Love's Cruel Redemption

by C. L. Stone

  He glared through blurred eyes toward where Sang had disappeared. He crawled in that direction. After a few steps, he picked himself up, regaining feeling and movement again.

  “Sang!” he shouted into the darkness.

  No response.

  Did she get away? Where was she?

  He jogged out toward where he was sure the back staircase was. He paused at the top, turning around, looking into the dark back at the maze of hallways on the upper floors.

  There was no way to tell which way she went. When Volto didn't stay for him, Nathan was sure he was after her.

  Or he already had her.

  Which direction they'd gone in, he couldn't tell.

  He listened in the dark, waiting, but he couldn't wait. She was around here somewhere. Close, too. He couldn't have gotten far with her.

  He needed the others. Maybe even the police.

  Damn her status. Damn her parents if they could find out about this. She was gone. And he needed the others to help find her.

  He took the stairs. Slow. Too slow, but his knees were wobbly. If he crashed, if he fell, he was the only one who knew she was gone. Volto would be long gone if that happened.

  He forced his muscles to work, straining himself to keep upright and using the handrail.

  Once he was on the ground floor, he ran toward the cafeteria and went through a door that allowed him into the back kitchen area.

  The lights on in this part of the school suddenly blinded him. He covered his eyes for a moment, looking in.

  Wait. The lights were on here?

  He jogged past the ovens to where he left Victor.

  The laptop was still there. Victor was gone. The fridge door was closed.

  Where were they?

  He looked around, listened. They weren’t in here.

  He ran to the two double doors, waiting only a moment, readying himself for police who were possibly on the other side. They may be dealing with them.

  He had to go out there. For her. Who knew what he’d do to her? Volto could try to put her in the lake, like he did to him. Or worse.

  He pushed his body against the door, opening it slow, ready for anything.

  The air changed into something more humid and thick. He hadn’t realized how dry his throat had gotten.

  Mr. Blackbourne stood near the back of the truck that had backed up. He was monitoring.

  Victor stood beside him, speaking. “You know she's going to get after you if I let you stay up.”

  “This has to get done,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “I trust you, but it's better if I stay nearby. Just in case.”

  Nathan stumbled out, looking around wildly. “Where are they?” Only he realized after he spoke that the police weren't here at all. Were they on the other side?

  Did they just go past the school and not stop?

  Mr. Blackbourne and Victor turned to him. The guys loading the truck stopped what they were doing.

  “What's wrong?” Mr. Blackbourne asked. “Why are you back—”

  “Volto's here,” he said, huffing. “He's got her.”

  Mr. Blackbourne turned fully, an angry, powerful look surfacing. “Where?”

  “He's here somewhere. He's got the building locked up on the other side. We went upstairs to go around. I heard sirens... I thought the police were here. He stunned me.” He swallowed thickly and coughed. “He took her.”

  The guys near the truck, including Uncle, came closer.

  Mr. Blackbourne motioned to them. “Surround the building,” he told them. “Man each exit. Make sure no one can get out of here without going by you. Get anyone within a mile radius here right now.” He looked at Victor. “Go get Luke. See if you can find out what happened to the lights and get them on. I want them working immediately.”

  “On it,” Victor said, and he started running.

  “Don't get separated!” he shouted after him, and he turned to Nathan, motioning him back into the cafeteria. “You're with me. Take me to where you last saw her.”

  “We need lights. It's dark up there.”

  “Where's your phone?”

  “Something's wrong with it. I think he did something to the signal or something. I didn't trust it.”

  Mr. Blackbourne reached into his pocket, taking out his own phone. He examined the screen. “It seems normal.” He flipped on the flashlight app, making the white light glow bright in Nathan's face. He reached into his pocket, producing a small flashlight he kept on his keychain and passed it to him. “Hang on to this.”

  Nathan kept the keys with him, and they proceeded out of the kitchen area, opening up into the dark hallway on the other side.

  “I didn't want to leave her,” Nathan said breathlessly as the doors closed behind them and they were cast into darkness except for the lights they held.

  “You did it right,” Mr. Blackbourne said, motioning to Nathan to lead the way. “We need to stay together. Tell me what happened on the way.”

  Nathan started with telling him about what happened downstairs, how they discovered the doors locked, the masks, and then going upstairs. “The sirens. I was pretty sure the police were here. I was trying to hide her.”

  “There were no police. He may have just waited for you to go somewhere dark so you couldn't see him coming,” he said. “But I would have done it, too. If he's alone, it would have been his best chance to take you down without a fight.”

  They had reached the stairs by then, and at the top, Nathan shined the line outward, casting a beam along the hallway. He directed it to the one they'd been in. “We were here. I got zapped in the middle. She ran this way toward the stairs. But I can't tell where she went after that.”

  Mr. Blackbourne switched his beam of light from one hallway to the next. “He could have her anywhere. A closet or he went to the front of the building. We'll have to do a sweep.” He held his phone to his face, pushing a button. “We need to stay in contact.”

  He said nothing else but waited, looking at his phone. He put the call on speaker as it dialed, but the answer was within one ring.

  “At the front entrance,” North said instantly. “I don't see anyone.”

  “Stay there,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “When anyone comes in, send them to do a sweep of the bottom floors. I want every possible place he could have taken her search.”

  “What if he left with her already?”

  “With Luke in the parking lot and us in the back lot, unless he carried her out the back and through the woods, he's still here.” He paused. “Have someone check those woods. The way you came in the other night.”

  “On it.”

  Nathan swung the light around, looking through the hallways. So many classrooms and nooks. He could have her anywhere.

  Hopefully he hadn’t left. She had nothing on her to track her this time after she turned her phone off. She may be impossible to find.

  He’d blame himself forever if she disappeared after tonight.

  Work Alone

  Sang

  I became a dead weight, something the guys had told me before about when you were being taken.

  I stopped trying to fight and just become heavy. Slow him down. Stop him from taking me anywhere.

  He was stronger than I was, so anything I could do at this point was only to give Nathan more time to come after him.

  The dark cloth around my head stifled my breathing. It was tight, some of it stuffed into my mouth. There was no way to tell which direction we were going.

  But with my body like it was, I was making him slower.

  There was grumbling, but nothing further.

  And I felt four hands, not two, that lifted me. Around the legs and chest, I was picked up.

  Two of them.

  One of them groaned.

  “Quiet,” said a mechanical voice. Volto.

  “You didn't say we'd have to carry her,” another voice said. A woman, her voice smooth and cold as she staged whispered. “You said she'd go willingly.”

  �
�She wasn’t alone. Circumstances change.”

  I tried to wiggle, since being a dead weight wasn't going to work anymore. The effort had me panting into the hood they'd put on me. I couldn't get enough air into me to get my body to move as swiftly.

  They struggled but soon found their stride and I was carried a good distance. The only thing I could tell was we hadn't gone down any stairs.

  A door was opened, and I was brought inside a space where the air was warmer. Their footsteps softer, like going over carpet. The only carpet I knew that was upstairs was in the library.

  Another door opened, perhaps to one of the study rooms near the back. I wasn't familiar with this library.

  I was put down on some sort of table, held up by one of them. He kept my wrists together, and shortly after, bound them with plastic restraints. He did my legs as well.

  “I only need a minute,” Volto said.

  “That may be all you get. They'll have the lights on soon,” said the woman. “Once they're on, we have to go.” A door closed.

  The hood over my head was lifted.

  Volto's green-glowing mask loomed close. Everything else was dark around us.

  I breathed in deeply to get the fresher air into my lungs and then bit my tongue. If I could, I would have stuffed my ears with my fingers. I wasn't going to let him use me for anything. I wouldn't tell him anything.

  His head tilted slightly, creating shadows on the mask that give him an almost coy look. “I told you I needed to talk to you.”

  I said nothing. I turned my head away, to let him know I didn't care.

  He captured my chin and turned my head his direction. The mechanical voice from the modulator in his mask continued. “You can't stay with them. Blackbourne is in serious trouble.”

  I glared at him, refusing to give into this.

  “Your friends are meddling in areas they shouldn't be.” He released my chin and stepped back, swinging an arm in the darkness to motion to the rest of the school. “I'd tell you to tell them to leave, but I doubt they will. Hendricks is watching.”

  “You're with him,” I said. I couldn't help it. If I was going to talk, it would be about him, not anything else. “You're with Hendricks.”

  “No,” he said. “I’m not. I work alone.”

  “Then who’s the woman?”

  “She needed me. I work alone.” He stood up straighter, his head tilting down to look at me. The mechanical voice came out louder than before. “Hendricks is watching.”

  “We already figured he set this food thing up to get Mr. Blackbourne in trouble,” I said. “We don’t need you to tell us this.”

  He tilted his head again. “Food?”

  “The night you took Nathan on a wild chase and you left him at the lake,” I said, my anger growing inside of me and unable to help myself. “We were there watching the food being swapped. Students have called in sick. We’re pretty sure it was a set up.”

  “I was following McCoy,” he said. “He’s with Hendricks.” He leaned in, but his voice modulator was just as loud. “But this doesn’t change anything. He’s lost McCoy, but he’s after you.”

  “You mean them?”

  “I mean you,” he said. “He wants to use you. To get to them. To get them into a heap of trouble they’ll never be able to weasel their way out of.”

  I strained at my wrists, at the binding, trying to separate them. “How?”

  “Like how I got to you. Only he’s more stupid than your Academy.” He clamped a hand around my wrists to get me to stop. “I came to tell you so you won’t make this mistake again. And so they won’t, either. Maybe now they’ll avoid using you like a pawn and leave you the hell alone.”

  He turned away from me, heading for the door.

  “How does he listen?” I asked him. “Tell me. How does he know what we’re doing?”

  He paused without turning back to me. “Once a gutter rat, always a gutter rat,” he opened the door, letting it slam behind himself after he left.

  Before I could call after him, the lights came on, blinding me for a minute. I covered my face against the brightness.

  I was alone in one of the study rooms. With my ankles and wrists bound, I wasn’t sure about jumping off the desk in an effort to get away.

  The others would find me soon. I hoped.

  Fishing for a Rat

  It didn’t take long, less than ten minutes, before the door opened again and Mr. Blackbourne popped his head in. Once he spotted me, he opened it wide. “She’s in here!” he called out.

  “Hi,” I said, a little more defeated now. I’d calmed down a lot and was way more annoyed than I was afraid. All this just to tell me Hendricks was watching and wanted to use me to get to them. And who knew if it was a lie or not?

  He came over to me, checking out my face at first and then the bands around my wrists and ankles.

  Nathan burst through the door next, finding us and checking me out. “What the hell?”

  “He just wanted to talk,” I said. While Mr. Blackbourne took out a pocketknife to use against the bonds, I told them about what he said. “I don’t know what he might have meant at the end about gutter rats.”

  “I think he meant Mr. Morris,” Nathan said. “Did we tell you about him being the one driving the Jeep up to the school?”

  My jaw dropped open, and I rubbed at the red marks the bonds had caused while I was waiting. “No. He did?” I paused. “Wait, Volto said he wasn’t working with Hendricks. So how does Mr. Morris, who does work with Hendricks, get the Jeep?”

  “That’s a question we’re trying to get answers to,” Mr. Blackbourne said. He took up my hands, inspecting my wrists, flipping my arms over so he could check the other side. “Did you get tasered?”

  “No.”

  “Did he do anything else?”

  “No.”

  His eyebrow lifted, the steel in his gaze a bit wild. He shook his head slowly. “I’ll never understand him.”

  I jumped off the table and stood beside them. “I’ve stopped trying. But I don’t know if we should trust him anyway.”

  “Still, protocol has changed as of now.” The power in his voice sharpened, and he turned to Nathan. “I know you won’t let this happen again.”

  “Nope,” Nathan said, his jaw tightening and his blue eyes serious. “Never.”

  “Then you’re both grounded until Hendricks is found.”

  “Grounded?” I asked.

  “To each other.” He took his phone out of his pocket and brought it to his face. “And you’re not staying at Nathan’s. You need to be with people at all times. The diner. At the Lee house.”

  “We’re still having a thing with Erica,” Nathan said. “I’m not sure...”

  “Solve it,” Mr. Blackbourne said. He turned the full of his gaze at him, and it could have been steel bullets firing out from his eyes. “Or find another solution. I don’t want to give Hendricks the same opportunity to get to any of you the way that Volto has.” He pointed toward the library and beyond. “It’s not just you. It’s everyone from this point. Public view only. Areas Hendricks or anyone else working for him won’t dare trespass.”

  Nathan pressed his lips together and nodded.

  I said nothing but agreed with this decision. If nothing else, Volto proved we’d been vulnerable, even if we were together. Hendricks had who knew how many people working for him. Volto managed to get a partner to help him get me. Three or four people working with Hendricks could outnumber two too easily.

  Be Terrified

  On our way through the halls, we reconnected with the others, who continued to stand by the doors. Volto was inside with his friend. They wanted to find him.

  Meanwhile, Nathan and I were sent off. We ended up in Silas’s car, and Nathan silently drove toward Sunnyvale Court.

  I was lost in thought as well. I replayed the situation with Volto over in my head. Should we have gone the other way? No matter what direction, I was pretty sure getting us to go into a dark area so
he could take Nathan down was all Volto needed to do.

  And maybe we did need to know. Volto’s antics aside, we hadn’t known Hendricks was even looking for me. Now we knew. Taking extra precautions wasn’t a problem.

  It wasn’t until we pulled into the neighborhood that I noticed Nathan’s hand, holding tight against the wheel and twisting.

  I reached out to him, worried more he’d break the steering wheel if he gripped it any tighter. “Hey,” I said quietly.

  His eyes blazed in my direction just once and then softened. He groaned. “Volto’s on my shit list,” he said. “I’m fucking tired of him.”

  “Me, too,” I said. “But we’ve got other priorities as well. Hopefully the guys find him in the school. But what are we going to do tonight?”

  Nathan huffed but seemed to agree with me. “Right. Well, the diner, perhaps? It’s as public as it gets and open at all hours.”

  “It’s either that or staying at Kota’s house,” I said.

  He slowed the car down. We were halfway between each option, already past the diner and almost to the other side of the road beyond the curb. He twisted to look back at the diner. “We can’t sleep at the diner.”

  Something in the way we were talking around the subject bugged me. “We can’t avoid Erica forever.”

  Nathan sighed. “I was trying to give Kota a chance to talk to her. I’m not sure he’s done it. And I know she’s been giving him some space too. I don’t know how she’ll react if we walk in together without Kota.”

  “Maybe I can go in separately,” I said and then paused. “No, wait. I don’t like that idea. Volto or Hendricks could get to you if I leave you out here alone.”

  He twisted in the seat to look at me. He stretched an arm out. “Come here?”

  I leaned over the center console. He wrapped an arm around me, and then brought the other one around to complete the hug.

  I pressed my hands to his chest, dipping my face into his shoulder. I breathed in the deep leather and cypress scent he had, letting it take over my senses.