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“Have you taken this class before?” I asked, lowering my voice as the question could be misconstrued. “Like an Academy class?”
“I took one, yes. At a college,” he said. He finished up his answer, and looked up, waiting for the next question.
I read it off, so he could continue. “How did you take a biology class at a college without being out of high school yet?”
“You don’t have to graduate from high school, or even be a student at the university, to take the lectures,” he said. “You just ask the professor if it’ll be okay if you sit in his class. They’re usually pretty cool about it.”
“So you like going to school?” I asked.
He smiled, his olive complexion contrasting with his white teeth. “I like marine biology,” he said. “But they insisted I take a regular biology course like everyone else before I moved on.”
This was an interesting turn. “Sea animals?” I asked.
“I like anything to do with the ocean,” he said. “It might not be practical for Academy purposes, but...” He trailed off as he finished his sentence on the paper. When it was done, he looked up. “One day, I’d like to get a boat. Maybe a schooner.”
“North mentioned you wanted one,” I said. “What’s a schooner?”
“Think of a sailboat, but bigger. Many sails.” He pointed to the book. “Last question.”
I read it to him and he finished it up quickly. Others were still digging through the books for answers. For the sake of blending in, I flipped through my textbook. I didn’t want it to appear we cheated somehow.
So he liked sailboats and wanted one. “Where do you find one of those?” I asked. I’d have to turn to North again for this one. And a boat might cost a lot of money. Where do you start?
He wrote our names on the page and placed it aside. “Probably on the internet,” he said. His eyebrows lifted. “Why? Are you interested in sailing?”
“I was just curious...I mean you’re interested. I just...want to know the things you’re interested in.” It was hard to explain my real intentions and his questioning made me realize this might not be as easy as I thought. I could tell North about a boat but would North know where to start? Where would we put it?
It wasn’t like I could simply give Silas a boat out of the blue.
Deflated, I flipped pages in the textbook absently. “Silas? What...what do you do for...the group?” I asked. I wanted a second opinion about my idea.
“What do you mean?” He sounded off. His deep brown eyes were bright with curiosity, but he frowned. Had I offended him?
I shook my head. “No, no. I mean...I was trying to understand everyone’s roles in the group. Like Kota’s sort of the leader, but not for the...” I glanced around. The noise level was pretty high since we’d been given permission to talk, but I still didn’t want anyone overhearing.
“Oh,” he said, smiling again. “Every group is different. You just do whatever you can to contribute. I know plumbing, for one. I help North with his construction and sometimes his cars, although I don’t have much interest in spark plugs and gas tank sizes.”
I understood what he was saying, but was trying to define it into a role. “So you and North are the...handy guys.” I couldn’t think of another term.
“Hardy Boys?” he asked. “You mean like the books?”
“No?” I wasn’t sure where he pulled that from. “Like a handyman. Someone who does the work around the house, a bit of everything. Plumbing, fixing...you fix things.”
He nodded slowly. “Handyman,” he said. “Oh. Maybe.”
Silas was Greek, but he spoke English so well, it was hard to remember he wasn’t born here. “I don’t think the word is used much these days,” I said.
“Why not?” he asked. “You used it.”
I was getting off topic. “I just meant, your role in the group is a handyman. Like North.”
He grinned. “Sort of like the Hardy Boys. Yes. North and I are handy...guys. Men.”
“And Victor has computers.”
“Right.”
“And Gabriel has clothes?”
“And the art,” he said. “And sometimes the perfume. The cologne. He makes it.”
“You mean like mine?”
“Mine, too.” He reached out, holding his wrist to me.
I picked up his scent. “The ocean?”
He nodded. “I think he makes stuff for everyone. He usually gives them as gifts. He gave you that nice one, didn’t he?”
I nodded, although I didn’t have it on at the moment. “I didn’t realize he did that for everyone.”
“He does a lot of things,” Silas said. “We all do.”
“I was trying to figure out what I could do for the group. If I’m going to be part of it...”
“So you decided you wanted to be?” he asked.
I smiled, nodding, and waited for his response.
He beamed. “I was thinking about that,” he said. “I know I talked to you about it before. Maybe I was wrong to stand aside. I mean, I can’t make the decision for you. I am thinking if you join the team it’ll be...better.”
I let out a little sigh, glad he was happy about it. “I just need to make sure everyone else will be okay with it. Kota’s the one that doesn’t want me in, but Mr. Blackbourne said if I convince the others, he’d probably reconsider. I was thinking of where I’d fit in.”
“Don’t blame Kota,” Silas said. “He’s just worried it’ll be more dangerous for you. He feels that way about all of us. That’s his job. And the point isn’t where you fit in. The point is doing what you love and contributing that to the group.”
“You love sailboats,” I said. “And marine biology.”
“I’ve an interest in those. They also make me unique and able to do jobs outside of our own group. I don’t get many requests for marine biology, but I get plenty for boats. I get a lot of requests for construction and plumbing. It’s not just what you can contribute to your own family, or it doesn’t have to be.” He smiled at me. “Remember when you did that thing with Luke? The thing you weren’t supposed to?”
Breaking into a house to steal a camera? “Yeah?”
“I think that’s your job.”
“...Stealing?” I whispered.
He laughed. “I mean you’re supportive. I think you do all the jobs well. You’re like Nathan.”
“Huh?”
“Watch Nathan,” he said. “He can sit with Kota and talk science almost on his level. Then he can work out with North and I, and work on construction. He can handle Luke and Gabriel, and run around with them. He floats between our little subgroups and can join in on them. You’re like that. Just in a different way. Blending in.”
I wasn’t sure I could work out with North and Silas, but I did once help them clear out the church to turn it into the diner. It didn’t really give me a definitive role. “But if Nathan can do it, why have me do it?”
“Because you’re a girl,” he said. “That’s the one element we didn’t have before. There’s lots of jobs we can do, and in certain situations, there’s a role only a girl can fill. Without one in the group, we have to ask a girl group to loan us one on occasion. It’s better if we have one in the group already.”
“But the Academy doesn’t like it,” I said quietly.
He pursed his lips. His eyes agreed with me, but he didn’t want to say it.
Suddenly Gabriel’s cell phone buzzed in my chest. I checked behind me to make sure I wasn’t going to be spotted. The teacher was on the other side of the classroom, looking over a question for students.
I pulled the cell phone out. Silas put his arm in the way to give me cover.
Mr. Blackbourne: Mr. Morris wishes to speak with you in person after school. I’ll make arrangements for North and Kota to go with you.
I gritted my teeth. That would eat into plans to find Gabriel’s car and to talk to North.
“I don’t like him,” Silas said, pointing to Mr. Morris’s name in
