The Academy (21 page)

He smiled. “A lady, my dear sister, you never were. But that was always what I loved about you.”

“Oh, Kristopher…” I felt myself choking up—a lump had risen in my throat and wouldn’t go down no matter how hard I swallowed. “I love you too,” I told him. “So much. Now please promise me you’ll go on tour with your orchestra and be safe.”

His face was filled with indecision. “I don’t know…”

“Look at it this way,” I said quickly as the pay-screen beeped again, this time giving me a thirty second warning. “If you go, neither of us might lose a hand. If you stay and we’re found out, both of us will. Kristopher, you
have
to go.”

At last, he nodded. “All right,” he whispered tightly. “But every part of me cries out that this is wrong. That I am a coward to leave you to face this fate alone.”

“You’re not a coward to go,” I told him harshly. “But you’d be a fool to stay. Go, Kristopher. If you don’t I shall never forgive you.”

He looked tortured. “I
will
go, then. But I shall never forgive myself if any harm comes to you.”

“I feel the same way about you, dear brother,” I murmured.

“Goodbye then, Kris.” He wiped at his eyes and I could tell he was crying. “I love you.”

“I lo—” I began, and then the screen went blank as my cred-card ran out.

I put my fingertips to the still warm screen, pressing hard enough to feel the crack in the middle cut my skin. “I love you too, brother” I whispered in the darkness. “Though the God alone knows when I may see you again.”

Grief blinded me and I wasn’t nearly as quiet or careful on my way back to my dorm as I had been sneaking out of it. Maybe that was how I got caught.

I was almost to the Goddard building—in fact the front steps were right in front of me—when my view was suddenly blocked by a large and horribly familiar shape. A heavy hand clamped into my shoulder before I could move.

“Gotcha, freshie,” Broward whispered, leering down at me. “Ya know, Nodes
said
he saw you sneaking out. I told him he was crazy but looky here—he was right.”

“Leave me alone!” I hissed, trying to pull away. But Broward’s grip was firm.

“Don’t think so,” he grunted, pulling me closer. “I’ve been waiting months to get you alone, without North around to interfere.”

“Broward, please be reasonable,” I said, trying to keep my voice even, though my heart was racing. “Why can’t we just put our differences behind us?”

“Because I don’t
want
to,” he snarled, his face turning even uglier than usual—which was saying something. “You think I got up at the asscrack of dawn to
be reasonable?
I don’t think so. I’m gonna grind you to a pulp, Jameson. When I’m done with you there won’t be enough left to fill even one of your tiny little boots, let alone the rest of your uniform. I’m gonna—”

But the other horrible things he had planned for me went unsaid. Suddenly a familiar voice was shouting from the window above our heads.

“You down there! What the hell do you think you’re doing out at this time of the night?”

Broward froze but I made the mistake of looking up. I found myself staring into the face of dorm monitor Lackson, the same one who had caught me the first night I tried to sneak a shower on my own.

“Jameson,” he shouted. “I see you down there! Who’s that with you?”

Broward glared at me, still keeping his face down. “You tell and you’re dead,” he hissed. Then he slipped away, into a copse of bushes around the side of the dorm and was gone with a rustle of greenery.

“Hey!” Lackson yelled. “I saw that! You—Jameson, stay where you are.”

Since he had already identified me, I didn’t have much choice. Miserably, I stood waiting until he ran down the steps and out of the dorm to grab me by the arm.

“Got you!” He acted as though I was trying to run from him though I was just standing there, mute and defeated. I had come so close to getting away with my warning to Kristopher. Now, who knew what might happen? “Who was that with you just now?” Lackson demanded.

I shook my head. “I’m sorry, sir. It was dark and I couldn’t see him.”

Lackson frowned. “Don’t lie to me, cadet! You’re only going to make it worse for yourself.”

He was right but I was fairly certain I would make things
much
worse for myself by telling on Broward. He already wanted to beat me to a pulp. If I gave his name to the Academy authorities, he would surely find a way to kill me. If North and I had still been on speaking terms, I might have risked it. But since we barely communicated anymore, I didn’t know how far he would go to protect me. I didn’t want to be completely on my own with a homicidal bully after me. So I simply shook my head again.

“Sorry, sir,” I mumbled.

Lackson’s face darkened. “You bet your ass you’ll be sorry for this, Jameson. Come with me now—march!”

He dragged me into the dorm building and all the way up the stairs to my own room. At my door he stopped and glared down at me, clearly still fuming.

“Sir?” I said hesitantly. “Should I…can I go in now?” I just wanted to get away from him, just wanted to lie down in my own bed for a moment and curl up in a ball of misery.

“For now,” he growled. “After breakfast, report to the headmaster’s office. I’ll give you that long to think about telling me the identity of the person who was out with you. If you don’t come up with it by then, you’re looking at automatic expulsion. Do you understand me, Jameson?”

Slowly, I nodded. “Y-yes sir,” I stuttered. I understood him all too well. I would be forced to leave the school, my father would be notified, and both Kristopher and I would be exposed. It was the worst possible outcome. But if I told on Broward, I would probably be murdered in my sleep.

What was I going to do?

“What the hell were you thinking?” North snarled. Apparently Lackson’s shouting had woken him—probably along with the rest of the dorm. When I came into the room, he was already pacing the floor, his blue eyes fierce and angry.

“I—” I began, but he didn’t let me finish.

“Why were you sneaking out in the middle of the night, anyway?” he demanded. “Damn it, Jameson, you scared the crap out of me! I woke up and found you gone and my lamp missing. Who were you meeting anyway? Was it Wilkenson?”

“I wasn’t meeting anyone,” I said with as much dignity as I could muster.

“You weren’t?” His eyes narrowed. “Well then who was it that Lackson saw you with out there? I heard him raving about it and then he said something else I couldn’t catch before he let you back in the room.”

I sighed and decided to tell him as much as I could without revealing my secret. “Since you must know,” I said, “I went off campus tonight. When I came back, Broward was waiting for me. He said Nodes had seen me sneak out. He was going to beat me up until Lackson saw us, but he ran away before Lackson could see his face.”

“God above!” North ran a hand through his hair. “Why in the hell were you sneaking off campus? Do you know what they’d do to you if they found that out, Jameson?”

“Probably what they’re going to do to me now—expel me,” I said dully. Sinking down on my bed, I put my head in my hands. Everything had been going so well. If only…

“What do you mean, expel you?” North asked. His deep voice had a funny note in it and when I looked up, I saw that he was upset—maybe more upset than I had ever seen him.

“I mean Lackson says if I don’t inform on the person he saw me with he’ll give me an automatic expulsion.” I shook my head. “But I can’t tell on Broward—he already wants to kill me.”

“You’re right about that.” North looked grim. “There’s no threat in the world I could make that would keep him off you if you ratted him out. I can’t be with you every single minute of the day—you’d be dead meat.”

“Don’t you think I know that?” I scrubbed a sleeve across my eyes. “I wish I could think what to do but I’m so
tired.”

“I’m not surprised—you’ve been out all night breaking the rules all to hell.” But North’s voice was slightly gentler, despite his rough words. He sighed and sank down on the bed across from me. “Just tell me this—what was so damn important you had to get off campus for?”

“I had to make a call,” I said stiffly. “To someone…someone I care for very much. I had to warn him that he might be in danger.” I looked up at North. “I’m sorry—that’s all I can tell you.”

“Okay.” He nodded. “I just wanted to make sure you didn’t risk yourself for nothing.”

“I wouldn’t have gone if it wasn’t urgent,” I said shortly. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to try and get some rest. I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow. Or a short one—depending on how you look at it.”

North frowned. “Try to get some sleep. Don’t worry about the expulsion thing—we’ll get it worked out.”

“Right,” I mumbled, looking down at my hands. “I’ll just wave my magic wand and make the whole mess disappear.”

“I’m not kidding, Jameson. Look at me,” he demanded. When I finally looked up and met his gaze, I was surprised to see his blue eyes blazing with determination. “I swear to you here and now,” he said. “That you will
not
be expelled. Do you understand? I won’t let it happen—I
won’t.
”

Slowly, I nodded. I didn’t see how he could keep his promise or even why he would want to help me, considering the silent treatment he’d been giving me for so long. But I was too tired and miserable to say any of that. I just sighed and lay down in my bed, still fully clothed. There was only an hour until it was time to wake up and I didn’t feel like going into the closet and changing into my pajamas.

Oh Kristopher,
I thought, as I rolled on my side and looked at the blank wall.
I hope you can get out in time. I hope you’re a billion miles away when the Academy and Father find out what we’ve done.

The headmaster’s office was exactly as I remembered it. The antique books lining the shelves, the holo-pics, the huge burnished wood desk dominating the room. Only this time the man sitting behind that desk had a very angry look on his face. Headmaster Chauser was glaring at me in a way that made me feel sick to my stomach. On one side of him stood Lackson, also glaring, and on the other, his personal assistant Hinks (
Kinky Hinks
my mind chanted) who looked mildly amused.

“Have you anything to say for yourself, Jameson?” the headmaster thundered at me. “Are you ready to give up the identity of the cadet who was with you late night?”

Miserably, I shook my head. “No sir.”

“Be reasonable, Jameson.” Chauser’s voice dropped a notch—apparently he’d decided to try a different approach on me. “Sneaking out past RLO isn’t normally an automatic expulsion but I
must
have the truth from you. Your father paid a great deal of credit to send you here and he’s not going to be happy when he hears I have to refund it.” By the look on his face, the headmaster wasn’t going to be very happy about that part either. “You’ve been a model student up until now,” he continued. “You’ve gotten top marks in all your classes. It would be a shame to let all that hard work go to waste, now wouldn’t it?”

“Yes, sir.” I nodded. “But I still can’t say who it was.” I looked at him pleadingly. “Can’t you just believe me when I say it was too dark to see his face?” Which was sort of true. I hadn’t seen much more of Broward than his angry, piggy eyes.

“I
heard
you talking to him,” Lackson growled. “So I know that you know who it was. Tell us, Jameson, or face the consequences.”

“Which
I
will determine.” The headmaster gave Lackson an irritated look and the dorm monitor stepped back and shrugged apologetically. “Now then,” Chauser continued. “I don’t
want
to expel you, Jameson. But I
will
if you don’t give me a name right now.”

“I’m sorry, sir,” I said, shaking my head. “But I just can’t—”

“It was me.”

I turned in surprise to see North striding into the headmaster’s office. “North?” My voice was squeaky with surprise.