First Kiss: The Ghost Bird Series: #10 (The Academy Ghost Bird Series)

by C. L. Stone

  I did my best to balance the coffee while I walked and tried to open up the burrito. For some reason, I was thinking potatoes, maybe eggs... No, she’d said it was vegan; do vegans eat fake eggs? What’s even in fake eggs?

  The outside of the wrap revealed nothing to me. All I could smell was tortilla bread smell.

  I took a bite and got a mouthful of spinach, black beans, and mashed avocado.

  I rolled the food around my mouth as I walked, working to get the full flavor and textures. Different. I had to give it a chance.

  But the more I chewed, slowly, tasting the flavors together, the more I didn’t like it.

  There was something spicy inside that I hadn’t noticed right away but grew hotter as I chewed. My eyes watered. I worked to swallow it quickly.

  I rewrapped the burrito and tucked it under my arms so I could go for the coffee, taking a sip. It was cold, and slid down easy, but had a bitter aftertaste, or maybe was mixing with the burrito in a way that was overpowering. I wanted to go back and brush my teeth just to get the flavors out.

  How could they eat this? Suddenly, I was craving oatmeal, even though I’d never had it. I’d eat anything that wasn’t so spicy. I missed my mocha coffee.

  The other two powered on, glancing back at me on occasion but mostly talked about the weather, how cold it had been last night.

  I either had to find a trash quickly or somehow manage to swallow the food.

  I tried another bite but then had to wash it down with the coffee. By then, I was down to half a coffee.

  I considered starving instead.

  I was so focused on looking for a trash can that I hadn’t registered when I followed them down a path I was unfamiliar with. Suddenly I was hearing voices, more than just the boys, even if I couldn’t see anyone at the moment.

  We came to a gathering area, where there were rows of wooden benches, tiered on a slope, all facing the lowest area. At the bottom—the stage, I assumed—was a fire pit that contained a small campfire. Trees surrounded the area, so the place felt sheltered and secluded.

  But what hit me wasn’t the setup of the area, but that there were hundreds of people, talking, and moving around, finding places to sit. They had been masked by the hill before, and now their voices were overwhelming. Most were already seated while a handful was working their way down to empty seats available.

  “Good, it didn’t start yet,” Taylor said. She scanned the area.

  I looked around, too, and found a trash can at the edge of the seats. I slipped away from Taylor, crunching the burrito in my hands in the foil, pretending I was done with it and hoping they wouldn’t notice there was more than half left. I tossed it and then downed the last of the coffee, eager to be finished with it.

  After I threw out the bottle, I turned and realized I had lost sight of April and Taylor.

  I scanned the open-aired theater for any signs that I was supposed to sit somewhere specific. People were sitting down and a small group had started toward the stage, engaged in conversation. They were older, and then I recognized Dr. Roberts among them, wearing brown pants, a white shirt, and a tie. Formal for camping, but still different since I’d only ever seen him in a doctor’s coat.

  I stopped focusing on him and was looking for the boys when there was a touch on my shoulder.

  I turned to face not one of the boys or even Taylor or April, but someone very familiar to me, though I didn’t recognize who he was until he spoke.

  He had different-colored eyes and brown hair that was longer in the front. “Hey, it’s the little doctor,” he said, a grin on his face. “I remember you.”

  In my panic, I couldn’t remember his name. He had to know I wasn’t a real doctor. Would he be upset to know a real doctor didn’t pull the nail out of his leg?

  Behind him stretched a group of guys, all bulky and including two that were really tall, maybe even taller than Silas. They all stood together looking uncomfortable.

  One of them stepped forward, a man wearing glasses with long dark hair hanging around his face. I remembered him: Mr. Toma. He’d talked to me before when I’d been with Mr. Blackbourne in the music room when Mr. Toma had been looking for someone. He scanned the area and then pointed.

  “There’s space for us down there,” Mr. Toma said.

  I’d been watching him and hadn’t noticed the guy in front of me holding out his hand. “I’m Marc, remember?”

  I nodded, shaking his hand. “Sorry,” I said. “I was just...looking...”

  “You’re with the doc, aren’t you?”

  Dr. Green! “Have you seen him?”

  “Not yet,” he said. He looked over his shoulder at his own group already starting down the path.

  I realized then that there was a girl among them. She was wearing a very bulky T-shirt and a loose pair of jeans and at first, I’d thought her to be a guy with long brown hair. As I looked closer, I saw she wore an angry expression, frowning deeply. She stomped in her boots as she followed her guys down the steps, to an area toward the front, close to the fire and the center staging area.

  “Come sit with us,” Marc said, moving back a half step to allow me to go in front of him. “It’s okay. Don’t we all split up after this part anyway?”

  He was speaking like I’d been here before. Maybe he really did assume I was Academy.

  I followed one of his team members—a bulky guy with a grizzly expression and a lip ring—down the steps. As I walked, I kept looking around, hoping to find the guys along the way.

  I spotted Taylor sitting near the center in the middle of a row, but a distance from us. I turned my head away so she wouldn’t see me. If I had to get put in another team for the week, I didn’t want it to be their group. They were nice, but I’d starve to death and suffocate in their tent.

  I sat at the end of the row, next to Marc. Their girl sat between Mr. Toma and the bulky grizzly guy. The two tall guys sitting on the other side looked alike, perhaps brothers, and somehow seemed familiar but I couldn’t remember how.

  They had a girl on their team?

  Four guys, one girl? Or five? As I looked down the row, I noticed another guy on the far side. He was black with dark brown hair but I couldn’t tell if he belonged to this team or the one on the other side of him. He had his arms crossed and appeared very displeased to be there and sat distanced from Marc’s team. Beyond him, the other team was made up of older, middle-aged men, so it made me think he was on Marc’s team, but didn’t like it. Maybe he was new.

  Marc’s team appeared to be all in their twenties as far as I could tell.

  Five guys, one girl. All on a team.

  Hadn’t Lily and the others said they spoke to other teams like ours, but none of them had seen it through? Was this one of them? Is that why they all had dour expressions?

  A sudden loud air horn sounded from the stage area, and Dr. Roberts waved his hands, getting everyone’s attention.

  An elderly, thin woman stood beside him, and I recognized her, although it took me a minute to place her. Mrs. Rose? She’d been in the hospital and had spoken in sign language to Dr. Green. She was the one who had tried to hack down a palm tree with a chainsaw and had fallen off a ladder.

  She seemed to have recovered fully. She was now holding the air horn and let out another short blast, grinning.

  People still standing shuffled to find seats quickly, settling down. It took a fraction of the time that it took students at any school assembly I’d ever been to. Everyone here became dead silent, respectful and ready to listen.

  Once everyone was seated, I could search the crowd easier. The majority of people were young—early twenties down to ten-year-olds at the youngest that I could see. There were plenty of adults, but most were young or middle-aged.

  Had they grown exponentially in recent years as they recruited new, young members? Or did older members fall out of the Academy and no longer participate? Maybe there was a retirement age?

  Dr. Roberts and Mrs. Rose took several steps
back, allowing an older, dark-haired man, with white patches at his temples, take center stage.

  He waved hello. “Welcome, everyone!” he said into a microphone, a huge speaker on the stage blaring out his voice. A few in the crowd waved back but everyone remained silent. “I am Mr. Duncan. My associates and I would like to welcome you to camp. Thanks for coming. I know we’re all anxious to get on with camp activities. I’m excited to let you all know we do have an arts and crafts section set up in a picnic area. Archery, hiking, fishing and some of the other usual activities: first-aid training, et cetera. are all available. You know the drill: do a circle around the camp, find a flag, it’ll take you to a station to learn something new.”

  A murmur rippled through the crowd and then everyone settled down.

  “There’s no need for appointments, or to even stay with your teams. This is your vacation, a chance to learn new things and even meet a few new people. You don’t need to try to get to everything, but I encourage you all to try something you’re not familiar with. You never know; you might find something new you enjoy.

  “We’ve got several new people, whom I want to welcome...”

  A thunderous applause erupted just then.

  The man with the microphone waved once and the crowd settled. “You can meet them all through the week,” he said. “I just wanted to say hello.”

  I was still scanning the crowd but didn’t see the guys. The Academy seemed bigger than Ashley Waters. How many people were here today? And how many hadn’t made it in?

  “New people, this is your chance to get to know us. You were invited to our Academy for a reason. You’re smart. You’re capable. You have a desire to help others. It’s that simple, folks. I know it looks complicated from the outside, but this is your chance to learn it from the inside. We’ll help you find your place and then we’ll all work together to help others.”

  “I don’t want to take up any more time unless we have any announcements?” He turned, looking at Dr. Roberts, who shook his head, but Mrs. Rose started signing at him. Her hands moved so fast and from this distance, I couldn’t make it out.

  “Oh, right,” the man said and turned once again to the audience. “Most of your team and family leads will be in the cabins as we need to go over new protocols and train new leads for the year. If you need them, find the cabins. Maps will be handed out to you as you leave here. Grab two. Remember the rule of two.”

  Rule of two? I didn’t know what that meant.

  Also, what he’d said meant Kota and Mr. Blackbourne might be gone for most of the day, perhaps the whole week unless Dr. Green took over for Kota...

  “Before everyone leaves,” he continued, “I need all the new people down here with us. We’d just like to say hello and get to know you.” He clapped his hands over his head and then spread them out. “I think that’s it. Emergency information is on the map. We’re all family here. Have fun.”

  Everyone stood, including me. My heart went into a panic as people started to move. Marc went to talk to their girl, who was angrily shaking her head and pointing to Mr. Toma.

  I knew I was expected down at the front, but I felt like I needed to locate someone familiar, like Kota. Looking around and not seeing him or any of the boys, I felt misplaced. Did I have to go down there by myself?

  “Miss Sorenson?” came a loud voice and then as I turned my head toward it, I recognized Dr. Roberts waving to me from the stage area to get my attention. He curled his finger at me. “Come on up here.”

  While he wasn’t one of the guys, I was grateful for the familiar face and scooted out of the seats.

  Then he pointed to the angry girl with Mr. Toma. “Miss Winchester. Would you please join us?”

  The girl frowned, said something to Mr. Toma, but then followed. But instead of going around, she walked along the benches, using them as steps to go down into the center. When she got to the end, she jumped off the first row and shuffled her way toward Dr. Roberts.

  I used the designated path and ended up beside her, watching at Dr. Roberts, while he looked behind us.

  I turned looked at the rest of the group assembling around me. Some of the girls were my age, and only two were older, one being the angry girl. The guys were varying ages, and there were many more of them than there were girls.

  There were at least fifty of us, standing together and waiting.

  I kept looking behind me, hoping for Kota or one of the others to find me.

  Then I recognized one of the people handing out maps at the very top of the hill, near the garbage cans: Silas. He had on a ball cap, but I was sure it was him. Maybe they hadn’t been sitting at all. Maybe they’d been stationed up there to pass out maps.

  I should have insisted I’d stay with Kota. I would have been with them and could have asked them so many things.

  Mr. Toma, Marc, and the rest of their team hadn’t moved, and sat on the benches together, all eyes on the angry girl—Miss Winchester. Waiting.

  Miss Winchester stood with her arms across her breasts, the T-shirt and bulky jacket she wore making her look frumpy. She was beautiful, with green eyes like mine, but hers were sharp and calculating like she could knife your soul or save it with just a look.

  I didn’t recognize any of the others.

  I still felt out of water, but I waited, trying to calm my panicked heart, knowing this might be my future with the Academy.

  ♥♥♥

  Mr. Duncan clapped his hands and we all turned and focused on him.

  He smiled. He had a broad body, wide shoulders, and a protruding stomach, but he was friendly-looking. The rest of his body looked strong and didn’t match his stomach. “Welcome,” he said. “I know you all must be really confused.”

  “Tell me about it,” one of the guys said. He appeared about my age and wore a dour expression. “I’ve got questions.”

  “Me, too,” one of the young girls said. She stood tall and put her hands on her hips. “Why are we here? And what are all these rules they can’t tell me about?”

  Mr. Duncan spread out his hands and smiled. “That’s what you’re all here to learn about, although it’s a lot to go over. You will be free to ask any questions you like.” When the dour guy started to open his mouth, Mr. Duncan cut him off with a hand wave. “Hang onto your questions for now until after we’re done here. We want to get to know you individually and have a discussion.”

  “If you all would get in a line,” Dr. Roberts said, stepping forward. “We want to know your name, where you are from. You might have met one of us before, but we’d like to introduce you all formally now.”

  Introductions. Formal ones. Like Mr. Blackbourne had said. I scanned the stadium again, seeing the others at the top, still handing out maps. Did I have to do this part alone? I thought they would be here. My hand fluttered up, and I touched my lower lip once, but then paused and hid my hands behind my back. I didn’t want to appear as nervous as I felt.

  I wished I’d had some warning. Perhaps Kota had stayed behind to tell me but wasn’t able to.

  I glanced over my shoulder and saw Miss Winchester’s team sitting away from her as well. A few other guy and girl teams were still in the stands, lingering and looking toward us. Maybe they were waiting to see what happened.

  I started getting into line when Dr. Roberts walked by and pulled me casually out by the elbow, giving me a handshake. “Hello there, familiar face.”

  As the line was assembling, I worried I was going to be late for something.

  Dr. Roberts ducked his head to catch my eye and kept a firm hold of my hand. “I have some more of those candies if you’d like one.”

  I almost said no thank you but then registered what he said. I nodded enthusiastically. He had no idea how much I needed something to get the taste of spicy avocado coffee out of my mouth.

  Dr. Roberts handed me a foil-wrapped strawberry cream candy he’d pulled from his pocket. I opened it quickly and popped it into my mouth, suckling at the flavor. It was a funn
y taste at first, but soon it washed away the old flavors, leaving only creamy strawberry. It was such a relief.

  Dr. Roberts glanced at the line again and then winked at me. “Sorry,” he said. “Looks like you’re last to get in line but don’t fret; last is not least here.”

  He walked toward the line, seeming to size up the others. He guided Miss Winchester from her spot in the middle to the back of the line, putting her at the very end before he walked away quickly.

  She gave him a glare before she pulled a strawberry candy out from her pocket, opened it and put it in her mouth. I hadn’t even seen Dr. Roberts give her one. Had he dropped it in her pocket, or given it to her earlier? She seemed surprised to see it.

  Why did he put her last in line?

  Actually, I realized he had held me up so that I was last in line. He’d been distracting me on purpose. He had placed Miss Winchester in front of me, though. I wondered about his reasoning as I followed the line down and got into place.

  The younger kids were at the front of the line, and since I was in the back, I didn’t hear much of what the group of adults were saying to them. They invited the first one in and the adults closed in around him—a young boy--speaking to him privately, but still within view of anyone who was paying attention.

  “This is so stupid,” Miss Winchester in a low voice. Her hands were in her jacket pockets, but even then, I could tell they were clenched, shoved far in. “Why not just tell us? Why separate us out?”

  Maybe it was procedure? Weren’t we supposed to trust that they were on our side? Maybe because she and I appeared to be older, we were being held back to wait. But that didn’t make sense either because there were another couple of girls and a few boys who could have easily been our age, and they were scattered among the other younger kids.

  I shifted from foot to foot, staring eagerly toward the front of the line. I smoothed down my hair, redoing it in the clip and straightened my sweater on my shoulders.

  Nothing eased my nerves and it was worse being at the back. I couldn’t hear what might be asked giving me time to prepare what to say.