Sleight (30 page)

SCHOOL LET OUT without any other run-ins and I was relieved. I’d turned down the offer of a ride from Justine under the pretense that I had things I needed to do. True, but that wasn’t my only reason for passing up the ride. Although I understood her emotional need to be involved the fact was that she didn’t understand half of what we were into. How did I know that? Because neither did I. If she’d really been responsible for Dell and Tank we couldn’t afford to put her in a high stress situation. It would be too unpredictable and dangerous.

For everyone.

I just needed to figure out how to prevent her from tagging along without making her mad.

My decision to ask Mr. Goodturn’s advice was ironclad no matter how confused I was about what he’d done in the past. Over a month ago I’d been struggling with how to protect Baffle and prevent the bombing of the gym. Because I’d been too afraid of Mr. G interfering I’d gone ahead and handled it myself. The result of
that
boneheaded decision was getting myself kidnapped, Mr. G’s being attacked, Oso the goodhearted gangster dying and poor Breno being scared out of his mind.

I was distracted with a headful of that when my phone vibrated. Maddy had been texting frequently, counting down the hours to her arrival, and I was becoming more and more nervous about the impending collision between her and Justine. So I pulled the phone out of my pocket a little reluctantly. The text
was
from Maddy saying ‘hi’. I shot off a quick response telling her I was looking forward to seeing her. Then she texted that she had some big news to share. The way things had been going I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear any more big revelations. Images from her social pages stuttered through my mind. The boy that was in a lot of them, many with his arm around her, featured in some morose thoughts that I tried to quash. I stuffed the phone back in my pocket and stared out the window.

I allowed the bus’s lurching and swaying to lull me into an eyes-wide-open nap. When it braked for my stop I roused myself, slung my backpack over my shoulder and got off.

When I stepped over the threshold of Mr. Goodturn’s apartment it was three in the afternoon. Nine hours before the big whatever. I detoured through the kitchen to grab a soda and then headed to his room. The door was open and I walked in to find him dressed and sitting on the bed, propped up by a big pillow. He was writing in a journal, his glasses perched on the end of his nose.

“Benjamin,” he greeted me, closing the journal and pushing his glasses back in place.

“Hi,” I said. “Do you have time to talk?”

Swinging his legs over the edge he slid his short frame off the bed and stood before me. His eyes, magnified by the thick lenses of his glasses, stared up at me. I could tell he was thinking about how our last talk had ended. I was too.

“Of course, let’s have a chat in the library. I need to get out of this room,” he said, shuffling a little unsteadily on his short legs.

Following him out into the hallway I said, “Where is everybody?”

“Preston is in his room, resting. Breno is back in his own apartment and Brock is resting too I suppose.”

We entered the library and I noticed that a fire had been lit in the massive fireplace. The windows, frosted over, hid the snowy sky outside.

“How’s Brock doing?” I asked.

He winced as he took a seat in the specially scaled chair that he favored over the normal sized furniture.

“He has struggled with the after effects. Our mystery woman has a dangerous knack. He’s fortunate that it was a brief encounter.” He frowned.

“Who was she? I thought they were trying to capture Sonja.”

“As I told the detective that was their plan. But Sawyer’s information led them to the redheaded woman instead. Neither of them knew enough about Sonja’s appearance for them to realize that they had the wrong woman. Nevertheless, the woman they apprehended is clearly part of the Shade network. We know her name is Irena Weller. We are trying to determine who she knows.”

“Is Kenwoode going to be alright? Constance said that every time he manifests it costs him.”

Nodding thoughtfully he said, “Preston will definitely improve, but yes, he’ll have significant pain as a result of his use of his knack. Constance may be able use her medical skills to alleviate some of the pain, but not much.”

“Where
is
Constance?” I asked.

“Ah, she is speaking with your young friend, Miss Winters. I thought you knew.”

“What?” I asked, confused and worried. The map and the meeting with the feisty girl bubbled to the surface of my thoughts. “When did she get here?”

Mr. Goodturn stroked his cheek. “It was a good twenty minutes prior to your arrival.”

She must have come straight over after school. It was undoubtedly a maneuver to make sure she was included in the midnight event in underground Seattle.

“Where are they?” I asked.

“In Constance’s room I expect,” he said. I could sense that he knew there were bigger issues I wanted to talk about.

I sat down in a wingback chair close to him. We were far enough away from the fire that it wasn’t uncomfortably hot but I could feel the warmth in the air.

“I’m sorry I stormed out of your room,” I said.

“I understand. It was a lot of new information and it was my error in not discussing it with you earlier.”

My palms were sweaty and I rubbed them on my jeans. “I need to ask you some questions and something happened today that I have to tell you about.”

He just nodded, waiting for me to continue.

“Mr. Kenwoode is a...he’s not always straight. He did things when he knew Constance that are pretty messed up. He hid his telepathic knack from me.” I hesitated. It was hard to basically call him an ass. He was Mr. Goodturn’s friend after all.

“What is it you’re trying to say Benjamin?”

“Why would you trust him? You know, to be the one to help you after the attack? He seems...“

“Self-motivated?” he asked.

“Well yeah. Constance said that he only cares about himself and whatever he’s working on.”

“Ah, that brings a famous quote to mind. ‘Hell hath no fury’.” He shook his head. “Preston is a complicated man. I trust him with certain things. In other areas he would not be my first choice to ask for help. My health was only one of the reasons that I required his assistance, as you know. As to Constance, she is understandably bitter. I can’t fault her for feeling the way she does. But she has some culpability in that regard and doesn’t have a full grasp of the context.”

Well that sounded like grownup doubletalk, and as an answer it didn’t satisfy me. I decided to try and pin down another loose end. “How did you know that I was going to be born with a strong knack? Or even one of Constance’s kids? You said knacks aren’t hereditary.”

He wiggled in his chair. “Ah, yes. I see that you and Constance have spoken. I’m glad.”

“Why weren’t you willing to tell me yourself? Don’t I mean something to you?” It came out harsher than I’d intended.

“Of course you do, but so does she. It put me in a difficult spot. Both of you had a right to your privacy. Don’t you think?”

Nodding I smiled, embarrassed. “Yeah, you’re right. But, about the babies and their children, how did you know we would have knacks?”

“Her children are normal. You were the exception,” he said.

“Is there any other family history you’re not sharing with me? I mean, you suspected I might be born with a knack. Where did that come from?”

A rueful smile stretched his lips to one side. “No, all of the historical details of your family are out in the open now. And your likely possessing a knack, that was information that came from another source, another individual in our far flung community of knack practitioners.”

I’m sure my mouth dropped open. “Someone you know has a knack that allows them to see the future?”

“Not quite. Vague futures for specific people and not very precise,” he said.

It was one more knack-powered gift that I hadn’t been aware of and I wondered how many more I was going to discover. He stared at me through his thick-lensed glasses, not offering any further explanation. It seemed like a good time to steer back to more immediate issues.

I pulled the map from my pocket and handed it to him. “This girl came to me, I guess she must be a Shade, she’s one of the fliers from the other night. She snuck into my school and gave me that.”

He glanced at the hand drawn map and cocked an eyebrow. I quickly filled him in on my meeting with the tattooed blond and what she had said.

“What does it mean?” I asked.

Sighing he rubbed a small hand over his forehead. “We’ll need to discuss this with Preston. This would seem to represent the location for a meeting of people in the Shade community.”

“The Shades are uniting, that’s what Kenwoode said. At least here in Seattle. Maybe other states. He says it’s a problem, and that it was one of the reasons you reached out to him.”

“Yes, it is a problem, but not a new one. There is an individual, a Master Shade if you will, who has begun drawing criminal knack practitioners together. The last time I encountered such an occurrence it was on the east coast and grew to be quite ugly. Preston’s obsession is borne out of a specific conflict that is from that time. It is one of the reasons I reached out to him specifically. Would you mind fetching Constance? I’ll see if Preston is up to meeting with us. We need to discuss this immediately.”

We got up and headed down the hall toward Constance’s room, trying to control my frustration with Justine. I’d have to confront her plan to insert herself into the midnight meeting. Raising my hand to knock on the closed door I paused. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

Then I knocked. A little too loudly.

Constance opened the door, her hair down, looking more like my mother in the dress and shawl she had on. Her reaction to seeing me shifted quickly from a surprised smile to a frown of worry.

“What is it? Has something happened?” she asked, as Justine walked up behind her.

“Yeah, Mr. Goodturn wants us to meet in the library.”

Justine slipped around Constance to greet me with a hug. I remained stiff and unyielding as she hugged me. She pulled away, confused. I took another breath. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to talk to Mr. Kenwoode, but he wasn’t feeling well, so Constance has been helping me, you know, with my thing.”

I wasn’t buying into her explanation. “Mr. Goodturn wants to meet with...Kenwoode, Constance, Brock and me. Please wait here. I told you I wanted you to stay out of it.”

“Would one of you tell me what this is about?” Constance asked.

“You’re not going anywhere without me,” Justine said.

“Really?” I asked. “Who says I’m going anywhere? Have you called your parents? Do they even know where you are?”

Narrowing her eyes, she pointed a finger at my chest. I saw a lavender flash through her thick lashes. “They think I’m at Kayla’s, remember?”

“Wait,” Constance said. “Is this something dangerous? Because if it is, I think it is the absolute last thing this young lady should be doing right now.” She looked pointedly at Justine.

“See?” I said. “You need to stay here.”

Justine pursed her lips and wouldn’t look at either of us. I turned to leave, motioning to Constance to follow me.

“I’m not,” Justine snapped, grabbing my arm. “I’m coming!”

“Alright you two please fill me in,” said Constance.

“It’s Natural stuff,” I said. “It’s about something or someone that might be important. It could be the Shade thing.”

“What’s that?” Justine asked.

“Kenwoode says there’s a Shade, a knacked person who doesn’t follow the rules, who is trying to unite all of the sketchy Naturals. He says that they’ll try to wipe out all of the rest of us.”

She snorted in disbelief. “You’re kidding right?”

“No,” I said, hoping that I didn’t sound as pouty as I did to myself.

“Don’t pout,” she said. “I believe you.”

Constance brushed her hands at her dress. “Well let’s talk it over with Harald and Preston.”

We all went to the library. Mr. Goodturn and Kenwoode were already there, standing at the desk looking at the map. Kenwoode looked human again, but haggard. His skin hung on him in loose folds.

“What’s the plan?” I asked.

Kenwoode cleared his throat. “Harald has brought me up to date on your meeting with Sawyer’s colleague.”

Stepping around Kenwoode’s massive frame Mr. Goodturn looked up at me. “We have decided to act on this invitation. Preston and I think you should play a role.”

“Advance reconnaissance,” said Kenwoode.

“Really? Um, great. I’ll get ready to go,” I said.

Mr. Goodturn bobbed his head. “Good. You’ll be travelling with an escort.”