Chapter 44
THE IDEA TOOK all afternoon to put together. We did our best
recording of me playing the parts that Miranda would mime. Then we rehearsed
our on stage duel. If she looked like she couldn’t keep going, I’d step in.
Thing was, I hadn’t played in front of nobody but Renee, my
mother, and Frei. Playing in front of a crowd of people didn’t sound like
something I wanted to do either, let alone
could
do.
I didn’t do crowds all that well.
When Miranda and Miroslav headed back to their dorms, Renee walked
with me through the building. I didn’t know where Owens was but I was relishing
having Renee to myself. I guess that was selfish but I’d missed her.
The place was silent. The floors shimmered as a cleaner buzzed one
of those polishing things along. It reminded me of when Aimee, back in
Serenity, had gotten out of her cell and found one. The thought made me
chuckle. Considering where we’d been, we’d made the best of it.
We strolled past an office. Its energy reeked of Owens soapy
scent. “Guess she’s pretty stuck on you, huh?”
Renee’s aura jiggled like it always did when I asked her a
personal question.
“Think by now, you would
want
to share with me.”
Renee nudged my shoulder and flashed me a quiet smile. “We’ve had
this conversation.”
“Yeah, but I’m kinda fond of you.” I shrugged. There went my
cheeks heating again. “If she’s making you happy and you don’t want to let me
in, it hurts.” I shoved my hands in my pockets. “How come I don’t get to share
in your happiness?”
Renee shook her head up at me. “Dimwit, it hurts me that you think
I’d fall for someone like her.” She poked me in the side. I flinched. “Besides,
I like to keep you all to myself.”
I smiled even if I was confused.
“I don’t want to share
you
,” she said as if reading my
mood. “If I start telling you everything, you’ll have nothing to find
mysterious then, will you?”
I didn’t get that. I didn’t get her sometimes. “She irritates me.
I don’t like her.”
Renee’s chuckle came from somewhere deep inside her belly and
wrinkled up her nose. “Good, because I doubt she likes you very much right
now.”
“Huh?” I lifted my eyebrows.
“You told Jäger that you and I were . . .” She cleared her throat,
glancing back at the guy cleaning. I doubted he could hear himself think over
the polishing thing. “Well . . .”
“I know, I got crossed wires. You’re back to a shrink all over
again, huh?” I chuckled. “If he didn’t terrify me so much, I’d find it
funnier.”
“Do you need to talk about it?” Renee threaded her hand around my
arm.
“Oh, so I can share but you can’t?” I raised my eyebrows. “You go
seducing the staff and I’m not allowed to know.”
Her cheeks colored up nice and rosy. I nodded.
“I haven’t. I can’t explain here but she is definitely
not
the one.” She met my eyes then stared off ahead. “I love someone so much it
hurts.” She smiled a sad smile. “And before you say it, I’m a sad sack, it’s
official.”
“No, you ain’t. You’re telling me the truth and it’s real
welcome.”
It felt odd to walk through the building when everybody had headed
home. The energy of the day still reverberated off the walls. “Why ain’t you
told this mysterious woman that you love her?”
Renee squeezed my arm. “What makes you think I haven’t?”
I sighed. Who was the dimwit here? “If you’d told her and she knew
you like I did, there’s no way she couldn’t love you right back.” I smiled down
at her, then reached for the door. “You’re the most incredible . . . and
difficult . . . woman that I’ve ever met.”
Renee followed me out into the evening gale and blew out a
shuddering breath. Her eyes were locked on the distance as though she was
trying to hold back tears.
“So why me? What made you think of me.” She held up a finger. “I
know you like to create the aura that you don’t know a lot about love but even
you must have cottoned on to what you were saying.”
“You’re giving me way too much credit.”
She lifted her eyebrows.
“Seriously. I was panicking. Nan said I had the tools to get
myself out of it.” I shrugged. “My mouth just started running away with the
fact I was locked up and you helped me.”
“And it didn’t cross your mind that it might mean something else?”
She was staring at me like I was a dumb kid. I rubbed the back of my neck. I
already felt like a dumb kid, she didn’t need to highlight it.
“I thought he meant mentally unhinged, a screw loose, crazy as
Mrs. Squirrel on a nut hunt.” I shoved my hands deep in my pockets. “If I’d
been quick enough to think of that, and I didn’t think you’d have shot me for
saying it, I’d have blurted it out in a second.”
She blinked at me like I’d grown a beard.
“Anyhow he said if he found out I was lying, I’d be in trouble so
. . . let’s hope that he don’t change his mind ’cause I ain’t got one iota how
I could convince him.”
Renee looked away and mumbled something under her breath. I pulled
her around to look at me. “I didn’t mean to impose that on you or nothin’, I’d
never use what you shared with me to get myself out of a pickle neither.” I
sighed. “I feel pretty bad that it has put you in that position.”
“I’m not mad.” She smiled up at me and held my arms on her
shoulders as if she wanted me to keep them there. “Okay, I
am
mad but
with him. If I’d have caught him, I would have aimed higher than his kneecaps.”
Ouch. I sucked in a breath.
“I told Frei when I got in ’cause I was real worried you’d never
talk to me again.” It sounded stupid now. In the evening sun, the green lawns,
the quiet stillness of the empty pathways, it all seemed so dumb.
“Ursula should have told you I’d be fine.” Her aura fizzled and
she held my gaze. It felt like she was searching for some kind of answer.
I dropped my hands away, unable to stand the scrutiny. “You
forgetting the whole pinning you up against a wall thing?”
Renee opened her mouth then closed it. Enough said.
“I was thinking ’bout home the other day.” I smiled at the memory
of it. Renee kept close by, her hand on my arm. “You, me, and Mrs. Squirrel,
the waterwheel rumbling. Kinda silly ’cause you’ll be shacked up with
somebody.”
I shook my head. A wave of loneliness crept over me. Desperate
loneliness. Why hadn’t I ever figured that she would want to be all
domesticated with somebody? She deserved that, she deserved happiness. Only I
didn’t know how I could not miss her. It had been hard enough pretending I
didn’t know her when I could see her every day.
“It doesn’t have to be that way.” Her eyes filled with unspoken
words. Her voice soft. Her aura rippled like it was screaming at her to say
something, to let me in.
I cocked my head, waiting for her to say whatever was on her mind,
hoping she’d trust me enough. Her shoulders slumped, she shuddered out a breath
and looked away. She’d been close, she’d wanted to share something with me—I
sighed and opened the gate to the villa—Just not enough.
“Yeah, it does. You’ll want to share everything with the woman you
love.” The gate clattered as I pushed it harder than I’d meant. “I’ve known you
a while and I’ve had to fight for every scrap of affection I got from you.” I
tried to hide the brimming tears. Why I was being so melancholy, I didn’t know.
“It’s not like that.” Renee hugged herself, watching me. “I don’t
mean to make you fight.”
She looked so beautiful bathed in the gentle glow. Her blonde hair
fell into her eyes. Even with the make-up masking all the natural accents she
had, she was still kinda mesmerizing. The sunlight glimmered through her, from
her, her irises deeper on the edges around the stormy gray. Yeah, she was
incredible alright.
“Like anybody who knew you would believe it’s true ’bout me and
you, huh?” I laughed, shaking off how dumb I was being. Why was I surprised
that someone could be head over hind in love with her. She was worth fighting
for.
I guessed it was all the worries, the stress of gala night or
maybe just that I could feel all the kids’ emotions now a whole lot more.
I headed to the door and went to reach for the handle but Renee
pulled me back by the arm. Her aura rippled, her eyes intense. “Why?”
I shoved my hands in my pockets. I could hear music, I could feel
music. Her blonde eyelashes caught the sunlight and I smiled. Whoever the woman
was, she was blessed, real blessed. “I guess that you just want to share with
your someone special is all.”
“Not that.” Renee shook her head, the intensity built until it
pulsed from her. She bit her lip, gazing up at me. “Why wouldn’t they think we
aren’t really together?” Her aura fizzed like she was tensing to get hurt.
“Would it be that hard?”
“I’d have had a lot to say about Owens.” I nodded, wagging my finger
at her. “I can barely stand her as it is.” I scowled at the thought of
Professor Slimy. “Besides, you love another woman. I can’t even imagine how
much it would hurt to watch you waltz off with somebody else.”
Although, judging by the way I felt as it was, I’d miss her like
crazy. It hurt, thinking about her not being in the cabin. It hurt, realizing
how I wouldn’t get to tell her all the little stuff. I sighed. It sucked even
if I was glad she’d be happy.
I turned to open the door, wondering why I was being so dumb.
Renee gripped my elbow.
I glanced over my shoulder at her. Her energy hit me with a wave
of electricity.
“There’s something else.” She scoured my eyes. The pulse rippled
up and down my arm. “What aren’t you saying?”
I smiled down at her and rested my forehead to hers. “I ain’t
that
lucky and you ain’t
that
insane.”
I went to open the door again. She hauled me back around to face
her. Her aura danced around me, her eyes rolling with emotion, her shoulders
hitched. “Lucky?”
I nodded. Why would she think anyone who held her heart wouldn’t
be? I kissed her on the forehead, hoping she’d soak up every ounce of support I
could give her. Even if it hurt, I wanted her to know I was right behind her.
“Yeah . . . and you ain’t that insane.”
Renee looked to the door and then back to me. She touched her
fingers to her forehead. “You think you’d be lucky . . . to be with me?”
I nodded, real slow, watching the light show burst through her
aura. I loved her light show. I didn’t get why she was so stunned at my words.
“Uh huh . . . You want it in writing?”
She glanced at the door again. She closed her eyes and took my
hand. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. Her aura shimmered with light
and pinks and sparkles of energy and a barrier, a big one, lowered. Her eyes
looked misty as they softened. The flecks of sunlight oozed through them.
“Aeron, I—”
Frei yanked open the door. “Why are you standing out there? We
have things to do.”
I jumped. Renee clamped her eyes shut. Frei raised her eyebrows at
me then looked at Renee. “Well?”
Renee let out a long breath. She looked up at the sky for a
second. “Remind me to kick you, hard,” she shot at Frei as she stormed inside.
I raised my eyebrows, my heart was still clattering from Frei
ripping open the door. I was trying to wrap my head around the way Renee had
been outside. Now her aura rolled like she wanted to hurl something.
I didn’t get it.
Frei seemed unfazed and motioned to the table. “We need to get the
plan straight in your heads.”
I strolled inside. Renee was at the liquor cabinet, looking like
she wanted to get well acquainted with a bottle of something. The woman
confused the molasses out of me. “So, how do we get sixteen teenagers out of a
heavily armed school?”
Renee sauntered to the dining room table and placed the bottle on
it, her mood harder to read than since I’d known her.
Frei took a seat and turned her laptop around. “With some illegal
skills.” She grinned and started to run through what we had to do.
It was some plan . . .
if
we could pull it off.
Chapter 45
THE STUDENTS WERE all quiet the next morning. I felt their tension
before I saw it in their faces. There was no way we could sugarcoat it for them
either.
I’d spent that morning meditating. It had been difficult but I was
thankful that I had persevered. Now I could feel more. It was important I made
sure my armor was in place.
During lunch break, I snuck to the garage to check if the bus was
ready and cover Jessie slipping in to load the last of the cases.
Frei’s SUV was gone. She’d taken it to meet Huber. As far as
Caprock was concerned, Frei wouldn’t be back until tomorrow. I wasn’t sure how
she was going to sneak back in or how we were going to get the bus to the
airstrip. I’d learned however that Frei could do a lot of things. I just needed
to trust her to do what she was good at.
As Jessie fiddled about in the trunk of the bus, I wandered around
the pretty empty space. There were a couple of staff cars parked inside. I knew
that Jäger and the principal had people to drive them. One was a long car and
looked like something out of the fifties or maybe thirties.
I stopped at a chunky, mean-looking Jeep. I squinted at it and
hovered my hand over the hood. Jones in a temper gunning it down a dirt track
flickered before my eyes.
Next to it was a battered red suburban. It didn’t look like it had
ever been cleaned. I peeked in the window. Owens, cell to her ear, swearing at
whoever was in her way.
“Miss Samson, do any of you have luggage to go in?” Jessie was in
the trunk by the sound of her voice.
“Nope, all good.” Frei had taken all our stuff to the airstrip
ready. She and her group had spent the morning wiping every trace of us from
the villas.
I wandered to the far corner as Jessie mumbled something about
making sure there was water on board for Miroslav. A black racy-looking bike
sat looking sad and alone. I knew whose it was because I got the flash of
Sawyer astride it, some woman he’d picked up in a bar draped over his shoulder.
It looked as mean as the man who rode it.
Next to it was a dirt bike. That made me smile. I knew enough
about bikes to know it was a lot flashier than the ones I’d ridden back in
Oppidum.
No, this one looked like a real racer. She looked pretty beat up
but fast. I cocked my head. It looked like bullet holes had riddled it.
“Hey, Jessie?”
The scurrying of mini-feet echoed as she scampered over to me.
“S’up?”
“That bike still work?” Jessie had been Frei’s understudy and that
meant there wasn’t much she wouldn’t know.
“Not sure you should touch it,” she whispered. It would have been
convincing if her aura hadn’t wriggled like it was desperate to spill the truth.
“Why?” Apart from the dinks, it looked fine.
“It belonged to . . . er . . . one of the staff.” She nodded as if
she was trying to convince herself. “He disappeared.”
I tried to keep my smile in check. “Really?”
She nodded again, this time with enough force to make her wobble.
“They say he haunts the garage.” She looked around for effect.
My burdens may have been depleted but I knew enough from looking
at her that she didn’t believe a word herself. I hovered my hand over it and
smiled. “It work?”
Jessie shrugged.
“Can
you
make it work?”
She gave me an innocent “Who me?” look. I returned it with a
“Yeah, you” one.
She sighed, rolled up her sleeves, and slid something out of her
pocket. “Don’t tell Jed . . . or Miroslav . . . or Miss Locks.”
I chuckled. “Why? ’Cause Jed stole it before you could use it?”
Jessie’s eyes widened in shock.
“He wanted to learn to ride to impress Miranda.” I folded my arms.
“He fell off it and broke his arm in two places?”
He was lucky he’d only broken his arm.
“Bribing members of staff ain’t a clever idea.” I frowned at her.
Jessie glanced around as if wondering where I was getting the
information from.
“It don’t matter if they were messing around with Kevin or not.”
Jessie bowed her head.
“You must have been pretty mad at Jed when you’d gone to all that
trouble to get a bike for your escape and he went and trashed it.” I lifted up
her chin. “Kid, there ain’t a whole lot you can hide from me.”
She stared up at me and smiled. “Miroslav said you were special.
He said . . .” She glanced around her. “He said you see things.”
I could see why Frei liked her. She was impetuous at times but
cute. “He’s right. I’m different. Fire her up.”
Jessie slouched on over to a box fixed onto the back wall and
pulled out a key. “Helmet is in the locker. It’s got gas and is ready to go.”
“Frei?”
She smiled.
Frei. “Good. As long as this baby is ready for action.”
Jessie put the key back. “None of the other vehicles work. Just
the bus and the dirt bike.”
“You’ve been busy, huh?” I walked with her to the bus. “Let’s lock
up and get going before Jäger thinks I’m abducting you.”
She raised her eyebrows.
“Trust me, you really don’t wanna know.”