Nathan

by C. L. Stone

  The Academy

  The Ghost Bird Series

  Meeting Sang: Nathan

  ♥

  Book One – Alternate Opening

  The Boys’ Version

  ♥

  Written by C. L. Stone

  Published by

  Arcato Publishing

  Published by Arcato Publishing

  Copyright © 2018 C. L. Stone

  All rights reserved.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

  Table of Contents

  Copyright Page

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  Also By C. L. Stone

  1

  It was the clattering that woke him. Nathan Griffin drifted his hand around his bed until he found his phone tangled in with some earbuds at his waist. He turned off the alarm before it went off. The sun wasn't up yet, but his father was.

  Bumbling around somewhere in the kitchen, his dad mumbled under his breath. Curses and accusations he barely kept to himself. Criticism of some sort that he’d utter out loud if anyone asked what he was saying.

  Nathan breathed out slowly, listening and paranoid. His dad would be leaving in a few minutes, heading to the airport for a route somewhere far away. He’d be gone for weeks, which was always good.

  He just had to put up with his dad until then, but those last few moments were always the hardest.

  Get him out the door? Or wait in here and pretend to be sleeping until he left?

  There was a small chance his dad wouldn’t get out the door for hours if he didn’t get up and help him out. And there was a chance he’d come in here anyway, looking for Nathan. Either way, it wasn’t a good idea to wait around.

  Nathan sat up and swung his legs around until he was sitting on the edge of the bed. He stretched, most of the muscles in his upper body tight after a long day of strength training. He kept his blanket over his crotch; the room was cold and he was naked.

  He needed clothes. His brain was still foggy, and he was trying to figure out what to wear before he even got up to go look.

  The closet was open, the contents inside protruding out so the door could never fully shut. Weight equipment. Hidden Academy gear. Just a few things though. Nothing his dad might notice if he came in.

  Piles of clothes were scattered throughout it all, but he wasn’t awake enough yet to remember which pile was actually clean.

  He’d have to sort it out one day. Maybe he should start putting his clothes in the drawers of the dresser that was opposite his bed. Only, that was full of old CDs and iPods and other stuff. Kota always got after him for it, but he rarely had time to sit and sort through things.

  The mumbling got louder in the kitchen.

  The sound of it urged Nathan off the bed, not bothering looking for underwear and reaching for the pair of jeans he'd thrown off the night before. He slipped those on and stumbled his way to the door noisily, alerting his dad he was up before he made it to the kitchen.

  Even though the sun wasn't up and the room needed light, the overhead fluorescent hurt Nathan's eyes after turning the corner.

  His father had the same rusty hair as Nathan. He was much leaner in build though. Nathan had been chubby for a while until he started working out. His dad used to comment about his weight, and said he got his chubbiness from his mother.

  He was bent down in the lower part of the pantry, digging out boxes of pasta and crackers.

  “Dad?” Nathan said, rubbing a bit of sleep away from his eyes. “What are you doing?” This room was chilly, too. He should have grabbed a shirt.

  “What are you doing with all this?” he asked, pulling out a big box of pasta from the back. “Feeding an army?”

  “It's just extra,” Nathan said. He crossed his arms and leaned against the kitchen island. He tipped his head forward, ready for what he suspected would come next.

  The collection of boxed meal items increased around his father's feet. “You get extra cookies and crackers and no extra coffee?”

  Nathan arched a brow. “Is that what you're looking for?” He went to the cabinet next to the stove, above where the coffee maker was, and opened it, revealing a couple of different types of coffee beans in packages, along with supplies like filters and jars of sugar and creamer next to each other. “It's all here.”

  His father left the contents he'd put on the floor where they were and stood, looking over Nathan's shoulder at the cabinet. “Why the hell did you move it all?”

  Nathan shrugged and pulled down the coffee, prepping a pot full for them both. “Thought it made sense to keep the coffee supplies near the coffee pot.” Actually, he hadn’t come up with it. Kota had. But he didn’t want to say anything about that right now.

  “Put it back while I'm gone. I don't want to have to look for stuff.”

  Nathan ignored the comment. He'd be gone long enough he'd forget where stuff was anyway. They never used to keep coffee in the pantry where he was looking in the first place.

  His fingers twitched for his phone to double check the time when he should be on his way, but he finished up the coffee instead, turning it on to let it brew. “Everything ready?” Nathan asked. “How long are you going this time?”

  “No fucking clue,” he said and fell silent.

  Nathan breathed in slow and waited, drawing that silence out. If he didn’t want to talk, it saved Nathan the trouble of having to make conversation.

  When the coffee was finished, his father made his up in a mug and went to the table. Nathan joined him with his own cup.

  A pile of mail was the only thing sitting on the otherwise clean table. Nathan had already gone through it for the bills. They were all on auto pay, but he kept the current month’s bill and tossed the last one. What was left was mostly junk mail, but he kept it until his dad came home so he could sort through if he wanted.

  He did this now, picking through envelopes and opening a few absently while he drank his coffee.

  In the silence, Nathan took out his phone. He worked on a playlist for a jog after his dad left. It’d help him shake off the last few days since he’d been home. It got stressful to always be tense and tip toe around his father. He used to stay at Kota’s, but often enough he’d come looking for him. It was better if Nathan stayed home and just waited until he was flying again.

  His dad stopped once, looking over an envelope and then looking up at Nathan. “You getting love letters?”

  Nathan raised an eyebrow. “What, it’s for me?”

  His dad didn’t respond. He just ripped open the edge of the envelope and took a look at the letter. “Looks like a chain letter to me.” He made a face. “How’d you end up on some chain mail list?”

  “No idea,” Nathan said. “Let me see?”

  Instead of handing it over, his dad started tearing up the letter. “Don’t even bother,” he said. “Look, these chain letters, they’re shit. They usually want you to send in twenty bucks and then they’ll tell you the secret to money making. All horseshit.” He tossed the pieces onto the table with the other junk mail.

  Nathan’s mouth twitched, but he held himself together. He’d check it out after his dad left. Just in case.

  “That’s what’s wrong with people today,” his dad said. “Everyone’s trying to make a quick buck.”

  His father continued his rant, moving into politics and further complaints about everyone around him.

  Nathan barely listened, sipping at his coffee.

  After a bit, Nathan checked the time. “When were you supposed to get going?” he asked. “It’s after five.”<
br />
  “Don’t rush me,” his dad said, but with his coffee cup empty and no more mail to go through, he stood, leaving the mess he’d created and heading to his bedroom.

  Nathan sighed and got up with his empty cup, picking up his dad’s coffee cup and then putting those into the sink to soak for a minute. He made a to-go coffee cup for his dad and set it on the counter then started absently wiping the counter with a cloth. He wasn’t really trying to clean, just appear like he was. If he didn’t clean, his dad would be on his case. If he at least pretended to, he tended not to say anything. He used to wash the dishes in front of his dad, but since he criticized how he washed the cups and everything else, he focused on stuff his dad wouldn’t criticize him too much for.

  His dad emerged from his bedroom, a rolling suitcase behind him and his security badge under his arm. But instead of coming into the kitchen again, he went to the hallway, walked out into the garage and shut the door behind himself.

  Nathan waited, his heart thundering in his chest. He usually grabbed a second cup on his way out.

  The sounds in the garage were familiar to him. His dad put his suitcase in the passenger seat of his car, slammed the door. He got into his own driver seat and started the car.

  The car sat in the garage for a while, turned on without the garage door opening.

  Shit.

  Nathan stayed where he was and opened his phone. He used an app created for his house, with cameras set up in various locations, one of them the garage.

  Security cameras were a requirement for him to continue to live with his father. Not everyone on his team still had cameras everywhere in their homes, but he did. His dad was bad enough to deal with when he was sober. It was worse when he was drunk, and Nathan couldn’t always escape. His dad like to corner him, so an escape wasn’t always available and Nathan often had to call out for help.

  The camera for the garage revealed the car sitting there, the garage door closed.

  But it looked like he wasn’t reaching for the garage opener. He couldn’t exactly see what he was doing, but he wasn’t preparing to drive. He was just sitting there.

  Nathan picked up the coffee he’d made for his dad and headed out to the garage.

  His dad didn’t pick up his head when Nathan approached. He tapped a couple times on the windshield.

  His head jerked up. He’d fallen asleep. Was he up all night?

  Nathan held out the coffee but was unsure if he should give it to him. If he was falling asleep after that first cup, he wasn’t sure handing him another one and having him drive off would be a good idea.

  Let alone flying...

  His father unrolled the window. “Forgot it, yeah. Thanks,” he said.

  “No worries.”

  “Have that stuff sorted before I get back.” His dad hit the garage door opener and put the car into reverse.

  Nathan kept the garage door open, watching his father pull out of the drive and head down the road.

  After, he sent a text to Kota.

  Nathan: He’s gone, but he’s very tired. I wouldn’t let him fly. I’m not sure he should be driving.

  A few minutes passed, and he had a response.

  Kota: Sending someone out to follow his car to make sure he gets to work. Also having him copilot today with someone who can let him sleep.

  Who he was sending? Nathan wasn’t sure, until a minute later out the front window Nathan spotted Silas’s car driving off from Kota’s house. Why had Silas been there? No one told him. Odd.

  2

  When the sun was up, the coffee cups had been washed and the mess of boxed foods were put back where they belonged.

  Nathan was free again. For now.

  Putting on shorts, a red shirt and sneakers, he picked up his phone, pulled up the new playlist he’d just made and headed out the back door. A fence blocked off access from the woods in the back, but Nathan had installed a gate, hidden unless you were close to it. His father didn’t even know it was there.

  An escape route. Just in case.

  The sight of it had him thinking about the reason it really needed to be there. More than once he’d been cornered in some way by his father, physically assaulted or even just shouted at. That’s usually how his father chose to fight. Blocked you in. Made you back up.

  Nathan blinked a few times, put his music on a little louder and put the earbuds into his ears. Forget about it. He was gone again. He probably wouldn’t be back for weeks.

  The air was thick and already warm. Only in the shadows of the trees was there a taste of anything cool left from the night. The leaves were damp, and the dirt was sticking to his shoes in clumps. The rain from last night would make the ground a bit softer. Sometimes it was slippery with the leaves, but he liked the sound of his sneakers padding against softened dirt.

  Not many people used the trails. Nathan hadn’t installed them, but once he found them, he did his part to use them and keep them clean. Sometimes he caught neighborhood boys building stuff in the woods with scraps they found. Occasionally, he’d found strips of house siding or planks along the paths.

  He took the longest path around this part of the woods. The trail was wider this way.

  Just as he started a brisk walk to warm up, his phone buzzed. He checked it, an incoming call from North.

  Odd. He answered. “Hey.”

  “Your dad gone yet?” North asked, his voice in that raspy tone that sounded like he’d been up all night again.

  “Yeah,” Nathan said. “Just out for a jog. Need something?”

  “Maybe later, yeah. I was going to take Silas, but from what I’ve heard, he’s been up all night.”

  “Really?” Nathan asked, suddenly disturbed by the news. “Silas just left Kota’s to follow my dad, but if I’d known he’d been up all night, I would have taken his car instead.”

  “He just left?”

  “Well, it was like forty-five minutes...maybe longer.”

  North coughed. “I guess he wouldn’t have gone if he really couldn’t make it. But he just made the call saying he’d need a nap before coming with me.” The longer he talked, the deeper and more grumbly his voice was getting.

  “Maybe you both should sleep. Whatever you’ve got going, can’t you hold off a day?”

  “Don’t start with me. If I can’t sleep, I can’t sleep. I might as well do something useful.” Pause. “What was Silas doing over at Kota’s last night anyway?”

  “No idea. I didn’t even hear about it. So he must have gotten in late?”

  Another pause. “Academy?” North asked, meaning was it an Academy job they just didn’t know about.

  “I can’t imagine what.” Nathan shook off the thought. They could just ask Kota later. They didn’t need to know every little thing the others did but...it was out of the ordinary. Not that anything about their group was completely ordinary. “Anyway, if you still need me later, I’ll do whatever you need. If Silas can’t make it.”

  “Good,” North said.

  “But try to sleep?” Nathan asked.

  North grunted and then hung up.

  Nathan smirked at his phone as he switched it back to his playlist. North was a pain in the ass, but the good sort. He meant well and he was all heart under the gruff exterior. Nathan hadn’t gotten along with him when they first met. With North’s grumpy attitude, he’d gotten off on the wrong foot with the whole team for months when he came over from Germany.

  But he turned out okay. Better than okay. Nathan thought of him as the night guard. He was usually the one that volunteered for night jobs. Which was why it was kind of weird that Silas ended up at Kota’s so late. To Nathan, Kota was family lead and usually made himself the early bird so he was up during normal hours. He allowed North to take over evening hours.

  So...Silas and Kota were doing something last night? And last minute?

  Nathan forced himself to stop asking questions and focus on what he was doing. He started an easy jog, nothing strenuous. He took in the taste of
fresh air, felt the warmth of the sun and the change of temperature in the occasional shadows underneath trees. The underbrush around the trees was growing in thickly, a mix of ferns, berry bushes, and the occasional collection of bamboo. The bamboo was a new addition, but he was starting to like it. Someone had planted some, and it was growing wild now. It grew fast, filling in spots, occasionally taking over sections. He wasn’t sure if it was bad for the ecosystem here. He meant to ask Kota or look it up himself with a conservation team to see if he needed to remove it.

  Part way through his jog, he stopped at a maple that had fallen over the trail. It was a big one. He’d found it at least a week ago and had forgotten all about it with his dad being back. There hadn’t been a way to drag out the chainsaw to take care of it, since his dad would have yelled at him. He probably didn’t even know they owned one.

  The leaves were already dead in some spots. Poor tree. The trunk was thick. And the branches and leaves were taking up a good chunk of the trail. He examined it, wondering if he could get a truck back here to help clear it. Or maybe he could rent some sort of vehicle that would fit better for getting everything out. He couldn’t believe he’d forgotten about it this long.

  Anyway, nothing he needed to focus on right now. It could wait until later.

  He rerouted himself, going back to find a trail that was clear. He probably needed to check all the trails later and do some clean up. He refocused on his jogging, thinking about when he’d come back for the tree and listening to the music. All the while, letting go of thoughts of his dad, trying to relax once more and feel somewhat normal again.

  Suddenly, there was a loud cracking sound.

  He removed his headphones and listened, looking up and watching out for anything falling. It wasn’t unusual after a storm for trees limbs to break off, or sometimes the tops entirely.

  Listening, he heard rattling in a tree nearby. Something big. Bigger than a bird for sure.

  “Someone over there?” he called out. He searched the mess of trees, trying to see through to the trail he’d just been on, split from the one he was on now. Did the noise come from over there?