Page 1 of First Kiss (The Ghost Bird 10)

THE RECOVERY

Kota Lee brushed strands of my dirty blond hair away from my forehead and then pressed the back of his palm against it. “You feel warm still.” He sat next to me on his bed, wearing green and white plaid flannel pajama pants and a green T-shirt. He studied my face.

Dr. Green stood in front of us, eyeballing me and waiting for the thermometer in my mouth to finish reading my temperature. His arms were folded over his chest, making creases in the untucked, unbuttoned yellow shirt, and the white T-shirt underneath. He wore jeans, too, so I guessed he wasn’t going to work at the hospital today. “Let’s let the gadget thingie tell us if she has a fever.”

“The thermometer?” Kota asked.

Dr. Green dropped his hands, stuffed them into his pockets and shrugged. “I get so many gadget thingies. That’s what they all are.”

I smiled with the thermometer in my mouth. Strands of my hair fell over my cheeks, and while I tried to brush it back, Kota knocked my hands away from my face and gave me the eye to tell me not to move so they could get an accurate reading. I breathed out through my nose and waited, the loose hair tickling my forehead and cheeks. My hair was a mess after sleeping over; I must have thrashed around a lot in my sleep.

After about a week of being sick, the other guys had slowly started to get back to normal, returning home. I’d stayed at Kota’s house, at first because I was sick, and later because I was helping the others to recover. There were times when I’d run over to Nathan’s house to take care of things while he was sick. I’d also or occasionally gone to the diner to help while Luke and North were recovering.

My home base had shifted to Kota’s house because that was where everyone else usually ended up. Kota’s mother checked on us on occasion, too.

Apparently everyone taking over Kota’s upstairs bedroom while being sick was normal for them, and she didn’t say a word about me joining the guys.

We had all just starting to feel right again when my temperature had jumped in an odd spike last night. I was feeling a little run-down but had assumed I was only tired. Kota checked my forehead, said I must have overworked myself into being sick again and sent me to bed early.

Dr. Green hovered over us with a soft smile and a few curls of his dirty blond hair hanging around his forehead as he waited. He and Kota had such worried, concerned shadows behind their happy demeanors.

I was going to say I was fine, but kept my mouth closed, hoping the thermometer would tell them for me.

When it beeped, he pulled it out and looked at the digital screen. “According to this, she’s dead.”

I giggled, sure he either was reading it upside down or just making a joke. “I’m fine,” I said, probably for the hundredth time that week. “I feel normal.”

Dr. Green held his smile but looked at the thermometer again. He pushed the button once, to turn it off, and then again to turn it on. “One more time, though. Seriously. I think you opened your mouth.”

I hadn’t but was willing to sit through it again just to prove I wasn’t sick...or dead.

Dr. Green put the thing under my tongue and then looked at Kota. “It’s not like we should be in a hurry. Right now, your schedules are all changed. You’ll go to homeroom and then to Music Room B while we figure out our next steps.”

“Sang, too?” Kota asked.

Dr. Green nodded. “She’s already pinned as one of us by most of the staff and her schedule is out of whack. Despite our efforts, she has been missing a lot of school. She might be getting straight A grades, but we weren’t able to totally mark her as in attendance as we thought we could. We might get away with it with a fake Academy record that she’s been at the other school on days off. Might as well officially enroll her with us full time so we can have control of her schedule.” His green eyes sparked with amusement. “Did you hear that? You’re stuck with us now.”

I grinned, although it was more like barring teeth to keep the thermometer in and then closed my mouth quickly.

“What about Mr. Hendricks?” Kota asked, seeming to read my mind. “What happens when he wants something from her and tries to call her parents?”

“We’re going to face it sooner or later,” Dr. Green said. “What happens if we find this missing money? Hendricks will point fingers, including at her. The people he keeps close are ones with a lot of skeletons they want to keep in the closet. She’s not a threat to involve any police, but he could change that in a few seconds with a phone call. Based on who he is and his status, he could make things escalate very quickly and he’s not above lying. If we kick his beehive enough, he might do it.”

“We can stop it, though,” Kota said.

“We may need to get her off the radar before that happens.” He looked over to the window, to the street outside. “We’re taking a lot of risks trying to keep things as they were. The best thing to do right now is to get her away from the potential for harm when it all falls down. We were kidding ourselves. Extracting her from the school was never going to be easy, and we’ve made it ten times harder involving her as much as we have.”

Kot

a caught my attention with a stare and then winked at me. It wasn’t the first time I suspected things might change after this year when I’d possibly join with the Academy, but Dr. Green made it sound like they’d been planning for a while to get me out of Ashley Waters High School.

Dr. Green continued going over how we’d handle the next few weeks. Since we’d gotten sick, Academy meetings had been held in person, usually at Kota’s house. With Volto getting closer and more dangerous and clearly listening in on any phone calls, despite Victor’s efforts to evade him, no one was taking any risks. Phone calls were only for every day normal things—no Academy business.

I hadn’t turned on my new phone all week. Since mine had been compromised, Victor had provided a new one that had a unique heart sticker on the inside of the cover so I’d know if it’d been switched. Once we returned to school and the diner I’d have to carry it with me, but I planned only to use it for emergencies. I was paranoid now and waited until people were around to talk to them about anything, including simple, friendly things.

When Dr. Green took the thermometer from me again, he shook his head and pouted. “Yup. Dead. Is this one broken?”

“What does it say?” Kota asked.

“Ninety-five point eight,” he said. “I thought you said she had a fever last night. This is the opposite of a fever, Kota. You should get her a heating blanket.”

“Ninety-six is my normal,” I said. Had this not come up before? Maybe not, since I hadn’t really been sick around them before. “If my temperature is ninety-eight, I’m uncomfortable and if it’s ninety-nine, I’m feeling really sick.”

Dr. Green smirked and put the thermometer away. “You just break all the rules, don’t you? I wouldn’t mind taking a few blood tests to be sure it isn’t anything serious. It could be your normal or it could be something else.”

“Could it be serious?” Kota asked.

“Well, she doesn’t have a whole lot of other symptoms,” Dr. Green said. He raised a quizzical eyebrow and looked at me. “No internal pain?”

I shook my head.

“We don’t have to hurry with it,” Dr. Green said. “But I’ll put you on my schedule.”

Kota sighed and shook his head. He stood up and adjusted his shirt and pants from the mess they were in since we’d both just woken up. “Well, as long as she’s not very sick...or actually dead.”

He headed toward the closet, pulling out clothes for himself. His brown hair was sticking out in the back in a way I liked; I’d come to enjoy his fresh-out-of-bed look. He was a lot like Mr. Blackbourne during the day, with hair just right and glasses polished. In the mornings, though, he was almost human, casual, and occasionally without his glasses. I found his face handsome, and admired it.

Dr. Green waited until Kota was in the bathroom, and then reached for my forehead, pressing his palm to my skin. He held there and then eased back to brush some of my hair away from my eyes. “Almost ready to get back into the saddle, pumpkin?” he asked.

I tried to smile, but I was shaking my head at the same time. Could I ever be prepared to go back to school now? Every time I showed up, something strange or awful happened. I wasn’t even worried about the other students anymore. The teachers and staff were unpredictable enough.

“Well, you don’t have to go back right now,” he said.

The door to the bathroom opened and Kota stepped out, dressed and ready for the day in jeans and a thin, green sweater. He had cleaned his glasses with a microfiber cloth and his brown hair was brushed neatly aside on his forehead. “So today’s the day, huh?” he asked.

“I figured with the two of you, we can get through them all in one day,” Dr. Green said. “Unless we’re missing any items. Hard to keep track. There’s a mountain.”

“Today’s the day we find out if we’re missing anyone,” Kota said. “A couple weeks out should be enough time to get more. And if that’s the case, we’ll just order things from the internet to be delivered. We’ve got time.”

I looked from Kota to Dr. Green and back. “Huh?” I asked.

“Wrapping Day,” Dr. Green said. “I’ve got all the gifts at my house for Christmas this year. Now that everyone else is busy, you and Kota are going to help me sort and wrap them all up. You just don’t get to see your own, and you two have to wrap mine so I can pretend I don’t know what they are.” He finished with a satisfied grin.

I started to get up but froze as I thought about gifts. I’d started my shopping with Luke and Gabriel. Gabriel had tucked those items away, promising to send them on to Dr. Green to wrap. I hadn’t thought about it since.

I hadn’t finished shopping for everyone. And Gabriel had the rest of the cash I’d brought to buy them with.

Dr. Green stepped away from the bed to talk to Kota. “We’ll have to be careful, though. Volto doesn’t seem to like me being around her. I don’t want to kowtow to his demands, but we’re in a dangerous position as it is.”

“Luke was onto him,” Kota said, putting his hands on his hips. He wore a determined look with a tight smile. “We were close enough that he took some drastic steps to stop us. Which means we need to know what Luke knows.”

“We debriefed him,” Dr. Green said. “And we’ve got a list we’re working from.” He eyeballed me. “Is that what you’re wearing?” he asked as his smile lifted. “I think it’s adorable. You should just come in your pajamas.”

Heat burned through my face. It was tempting to simply hop into a car wearing what I had on, but going to Dr. Green’s condo might mean running into Mr. Blackbourne, and then I’d feel foolish and wish I’d changed. I stood up and found my phone on the side table. “I’ll get dressed,” I said.

The guys went downstairs, leaving me to pick out a few things Kota had in his closet for me. There was a pair of nice slacks that Gabriel had bought on impulse last time he was out shopping. I put on a casual pink blouse, too, and a light windbreaker—it had gotten cold now that it was December.

I avoided the shower in the bathroom, and simply did a quick wash of my face in the sink. I’d take a bath that night before going to school.

I typed out a quick text to Gabriel, and even then I hesitated, knowing Volto was probably reading it. Still, it was a normal thing and not Academy related, so it probably didn’t matter.

Sang: I never finished shopping for gifts for the other guys. Do we need to go again?

By the time I’d brushed my hair, the phone was vibrating on the counter, making a funny echo in the bathroom. Instead of returning my text, Gabriel was calling.

“We got a few extra things for you,” Gabriel said when I answered. “I went back out two days ago and had to figure out all that shit by myself.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.

“You were at the damn diner again. And Luke was cleaning up after Sprinkles the skunk snuck into North’s room and made a doodie in his laundry basket.”

I giggled at the news. I hadn’t heard that story yet but hoped Luke wouldn’t let Sprinkles get into too much trouble with North. It had been hard enough to get North to agree to let Luke keep the pet skunk.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “You’ll see them if you’re going over there today anyway. I got for everyone but Mr. Blackbourne. I never know what to get him. Just ask Dr. Green. He can usually come up with an idea.”

“Thanks, Gabriel.”

“Trouble, you owe me a week without your clip in your goddamn hair now. You’ve got money left over though from that night. I took care of the rest of it.”

“You didn’t need to do that.”

“It’s fine. I keep forgetting to bring the cash back, though. It’s sitting on my dresser. I need to move it at least so what’s-his-fuck, Pam’s boyfriend, doesn’t take it. Oh, and I bought another game for our 3DSs, too with the money I had left over. That’s our gift to us.”

“Thanks for taking care of it. Take some money since it was me getting gifts for you all, technically.” I didn’t know we were to buy gi

fts for ourselves, but I assumed he meant my gift to them was a game and he got me the game, too. The surprise was spoiled now but I didn’t mind. I was getting excited to see what else ‘I’ got for the others.

It also had me excited to think of what else the guys got for me. Not in a greedy way, but all of the things Gabriel, Luke and I had picked out, we could all enjoy together. Nerf swords and toys and games: Fun things.

INSIDE THE HEART OF A DOCTOR

Once I got off the phone with Gabriel, Kota, Dr. Green and I got into Dr. Green’s car.

I sat in the front passenger seat beside Dr. Green and Kota was in the back.

I’d had a coffee and a quick Pop Tart on my way out the door; Dr. Green had promised a proper lunch at his house later on.

“I want to make sure we get a good head start on it all,” he said with a chuckle. He glanced at me using the rearview mirror. “This will be a lot of fun since we’ve got you this year.” He turned the car onto the highway and headed into Charleston.

He and Kota talked about if they had enough wrapping paper. I was half listening, but mostly I stared out the window at the blue sky, feeling the slight chill of winter, wondering about how different living in the south was going to be; there wasn’t going to be any snow.

Anything to take my mind off of returning to school soon.

I must have been dazed out because the ride seemed to happen in a split second. We were suddenly pulling into the drive that led to his condo. His was the last in a line of five and there were cars parked in the other drives. I wondered about his neighbors though I didn’t see any at the moment.

Dr. Green’s was the most lavishly landscaped; roses growing from most of the available garden space, compared to the simple green bushes everyone else kept.

Dr. Green parked in his drive and turned to me. “Ready?”

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