[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.I imagined it was Charlie’s.A black new car showed up, and it parked closed to the Jeep.Kota and Nathan popped out.North was limping, and he released me to shove me toward Nathan once we were close enough.“Sang!” Nathan said, pulling me away.“Come get in the Jeep!”I hesitated, looking at Silas, but it was Charlie who answered.“It’s okay, doll,” he said.“Don’t worry about us.”I almost fell apart where I stood.Was this it? Would Silas get in trouble and have to go back to Greece? I didn’t want to lose sight of him, scared to death it was going to be the last time I’d see him.“Aggele,” Silas said, and then coughed.“Go.I’ll be back.”It was like he knew exactly what I had been thinking.I had to trust him.I turned, running after Nathan.I climbed into the seat, and Nathan turned over the engine, driving off.Kota spoke to Charlie, and then to Silas, and then to my surprise, he and North got into Kota’s car, leaving behind Charlie and Silas.But when I turned around to see if they were going to run or get into a car to drive off, they didn’t move.They stood together, side by side, watching the church burn sirens getting closer.And then I knew they weren’t going to run.Whatever demons had been hidden in the past with their family, they would face them now.BooThere were several large tents arranged across the lawn at Middleton Place.There was solid flooring under my feet, not grass like I’d been worried about when Gabriel said I’d be wearing heels.I wore the corset dress, accessorized with a hot pink stone choker collar, a hair clip with hot pink stones, and a full mask glittering with the same pink accents, plus one in each of the boys’ favorite colors, matching their ties.The mask was a last minute gift from the boys, presented in a velvet box by Gabriel, before getting out of the town car Victor had ordered to pick some of us up.The dance was already starting.Music blared, some popular song I couldn’t recall the name of.The space was moderately dark, with the occasional flash of lights from projectors and other machines I didn’t know the names of.While I was impressed with it all, I couldn’t help but seek out staff, knowing they were all Academy members.I wasn’t sure what I thought they would be.Maybe secret ninjas with masks and lots of spy gear, but every person I saw looked completely normal.I checked for signs: the girl behind the punch bowl serving drinks, the band members, the photographer, but they all appeared to belong.Seamless.Forgettable.Maybe they really were ninjas.“Are you ready?” Mr.Blackbourne whispered into my ear.He wasn’t really there beside me.He wasn’t supposed to be.But my mask was outfitted with a microphone and they’d given me an earpiece.The Academy wasn’t going to give us the night off completely.“I guess so,” I said.Victor stepped up beside me, after having given instructions to the driver.“Whew,” he said.He wore his black suit, a silver pin through his white tie.He wore a mask, too, a half mask that was painted the same silver as the pin.“I was afraid the signal wouldn’t make it through, what with all the interference from other devices hanging around.”I didn’t know all the details, but Mr.Blackbourne informed us that he would, indeed, be a short distance away.He was wearing his suit, too, in case he needed to make an appearance, and Mr.Hendricks was informed of his whereabouts.Mr.Blackbourne also had several Academy members staying by him to ensure Mr.Hendricks wasn’t going to set a trap of his own.Gabriel, with an orange mask and matching tie, stepped up on my other side.“Okay, we might have overdone it with our costumes.”The rest of the students had a mixture of various dressy costumes, with cats and witches and popular book and movie characters mixed in.The costumes looked good, but knowing how much the masks and our outfits probably cost, it did feel a little over the top.“We’ll use these outfits again,” Victor said.“There is prom, after all.”“Nu uh,” Gabriel said.“You can’t use the same stuff for prom.That’s not the same thing.”“I like them,” Kota said, walking up behind us.I turned, surprised at seeing him for once without his glasses, the half mask on his face.“Can you see?” I asked.He tapped the mask close to his eye.“Contact lenses,” he said.My mouth popped open.“You.”“I don’t like them,” he said.“They can get really dirty and I worry about getting an eye infection.I’d rather have the glasses.”“It’s just for tonight,” Gabriel said.“It would have looked weird with the glasses.”“I like it,” I said quietly.Kota’s green eyes lit up behind his mask.“Let’s get inside,” Nathan said, following up next to Kota.He really filled out his suit, and the red tie swayed as he kept the jacket open.“Yeah,” Luke said as he approached in his suit with the baby blue tie and mask.He cut in between Gabriel and me, taking my arm and tugging me deeper into the tent.“I smell food.”Some of the guys chuckled.I followed the others deeper into the tent [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]