Love's Cruel Redemption (The Ghost Bird Series)

by C. L. Stone

  I examined what I’d written. Somehow writing out the concept had me examining the boundaries. What was okay? What wasn’t? This got complicated, depending on the guy. Luke might say everything was okay, and Kota...were hugs too much for him?

  And Nathan. Kota and Nathan asking Lily about me, making sure I was okay with this.

  My heart surged at thinking about it. Happy.

  They wanted this.

  They wouldn’t bother to go this far without wanting it. They were trying.

  My eyes teared a bit, relief flooding over me. The few I’d been most worried about, the ones the others were worried about not going along with it...

  They were trying.

  For me.

  I swallowed my emotions back, trying to calm myself. It didn’t surprise me at all Nathan and Kota wanted to make absolutely sure.

  I would have done the same. I was doing it every time I was around them. Checking in. Testing the waters. Waiting to talk about it with them.

  Suddenly, the speakers overhead announced, “Would Nathan Griffin and Sang Sorenson please come to the main office?” There were a barrage of other voices in the background of the announcement.

  I jumped at the sound of my name, dropping the pen. My heart raced.

  This was over. Our job at the school was over.

  We’ll Never Be the Same

  My name on the announcement seemed to echo in my ears over and over. I stuffed the book into my bag and left it near my seat. I went to the music room door and waited just inside it, anticipating being told to ignore it.

  I wouldn’t leave unless someone told me it was okay, but I kept on the lookout for someone to come back and tell me what to do. I reached for the door, wanting to peek out.

  Before I opened it, Kota was back. He held the door open, his eyes wide and calculating.

  “What now?” I asked. “Why are we getting asked to come in?”

  “I don’t know,” Kota said. He pulled out his phone, letting the door swing shut behind him. He tapped out some messages and then nodded slowly. “They’re saying go. I guess it’s safe.”

  My heart raced. I wasn’t supposed to be called in at all. I was supposed to stay away. “What does it mean?”

  He picked his head up and with more confidence, he smiled. “It wouldn’t happen unless it’s okay for it to happen. Something must be going on.” He urged me to come with him.

  I followed him into the hallway. There was little interest in us from other students until we got closer to the main office.

  Nathan was waiting by the door, just outside next to the police officer. He approached me when I came close. He checked in quietly with Kota before looking back at me, a questioning eyebrow raised.

  I had no answers, silent or otherwise. We were here. We needed to see what they wanted.

  Kota remained outside, pausing to talk to the officer guarding the door.

  I kept shoulder to shoulder with Nathan once we were inside. The the waiting area in front of the main desk was crowded with parents and students. We had to elbow our way to the front. I tried to ignore the gazes of other parents and students hanging around nearby. I’m sure to parents, we looked rather curious with our uniforms.

  The woman behind the desk took one look at me and pointed to the hallway on my left. “Principal’s office for you.” She noted Nathan as well and pointed the opposite direction. “Dr. Green’s waiting for you in his office.”

  She knew our faces better than I realized. The mention of the principal’s office had my heart pumping wildly.

  Nathan seemed to hesitate, his blue eyes and grim expression telling me how tense he was.

  I waved my hand to him, urging him to go on. We couldn’t talk about it here, anyway, but whatever was happening, no one would let me go in at this point unless it was absolutely okay to do so.

  I trusted them.

  My calm expression and urging seemed to motivate him to go through with it. He reached out to me, squeezing my hand gently once in an encouraging way. He turned away and walked into the right hallway.

  I took the left.

  The hall itself was full of people, some waiting outside of office doors. Most doors were open. The occasional policeman shuffled his way from room to room. Men and women in business suits walked around as well. I think they were lawyers. I didn’t recognize them as faculty here.

  The principal’s office was at the end of the hall. The door was open.

  Not wanting to interrupt, I approached slowly, staying out in the hallway and peeking in.

  Mr. Blackbourne stood by the big desk. He held a notepad with a clipboard and appeared to be jotting down notes. Next to him, sitting in the principal’s chair, was the mayor of Goose Creek. He wore a light gray suit with a blue tie. His gray hair was thinning on top and along the temples. I’d forgotten his name in the moment of nervousness but he’d helped us out before. He was opening files, looking over notepads from Mr. Hendricks’s desk. Next to him was another man, wearing a dark blue suit and a short red tie. He was middle aged, with a trim beard. He pulled files from a cabinet.

  With the three of them crowded behind the desk, it looked like they’d gotten into the flow of pulling apart everything in the office. There were stacks of files covering the desk. Floor space had been used for stuff that had been on the desk before. There was an empty space where the computer had been.

  The mayor spotted me first and motioned to the chair. “Oh, yeah. There you are. Come in. Have a seat.”

  Mr. Blackbourne looked up absently from his note taking, looking once in my direction. His face was unreadable, simply calm. Taking his example, I sat down in the seat across the desk, crossed my legs at the ankles and waited.

  The mayor slid his fingers over a file he already had open. As he read, his lips moved a bit, forming shapes but not actual words. After a minute of this, he spoke. “Just one second. Don’t want to lose...” He flipped a page and then read from it. “Nothing in this one. Just notes about faculty meetings, but it all seems normal.”

  Mr. Blackbourne made a note anyway.

  The mayor flipped the folder closed and then set it on a stack of other folders nearby. He folded his fingers together, palm to palm and then leaned forward on the desk. “So, Miss Sorenson. You’re mentioned a lot in these notes. Do you want to talk about why Mr. Hendricks was so interested in you?”

  My eyes drifted from him to Mr. Blackbourne.

  He spoke without looking up from his note taking. “Mr. Hendricks was on to her about being one of mine from the start.” He looked up briefly. From behind his glasses, the gray eyes glinted steely. “She reported back to me often about his barrage of questioning. Some of it crossing the line of interest a principal should have.”

  I nodded vigorously, taking his direction. He was telling me it was okay to admit what was going on. The mayor I had suspected might be Academy, but I couldn’t be absolutely sure. Who was the other man? “He threatened me a lot with failing grades and detentions and other things to tell him about what Mr. Blackbourne and the others were up to. Sometimes to talk about myself and where I was at times off school property. Sometimes he sent teachers to my house to watch me in their cars...”

  The mayor bobbed his head up and down like he’d heard this one before. His eyes were kind and he kept a small smile on his face, like we were having a pleasant afternoon chat. “That’s all over, as of now. You’re not the only one telling me about his lording over the place like a tyrant.” He sighed and then sat back, putting a palm over his mouth shortly as he was thinking. He removed it and then put his palm to his cheek, shaking his head. “I don’t think we need to be here any longer.”

  “We need to complete this. We started it,” said the man in the blue suit.

  I looked at him shortly, and then returned my gaze to the mayor, who spoke. “Oh, did I not introduce him? This is Principal Graves. He’s in charge of the middle school. The one a few blocks away.” He waved in a direction although I wasn’t familiar
with what he was talking about. “Thought he could be of some help over here given he’ll know the paperwork and set up a bit.”

  Mr. Graves spoke without looking up from studying the files. “All the same paperwork, just in different places.” He paused, looking closer at another file and opening it to check the contents. “A few additions here and there.”

  The mayor leaned forward again and put his elbows on the desk. He focused on me. “Between you and me, it’s a hell of a time to be doing this.”

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “Despite the investigation, we’ve got to keep this school running,” he said. He waved over to Mr. Blackbourne. “Unless Mr. Hendricks is found and he has some sort of reasoning behind all of this chaos.”

  “Doubt it,” Mr. Graves said. “After everything I’ve heard...”

  The mayor continued. “I’ve no choice but replace a lot of the faculty.” He sighed heavily and looked over to Mr. Blackbourne. “I hate asking you to step up like this.”

  “It’s not a problem,” Mr. Blackbourne said. He looked up, focusing on the mayor. “I’ll schedule myself for a crash course starting tomorrow. Even if he is found, we were down a vice principal anyway.”

  My jaw dropped open, but I quickly fixed it before anyone noticed.

  Mr. Blackbourne was replacing Hendricks.

  “You were practically doing the job anyway,” Mr. Graves said. “I can help you through the training and certification.”

  My skin electrified, both with excitement and also fear.

  He was the best choice.

  He was the worst choice. We’d taken risks with our relationship in the past. Like the other morning, waking up together in Victor’s house.

  If he was the principal...what did that mean for us?

  But the school needed it. The team needed it. If this happened, if Hendricks was replaced due to things besides the money, the money possibly wouldn’t be touched by continuing the unofficial investigation. We still had time to find it and put it back without a police investigation that could take forever.

  “But you see my need for an emergency increased budget,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “We’re short several busses and faculty. And some other things.”

  “Good luck finding them mid-year,” Mr. Graves said and then paused in his folder searching as he looked up at him. “I don’t suppose your school has some extra people.”

  “Hm,” Mr. Blackbourne said and then just the flicker of his smile started in the corner. “You know, I know a few people. And I could call a few out of retirement as well. Just for a short few months until we get this straightened out.”

  “You’ll have everything you need,” the mayor said. He returned his attention to me. “I hear your school year is a bust, right?”

  The whole turn of events from dire into something good made my insides tickle, and I giggled. I tried to suppress it, and it ended up in a chuckling snort. It sounded rude and I covered my mouth in surprise. “Sorry. I didn’t mean...”

  He laughed and shook his head. “Yeah, I know what you meant. You aren’t the only one. There are a lot of students who were basically out of class all year. Asking them to get back into it, behind everyone else... That’s unfair.”

  “I’m pretty sure she can test out of those classes anyway,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “I had her studying ahead in the first semester to help me out.”

  “Right,” said the mayor. He pointed a bony finger at me. “I’m going to take his word for it and let him give you passing marks on everything if you’ll do me a favor and help him out the rest of the school year.”

  Mr. Blackbourne looked up, blinking rapidly and then spoke. “You want her to be my...assistant?”

  “For heaven’s sake, Owen,” the mayor said, and he twisted in the chair so he could face him. But his face was bright, positive. “You’re a nineteen-year-old taking over as principal for a school. That’s the career jump of a lifetime. Don’t question me like she can’t take the opportunity. Like she can’t do the job. She’s only what, two years younger than you? You just told me she’s bright and capable.”

  Mr. Blackbourne’s lips did a weird thing, like he was fighting off one of his smiles but also horrified. “Not exactly what I meant.”

  “You’re so short staffed, you’ll need all the extra hands you can get,” Mr. Graves said. He put down a stack of folders on top of the file cabinet he was working from and looked over at me. “Look, I can’t stay here all day and look through this. I’ve got to get back to my own school. Help Owen with going over this material. I think we’ve got enough to suspend Hendricks right now without doing any more digging.”

  “You’re right,” the mayor said and stood. “I’ve got to go over where I’m going to get the money for this. I need to know how much is needed.”

  “I’ll work on it,” Mr. Blackbourne said.

  “Just write down the minimum to get this place up to code for now,” Mr. Graves said. “Emergency up front. And if you go over any more material that might be important to the investigation, set it aside. I’ll go over it and then send it on to the police.”

  There was a gentle knock at the door. The lady who had been at the front desk poked her head in. “I need Mr. Graves for a minute.”

  “I’m coming along,” Mr. Graves said. He motioned to me to take over where he was. “I’ll get Mr. Blackbourne started with you. Just go through all the files here. Anything suspicious, set aside. Anything that looks normal, don’t worry about it, refile it. I’ll help you all comb through it later.”

  “Will do,” Mr. Blackbourne said.

  The mayor tapped his fingers on the desk and rose. “I’ve got some paperwork to do.” He crossed the room to the door. “Counting on you two,” he said as he left. Mr. Graves left as well.

  The door remained open, so we could possibly be heard, and rather than saying anything, I shared a look with Mr. Blackbourne.

  Principal’s replacement. I’m his assistant.

  The one question I wanted to ask and couldn’t: how in the world did he manage to weasel in like he did, the best place to be in the school for what they were going after?

  The steel glint in his eyes turned into something more silver. Ample pride flooded his face. He couldn’t tell me. But he did it.

  One Down, All Down

  Nathan

  Nathan swiveled back in forth in Mr. Blackbourne’s chair. With no one being in the office at all when he arrived, he waited.

  He checked in on Sang once, just to be sure. He used one of the laptops left in their office. Mr. Blackbourne, the mayor and someone else was in there with her. With Mr. Blackbourne covering the situation, Nathan was pretty sure things were okay, even if he had no idea what was going on.

  After what felt like ten minutes, there was a gentle knock at the door and then it opened.

  Dr. Green poked his head in, spotted Nathan quickly, scanned the area and then came in, closing the door.

  “You don’t need to knock for your own office,” Nathan said. He stilled his swinging, stopping short with his knee butted up against the desk. “It’s your office.”

  “Today, there are strange people in other people’s offices,” Dr. Green said. He placed a messenger bag on his desk.

  “I think they’re policemen. And lawyers.”

  “Yeah. Aren’t they strange?” He sat down and rolled his head back. He stretched his legs until he was almost laying down in his chair. “The good news is with all the police and other people walking around, all the students seem to be on their best behavior. I’ve not gotten anyone to pay attention so well to whatever I ramble on about in classes.”

  “Did you call me down here?” Nathan asked. “Why was I called in?”

  “I don’t know,” Dr. Green said. “It might be to avoid Sang looking like she was the only one called in.”

  “What’s she doing in there, anyway?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve been in class.” Dr. Green sat up and then smoothed his hands
down the front of his shirt and tie. He combed his fingers through his hair. “Do I look okay? Is she going to come in here?”

  “Who?”

  “Future Mrs. Green,” he said. When Nathan gave him a weird look, he continued. “Sang! Who do you think I’m talking about?”

  A weird twist of emotions sprouted from inside Nathan all at once. “Do you call her that?”

  Dr. Green chuckled. “Not behind her back. I’ve said it to her. I think I like it even better than Pookie.” He sighed wistfully. “Don’t you just love it when she gets all bashful? I like the pink in her cheeks.”

  Dr. Green couldn’t get married to her. What was he talking about?

  There was another short knock before Nathan could explain why it was weird.

  The door opened and North checked in. He’d shaved, and his hair was combed back. His dark eyes met Nathan’s first and then went to Dr. Green. Seeing they were the only ones in the room, he came in, closing the door behind himself.

  Thank goodness. Nathan sat up sharply. He’d heard he was fine, but seeing it for himself was another thing. “Good to see you made it out.”

  Dr. Green turned to him, eyebrow cocked. “Something happen in those offices?”

  North’s tone was dark, but calm. “The police asked about keeping the Jeep. Well, they didn’t ask. They’re keeping it. But they were polite about it.”

  “Let them keep it,” he said. “Don’t fight with them on it.”

  “That’s what the lawyer said. I don’t like kowtowing to their whims when they’ve no need to bring it in at all. No one died in it.” He crossed his arms and leaned against the door. He pushed a palm at his eyes and rubbed as he turned to Nathan. “What are you doing in here?”

  “No idea,” Nathan said. “I got called down. No one was in here.”

  “So what’s Sang doing in the principal’s office?” he asked.

  Dr. Green slid his chair behind his desk, picking up his bag and opening it. “Mr. Blackbourne’s in there. Don’t worry about her.”

  “What do you mean don’t worry about her?” North barked. “She shouldn’t be in there.”