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“I don’t know,” I said. “I assume Kota has or will. Or North.”
“Maybe you should text him.” He turned his head to look at me briefly before refocusing on the road.
I picked up my phone, hesitating. “I don’t know. I’d hate to bug him now since he’s being chased all over the city. I don’t know who might be listening on his phone... Is it a good idea to do that now?”
Nathan tilted his head. “I don’t know. I don’t feel like dealing with Luke should be your sole responsibility.”
My fingers traced the outside of the phone, debating. Did he think I couldn’t handle it? I didn’t feel like I was doing it alone, but I would be the only one to go talk to Luke. It wasn’t that I minded telling Mr. Blackbourne about it, but I didn’t want to worry him about both Volto and Luke before we even know exactly what’s going on. I also didn’t want to get Luke in trouble if it was one of his pranks. “I’m going to tell him about the Volto masks,” I said. “But I don’t know what to say about Luke.”
“He’ll want to know why Luke needs time to himself.”
I sighed, putting the phone in my lap and pushing my head back against the headrest. “What should I do?”
“Text Kota,” he said. “See if he’s mentioned any of this to Mr. Blackbourne. And let him know what we’re up to.”
That sounded like a reasonable idea. If anything was important, Kota would know what to tell Mr. Blackbourne.
I picked up the phone again, eager to reach out to him so he could help me figure this puzzle out.
Sang: Nathan and I are on our way to check on Luke at his house. He ditched work. Should I tell Mr. Blackbourne, or can you tell him about the masks and Luke? I don’t want Luke to get into trouble.
Kota: Already letting him know. I’ll check the cameras.
It took me a minute before I realized he meant Luke’s cameras at his house. I touched my forehead. “Oh yeah, we could have just checked the cameras,” I said.
“I thought you wanted to take him out,” Nathan said, glancing over at me. “And talk to him?”
“If he says he’s busy, but wants to be alone, then we probably need to give him some space, right? Maybe we can just get a visual, and stay nearby in case it was Volto. He shouldn’t be alone.”
“Yeah,” Nathan said and then sighed heavily, shifting his body in the seat. “Looks like you and I might need to babysit. What do you think is wrong with him, anyway? He hasn’t done this in a while.”
I didn’t want to tell him what I was really thinking, but instead of lying, I shrugged.
My phone vibrated in my hands. I touched the button to light up the screen.
Kota: I used the GPS to track him in the house, but he’s not with his phone. You’re on your way to his house?
Sang: Yes, with Nathan.
Kota: Pick up Silas and head there with him. One of you should stay nearby, even if he wants to be alone. I want a visual on him as soon as possible.
I agreed even if I just talked to Luke for a minute to make sure he was okay. “Kota said to pick up Silas,” I said. “He wants us to take him with us.”
Nathan sighed and then looked over his shoulder before changing lanes. “Good thing I hadn’t gotten too far,” he said, waiting in line to make a U-turn. He looked over at me. “So he’s updated Mr. Blackbourne?”
“Yeah, and he checked cameras for Luke, but he doesn’t see him at the house, even though his phone is there. He wants a visual and at least one of us to stay near Luke.”
“Should we warn Luke about Volto?” Nathan asked. “Maybe we should text him.”
I pressed my lips together, as I thought about it. There were a hundred little decisions to be made, and my brain was getting tired trying to anticipate possible outcomes. I didn’t know the right answer.
“Let’s check in with him first,” I said. “Don’t you think? Let Kota figure out about Volto. Let’s just make sure Luke’s safe for now. We can only figure out so much, right?”
Nathan nodded slowly and then a small smile turned up the edge of his lips. He reached out, pulling my hand toward him, and brought my fingers to his mouth, gently biting a knuckle. He lowered my hand and put it in his lap to hold.
I smiled. “I’m sorry,” I said. “We kind of got roped into this. They wanted to give you some time off before school tomorrow.”
“Peanut, we do what we have to do. I’ll happily sit in a car for a few hours with you watching over Luke.”
I squeezed his hand gently as a quiet thank you. He squeezed back and drove on, my hand still in his.
The way to Silas’s building was becoming familiar. The apartment complex seemed quiet at the moment: mid-afternoon on a Sunday. The pool was covered over in a blue tarp, done for the season. There were clear bags of leaves left near the dumpsters. Some of the doors had jack-o-lanterns and pumpkins left over from Halloween.
When we made a turn toward the last apartment building, Silas was already waiting at the foot of the steps and came out when Nathan stopped the car in the middle of the drive.
Silas was wearing dark blue jeans that were a little tight around his thighs. I did a second glance when I realized that what I thought was a jacket, was actually a workman’s shirt. There was a patch over his chest, something in a script I couldn’t read, and below, it said ‘plumbing company’.
I hopped out quickly, leaving the door open, and opened the back passenger door, about to get in.
Silas walked up, and grabbed the frame of the back door, getting my attention. His black hair was longer now, dipping across his eyes, darkening the olive complexion around his face.
“Aggele mou,” he said. “Where are you going?”
“Giving you the front seat,” I said, pointing. “There’s more room up there. The back is small.”
He moved his thick lips, like he wanted to protest, but before he could, I got into the back. He couldn’t argue if I was already settled.
Even for me, the back was crowded; I sat upright with my knees nearly touching the back of the front seat. He would have been completely uncomfortable.
Silas got in, stretched a bit and closed the door, looking over at Nathan.
Nathan glanced down at Silas’s shirt before he raised his eyebrows and smirked at him. “He had you working?”
“I mentioned I had a day off, and he drags me on an emergency job with him,” Silas said. “I’d take off the shirt, but I didn’t bring a T-shirt to wear underneath.”
“Yeah, keep it on,” Nathan said, turning the Jeep around. “Can’t let Sang go crazy seeing you shirtless.”
I held my lips together so I wouldn’t giggle. Was this a clue? Was Nathan okay with the plan? Plus, once he mentioned it, I couldn’t help but think of Silas shirtless.
Silas gave Nathan a small punch in the arm. Nathan laughed, turning the car back onto th
e main road.
Silas peered over the back of his seat at me. I reached forward, touching his shoulder to let him know he had my attention. “So you were working?”
“My dad’s still on my case about going into plumbing.” He shook his head, and combed his thick fingers through his hair, pushing the strands aside. “He thinks college is expensive and a waste of time.”
“Are you going to college?” I asked, suddenly very interested. The only time I ever really heard any of them talk about the future was that they couldn’t wait until after they were out of Ashley Waters and back to whatever was ‘normal’ for them. “You said you’d already taken some college courses.”
“Just for fun,” Silas said. “But he thinks the reason I’m in the Academy is into get into a better college later. He’s telling me unless it’s scholarships the whole way, I wouldn’t be able to afford it, so what’s the point in trying? Plumbing school to get a license is much less expensive.” He let out a heavy sigh and tilted his head back onto the head rest. “Maybe on my days off, I should tell him I’m working at the diner and hang out at your place.”
“I just can’t wait until we’re all eighteen and can tell people we’re off at college,” Nathan said.
A little alarm went through me. “College?” I asked quietly. “Were you planning on going?”
Nathan shrugged. “It’s what we’ll tell people if they ask what we’ve been doing all day. It’s easy to blend into a college if you really needed to.”
I wanted to ask why we would need to blend into college, but was he talking about me, or them? Before I could think of how to ask, Silas started talking to him about the plumbing job he’d been working at.
I lifted my feet onto the seat, resting my knees against the door. I stared blankly at the scenery as we drove back toward Luke’s. It bothered me that I hadn’t thought of much about what would happen after high school, whether I would stay through senior year, which was what I’d assumed would happen before I met the boys.
