House of Korba: The Ghost Bird Series: #7 (The Academy) (41 page)

“We’re still taking a risk,” Kota said. “He doesn’t speak Spanish, Nathan does, and he’s just as intimidating.”

“Maybe I should go,” I said.

“No,” Kota said.

“Kota,” Dr. Green said, stepping closer. “We don’t have a lot of time, and Mr. Blackbourne thought it’d be useful if she were here.”

“Not when we don’t know if they’ll attack any of us on sight.”

“I think they’re more prone to running than fighting. And they’d be even less prone to fight if Silas is next to her.”

“Luke’s in there already,” Victor said. “He can watch out for her.”

“And I could follow in behind,” Nathan said.

Kota’s eyes swept over his team, his green eyes dancing behind his glasses, calculating. He touched gently at the bridge. “There’s more at risk there than that, too. I don’t know if we can afford it.”

I waited for more detail, hoping he was going to explain why we couldn’t afford it. Afford what? I checked with the others. They looked anxious, brows furrowed, lips pursed. They were starting to change their minds. “I don’t understand,” I said.

“It’s complicated,” Victor said quietly. He swept back some of his wavy hair from his eyes.

“If Mr. Blackbourne wants her here,” Dr. Green said, “then he thinks we can afford it. No matter what, the job will cover it.”

“We need the favors,” Kota said. “We’re running low.”

“What favor?” I asked. “We need favors?” This was different. It wasn’t just about Kota making sure I was safe. There were reasons beyond what I was seeing; Kota was looking at all the angles.

Their eyes turned to me. Kota made a face. “We need to stop talking about it.”

“Maybe not talking about it with her is the problem,” Silas said.

They turned to him. He was usually so quiet when we were all together, that hearing his voice now was surprising. I looked up at him, and he seemed so much taller since I was sitting on the crate.

Silas met with Kota’s eyes, looking calm and composed. “I know this isn’t the place,” he said, “but the reason why she jumps in half of the time is because she doesn’t know what is expected and how this works. Mr. Blackbourne is right. She’s either in or out. We can’t have her in the middle. Not when she’s working with us like this.”

“We need to talk about it later,” Dr. Green said before Kota or Victor could speak. “Right now, there are little lives in there and we need to go get them.”

“Can I go in after Silas?” I asked. “Would that be better? If they respond to him, I don’t have to. I’ll only say something if they’re scared of him.”

“She looks their age,” Dr. Green said. “Come on, Kota. You’ve got to see she can handle this. They are just kids in there.”

“Scared kids,” Kota said.

“Who want to run off, not fight,” Victor said.

Kota frowned.

“I can go, too,” Nathan said. “I can pull her out if they do start fighting.”

Kota pressed a palm against his face. “Okay. Fine. But we need to cover the exits, and if we need to, we’ll guide them to a safer hiding spot before we can try again.”

Victor tapped at his computer. “There’s an Academy district a few blocks to the south.”

The Academy had a district? From the way Victor said it, it sounded like there was more than one. I pressed my lips together. Now wasn’t the time to ask.

“Lived in?” Kota asked.

“Being refitted,” he said. “We just reclaimed it. But it’s cleared right now, and there are monitors in the area.”

“It’ll have to do. If they don’t want to go with us, we’ll have them go there.” He turned to Nathan. “Convince them that authorities are looking to tear down this place. They have to move, you know a safe location. I’ll have North go ahead and deposit items in one of the houses and open it up.”

Nathan nodded. “Just let me know which one. We can walk them over, if they let us.”

“Do it,” he said.

“Here,” Victor opened his palm, revealing three small ear pieces. “Put these in.”

Silas and Nathan took one each. I started to reach for the other one, but Victor shifted to hold it between his fingers, showing it to me. “This is an ear bug. You’ll hear us, and I can hear you if you talk. It doesn’t have a great range, and there’s a short battery life, but it’s the best way to stay in contact without looking like you’re wired.”

“Oh,” I said. It seemed really sophisticated, but it looked like just an ear bud you’d get from a headphone set, just detached from the wire.

“I’ll put it in,” he said. I leaned over. He pulled aside some of my hair and then gently inserted the ear bug into my ear. He traced my ear lobe gently. “Is that okay? Comfortable?”

“It’s fine,” I said. It felt like an earbud. That’s all. I was more worried it might slip further into my ear and I wouldn’t be able to pull it out. It seemed to hold in place, though.

“I need a headset,” Kota said. “There’s three.”

“I want Sang’s headset,” Dr. Green said.

“I should have it,” Victor said.

Kota rolled his eyes. “You should be paying attention to Luke, Victor.”

I stood between Silas and Nathan in front of the old hardware store. Feeling small between the two of them, I swallowed, staring at the doors, wondering what to do.

They’d blocked off the other exists with Kota and Dr. Green monitoring. Victor was in the alley.

“Where is Mr. Blackbourne, anyway?” I asked.

“Keeping our tails busy,” Nathan said.

I’d almost forgotten, but it made sense that someone had to stop them from chasing us around when they were doing things like this. Mr. Hendricks hadn’t given up trying to catch us out with something that would get the boys kicked out of school.

Silas, without saying a word, moved to the left. Nathan followed, and I did, too. He was probably getting instructions from Kota.

“How are you doing, Pookie?” Dr. Green said softly in my ear.

“Fine,” I said, with a smile at my lips at the endearing nickname. “How are you, Dr. Sean?”

“Don’t talk too much,” he said. “If you’re going in, you should be quiet so you don’t spook them too early.”

“Okay,” I whispered.

“Haven’t seen you much outside of school lately,” he said.

“I thought you were working.”

“I should bring you to work with me.”

“Okay,” I said, wanting to say something more, but we were approaching the door.

“I’ll hold you to that,” he said.

“Are we ready?” Nathan asked as he put his hand on the door.

Silas nodded. I stood behind him, waiting.

Nathan twisted the handle and opened the door slowly. I was wondering how Luke managed to get inside without the kids in there knowing about it. I didn’t see a way in from the roof, and the windows were boarded up.

I’d seen a few Academy jobs. Some I didn’t know the full reason for. This was one of the first ones where I’d been invited along, and sort of understood the purpose. There were kids, runaways perhaps, inside this building and they wanted to take them to a safe place and figure out what to do with them. It seemed like something the police might handle. It made me wonder how the Academy chose to do certain things, like the job at school. What drove them?

Nathan stuck his head in through the doorway, checked out the inside quickly and then stepped back. He motioned to me. “You should go in first,” he said.

My eyes widened. “I said I would be behind Silas.”

“If they see you first, they may not bolt,” Nathan said. “I was just thinking. I mean, it’s a cultural thing I learned in a language class I was taking at the university. Silas might look the part, but he’s still intimidating. We need them to listen. If we push them too hard, they’ll just run. That’s how it is when they cross the border illegally. They’ll run and scatter.”

“Do I say anything?”

“Say
hola
.”

I repeated the word. “Just say that?” I asked. “One word?”

“I’ll take care of the rest.”

I glanced back at Silas, who nodded, looking concerned, but who urged me inside with a wave of his hand.

I wanted to get it over with. At least I had the boys covering me.

I stepped inside, where the room was littered with fast food wrappers, beer and soda cans, and the smell was horrifying. It was a cool October day, but the dampness from outside seeped in, so it was chill in the shadows. There was wall shelving, half torn down. Some held old cans of paint, the labels faded and peeling.

I cringed, making myself as small as possible. There was so much to look at that it was hard to focus in front of me and not on the floor so I didn’t step into something. I checked back with Nathan, who pointed forward.

“You’re doing great, sweetheart,” Dr. Green said quietly in my ear.

I wanted to say something back but stopped myself.

Ahead were a couple of doors. Nathan pointed to one. I opened it and there was a small hallway. It wound around to the back.

“Say it,” Nathan whispered.

“
Hola
?” I called out softly.

There was a small stirring, but nothing more.

Nathan shooed me into the hallway. Silas followed, my shadow. Nathan covered the door. He circled his hand, encouraging me to keep going.

“
Hola
?” I said again, trying to say it a little louder.

“
Si
?” came a voice.

“Shhh,” Another one said.

I stepped closer, pausing in the doorway at the end of the hallway and looking in.

Inside, I could only see two kids. They were taller than me. A boy and a girl. The stood with hands clutched, eyes wild.

From behind them came another voice. This one spoke in Spanish, too fast for me to even try to catch up with.

“Shhh,” said the girl.

“
Hola
,” I said quietly.

The girl looked at me, her eyebrows going together. The boy tilted his head. They wore jeans and T-shirts, their clothes dirty and ill-fitting.

I stood quietly, thinking it best to move slowly so they could size me up. “Are you all okay?” I asked quietly. “Do any of you speak English?”

Again they stared at me. I wasn’t sure if they not were willing to talk because I was a stranger or they didn’t understand.

I held my hand out slowly, in an
I-won’t-hurt-you
motion, then I pointed to myself. “Sang,” I said. “My name is Sang.”

Again, no reply.

I looked back at Silas and Nathan who were still out of sight in the hallway.

The two moved together, slowly. I looked back at the kids, who were easing over, looking at the door and then at me.

Nathan appeared first. The girl started to back up, eyes wide, and she turned, gripping one of the smaller kids who had been hiding behind her. The child looked to be barely a year old. The boy started to open the door.

It caught. There was something blocking it behind it.

“Wait,” I said quietly. “We won’t hurt you.”

“
No te haremos daño
,” Nathan said.

The boy stopped, putting his back to the door frame. He made fists. “
Vete. Nosotros no queremos aquí. ¿Cómo se enteró de nosotros?
”

I didn’t need Nathan to interpret to tell me he was warning us to back off and go away.

“We won’t hurt you,” Nathan said. He said something in Spanish and I understood he was repeating himself in their language. He said something else, too, longer. “We want to help.”

The boy started to talk. The girl talked over him, both in Spanish.

Silas started to retreat behind us. Where was he going? He was tapping at his head, tilting it and listening. He went back to the front.

I turned my attention to the group. Now that the two older ones had moved, I realized what I’d thought was shadow before was actually the other kids. I counted all seven: four boys, three girls. The two oldest ones looked to be our age, and the rest ranged all the way down to the one year old. Seven wide-eyed dirty faces looked at us, waiting for the older ones to tell them what to do.

My heart tugged at the sight of the smaller ones who looked terrified. If only they knew. We’d help if they’d let us.

Nathan started talking then. He rattled on in Spanish, without looking at me, completely focused on the kids. He addressed the boy then the girl. The boy interrupted him, sounding defensive and then made a shooing motion, warning us to go away. Nathan held up his hands, spoke again, motioned to me and then continued talking.

I’d never heard Nathan use Spanish. I wasn’t even sure I had known he could speak the language. I learned new things about the boys all the time; that one more new thing cropped up didn’t surprise me, I was just in awe of his ability.

I stepped closer, trying to look unthreatening.

One of the kids looked out from behind the others, staring right at me. I smiled, or tried to. I was mostly trying not to hide behind Nathan and feel so nervous, like one false move could send them all scattering.

Footsteps returned behind us. I turned to see Silas was back, carrying bottles of water, and on top were a couple of plastic bags.

The moment Silas stepped into view, the boy and the girl immediately pulled back. The boy jammed his shoulder into the door. The girl barked at the little ones. I imagined she was telling them to get ready to run.

“Wait!” I cried, holding up my hands.

“¡
Espera
!” Nathan said. “Please, don’t run.”

The boy stopped for a moment, but kept his grip on the doorknob.

I stepped back slowly, taking some of the bottles of water from Silas. I thought it’d be better if I did it.

I tucked one under an arm, opened the other and then brought them both forward, holding them out to the girl.

The girl stared at me.

“
Trajimos agua
,” Nathan said, in a calmer voice. “Water. We brought water.
Agua
.”

Silas suddenly stepped forward. “
Agua
,” he said quietly slightly accented.

They seemed to relax at this, studying the two of them.

“
Pensamos que estabas sediento.  Podemos hablar?
” Nathan said.

“
Podemos hablar?
” Silas repeated.

I held out the bottles again, stepping forward once more.