House of Korba

by C. L. Stone

  “Let her follow,” Silas said. “She’s right. It might take two of us to hold him down if we need to. And I don’t want her sitting in the car alone in this neighborhood.”

  North grunted and then rolled his eyes. He made fists with his hands as he strolled forward. “Let’s get this over with,” he said, his voice deeper than before.

  My heart was beating fast. I followed behind both of them. Neither one had discussed what they were going to do. North walked beside Silas without a word, without a question. He was with him.

  We approached the church by the front door. North checked the handle, but it was locked. He pulled out a pocket knife and wedged the blade into the side of the lock and started to pry.

  It took a bit of work, but North managed to pull the front of the lock out, exposing the inside. He reached a finger in, yanked it, and then twisted the handle. “Damn idiots left an old lock,” he said. “These things don’t do shit.”

  “They’ll replace it with another crappy one later,” Silas said.

  “Not my building, not my problem,” North said.

  I lingered behind them as they entered the church. There was a small vestibule, where pamphlets sat on a table and flyers covered a bulletin board. This church was clearly still used.

  North and Silas took separate sides of a hallway. I followed North down the right. They stayed close to the walls as they approached different doors.

  North slowly turned a door handle, and opened it to find a small office. The next one was a classroom, also empty.

  “The policeman said the fires were started near the altar,” I whispered.

  “Making sure no one else is here,” North said. “And what the layout is. We don’t need him to run into another room and find a gun or a knife in there.”

  “Kitchen,” Silas said from the other side.

  “Lock it,” North said.

  Silas did and then returned. They locked all the other doors, too.

  “If he runs, I want him to not have anywhere to go but out,” North said.

  There was a set of double doors at the end, and I could only guess that was where the chapel part was.

  “Sang,” North said before he opened it, “I don’t want any arguments about this. Stay in the back. Don’t talk.” He pulled his phone from his back pocket and handed it to me. “Hold on to this for me. I’ll be back for it.”

  I nodded.

  “And use the damn red button on Kota. I know they’re still at the school, but this is more important.”

  I hesitated, because I knew the phones shocked.

  “Do it, Aggele,” Silas said.

  I nodded, pushing the button to turn on the phone, and then covered the glowing screen with my hand.

  North braced the handle and opened the door. It slid open quietly, and he opened it just enough that we could step inside.

  The huge chapel was filled with pews and smelled musty. North directed me to the last pew, to sit down. He put his finger to his lips for me to keep quiet.

  I did. I didn’t know how I could help Theo, and being not of his family, not having known he even existed for longer than a few days, I was probably the last person he wanted to hear from.

  Instead, I focused on North’s phone. I quickly found Kota’s app, hoped that he wasn’t holding his phone, and pushed the red button. It would send a text message with our GPS location. I crossed my fingers that we weren’t dragging him away from something that might be important after all.

  Silas and North walked side by side down the middle of the pews together. “Theo?” Silas called.

  There was a rustling, and the thin figure stood up from behind the altar.

  “Don’t run,” North said, holding up his palms.

  “Get out of here,” Theo said. He stayed behind the altar, not moving. I couldn’t see what was in his hands and was worried he might have something like a lighter or a weapon.

  The boys were two pews away from him before they stopped walking. “We just want to talk,” Silas said. “Were you setting the fires to the other churches?”

  “What do you care?” he asked.

  “Answer the question,” North said.

  Silas put a hand on North’s shoulder, looked at him and shook his head before letting go to walk forward slowly toward the altar. “You’re not in trouble,” he said. “But you’re going to go to jail if you get caught here.”

  Theo spoke in Greek, and while I didn’t understand a word, his tone was full of disgust.

  Silas responded. At first calm and then more adamant as Theo replied. The conversation continued this way for several minutes.

  I’d never heard Silas speak Greek for so long a time. It was amazing to me to hear him speak it now. I felt like I should have been nervous, but Silas spoke smoothly and calmly. Theo occasionally gave an intense response, but Silas was clearly telling Theo, in his own language, something he probably needed to hear.

  I held onto North’s phone, clutching it in my hands. I didn’t dare move. I didn’t want to interrupt.

  Theo, however, grew more agitated the more Silas spoke. Words flowed from his mouth, his rage escalating. I could tell from his tone and his gestures that he was cursing at Silas and telling him to go away.

  North suddenly started shouting, too. He pointed fingers at Theo. The echoes of their voices thundered through the chapel. North started marching toward the altar. Silas was going around. If Theo wasn’t going to come along willingly, they were going to pull him out.

  In a rush, Theo shoved his body up against the altar. He put his shoulder into it, and it started to topple on its stand. A moment later, it crashed to the ground.

  The altar exploded. Flames burst out of it. Instinct made me cover my eyes to block the onslaught of light.

  When I lowered my arm, North was on his back on the ground. The carpet below the stage was on fire and spreading. I couldn’t see Theo.

  Silas was slumped over one of the pews, trying to pick himself up.

  “Silas!” I cried out. My voice catching at the last note. I stuffed North’s phone into my bra and jumped over the end of the pew. “North!”

  Silas was shaking his head, holding his face, the rest of his body still. Was he hurt?

  North was stirring. I hurried to him, checking him over, until I noticed the flames were moving quickly, and the floor near his feet was already burning. I picked up a hymn book sitting in one of the pews, and tried to smash out the fire with it. I could get the book on top a piece of the fire to smother it, but dropping it gave air to the surrounding flames, spreading it.

  “No good,” Silas said, already on his feet. “Help him get out of here.”

  Where’s the fire extinguisher? I didn’t know where to start looking for one. I turned, wanting to offer to help North. I didn’t know how knocking over the altar had caused an explosion that had knocked them down, but the temperature had risen greatly and smoke was starting to fill my lungs. I gave up on the fire, turning back to North, grabbing his arm, trying to pull him up.

  Silas ran toward the stage, leaping over where flames were already at the front steps. Theo’s slow accelerant wasn’t that slow.

  I stalled, afraid Silas would get hurt, that Theo had something else that could burn or explode. Was there a way to get out that direction, behind the stage? There was an exit over the way we had come from, but not toward the back that I could see.

  North growled, coughed and did a sort of push up to start drawing himself up. “What the fuck was that?” he asked.

  “We have to get Silas,” I cried. “He went after Theo. We need to get them out.”

  North spit and then tugged my arm as he started toward the back of the church where we’d come in. “We need to go around.”

  My first instinct was to get North and Silas both out and to get away from the police.

  “We need to hurry! The police might get here and...”

  “Good!” North said. “About time!”

  “North...”

/>   “That motherfucker just tried to kill us, Sang,” he said. He shoved me forward and started hobbling behind me.

  When North kept falling behind, I went back and put myself under his arm. I wasn’t sure what was wrong with him, but he seemed to be having trouble walking on his left side. I supported the best I could. Using me as a brace, he moved a little faster.

  We worked our way outside to the parking lot. Once there, North dropped down, clutching at his leg. “Shit. Fucking shit... ungrateful dickhead.”

  “I have to go find Silas,” I said.

  North released his leg and grabbed my arm hard, tugging me until I was down on the ground next to him. “Oh no, you don’t. You’re not running in there...”

  “We can’t leave Silas alone!”

  “Silas can handle himself. You aren’t getting in the middle of it.”

  “Let me find them,” I said. “I’ll sneak in.” I pulled out North’s cell phone, starting it up.

  “What are you doing?” North boomed.

  I punched at Mr. Blackbourne’s app, and then immediately pressed down on the green button, emergency call.

  Mr. Blackbourne answered immediately. “What happened?”

  “North’s hurt,” I said. “Silas is inside after Theo. He started a fire.”

  “Kota’s on his way. Is North okay? Do we need to call an ambulance?”

  “We probably need Dr. Green, and I need to go after Silas. Stay with North.” It was an odd thing to tell Mr. Blackbourne what to do, but I felt if anyone could convince North that I should be going after Silas, he could.

  North held firm to the sleeve of my shirt. I passed him the phone, and he released one hand, keeping his grip on me. It was enough.

  I leaned over him, kissed his mouth quickly, and at the same time I was hoping to distract him, I twisted my arm to wrench my shirt, tearing at it. When he tried to make adjustments, I pulled free and made a run for it. I nearly slipped on the rocks to dash toward the church again.

  “Sang!” North cried, and it tore my heart to hear him sound so desperate.

  Around the other side of the church, there were additional doors. The fire was big enough that smoke was spilling from old cracks within the windows of the main chapel. The fire seemed to be contained there for now.

  I touched the door handle, checking for heat, and was surprised to find it unlocked.

  I opened it slowly, looking in.

  Theo and Silas were on the ground, struggling. Silas was on top of his brother, trying to hold onto him, but Theo was wild, thrashing. The dead look I’d seen before in his eyes gone.

  How could I have been wrong about Theo? This wasn’t the same person I had seen in the hallway and even earlier in the chapel when we first walked in. Instead, there was a savageness to him. He was like a wild dog cornered, in attack mode.

  They were shouting at each other in Greek and Silas occasionally slipped in something in English between punches.

  Theo hit back as they continued to struggle on the floor, seeming to not notice the fire starting to come in around them.

  “Silas!” I cried. “Let’s go!”

  Silas looked up, but when he did, Theo threw a punch at his nose. Silas reared his head, rolling aside a bit, pinching his eyes in pain.

  Theo didn’t stop. He lunged at Silas.

  I was about to run in, but before I could, a hand grabbed my shoulder and I was pulled back.

  “Theo!” cried a strong voice, heavily accented. I turned, surprised to see Charlie holding onto my shoulder, his focus on his sons.

  Theo didn’t stop, punching and kicking at his brother. Silas was holding his arms up, and occasionally threw a punch. He was big, and he was strong, but Theo was moving fast, and didn’t seem aware or care that he was bleeding from his nose and lip and around his knuckles, too.

  Charlie tugged me back until I was closer to the door and then charged in past me. He grabbed Theo by the shoulders, picking him up off Silas and tossing him to the ground in a heap.

  “Get off your brother!” he cried out.

  Theo screamed something back in Greek. He started to get up.

  “No,” Charlie said. He moved in the way of where Silas was getting up off the floor. He put his arms out, blocking off access. “You boys are going to be the death of me. You’re lucky his friend called to tell me the police are on their way.”

  Theo spoke again, still in Greek.

  “No,” Charlie said. He straightened then, and while Charlie was shorter than either of his boys, he was the authority in the room. Theo clenched his fists, bared his teeth, but didn’t go after his father.

  North was at the door now. He lunged at me and then shouted, “We need to get out!”

  It was Charlie and Silas that pulled Theo out, while North hobbled, carrying me.

  As we exited, Charlie continued shouting at Theo, “Do you want to go back to Greece? Fine. They’ll put you in prison. Is that what you want? You’ll be lucky if you don’t go to prison here. You deserve it.”

  Theo said something else and spit at him.

  After they got outside into the parking lot, Charlie released Theo and shoved him at Silas, who held onto Theo firmly.

  “I’ve told you,” Charlie said. He pointed a finger at Theo. “No more. I’ve heard nothing but excuse after excuse, and now here you are setting fires again. I’ve given you a chance. If you want to go back to Greece, you can go to Greece. If you go to jail here, or if you don’t, fine.” Charlie stomped forward, rolling back his shoulders, staring down his son. “But not with me, not with your brother. You’re out. On your own. Don’t come back.”

  Theo started to say something, but Charlie had turned his back on him and motioned Silas to follow. North pulled me away and Silas released Theo with a shove to the ground and joined Charlie.

  “Of the Korbas, there are now only two,” Charlie said.

  I tucked myself into North.

  Theo started to struggle to get up, and then he relaxed back on the ground, his hands covering his face. He was shouting, but it was mumbled by his hands.

  North covered my ears, and pulled me back toward his Jeep. There was another car nearby, a small blue one that looked similar to Silas’s, but still different. I imagined it was Charlie’s.

  A black new car showed up, and it parked closed to the Jeep. Kota and Nathan popped out.

  North was limping, and he released me to shove me toward Nathan once we were close enough. “Sang!” Nathan said, pulling me away. “Come get in the Jeep!”

  I hesitated, looking at Silas, but it was Charlie who answered. “It’s okay, doll,” he said. “Don’t worry about us.”

  I almost fell apart where I stood. Was this it? Would Silas get in trouble and have to go back to Greece? I didn’t want to lose sight of him, scared to death it was going to be the last time I’d see him.

  “Aggele,” Silas said, and then coughed. “Go. I’ll be back.”

  It was like he knew exactly what I had been thinking. I had to trust him.

  I turned, running after Nathan. I climbed into the seat, and Nathan turned over the engine, driving off. Kota spoke to Charlie, and then to Silas, and then to my surprise, he and North got into Kota’s car, leaving behind Charlie and Silas.

  But when I turned around to see if they were going to run or get into a car to drive off, they didn’t move.

  They stood together, side by side, watching the church burn sirens getting closer.

  And then I knew they weren’t going to run. Whatever demons had been hidden in the past with their family, they would face them now.

  Boo

  There were several large tents arranged across the lawn at Middleton Place. There was solid flooring under my feet, not grass like I’d been worried about when Gabriel said I’d be wearing heels.

  I wore the corset dress, accessorized with a hot pink stone choker collar, a hair clip with hot pink stones, and a full mask glittering with the same pink accents, plus one in each of the boys’ favorite
colors, matching their ties.

  The mask was a last minute gift from the boys, presented in a velvet box by Gabriel, before getting out of the town car Victor had ordered to pick some of us up.

  The dance was already starting. Music blared, some popular song I couldn’t recall the name of. The space was moderately dark, with the occasional flash of lights from projectors and other machines I didn’t know the names of.

  While I was impressed with it all, I couldn’t help but seek out staff, knowing they were all Academy members.

  I wasn’t sure what I thought they would be. Maybe secret ninjas with masks and lots of spy gear, but every person I saw looked completely normal. I checked for signs: the girl behind the punch bowl serving drinks, the band members, the photographer, but they all appeared to belong. Seamless. Forgettable.

  Maybe they really were ninjas.

  “Are you ready?” Mr. Blackbourne whispered into my ear.

  He wasn’t really there beside me. He wasn’t supposed to be. But my mask was outfitted with a microphone and they’d given me an earpiece. The Academy wasn’t going to give us the night off completely.

  “I guess so,” I said.

  Victor stepped up beside me, after having given instructions to the driver. “Whew,” he said. He wore his black suit, a silver pin through his white tie. He wore a mask, too, a half mask that was painted the same silver as the pin. “I was afraid the signal wouldn’t make it through, what with all the interference from other devices hanging around.”

  I didn’t know all the details, but Mr. Blackbourne informed us that he would, indeed, be a short distance away. He was wearing his suit, too, in case he needed to make an appearance, and Mr. Hendricks was informed of his whereabouts.

  Mr. Blackbourne also had several Academy members staying by him to ensure Mr. Hendricks wasn’t going to set a trap of his own.

  Gabriel, with an orange mask and matching tie, stepped up on my other side. “Okay, we might have overdone it with our costumes.”

  The rest of the students had a mixture of various dressy costumes, with cats and witches and popular book and movie characters mixed in. The costumes looked good, but knowing how much the masks and our outfits probably cost, it did feel a little over the top.