The Forbidden Trilogy (2 page)

"Enjoy your dinner, Sam." He walked back into the
studio, his long scarecrow body swimming in his khakis and Grateful Dead
t-shirt.

The great clock above the Headmaster's building chimed four
times. Where would Lucy and Luke be this fine Saturday? I cocked my head and
listened for their mental signatures, but a blast of unwelcome thoughts
barraged me.

'Can't believe I have to study today.... Where is my
sock...? Really need to get this fire under control.... Wish the weekend would
last longer....'

Our secret school for kids with para-powers only had about
500 students, grades seven to twelve, but that's still a lot of minds to wade
through. Finally, Lucy's distinctive mental voice pierced through the rest.

I stood on the southeast end of campus, where a cluster of
classrooms made up the fine arts department. Each building on our campus looked
like a small mansion that had transported itself from the Tudor period in
England. The meticulous landscaping, complete with bushes trimmed into animal
shapes, reinforced the illusion of a proper English estate. Only the high
voltage fences surrounding the perimeter spoiled the effect.

The winding cobblestone path led me west from the studio
toward the phys ed building and training courtyard. Spring hadn't yet given way
to summer, but today felt like a small victory over a long winter. I basked in
the warmth of the sun as I looked for my best friends.

I knew what I'd see upon arriving, and wasn't disappointed.

A small crowd had formed around the outdoor training court,
where layers of mats lay on the ground and my two favorite people stood center
stage. Lucy had her much bigger and taller twin brother, Luke, in a chokehold,
from which he struggled to remove himself. Students passed small wads of cash back
and forth, clearly betting on the winner. When Luke flipped Lucy on her back
and pinned her petite frame to the mat, those who had bet on Luke started
cheering.

They didn't know Lucy.

And I wished I'd brought some cash.

She scissored her legs around her brother's neck and flipped
herself up so that she straddled his throat. Incredible! With another hip move,
she knocked him down and pinned him for the count.

Students cheered and exchanged money as she stood and
offered her hand to him. He grudgingly accepted, and they pushed through the
crowds, finally spotting me.

Luke draped his long arm over my shoulder. His blue eyes
twinkled even as he moaned and groaned in mock abuse. "Did you see what
this pint-sized maniac did to me? Appalling."

I laughed and tugged at Lucy's dark ponytail. "You sure
showed him. Of course, you've been showing him up since kindergarten."

Luke stuck his tongue out at me, and Lucy flashed her
100-watt smile. "Did you finish? Do I finally get to see this super-secret
painting that has kept you in hermit mode for months?"

My grin spread into a full-on face-cramping smile.
"It's done! And it's... I can't even explain. It's the best thing I've
ever painted!"

They both grabbed my arms and pulled me back to the studio.
"We want to see it now!" they said in unison.

"But I'm so hungry. I haven't eaten all day." They
ignored my pleas as we retraced my steps.

As much as my rumbling stomach needed food, I was way more
excited to share my work with my friends. I hadn't shown it to anyone while I
worked, and being out of the loop never sat well with my feisty friends. Plus,
they deserved to be a part of this after encouraging me for years to pursue my
art more seriously. Lucy had actually used her very first bonus from an
assignment to commission a portrait from me. How could I deny my first paying
customer—especially since most of the students at the school now had my art
hanging in their rooms, and I had a nice stash of cash in mine, thanks to her
and Luke?

***

The door to the studio hung open just a crack, and angry
screams assaulted us as we approached. Luke and Lucy looked to me as if I knew
what was going on.

I shrugged my shoulders in the universal
I've-got-no-freaking-idea way and crept to the door. I could have just slipped
into their minds, but listening to people talk both out loud and mentally was
hard to track and gave me a pretty big headache. At that moment, what they were
saying, or rather screaming, to each other was more interesting.

We didn't want to budge the door and draw attention to
ourselves, so Luke pushed his head through. He bobbed in and out so quickly I
almost missed it. Being able to walk through anything was mighty handy at
times.

I nudged him. "Well?"

"Higgins and Mr. K. They both look pretty pissed."

They sounded it too. I'd never heard Headmaster Higgins yell
at any of the teachers, or students for that matter. He wasn't a pushover by
any stretch, but he'd always been levelheaded—until today.

Higgins shouted at Mr. K. "How could you enter her
without permission from me? Do you realize what you've done? This could ruin
the school and everything we're doing here."

Was Higgins talking about me?

Mr. K replied with the same volume and anger. I could
imagine the vein over his left eye bulging. "You have no idea how talented
that girl is! She should be at the best art school in the world, not hidden
here like a freak of nature. It's my job to make sure she has a future when she
leaves this god-awful place, and I'm not letting you, or the people you work
for, stand in my way. Or hers."

They must have been talking about me, but it made no sense.
Why didn't Higgins want me entering the contest, and why did Mr. K hate this
place so much?

"Don't you mean, the people
we
work for? They
employ us both, and you'd do well to remember that, Mr. Krevner. Their reach
extends beyond the gates of this school."

I couldn't believe it. Was the headmaster actually
threatening my art teacher? What was going on?

"You will pull her from that competition and clean up
the mess you've made, or your days here are numbered. Am I making myself
clear?"

Something crashed into a wall, and my friends and I jumped
back in surprise.

"Everything is very clear. You use her and her gifts,
rent her and all these kids out to the highest bidder as spies. You make
billions on these Rent-A-Kids, as they call themselves. And now you want to
snuff her chance to shine doing what she truly loves? No. If you want to
destroy her dreams, you can do it yourself. I'll have no part in it."

Footsteps approached the door. I tripped back, grabbed Luke
and Lucy, and the three of us ducked around the corner of the building. I
peeked out just as Mr. K stormed from the studio, his face bright red and
contorted in anger. Not his best look.

Headmaster Higgins followed him out moments later. He adjusted
his navy blue suit and plastered a calm mask over his face. His midnight black
skin did not reveal his recent spike in blood pressure the same way that Mr.
K's pasty complexion had, but the tight way he held his shoulders and the fists
he made of his hands spoke to his anger.

Tears stung my eyes, and I swiped at them with the back of a
hand still stained with splashes of paint. If they pulled me from the contest,
hundreds of hours of hard work would be wasted, and my future would get flushed
down the toilet. That couldn't happen!

When both men were gone, the three of us snuck into the
studio and closed the door behind us. My enthusiasm had drained out of me like
dirty bath water. I sniffled and wiped my traitorous eyes again.

Lucy put her arm around me. "Cheer up, Chica. We'll
figure this out, I promise. They can't keep you from this, not after all the
hard work you've done. And you'll be leaving for New York soon. Luke and I will
join you there, and we'll make all of our dreams come true, just watch!"

I tried to smile, for her sake, but the smile didn't reach
my eyes.

Luke rubbed my head as if I were his pet dog. "Where's
this painting I've been hearing so little about?"

I swatted his hand and couldn't suppress a small, but
genuine, smile. Luke could always cheer me: funny, gorgeous, and so much like a
brother it sucked.

"Over here." The canvas draped over my painting
appeared undisturbed. A sigh of relief escaped me. At least nothing had
happened to it. "Close your eyes."

They both groaned but did as told.

Fear and nervousness buzzed through me as I pulled the
canvas off. What if they hated it? What if everyone hated it and my dreams of
being a real artist died before they could even be born? My lungs clenched with
stale breath and I exhaled before I got too dizzy. "Okay, you can
look."

They stood there, jaws dropped, stunned into silence. They
either hated it or totally loved it.

"Um, is this a bad or good silence?"

Lucy pulled her mouth closed and swallowed before she spoke.
"O.M.G. Sam, this is the most incredible, unbelievable thing I've ever
seen in my life. You painted this?"

"You like it?"

Her mental voice slammed into me.
'Would I lie to you?
It's amazing!'

Relief flooded me even as I laughed at her joke. I could
read minds, sure, but she was the human lie detector. No one dared lie to her.

Luke hugged me and whispered into my ear, "I'm so proud
of you, Sam. This is truly epic!"

We stood there staring for several minutes. This painting
represented so much about me, my life, my future... everything. I hated to
leave it even for a minute, but my stomach protested its neglect with a loud
rumble.

Luke grabbed my hand. "Come on, let's feed you. My
treat."

With the buzz of success filling me, and Luke's hand in mine,
I entertained a what-if. What if I could get past the whole brother thing with
Luke? I took in his tall, well-defined frame, his dark hair and bright blue
eyes. Gorgeous inside and out, but... nothing. No spark at all. Such a pity. Of
all the guys at school, he was the only one I could even imagine being with,
but I couldn't force the chemistry and neither could he.

We walked to dinner hand in hand, and I consoled myself with
the fact that I had the best friends a girl could want. Not a bad consolation
prize after all, and worth a hundred boyfriends.

The Hub occupied prime real estate in the middle of campus
and offered the only thing that passed for excitement at our school. On such a
beautiful day, every shop and cafe was open for business. The Hub was our
little town, the only place we had to buy clothes, food, knickknacks and
whatever else we needed. If a store didn't have what we wanted, they'd order
it.

We walked down the tree-lined sidewalks and looked for a
restaurant that had space for us. Three girls from my math class were just
getting up to leave as we approached The Bistro, a fun deli that served the
best meatball subs. We snagged the table and settled in for a much needed meal.

The waitress took our order promptly, probably trying to get
people in and out as quickly as possible for more tips. Luke sipped his soda
with over-the-top slurping noises.

"Honestly, you are such a pig, Luke."

He threw his wadded-up straw paper at me. "Whatcha
gonna do about it, pip squeak?"

I stuck my tongue out at him, then settled into a sulk, arms
crossed over my chest. "What am I going to do if Higgins pulls me from the
contest?"

Lucy's brown eyes blazed with fire. "He wouldn't dare!
You've worked too hard for that. And Mr. K won't let him pull you. I think he'd
crawl across sharp glass all the way to New York with your painting strapped to
his back if he had to, just to make sure you were entered. Honestly, I think
the only reason he still teaches here is because of you."

"He does seem really unhappy. Why do you think he hates
it here so much?" I looked around at the palatial grounds and happy
students strolling the streets. We had everything we could ever need. Sure, it
got boring and lonely sometimes, but the occasional assignment to places all
over the world kept things interesting and made coming home a nice change of
pace. Why would he want to leave?

Our meals arrived, and talking ceased as we all took big
bites of our sandwiches.

The warm meatballs and toasted honey and oat bread had never
tasted better, and filling my stomach helped settle the shaky energy of too
much caffeine the last two days.

Lucy talked through a mouth full of roasted turkey breast.
"Who knows, but it's not so crazy, is it? I mean how badly do
we
want to leave?"

"That's different. We all have para-powers that make us
vulnerable in the real world, and make some of us dangerous. We're here to
learn to control our powers and to protect us from those who might exploit us.
We have no choice, at least until we turn eighteen and are finally free."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "We all know the company line,
Sam."

The waitress came and refilled our drinks, and I used the
interruption to organize my thoughts and take another bite of my sandwich.

Out of habit, I peeked into the waitress's mind and smirked.
'So sexy... wish I could get him to notice me... wish we were allowed to
date the students....'

When she left I kicked Luke under the table. "You're
charming the ladies and don't even know it." I nodded toward the waitress.

He puffed up his chest and raised a "how you
doin'" eyebrow. "Girls just can't help but appreciate all that I have
to offer. And who can blame them, really?"

"Yes, such a ladies' man. Anyways, I know it's not easy
for our teachers. It's just... as far as schools go, they've got it pretty good.
I mean, we've all had to go to other schools while on assignment, and they suck
compared to this. The teachers are miserable, underpaid and overworked, and
there are too many students per classroom. Here he gets state-of-the-art
equipment, any kind of supplies he wants, and an incredible studio. Why
leave?"