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“What are you doing?” North boomed.

I punched at Mr. Blackbourne’s app, and then immediately pressed down on the green button, emergency call.

Mr. Blackbourne answered immediately. “What happened?”

“North’s hurt,” I said. “Silas is inside after Theo. He started a fire.”

“Kota’s on his way. Is North okay? Do we need to call an ambulance?”

“We probably need Dr. Green, and I need to go after Silas. Stay with North.” It was an odd thing to tell Mr. Blackbourne what to do, but I felt if anyone could convince North that I should be going after Silas, he could.

North held firm to the sleeve of my shirt. I passed him the phone, and he released one hand, keeping his grip on me. It was enough.

I leaned over him, kissed his mouth quickly, and at the same time I was hoping to distract him, I twisted my arm to wrench my shirt, tearing at it. When he tried to make adjustments, I pulled free and made a run for it. I nearly slipped on the rocks to dash toward the church again.

“Sang!” North cried, and it tore my heart to hear him sound so desperate.

Around the other side of the church, there were additional doors. The fire was big enough that smoke was spilling from old cracks within the windows of the main chapel. The fire seemed to be contained there for now.

I touched the door handle, checking for heat, and was surprised to find it unlocked.

I opened it slowly, looking in.

Theo and Silas were on the ground, struggling. Silas was on top of his brother, trying to hold onto him, but Theo was wild, thrashing. The dead look I’d seen before in his eyes gone.

How could I have been wrong about Theo? This wasn’t the same person I had seen in the hallway and even earlier in the chapel when we first walked in. Instead, there was a savageness to him. He was like a wild dog cornered, in attack mode.

They were shouting at each other in Greek and Silas occasionally slipped in something in English between punches.

Theo hit back as they continued to struggle on the floor, seeming to not notice the fire starting to come in around them.

“Silas!” I cried. “Let’s go!”

Silas looked up, but when he did, Theo threw a punch at his nose. Silas reared his head, rolling aside a bit, pinching his eyes in pain.

Theo didn’t stop. He lunged at Silas.

I was about to run in, but before I could, a hand grabbed my shoulder and I was pulled back.

“Theo!” cried a strong voice, heavily accented. I turned, surprised to see Charlie holding onto my shoulder, his focus on his sons.

Theo didn’t stop, punching and kicking at his brother. Silas was holding his arms up, and occasionally threw a punch. He was big, and he was strong, but Theo was moving fast, and didn’t seem aware or care that he was bleeding from his nose and lip and around his knuckles, too.

Charlie tugged me back until I was closer to the door and then charged in past me. He grabbed Theo by the shoulders, picking him up off Silas and tossing him to the ground in a heap.

“Get off your brother!” he cried out.

Theo screamed something back in Greek. He started to get up.

“No,” Charlie said. He moved in the way of where Silas was getting up off the floor. He put his arms out, blocking off access. “You boys are going to be the death of me. You’re lucky his friend called to tell me the police are on their way.”

Theo spoke again, still in Greek.

“No,” Charlie said. He straightened then, and while Charlie was shorter than either of his boys, he was the authority in the room. Theo clenched his fists, bared his teeth, but didn’t go after his father.

North was at the door now. He lunged at me and then shouted, “We need to get out!”

It was Charlie and Silas that pulled Theo out, while North hobbled, carrying me.

As we exited, Charlie continued shouting at Theo, “Do you want to go back to Greece? Fine. They’ll put you in prison. Is that what you want? You’ll be lucky if you don’t go to prison here. You deserve it.”

Theo said something else and spit at him.

After they got outside into the parking lot, Charlie released Theo and shoved him at Silas, who held onto Theo firmly.

“I’ve told you,” Charlie said. He pointed a finger at Theo. “No more. I’ve heard nothing but excuse after excuse, and now here you are setting fires again. I’ve given you a chance. If you want to go back to Greece, you can go to Greece. If you go to jail here, or if you don’t, fine.” Charlie stomped forward, rolling back his shoulders, staring down his son. “But not with me, not with your brother. You’re out. On your own. Don’t come back.”

Theo started to say something, but Charlie had turned his back on him and motioned Silas to follow. North pulled me away and Silas released Theo with a shove to the ground and joined Charlie.

“Of the Korbas, there are now only two,” Charlie said.

I tucked myself into North.

Theo started to struggle to get up, and then he relaxed back on the ground, his hands covering his face. He was shouting, but it was mumbled by his hands.

North covered my ears, and pulled me back toward his Jeep. There was another car nearby, a small blue one that looked similar to Silas’s, but still different. I imagined it was Charlie’s.

A black new car showed up, and it parked closed to the Jeep. Kota and Nathan popped out.

North was limping, and he released me to shove me toward Nathan once we were close enough. “Sang!” Nathan said, pulling me away. “Come get in the Jeep!”

I hesitated, looking at Silas, but it was Charlie who answered. “It’s okay, doll,” he said. “Don’t worry about us.”

I almost fell apart where I stood. Was this it? Would Silas get in trouble and have to go back to Greece? I didn’t want to lose sight of him, scared to death it was going to be the last time I’d see him.

“Aggele,” Silas said, and then coughed. “Go. I’ll be back.”

It was like he knew exactly what I had been thinking. I had to trust him.

I turned, running after Nathan. I climbed into the seat, and Nathan turned over the engine, driving off. Kota spoke to Charlie, and then to Silas, and then to my surprise, he and North got into Kota’s car, leaving behind Charlie and Silas.

But when I turned around to see if they were going to run or get into a car to drive off, they didn’t move.

They stood together, side by side, watching the church burn sirens getting closer.

And then I knew they weren’t going to run. Whatever demons had been hidden in the past with their family, they would face them now.

Boo

There were several large tents arranged across the lawn at Middleton Place. There was solid flooring under my feet, not grass like I’d been worried about when Gabriel said I’d be wearing heels.

I wore the corset dress, accessorized with a hot pink stone choker collar, a hair clip with hot pink stones, and a full mask glittering with the same pink accents, plus one in each of the boys’ favorite

colors, matching their ties.

The mask was a last minute gift from the boys, presented in a velvet box by Gabriel, before getting out of the town car Victor had ordered to pick some of us up.

The dance was already starting. Music blared, some popular song I couldn’t recall the name of. The space was moderately dark, with the occasional flash of lights from projectors and other machines I didn’t know the names of.

While I was impressed with it all, I couldn’t help but seek out staff, knowing they were all Academy members.

I wasn’t sure what I thought they would be. Maybe secret ninjas with masks and lots of spy gear, but every person I saw looked completely normal. I checked for signs: the girl behind the punch bowl serving drinks, the band members, the photographer, but they all appeared to belong. Seamless. Forgettable.

Maybe they really were ninjas.

“Are you ready?” Mr. Blackbourne whispered into my ear.

He wasn’t really there beside me. He wasn’t supposed to be. But my mask was outfitted with a microphone and they’d given me an earpiece. The Academy wasn’t going to give us the night off completely.

“I guess so,” I said.

Victor stepped up beside me, after having given instructions to the driver. “Whew,” he said. He wore his black suit, a silver pin through his white tie. He wore a mask, too, a half mask that was painted the same silver as the pin. “I was afraid the signal wouldn’t make it through, what with all the interference from other devices hanging around.”

I didn’t know all the details, but Mr. Blackbourne informed us that he would, indeed, be a short distance away. He was wearing his suit, too, in case he needed to make an appearance, and Mr. Hendricks was informed of his whereabouts.

Mr. Blackbourne also had several Academy members staying by him to ensure Mr. Hendricks wasn’t going to set a trap of his own.

Gabriel, with an orange mask and matching tie, stepped up on my other side. “Okay, we might have overdone it with our costumes.”

The rest of the students had a mixture of various dressy costumes, with cats and witches and popular book and movie characters mixed in. The costumes looked good, but knowing how much the masks and our outfits probably cost, it did feel a little over the top.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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