yeah,” he said.
“Is that all you needed?”
“Uh huh.”
“I’ll uh...guess I’ll go see what North and Nathan are up to—”
There was a knocking, loud enough and hard enough to feel like the house was shaking. Immediately after, the doorbell rang twice.
The boys never knocked. Marie didn’t have to. I checked with the others as to who it could be, as if they could see through walls.
They stared back with the same surprised expression.
Kota stood and came forward. “It’s probably just the mailman.”
I nodded, and started to turn around to head back downstairs. Kota went with me, followed by Gabriel.
“Don’t we have a camera out there?” Gabriel asked.
“It’s a guy,” Victor said above us from the top of the stairs. He had his phone in his hand and he was tapping at it. “He’s turned the wrong way though.”
“Shouldn’t I just answer it?” I asked.
“And what if we’re wrong and it’s an ax murderer?” Gabriel asked. “Or the police?”
Why did he have to say that? At the last step, I hesitated for a second before touching down. Kota crashed into me, put his hands on my hips and eased me down the last step.
I started for the door, but Kota took my arm, tugging me back. I checked behind me, and Mr. Blackbourne and Dr. Green were at the top of the stairs. Victor was ahead of them on the stairs, but waiting.
Another ring of the doorbell, and Kota checked through the peephole. His head jerked back and his expression changed to something grim. He looked back up the stairwell, pointed to Mr. Blackbourne and Dr. Green and waved his hand in a shooing motion.
The two of them immediate retreated to my bedroom.
I imagined they still lingered, listening and waiting. Who was it that Kota had to ask them to back away?
Kota opened the door, stepping back.
Mr. Hendricks stood on the front porch. He glowered at Kota instantly and then looked at me.
My heart thundered and my hand fluttered to my throat as I took a short step back. What was the principal doing here? Forcing myself to be polite, I spoke. “Hello? Did you need something?”
“I didn’t realize you had...company,” Mr. Hendricks said. His shaved head and criticizing eyes and broad stature made him look even fiercer outside of school. He wore brown slacks, a white collared shirt, no tie or jacket like he usually did, so he looked a little different.
“This is highly inappropriate,” Kota said.
“This is a matter that can’t wait,” he said. He stepped forward, putting a foot in the hallway.
Kota started to step in front of him to block him from further access. “You should...”
“I don’t need permission to visit the home of one of my students,” Mr. Hendricks said. “But I wanted her to pass a message to you anyway, so you may as well be here.”
Kota raised his eyebrows. Gabriel eased forward, putting a hand at the small of my back. I hadn’t realized how my body rattled until his touch was steady against me.
Victor finished his descent down the stairs to stand beside Kota. “If you must,” Victor said, “we should go somewhere else. You should have called us directly. Or talked to Mr. Blackbourne.”
“What I have to say concerns all of you,” Mr. Hendricks said. “You should listen.”
“Would you care to step into the living room?” Kota asked, his face tight, not showing emotion.
As Mr. Hendricks entered, a thousand questions buzzed through me. The last time I’d been in his office, I’d been with Marie. Marie had let slip that our mother was in the hospital and our father was at work, but I don’t know if he really knew the entire situation. Why would he dare to show up otherwise? Would he have confronted my mother if she’d been here?
Mr. Hendricks went into the living room. Victor and Kota stood with him. Gabriel drew me toward the couch and I sat next to him.
“We’ve got a situation,” Mr. Hendricks said. He kept his arms drawn in tight against his body, like he wanted to stop himself from touching anything in the room. “It’s the homecoming game and dance.”
“Shouldn’t you have called Mr. Blackbourne about this?” Kota asked.
“He’s the one that you should be concerned with,” he said. “This bomber seems to have a particular interest in him. I need you to convince him to make it clear he will not be attending either the game or the dance, and to announce it publicly.”
“Why?” Kota asked.
“Because this game doesn’t just involve students. It’s another school, parents, and who knows how many others. A bomb threat on campus we can tolerate. The students deal with it, and the parents of our students know it happens, but nothing ever occurs. They treat it like a school prank. A bomb threat at a homecoming game would force the issue. The police will look closer when other parents threaten to sue our school.”
Victor cleared his throat. “So it isn’t bad enough the school is threatened, it’s when parents show up that it’s an issue?”
“Parents are always worse than their kids,” he said. “They’ll create a dramatic scene about it. At any rate, if the bomber is focused on Mr. Blackbourne, and he isn’t going to be there, then there’s no reason to target the game.”
“We’ll consider it,” Kota said.
“I’m not asking,” Mr. Hendricks said. He pointed a finger in my direction and addressed me. “I’ve talked to your father.”
My heart thundered and I sat up. Gabriel kept his hand at my elbow, nearly growling as he spoke. “What about him?” he asked.
