Love's Cruel Redemption (The Ghost Bird Series)

by C. L. Stone

  Kota checked his phone for the time. Leaning into Victor, he whispered, “Bell’s going to ring soon.”

  Victor kept his gaze on the woman and another window that he had off to the side, something filled with numbers and buttons. “I’ve got her marked for observation,” he said softly. “But it’ll be better just to talk to her. She seems willing.”

  “Part of the plan,” Kota said. “We expected dissention.”

  “This was planned?” I asked. “What’s next?”

  Victor turned his eyes on me with a wild look that sparked a flame. “Over the edge,” he said. “Let his own network fall into chaos. Drive him out.”

  “How?” I asked.

  He turned a little, put his arm on the piano top to lean against and smiled. “You want to help?”

  I nodded repeatedly. Of course I did. This was the group’s job. I was part of the group.

  “I don’t know if now is a good time,” Kota murmured.

  “She’s one of us,” Victor said. “And she’s perfect.” He turned his attention back to me. “You don’t have to go alone, but you should be visible to Mr. Hendricks around school. Make him feel uncomfortable, like you’re watching him.”

  “Play his own game?” I asked. “Like how he has us watched?”

  “Exactly,” he said. “I’ll give you an earpiece. You come here during class times. But any time between classes or at lunch, you stay in view. Make it very obvious you’re watching him. But if he confronts you...”

  “Don’t let him,” Kota said a little too sharply. He turned to check if he was too loud. He lowered his tone and then leaned into Victor and me. “Don’t ever let him approach you. Ever. Never go somewhere that he can corner you. You don’t even talk to him. Just make him uncomfortable.”

  “It might be good your sister isn’t here,” Victor said. “This might be good timing.”

  “We’ll have to concoct a way to keep Marie away from school until we can figure out how to get her out. And we don’t know what that means for you,” Kota said.

  I didn’t have a problem with Marie getting out. Danielle worried me more. “What about Danielle?”

  “She’s still sixteen. Legally, she can’t yet. So we’ll have to come up with something else, or help her change her mind.”

  What would she tell her parents when they found out she dropped out of school, anyway? Or did she expect to go to the Academy school we pretended to go to?

  Only, she didn’t strike me as the academic type, either.

  I observed the monitoring of Ms. Johnson, leaning into Victor as I watched. Victor’s hand reached out to mine, his pinkie brushing the back of my hand as we stood together.

  I kept my attention on the laptop, but I turned my hand, hooking my pinkie into his. In a way, it was like Victor was supporting me, telling me with a touch whatever happened, he was with me. I believed him.

  I wished I felt as confident about the others. It would make concentrating on Ms. Johnson and Hendricks a whole lot easier. I realized then why they often said family first, Academy second as a rule. It was probably why Mr. Blackbourne was eager to help us get a house.

  But Hendricks was in the way of that.

  It made me more determined to take him down.

  I Spy

  I listened to the first class bell when students were in the hallways trying to get to where they needed to go. It was odd not to be shuffling off to a classroom. Homeroom would only take a short time. Victor kept an eye on Mr. Hendricks and gave me an earpiece.

  Dr. Green had hung up on us by then. Mr. Blackbourne took over, coming back to where we were at the piano. “Mr. North and Mr. Luke Taylor,” he said, “I need you both following Ms. Johnson from this point on. Make sure to be nearby at all times during school. We’ll set up a rotation. Keep us in touch. I want to know who follows her.”

  Luke and North immediately headed for the door. No questions. The efficiency of the team always impressed me. I’d gotten to admire when Mr. Blackbourne used their formal names. It wasn’t just that Southern culture, what I heard from people when we were out. It showed exactly how much he respected other people. The others did similarly on occasion, and always did so for him.

  “Mr. Coleman, let’s put you with Dr. Green. I don’t want anyone on our team alone. Join his classes.”

  Gabriel clapped his hands together. “Yeah! Time to learn some Japanese.” He pointed a finger at Victor’s face. “Going to catch up with you.”

  “Good luck,” Victor said with a smirk.

  As Gabriel was walking out, Mr. Blackbourne turned to the rest of us. “Mr. Korba,” he said. He paused, and then pressed a finger to his chin.

  “Shouldn’t he come with me?” I asked. “I need someone with me, and we’re already dating here, aren’t we?”

  “I was going to go with you,” Kota said. “But...”

  “I’ve got her,” Silas said. “We’re just walking around between classes. Better if I go.”

  Kota pressed his lips together and nodded. “Watch her back.”

  “Watch mine,” Silas said.

  We were given ear pieces, and Victor tested the volume levels.

  Before we left, Mr. Blackbourne was speaking with Nathan.

  “I think you’ll be going with me,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “We’ll keep to the main offices.”

  Nathan gazed a few times my way while I was being outfitted with the ear piece but he nodded in agreement with Mr. Blackbourne.

  I found it difficult to focus after noticing it. I felt he needed to talk. When he hugged me after he arrived, somehow it made me feel better. Like he had a plan to help with Erica and he was just doing what he had to but that everything would be okay.

  Still, I sensed something was off. I couldn’t place it. It wasn’t in every look. It was just a feeling.

  ♥♥♥

  Later, Silas and I were standing together just outside the office. Silas had his back to the wall. He still wore the jacket but it was open. The tie was knotted now. I faced him, talking to him, hopefully seeming to other people like this was not staged.

  I kept looking at my uniform. The skirt was keeping me warm where it covered, but my legs were cold. The building seemed chilly to me. Everything was in gray tones except the patch, and that kept catching my eye for some reason, like the spot of color was something off in the clothing.

  Silas reached out, picking up my chin from looking down at my outfit again. “I can’t tell if you like it or hate it, but you’re fussing with it a lot.”

  “Getting used to it, I think.”

  “Hopefully you won’t need to wear it, unless you want, for too long. Took a while to get used to a uniform for me, too. But we do this right, we won’t have to continue to wear them.” He smirked. “But I won’t complain if you keep the skirt.”

  Heat radiated through my cheeks. He didn’t often comment on my clothes, not as much as the others, but he always let me know the pieces he absolutely liked.

  Maybe I’d wear the skirt more...

  Silas started up talking about the weather in hushed tones. He sometimes looked behind me, toward the office. On occasion, students walked by, either in from the front door to head into the office, or out from homeroom in the same direction. Some of them gazed our way but then seemed more interest in me wearing the outfit than in what we were actually doing.

  “When he steps out, I’ll signal,” he said. “You ready?”

  I nodded. My job was pretty simple. The worst possibility was he’d get mad, walk over and say something. Or try to call me into his office.

  But I wasn’t allowed to go. Not that I’d want to.

  It comforted me a bit. Before when I dealt with Mr. Hendricks, so much felt out of my control. Now I knew what the others knew. I felt confidence now. We were in control of the situation. I wasn’t at risk.

  It made a huge difference to me.

  “By the way, I’m sorry about what I said in there,” Silas said quietly.

  I looked u
p at him. His attention had turned to me. “What do you mean?”

  “I wasn’t thinking about you,” he said. “I mean not...I thought you all meant that we should all move in together right away.”

  “You don’t want to?”

  “I want to,” he said. “But my dad...With my brother gone, I’m all that’s left right now.”

  “Oh,” I said. Things had been so horrible for Charlie with his wife dying and now his oldest son away from him, in therapy. And I knew he missed Greece. “I’d forgotten about Luke and North, too. With them and Uncle...”

  “We were all going to move on eventually,” Silas said. He reached out, putting a big hand on my shoulder and massaging it. “But you are right. You do need a place. And Gabriel and Victor, I think. Victor needs out.”

  “Is it getting worse?” I asked.

  “It’s getting to him worse,” he said. “Sometimes when you’re on the cusp of almost out, you get antsy, you feel it. He’s starting to snap back at his dad. It’s good he’s standing up to him, but I don’t want to see what Mr. Morgan is like when he’s pushed. I don’t want to make it harder on Victor.”

  “So we do need a place. But it doesn’t mean we all have to move in at the same time.”

  He nodded but then the bell rang before he could speak. His attention returned to the office.

  There was a whisper in my ear. “We should go house hunting,” Victor said.

  My heart jolted. I should have realized he could hear us. I nodded, wondering if he could see me, but didn’t say anything as the throng of students suddenly appeared around us.

  He didn’t seem to mind us talking about him. I was still getting used to how open they were with things going on in their lives.

  We remained where we were, continuing talking about the weather or commenting on random things.

  We caught Mr. Blackbourne and Nathan going into the main offices, walking in. I wondered if they planned to do similar to what we had done earlier, just go in, wait and then leave.

  At some point, Silas motioned to me.

  I readied myself, held my breath, put on the most serious face and turned.

  I locked my eyes on Mr. Hendricks leaving the office.

  I stared him down until he sensed it and gazed our way.

  We did nothing but look at him. We didn’t move. We just monitored. And we made it obvious we were watching.

  Mr. Hendricks dipped his hand into his pocket, pulling out a cell phone, and walked on down the hall. He pushed buttons on his phone. He turned once, looking back at us.

  We kept our gazes on him.

  He turned immediately and picked up the pace.

  When he was out of sight, I let go of the breath I was holding and refocused on Silas. “Now what?”

  “Victor will tell us where we need to go,” he said. He relaxed his shoulders and took to monitoring the students filing past. “Let’s stay out of trouble until...”

  “Hey!” a familiar voice called to us. We turned to spot Rocky and Jay coming around the corner, heading right for us. Rocky flashed a sarcastic grin. He had an angled face and broad shoulders, and walked a little straight legged, more like swaggering his hips. Jay seemed placid, his smooth head and stern looks reminding me of a young Vin Diesel.

  Silas grumbled but he waved shortly at the two of them. “Yo,” he said.

  “Haven’t seen you around, man,” Rocky said. He reached a hand out, offering it to Silas. “You avoiding us after the season ended?”

  Silas shook his hand and then Jay’s. It was an odd scene. I couldn’t help picturing Rocky and Silas in a fight on my front lawn, and all the times we’d clashed. Rocky had been messing with some very harsh drugs. Before, I’d disliked him a lot, but once I’d experienced the type of drug he’d been taking, I sympathized. I didn’t fully blame him for all of his actions. I knew how powerful those drugs could be and how it affected his behavior.

  “Been busy,” Silas said. He winked at me. “She wanted to sign up for the school we’re in. Was helping her out.”

  True.

  “Wow,” Rocky said, raising an eyebrow. “Rocky’s girl getting into uniform.” He nodded and gazed at my outfit. “I approve.”

  Silas shot him a look. Exactly what North warned him about, only I didn’t really want to punch him. That’d make it worse.

  Jay elbowed him hard. “God, you’re an asshole.”

  “I’m joking,” Rocky said sharply but then changed and refocused on Silas. “Hey, if you’re into it, the baseball team could use some new people.”

  I brightened at this. Silas loved baseball.

  Silas shrugged. “I’ll have to see if I have time.”

  “Do it,” Rocky said. “Come on, man. We need someone who doesn’t suck. Fifty players and no one can hit a damn ball.”

  Silas raised an eyebrow. “Are you serious? That’s how many are on the team?”

  “Yeah, it’s ridiculous,” Jay said. “It’s worse than football tryouts or the cheerleaders. They let anyone on whatever team. I doubt they cut anyone.”

  “That’s...really inclusive of them,” Silas said.

  “Not really,” Jay said. “Everyone knows coaches will fudge your grades if you’ll sign up. So everyone wants on.”

  “Makes it impossible to do away games,” Rocky said. “Or to stay organized. Usually it is the same star players actually playing. The rest are benched.”

  “And never enough bench,” Jay muttered.

  Rocky started moving on and Jay followed, only he looked back at me, his eyes a bit curious about the outfit as he looked at it before meeting my eyes. There was a slight nod. I couldn’t tell if he liked the uniform look or if he was telling me he liked the idea of me getting in with their school. Was he impressed?

  “Hey, you two,” Victor said. “Go ahead and go into the main office with Mr. Blackbourne. But check in at the front desk. He’s heading back.”

  The halls were thinning out. The bell would ring soon.

  We left our post and crossed the hallway. Silas held the door open for me and I waited for him.

  He led the way to the front desk. I wasn’t sure how we were supposed to check in, so I was hoping he’d know what to do.

  He positioned himself in a short line of other students waiting to sign in at the front desk. I wasn’t sure what they were signing for, but it took at least a minute for them to do it. And then after, the woman behind the counter checked their signature, and then signed a slip.

  I realized it was people who had arrived late and needed a hall pass to get to a class that was possibly too far to walk to get to in time. But the longer we stood there, more people got into line behind us.

  They weren’t getting in late. They couldn’t get to class on time so they got a pass just from going from class to class. Either on purpose because they lingered in a hallway, or they legitimately couldn’t get to class on time.

  But the teacher didn’t bother to check in with them about why they were there. So many came in that she was signing slips before she checked the name and marked something on the paper.

  Silas tapped me on the shoulder, and I turned in time to find Mr. Hendricks coming in the door. I zeroed in on him.

  Until I noticed he was leading Karen in with him.

  I lost my focus as Karen turned and saw me, an eyebrow going up when she recognized me.

  It had been a while since I saw her. Her pixie-cut hairstyle was the same. She wore sport pants and a tank shirt, with a hoodie over it. She carried a bookbag. She questioned me with a look.

  I questioned her, too. What did Mr. Hendricks want with her?

  I redirected my attention to the principal. I made sure to focus.

  But he ignored me completely. He marched across the room, with Karen ahead of him, and directed her to his office.

  Culprit

  Silas hand signaled to me to leave the line, and we went to the hallway on the right. No one stopped us.

  We hurried down the hallway to Mr. Blackb
ourne’s office.

  Nathan and Mr. Blackbourne were inside, at the desks, with Nathan taking over Dr. Green’s.

  Silas went to look over Mr. Blackbourne’s shoulder.

  I went to Nathan.

  His attention shifted to me quickly. When I turned to check out what he was doing, he reached up and placed a hand at the small of my back, holding me next to him while he focused on the monitor.

  We were watching Ms. Johnson. Mr. Blackbourne must be watching Karen and Mr. Hendricks. I wanted to know what was going on, but I also didn’t want to leave Nathan.

  Nathan made small circles with his fingertips at my back. “Went okay?” he asked quietly.

  I nodded. I didn’t want to interrupt the others. I was aware Victor was listening, too. Things happened really quickly and there was so much I wanted to talk to him about, but we needed to focus.

  Academy work was frustrating at times.

  Unable to do much else, I put an arm around Nathan’s shoulder and just waited.

  But there wasn’t much going on with Ms. Johnson. She was in class. I noticed a section of desks where four of us previously sat and attended the class. It felt like ages ago. Part of me still anticipated homework. I never imagined a time when things like grades and tests didn’t matter to me anymore. It was hard to shake.

  Silas picked his head up and cocked an eyebrow, looking across at me. “He claims she’s in for breaking into lockers.”

  I made a face. “When?”

  “Apparently during homeroom,” he said.

  “There’s no report of such a thing,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “There was no way for him to know this.”

  “An excuse?” I asked. “To bring her in?”

  Silas spoke, “He’s threatening calling the cops. A lot of bluff.”

  “He wouldn’t dare,” Nathan said. “What’s he want?”

  “How is she?” I asked.

  “She’s glaring at him,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “She’s tough. I don’t know if I believe this about the lockers, but there are a lot of students we don’t know about.”