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Kota checked his phone for the time. Leaning into Victor, he whispered, “Bell’s going to ring soon.”
Victor kept his gaze on the woman and another window that he had off to the side, something filled with numbers and buttons. “I’ve got her marked for observation,” he said softly. “But it’ll be better just to talk to her. She seems willing.”
“Part of the plan,” Kota said. “We expected dissention.”
“This was planned?” I asked. “What’s next?”
Victor turned his eyes on me with a wild look that sparked a flame. “Over the edge,” he said. “Let his own network fall into chaos. Drive him out.”
“How?” I asked.
He turned a little, put his arm on the piano top to lean against and smiled. “You want to help?”
I nodded repeatedly. Of course I did. This was the group’s job. I was part of the group.
“I don’t know if now is a good time,” Kota murmured.
“She’s one of us,” Victor said. “And she’s perfect.” He turned his attention back to me. “You don’t have to go alone, but you should be visible to Mr. Hendricks around school. Make him feel uncomfortable, like you’re watching him.”
“Play his own game?” I asked. “Like how he has us watched?”
“Exactly,” he said. “I’ll give you an earpiece. You come here during class times. But any time between classes or at lunch, you stay in view. Make it very obvious you’re watching him. But if he confronts you...”
“Don’t let him,” Kota said a little too sharply. He turned to check if he was too loud. He lowered his tone and then leaned into Victor and me. “Don’t ever let him approach you. Ever. Never go somewhere that he can corner you. You don’t even talk to him. Just make him uncomfortable.”
“It might be good your sister isn’t here,” Victor said. “This might be good timing.”
“We’ll have to concoct a way to keep Marie away from school until we can figure out how to get her out. And we don’t know what that means for you,” Kota said.
I didn’t have a problem with Marie getting out. Danielle worried me more. “What about Danielle?”
“She’s still sixteen. Legally, she can’t yet. So we’ll have to come up with something else, or help her change her mind.”
What would she tell her parents when they found out she dropped out of school, anyway? Or did she expect to go to the Academy school we pretended to go to?
Only, she didn’t strike me as the academic type, either.
I observed the monitoring of Ms. Johnson, leaning into Victor as I watched. Victor’s hand reached out to mine, his pinkie brushing the back of my hand as we stood together.
I kept my attention on the laptop, but I turned my hand, hooking my pinkie into his. In a way, it was like Victor was supporting me, telling me with a touch whatever happened, he was with me. I believed him.
I wished I felt as confident about the others. It would make concentrating on Ms. Johnson and Hendricks a whole lot easier. I realized then why they often said family first, Academy second as a rule. It was probably why Mr. Blackbourne was eager to help us get a house.
But Hendricks was in the way of that.
It made me more determined to take him down.
I Spy
I listened to the first class bell when students were in the hallways trying to get to where they needed to go. It was odd not to be shuffling off to a classroom. Homeroom would only take a short time. Victor kept an eye on Mr. Hendricks and gave me an earpiece.
Dr. Green had hung up on us by then. Mr. Blackbourne took over, coming back to where we were at the piano. “Mr. North and Mr. Luke Taylor,” he said, “I need you both following Ms. Johnson from this point on. Make sure to be nearby at all times during school. We’ll set up a rotation. Keep us in touch. I want to know who follows her.”
Luke and North immediately headed for the door. No questions. The efficiency of the team always impressed me. I’d gotten to admire when Mr. Blackbourne used their formal names. It wasn’t just that Southern culture, what I heard from people when we were out. It showed exactly how much he respected other people. The others did similarly on occasion, and always did so for him.
“Mr. Coleman, let’s put you with Dr. Green. I don’t want anyone on our team alone. Join his classes.”
Gabriel clapped his hands together. “Yeah! Time to learn some Japanese.” He pointed a finger at Victor’s face. “Going to catch up with you.”
“Good luck,” Victor said with a smirk.
As Gabriel was walking out, Mr. Blackbourne turned to the rest of us. “Mr. Korba,” he said. He paused, and then pressed a finger to his chin.
“Shouldn’t he come with me?” I asked. “I need someone with me, and we’re already dating here, aren’t we?”
“I was going to go with you,” Kota said. “But...”
“I’ve got her,” Silas said. “We’re just walking around between classes. Better if I go.”
Kota pressed his lips together and nodded. “Watch her back.”
“Watch mine,” Silas said.
We were given earpieces, and Victor tested the volume levels.
Before we left, Mr. Blackbourne was speaking with Nathan.
“I think you’ll be going with me,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “We’ll keep to the main offices.”
Nathan gazed a few times my way while I was being outfitted with the earpiece, but he nodded in agreement with Mr. Blackbourne.
I found it difficult to focus after noticing it. I felt he needed to talk. When he hugged me after he arrived, somehow it made me feel better. Like he had a plan to help with Erica and he was just doing what he had to but that everything would be okay.
Still, I sensed something was off. I couldn’t place it. It wasn’t in every look. It was just a feeling.
???
Later, Silas and I were standing together just outside the office. Silas had his back to the wall. He still wore the jacket, but it was open. The tie was knotted now. I faced him, talking to him, hopefully seeming to other people like this was not staged.
I kept looking at my uniform. The skirt was keeping me warm where it covered, but my legs were cold. The building seemed chilly to me. Everything was in gray tones except the patch, and that kept catching my eye for some reason, like the spot of color was something off in the clothing.
Silas reached out, picking up my chin from looking down at my outfit again. “I can’t tell if you like it or hate it, but you’re fussing with it a lot.”
“Getting used to it, I think.”
“Hopefully you won’t need to wear it, unless you want, for too long. Took a while to get used to a uniform for me, too. But we do this right, we won’t have to continue to wear them.” He smirked. “But I won’t complain if you keep the skirt.”
Heat radiated through my cheeks. He didn’t often comment on my clothes, not as much as the others, but he always let me know the pieces he absolutely liked.
Maybe I’d wear the skirt more...
Silas started up talking about the weather in hushed tones. He sometimes looked behind me, toward the office. On occasion, students walked by, either in from the front door to head into the office, or out from homeroom in the same direction. Some of them gazed our way but then seemed more interest in me wearing the outfit than in what we were actually doing.
“When he steps out, I’ll signal,” he said. “You ready?”
I nodded. My job was pretty simple. The worst possibility was he’d get mad, walk over and say something. Or try to call me into his office.
But I wasn’t allowed to go. Not that I’d want to.
It comforted me a bit. Before when I dealt with Mr. Hendricks, so much felt out of my control. Now I knew what the others knew. I felt confidence now. We were in control of the situation. I wasn’t at risk.
It made a huge difference to me.
“By the way, I’m sorry about what I said in there,” Silas said quietly.
I looked u
p at him. His attention had turned to me. “What do you mean?”
“I wasn’t thinking about you,” he said. “I mean not...I thought you all meant that we should all move in together right away.”
“You don’t want to?”
“I want to,” he said. “But my dad...With my brother gone, I’m all that’s left right now.”
“Oh,” I said. Things had been so horrible for Charlie with his wife dying and now his oldest son away from him, in therapy. And I knew he missed Greece. “I’d forgotten about Luke and North, too. With them and Uncle...”
“We were all going to move on eventually,” Silas said. He reached out, putting a big hand on my shoulder and massaging it. “But you are right. You do need a place. And Gabriel and Victor, I think. Victor needs out.”
“Is it getting worse?” I asked.
“It’s getting to him worse,” he said. “Sometimes when you’re on the cusp of almost out, you get antsy, you feel it. He’s starting to snap back at his dad. It’s good he’s standing up to him, but I don’t want to see what Mr. Morgan is like when he’s pushed. I don’t want to make it harder on Victor.”
“So we do need a place. But it doesn’t mean we all have to move in at the same time.”
He nodded, but then the bell rang before he could speak. His attention returned to the office.
There was a whisper in my ear. “We should go house hunting,” Victor said.
My heart jolted. I should have realized he could hear us. I nodded, wondering if he could see me, but didn’t say anything as the throng of students suddenly appeared around us.
He didn’t seem to mind us talking about him. I was still getting used to how open they were with things going on in their lives.
