Ghost Bird: The Academy Omnibus Part 1: Books One - Four

by C. L. Stone

  Kota sighed, running his fingers through his hair. This wasn’t at all what he pictured this meeting to be about.

  Part of him was tempted to go back and talk to her. Maybe he could run off with her. That didn’t seem right, either. For one, he wasn’t sure she would. The other thing was, he couldn’t abandon his family. He cared about her, but he loved his brothers, too. He’d sworn his life to them.

  Maybe he should have kept her to himself. It was too late now.

  “So it comes down to this,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “You can share her or not, that’s up to you. You’ll have to come to terms with what that means on your own. Until a time when she’s less vulnerable and we’ve got her in a safe position, we have to establish some ground rules. As far as holding her hand and touching, you can take her as far as she’s allowed you so far, but every next step she has to initiate herself. Has she kissed anyone yet?”

  “No,” a few of them said at the same time. Eyes darted around the table, looking for someone who answered affirmatively, but it was pretty obvious. They’d had this argument already. Sang’s revelation at the sleepover made it clear no one had tried and in the last couple of days, no one would have attempted it.

  “Good,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “Here’s the rules. No one is to touch her further than already established. Let me make that clear. Holding hands, fine. Letting her sit in your lap, fine. Anything platonic, that you’d do to a sister, fine. Beyond that, she has to make the first move. That means any touch, kiss, everything.”

  “But she’s never done it before,” Gabriel said. “She doesn’t know what she’s doing.”

  “Which is why this is important,” Mr. Blackbourne said, touching the rim of his glasses. “It’s the only way you will be able to establish if she really wants to or if she’s just letting you to please you. If she makes the first move, you’ll know.”

  “What about dating?” Victor asked.

  “You can take her out, but I prefer you did it with a group or in a public place. If you want something more private, she has to tell you what she wants. Just remember, though, if you’re taking her out, you have to allow the rest of us, too. We need time to get to know her anyway.”

  “So we can kiss her and stuff if she says we can?” Gabriel asked.

  Kota’s eyes flared. Gabriel wanted to kiss her? He stared at the table, biting his tongue, but his ears strained to hear the answer. He’d wanted to ask the same question.

  Mr. Blackbourne shook a finger at Gabriel. “You can’t goad her into telling you she wants to. I mean it. No tricks. No trying to talk her into it.”

  Silas cleared his throat for attention. “What about spending the night? We’ve already done that. She prefers when we sleep next to her.”

  Mr. Blackbourne frowned. “Why am I answering questions as if you’re all looking for a way to get around the rules and date her? You can’t all date her.”

  Kota leaned against the table, putting his head in his hands. Was he ready for this? He’d been putting the thoughts off for a few weeks... or a month? How long has it been since he first started watching Sang?

  He loved his Academy family. They meant everything to him. For years they’d supported each other. They shared a lot. Now they were sharing Sang’s attention. How far was this going to go? Would he have to fight off the others?

  But didn’t he already have that answer? What did Sang do when she was lonely? She found the first available one of them that was close by. And how did he feel about it? Nothing. Well, he missed her. Kota missed her now. However, if he couldn’t be there next to her, he wanted Nathan or Victor or any of them with her. He didn’t trust anyone but his Academy brothers to take care of her. When he had watched Sang crawling into Gabriel’s lap at the party, he was happy she was happy. He did want her in his own lap, but he could wait. She was right there.

  He grumbled to himself. This was confusing.

  “I think we need to put this off,” Dr. Green said. “Focus on the rules and we’ll talk about this later when she’s in better shape and we’re all more familiar with her. It may turn out none of you want to date her. The Academy might learn about her and want to take her into another group. We don’t even know if she’ll want to stay with us or if she even wants to date any of you.”

  “That’s correct,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “So rule one, no one touches her further unless she moves first. Rule two, no intimate date locations unless she suggests it first. Three, until the appointed time where a decision is made, no one should date another girl and no more guys can join the group. Sang’s too vulnerable to bring in another member or she could feel hurt if she sees you with another girl.”

  “So if she kisses one of us? We can kiss her back after that, right?” Gabriel asked, his eyes squinting, as if trying to understand exactly what he could get away with.

  “If she really does it first. A kiss on the hand, you can kiss her on the hand. A kiss on the mouth, then you can kiss her there. You can mimic how she touches you,” Mr. Blackbourne offered. “And you all have to agree to this. No jealous arguments about who gets to hang out with her. No one fights over who is holding her hand today. If that happens, I’ll have to insist you all back off even if she does try to take it a step further.”

  “I think that’s a call for a unified agreement,” Dr. Green said, putting his hands behind his back and smiling pleasantly at all of them. “Are we in agreement with three rules in the case of Miss Sang Sorenson? Plus the job of finding out the truth and then deciding if we convince her father to let us take her?”

  Everyone turned to Luke, the first in line at the table today. Luke’s dark eyes focused on the opposite wall, as if already dreaming up what he was supposed to do. “I am willing,” he said in a quiet voice, “and I will obey.”

  It was an impossible request. The first girl in the group, and they were making crazy promises. It meant Kota couldn’t date her until she asked him out. Or maybe he could. Hadn’t he kind of already asked her? His mother did, but Sang had said yes. Did that mean he could take her? He couldn’t kiss her like he wanted. He thought about all the ways he had touched her before. What could he do with her now?

  Victor was next. “I am willing,” he said, “and I will obey.”

  “I’m unwilling,” North rushed in. North always had to cast a different vote, Kota knew that. Being unwilling, though, just meant he wasn’t happy with the rules. “But I will obey.” And there it was. He wasn’t happy but he would follow through. It was enough.

  “I am willing, and I will obey,” Silas said, his voice strong, as if he’d already made his decision for everything and he was waiting for the meeting to be over.

  “I am willing, and I will obey,” Gabriel said, staring down at the table.

  “I am willing, and I will obey,” Nathan repeated, flexing his fists. Kota knew this meant he wasn’t happy with it.

  Kota was last. He could bring this all to a halt right now if he said he would not obey. Three words. I won’t obey. The ruling would be overturned. If he did, it would force them all to back off and remain strictly platonic with her. No one could date her if she stayed with their group.

  If he did decline though, he would have to establish himself as platonic with Sang for a while, and hope that sometime in the future the others would find other girls they wanted and they could overturn the decision. Maybe Sang would outright say she wanted out of the group and join another Academy family, but she could still date him if she wanted.

  It was a big risk. This would assume she was interested in him at all. It would cut off her chance with the other guys if she had feelings for one of them. How would she know they wanted her if they weren’t allowed to tell her or pursue her? Could he expect her to wait as a friend in a slim hope she might understand and still want to be with him? If they all established themselves as platonic, what would stop her from trying to date someone else?

  All Kota knew was that his need to touch her and to hold on to her was winning out. If h
e agreed, he could go home to her as soon as their job was over and curl up with her in that damn attic all evening. Someday maybe she’d kiss him and he could then kiss her back.

  Could he risk that she might kiss one of the others? What would he do if she did?

  Share her or possibly lose her forever.

  Kota knew the answer to this. “I am willing,” he stated, his voice strong and unwavering. He would not be misheard in this instance. He knew this weeks ago when he first started watching her, before that first night he bumped into her. He wanted Sang, even if he had to share her. “And I will obey.”

  The Academy

  The Ghost Bird Series

  Forgiveness and Permission

  ♥

  Book Four

  ♥

  Written by C. L. Stone

  Published by

  Arcato Publishing

  How are you doing, Sang?” Kota asked.

  I twisted my head, watching him drive into the parking lot. We were around each other a lot, but it was the first time I’d really been alone with Kota in a while. “I feel ... weird,” I said as honestly as I could.

  Kota chuckled. “Regret that we ran into each other yet?”

  My eyes widened. Was he serious? “No, of course not.”

  “Just checking.”

  I pursed my lips. “Do you regret it?”

  He pulled into a spot, threw the car into park and shut off the engine before turning to me, putting his hand on the seat behind my head. “Kinda wish I had met you sooner,” he said quietly.

  His green eyes glinted behind his glasses. My fingers shook against my stomach and my heart did another flip flop. I craved this look from him, but at the same time it was the one where I felt he could see into me, and I was too scared to let him do it for long. I lowered my gaze to avoid his eyes, only to stop short at his mouth and chin.

  His hand by my head moved, touching my chin, which was all he needed to do for my eyes to lift and meet his again. He parted his lips as if he wanted to say something, but stopped. This time his eyes lowered down, focusing on my mouth.

  I froze, stiffened in the seat. I didn’t know what it would be like for someone to kiss me. I had no idea how to tell when someone wanted to but everything in my being told me Kota wanted to. My mind blanked out.

  A kiss.

  From Kota.

  And I wanted it.

  For the ones who taught me that arguing could be a sign of affection as much as a hug or kiss.

  Because arguing can show exactly how much you really do care.

  ONSLAUGHT

  If last week you had asked me when my life had changed, I might have said when I met Kota Lee and he dragged me into the world of the Academy with secret agendas and handsome boys who knew how to infiltrate, spy and rescue, and did so on a regular basis.

  Today, if you asked me the same question, I would say it was when my mother told me she wasn’t my mother.

  My name is Sang Sorenson. I was your atypical straight A student who was shy and never had a friend in her life until I met Kota. I had an abusive -- I guess I should call her a stepmother -- who didn’t want me and a father who was never there and didn’t want me either. The only things my father asked of me before he disappeared back into his double life were to keep my head down and watch out for my older half-sister until the end of the school year, and to take care of my stepmother if she managed to make it out of the hospital. He left us money and the two story gray house on Sunnyvale Court. Outside of that, we were on our own.

  And my sister, Marie, didn’t want me there, either. After I revealed to her what our father had said, she claimed she didn’t need a babysitter and she could handle things herself.

  But I made a promise to my father, and following his promise he’d made to my dead mother whose name I didn’t even know. He had promised her he would take care of me and I would allow it, for now. I wouldn’t abandon my sister like our parents had abandoned us.

  But I also had Kota, Luke, Nathan, Silas, North, Gabriel, Victor, Mr. Blackbourne and Dr. Green. Nine friends. Nine members in my own secret family. They looked after me and promised to be there for me, no matter what.

  Except, I had a sketchy idea of what family meant, and what they wanted with a girl with such a complicated situation.

  I could only wish, with all my heart, they would stay and not leave me alone.

  They were all I had left to believe in.

  ♥♥♥

  It was another hot Saturday for late September through the glare of sunlight assaulting me from the window. Having grown up in Illinois, I was unused to the warmth of a southern summer so late in the year. The boys kept telling me I could expect summer days on through November. It seemed impossible, but I’d believe it when I felt it.

  I heard the footsteps of a couple of boys in the hallway before they managed to open the door to my bedroom. The footsteps quieted. The handle was twisted, the door had been unlocked. I was under the sheet and thin blanket on my bed, the one Victor had bought for me. I could still smell him in the sheets since he’d spent the night with me. Too bad he wasn’t here now. He didn’t need to stay with me, none of the boys did, but they did it anyway often enough. Marie and I were alone, but we were never really truly alone. The Academy was always watching.

  I’d slept in. Seven a.m. was late to sleep in since the boys were usually up and working at dawn. However, Victor had kept me up late watching a movie, and I was feeling lazy.

  My skin electrified. The boys in my room were being sneaky. I had no clue what they were up to. My fingers clutched the blanket, ready to hold tight to it or push it back and jump up and catch them at whatever they were doing.

  The edge of my blanket was collected at the foot of my bed in someone else’s grasp.

  Silence. Both sides were waiting for the other to strike first.

  My blanket was yanked from my grasp. I raced to pop up and go after whoever it was.

  A spray of ice water smacked me in the face. The edge of a shrill cry caught in my throat but I held it in. Screaming was pointless.

  There was a rush for the door. I caught Nathan and Gabriel dashing out, large Super Soaker guns in their hands. Nathan was shirtless. His muscular, tanned body left me breathless. He wore red sport shorts, and was barefoot. His reddish brown hair was wet, sticking up.

  Gabriel’s leaner frame was also shirtless. He wore camouflage shorts. Two locks of wet blond hair stuck to his cheeks and the rest of his russet brown hair was raked back, hanging behind his ears. White crystal studs hung from each lobe, and three black rings were pierced into his right ear toward the top crest.

  Their running, like a roll of thunder, rumbled through the house as they raced down the front stairs. They threw open the front door and ran outside.

  My wakeup call had been delivered.

  More footsteps rushed up the back stairs. I jumped up on the bed, moving to the wall next to my door, pressing my back to the frame. I’d gotten hit in the face once and I didn’t have a weapon. I was outmatched for speed and power by all of the guys, so it didn’t matter who it was. I hoped I could garner sympathy from my new assailant.

  The footsteps padded closer, slowed, and stopped behind the wall.

  I peeked out into the hallway.

  Luke peeked back in at me.

  His shirt was gone, too. His khaki shorts hung low on his hips. His tapered shoulders were starting to get a little pink from sun. His longish blond hair was soaked, tied back with a clip he’d probably borrowed from me. He grinned down at me, his brown eyes brightening.

  “About time you got up,” he said. He stepped back, holding out a second Super Soaker gun. Pink. “Look what the Kota fairy got us.”

  I grinned. Kota bought us new toys. I took the pink gun from Luke, holding it in my hands and feeling the weight.

  “I’m going to run out the front door,” Luke said. “Head out the back and around the house. I’ll try to get their attention. You do that super silent thing
you do and sneak up on them.”

  “Okay.” I didn’t know what he was talking about. What super quiet thing? Tiptoeing?

  I raced back to my bookshelf, snatching up a hair clip to twist back my hair. I checked my clothes: soft gray shorts and a light pink bra cami tank top. I was decent enough for water guns.

  I ran down the back steps, listening as Luke did the same in the front and headed out the door. I would have to hurry.

  I ran past the side door, flew through the family room and unlocked the back door out onto the screened-in back porch.

  The morning greeted me with a wave of thick heat. A basketball was bouncing in the driveway and there was the echo of shuffling tennis shoes meeting the beige concrete. I closed the door behind me, jumping down the brick steps to land on the blue utility carpet.

  Silas’s tall, strong frame flew into view, nearly hovering as he stood on his toes over North in the driveway. North might have been a few inches shorter, but with the fierceness in his almost-scary face from his intense eyes and strong, two days unshaven jaw, you’d never know it.

  North clutched the basketball in his hand, avoiding Silas. Kota ran in, his black-rimmed glasses sliding down his nose, sweat making the hunter green T-shirt he wore stick to his back. North tossed him the ball. Derrick, a boy from up the road, raced after Kota, trying to block him as Kota aimed for the basket and tried to get off a shot. Derrick was probably the same size as Kota, and wore only a pair of cut off jean shorts that hung low on of his hips, revealing a trace outline of dark boxers underneath. Derrick was deeply tanned from long days spent outdoors all summer. He was a new face, though, as he hadn’t been there all week, when the other boys had. Word must have gotten out that the house was no longer a place to stay away from.