by C. L. Stone
If it hadn’t been for the mask, I might have laughed with the others.
It had to be a coincidence. Had to be.
The tour guide was saying goodbye to people as they exited, collecting tips from people as they left and were shown the exit to the jail. Kota had us wait until the others were gone before approaching him.
The tour guide was in jeans and plain black T-shirt with some band emblem on the front, so faded it was hard to make out which one. A name badge was the only indicator he was the tour guide. Dark hair, dark eyes, maybe late twenties.
“Nice touch with the glowing mask at the end there,” Kota said. “Where’d you get it? I wouldn’t mind getting one.”
“Funny enough, that’s a new addition,” he said. He turned, calling to someone we couldn’t see at the moment. “Hey, where did you get the mask?”
A woman appeared, so similar looking to the tour guide that she could have been a sister. She beamed at him. “Just got it. Someone came by at the start of your tour, said they loved the jail, happened to have it with them, thought it’d be a good touch. So I tried it out.” She went over to it, still hanging on the jail wall and pulled the mask down. “Right at the end... it’s a great touch. More ominous than the surprise scare we do.”
“Who was it?” Kota asked. “Did he... she... say where it came from?”
She shrugged. “Some teen boy. I think. He... or... should I say they? Was wearing a hoodie so it was hard to tell, you know. Had a voice that could have been anyone.”
Great. Didn’t see, could have been anyone’s voice.
We didn’t have much to go off, and asking any more questions might make it look really suspicious on our part. The mask itself was like a dozen other masks Volto had left for us before, his calling card.
We had to leave the area, just in case. We were on the far side of the open street market. We had to walk through to get to where we last saw Mr. Buble and Nathan.
Quickly, Kota tucked into an alley, away from people. The alley had a few trash containers but was otherwise empty.
He held me by the elbow. “Did you see anyone in our group?”
I recited to him the collection of the people in the group. “No one we’d know.”
“Thought I’d at least check,” he said, though he seemed to hesitate. “Maybe there’s some video footage somewhere.”
“But it’s still a long shot.”
He breathed out slowly and nodded. It could have been a huge coincidence still.
Just like Erica...
Kota lowered his head glumly. “Can’t even get out to do anything anymore...”
I gently put a hand on his arm. “Kota...”
He looked at me, his green eyes flashing with some light behind the glasses.
Slowly, he raised a hand and cupped my cheek, gazing at me.
“I don’t want to let him ruin...” He didn’t finish.
He leaned in.
He kissed me.
My heart raced. It had been so long since Kota kissed me.
He lowered the hood of my own hoodie, away from my hair.
I worried, temporarily, about the bruises at my neck. Would he see?
But I kissed him back.
He shifted, and my brain at first thought he was moving in to insert his tongue in my mouth like some of the others did.
So I poked my tongue out, too.
Until I realized he had really meant to pull back. At least until I did the thing with my tongue.
When he sensed it, he stopped. Then he lowered his head and kissed me deeper.
And his tongue darted out of his mouth, finding mine.
His arms surrounded me. Held me. Maybe he meant to do this quickly, but one small move, and he was willing to linger.
If we weren’t in immediate danger, then...
I wrapped my arms around him, too. Somehow the thrill of being scared made it far easier for me, more comfortable for me, to press my body into his.
He held me close, and his tongue traced at my lips. He kissed me again hard once, before he backed his head up and whispered. “Sang...”
I didn’t have a voice. I knew he was likely saying we should go. That we shouldn’t linger in an alley when Mr. Buble could come along looking for us. Or someone else...
I knew, and yet I didn’t want to let go. It was getting harder around them to be so conscious of people watching.
Despite my desire, I relented. Silently, I followed Kota out. I had my head down as we walked for a minute, hanging on to the moment we shared.
Maybe we should have been more worried about Volto, but Volto... he got in the way so often. We were doing normal things and he still showed up. We did Academy things, he showed up.
So what should we do?
Kota elbowed me gently just as we were crossing the street to head into the market building.
I looked up, first at him, but he wasn’t looking at me.
I followed his gaze, spying just inside the market, right at the two teenagers we were supposed to be looking for.
They were young, with jeans and T-shirts and jackets where the backs of them looked dingier than the front. Their shoes were worn and dirty. Their eyes were droopy. Tired. They looked on at a candy cart, as if wanting to buy some but unable to.
Kota started toward them, stopped and then looked at me. “Hey,” he said. “You... you should be doing this.”
“What?”
“Offer to buy them some candy,” he said. He handed me the two tiny trackers and then took out some cash from his pocket and handed it to me. “You have to earn the favor, remember? I have to watch.”
He was right. It had to be me. I was realizing how much I relied on them. But if I was going to be a part of the Academy, I needed to be active and try to help. Did I want to be in this or not?
I wanted to help. I could have been these two teens. I could have been on the street, just trying to get away from my own parents. They didn’t know who to trust, and I had felt the same for so long.
I tried to not think about what I was going to do. Thinking too much made me nervous. I moved first, toward the candy stand.
The two young teens stood by. The girl walked around the candy display, out of sight from me. The boy lingered, looking longingly at everything. He had short, curly brown hair, shaved close to his head and such big brown eyes with the white part so striking, it reminded me of anime eyes.
He was standing closer to the display, sometimes handling the packaged candy.
Ready...
I thought he was ready to steal it.
Except there were workers behind the table of the displays. There were other booths nearby in the outdoor market, some without customers on this slow day. Anyone would see them.
I had to jump in or they’d get in trouble for stealing.
I came up behind him and quickly reached for the bag of candy just next to the one he was hanging on to, a bag of chocolate covered almonds.
“My favorite,” I said quickly with a forced chuckle.
He stopped what he was doing, retracting his hand. “Sorry. I was just...”
“Do you like these too?” I asked him. Don’t think. Don’t think. Don’t think too much. You’ll only get nervous.
He nodded shortly, but he started to back off, as if to get away.
I picked up two bags of the almonds, and with cash in hand, I showed the closest worker behind the table the candy and the money. “Can I get these two?” And with a quick move, I reached back, taking the boy by the elbow and tugging him to stand beside me. “For me and my friend here?”
He stood where I asked him too. I don’t know if it was because I was older... he had to be only twelve or thirteen.
And I kept the emitter in my palm, until I thought of something.
When I got the bags of candy back and the change, I had the emitter in my palm and wrapped it in a dollar bill with the rest of the change. I placed both the last of the money and the candy in his hands, both bags.
>
He appeared stunned. “What are you doing?”
When I was sure the worker who had given me change wasn’t listening any more, I turned to him. “What’s your name?” I asked in a whisper, trying to seem mysterious.
“...Kyle,” he said. His voice was hoarse.
“Kyle,” I said. “I’ve been watching you. You and your friend.” I hoped this worked. “I think you should join us. Or you’re going to get us caught.”
He seemed surprised. “What?”
“We work these streets,” I said. “And you’re going to mess things up. How well do you know this area?”
“Lived here my whole life.”
“Then you might have seen my friends. We help each other. But we don’t get caught. You don’t want to go to jail, do you?”
He shook his head.
“Then if you want to join us. Tonight at 6 pm.” I made up the time randomly. “Over there,” I pointed at the jail where we’d just been. “In front of it. Meet them there. If you want to stay alive.”
And I walked away. Slowly. But I did.
“Meet who?” he asked.
Without turning around, I said, “You’ll see.”
And that was it. I hurried along after that. I didn’t immediately see Kota. Technically we weren’t supposed to split off but he was likely watching from just enough distance.
It wasn’t long before I got to the road across from where the market was and Kota angled up beside me.
“What did you do?”
“I put the trackers in the money. He’ll put it in his pocket and hang on to it... and will likely buy food or something else, but with two trackers in there, one will likely fall back into his pocket and stay there.” I told him the story of what I said to him. “So he either has the tracker for a while, or he gets very curious and goes to the meeting spot. Someone needs to be there at six.”
He chuckled. “Why all the mystery?”
I beamed a bit. “I think I saw it in a movie once. Makes it more likely he’ll show up right? And convince his friend?” I was smiling, but inside I was trembling like crazy.
How did I do that? It was so quick. I didn’t have time to think about the consequences. I’d thought about other times, when I had more time to think, and got so nervous. My bravery seemed to come in waves, spontaneous.
When we left the market building, we made a dash toward where Mr. Buble had parked.
He was inside, monitoring his phone but perked up when we came close. He unlocked the door for us to get in.
“What happened? Did you find them?”
“We found them, plus other stuff,” Kota said, but told him about the kids and then quickly about the mask at the end of the tour. Then he looked around the car, confused. “Where’s Nathan?”
Mr. Buble frowned, nodded in a direction.
Nathan was in sight, under a tree in the shade.
Talking to two people. At first, I didn’t see who it was because Nathan was in the way.
And then he turned a bit, looking off at the distance. Not at us.
But when he moved, we could see and I was surprised to recognize them.
Jay and Karen. I hadn’t seen them in a while. At the school, when I was going lately, I was in the principal’s office with Mr. Blackbourne. Jay still had a shaved head and looked like a teen version of Vin Diesel, but now he hadn’t shaved in a day or two and there was some shadow... or dirt, it was hard to tell from the distance. Karen’s pixie cut hair was hidden under a rainbow beanie.
The two were standing close together, like they’d been together.
They were supposed to be in school.
Technically, so was Nathan.
Kota scooted down in the car a bit lower. I did, too, instinctively following his lead.
“Did they see us get to the car?” Kota asked.
“I don’t think so,” Mr. Buble said. “It’s why he shifted his stance. Nathan blocked the view a bit.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Kota asked.
“They’re far enough away and Nathan was distracting them.”
They were a distance, but we could still recognize them. If they looked this way, toward the car, it was likely they would recognize us.
Jay was wearing a hoodie.
Kota beat me to it. “Is it too much of a coincidence that he’s wearing a hoodie and the person that gave the mask to the tour group was wearing one?”
“We’ve an instance of probability,” Mr. Buble said. “What do you know about him?”
Kota scooted himself up a bit more in the front passenger seat, relaying the past year. Jay didn’t seem like a bad guy.
And then there was Karen beside him. Volto often said he worked alone... but he sometimes had people with him.
It was just weird that those two in particular were around.
“We don’t know who it could be,” Kota said. “But it’s likely it would be someone we went to school with. Volto often focused around the school. And he didn’t show up until we started going there.”
“Karen was with me in the football stands when the smoke went off... months ago?” I said. “Back when Volto first started.”
“So Karen couldn’t be setting off smoke in the stands if she’s in the mix,” Kota said. “I mean... maybe she could have remotely... I don’t know, though.”
Mr. Buble motioned toward Karen and Jay. “If it is either of them, it’s very irregular behavior to be here and to be stopped by one of you in the middle of the day like this. However, we should consider every possibility. Maybe it is time to work out a suspect list, perhaps after we’ve managed to secure a safe residence, we’ll move on to suspect timelines.”
Nathan continued to talk to Jay and Karen for a minute before he waved to the two and they moved on, away from us. Nathan pretended to go the other way, waited, still within view of us, and then slowly, when it was clear Jay and Karen were gone, turned back and got into the back of the car with me.
He leaned back, blowing out a slow breath. His broad chest lifted and fell. “I swear I thought she saw you two coming up. I hope I distracted her. I mostly didn’t want her to think we were all out here today.”
“What did you talk about?” Kota asked. Mr. Buble started the car and was already pulling around, going away from where Jay and Karen had been walking.
“It was kind of awkward at first,” he said. “I didn’t even know they knew each other. Karen tried to say they just bumped into each other and were out the same day, but it was kind of obvious after a bit they were together and had planned to be out.”
“Out of school,” Mr. Buble said.
“Yeah,” Kota said. “And at the same time while we can’t prove it, the Volto mask...”
Mr. Buble frowned, and shook his head some more as he drove. “We should do a thorough details check: school and after school schedules, timelines, abilities, perhaps a residence check.”
“On Jay?” I asked.
“On both of them.”
I held on to that hope, that one of them would prove to be Volto. As selfish as it was to think, as much trouble as Volto might be in if we figured out who they were...
Anyone but Erica. Anyone else... to me, it was a relief to think it could be anyone else.
Enfatico
(Emphatic)
Victor
Mr. Blackbourne was sans the gray suit jacket inside the principal’s office at Ashely Waters High School.
Victor, Gabriel and Luke had no problem passing by the front desk wearing the old fake Academy clothes they’d worn since near the beginning. Somehow it made a difference, an instant recognition for who they were, the opposite of their intentions at the start. But now it worked to their advantage. They were top of the class. Guest students from an academic private school.
A target, generally. Except now they weren’t in classes. Now, they came and left as they pleased. Making appearances had become part of their routine just so no one suspected anything different: they simply told other stu
dents they’d changed classes mid-year, but now no one seemed to notice they weren’t in classes at all, or even if they weren’t here in the school at times. There were too many students to notice if seven—eight with Sang—were all missing at the same time.
As they entered though, Victor noticed at the end of the first long hallway, a cluster of students out of class.
Talking to each other.
It wasn’t too unusual. It was maybe thirty kids. Perhaps the school group was heading to the library or to a science lab or similar.
What caught his eye was Wil. Someone Mr. Blackbourne had once said to keep an eye on by request from within the Academy.
And he was walking, and talking, to Rocky.
If there were two completely incompatible people, it was those two. The school brain and the school jock, for one. Did they even know each other?
It was the way Rocky spoke with Wil. Not bullying. Not making fun.
Strange.
What was more strange was other students suddenly joining in, and Rocky smirked, slapped Wil on the shoulder, and said something, but Wil walked off.
Victor dismissed this, catching up with Gabriel and Luke on the way into the main office.
Mr. Blackbourne didn’t break his concentration as they entered. He was at the computer, typing at a speed that was blinding. Luke automatically closed the door behind them. They waited until Mr. Blackbourne was finished typing and looked up at them.
“Good morning,” he said to them.
“Got a bit of time?” Gabriel asked.
“Always,” Mr. Blackbourne said and motioned to the various collection of chairs across from the principal’s desk. “Believe it or not, things are quiet since the old principal and vice principal have left. Still working out where the money went, but we know where it came from at least.”
Gabriel and Luke immediately shucked off the Academy jackets. Victor sat down directly across from the desk, leaning forward. “It was the food? They were selling it?”
Mr. Blackbourne nodded it. “One of many. That was the problem. We were looking for an individual thing before. That’s where we went wrong. They cleverly dipped their hands into everything that they controlled. Selling off the newer, larger busses and overstuffing children into unsafe, overcrowded old busses. Strange insurance claims on the oversized sports teams. Claiming salaries for employees that weren’t here and forcing teachers to work overtime without pay but also taking their pay on claim sheets.” He shook his head. “It was all the little things we saw, and individually we dismissed because we thought it wasn’t worth the trouble. Together it adds up to a lot of money. The only question now is, where they put the money.”
