Chapter Twelve
ANGEL SINCLAIR
“Doesn’t it seem weird we have all this space and they are making us share one room?” I asked Frankie.
While the KIT campus was cool, not to mention completely self-sufficient, it was a bit strange that all of this was just for seven kids. I guess the government had its reasons, but it was a bit unnerving.
After roaming around the area for a while, Frankie and I parted ways with Wally and returned to our room. According to our schedule, dinner was promptly at five. We had about an hour more of downtime before that. I was exhausted and needed some alone time to process all the things that had happened to me to this point. Unfortunately, sharing a room with other people meant alone time was going to be hard to come by. At least Kira wasn’t there, and no one had yet claimed the top bunk across from Frankie and me yet.
Frankie plopped down stomach first on her bed. “It is kind of weird, but I bet they want to see how well we get along with each other. So, what’s your favorite part of the campus? The swimming pool? The gym? Wait, don’t tell me. The gaming room.”
“The gaming room is a pretty sweet setup,” I admitted.
“Well, I liked the garden maze the best. The flowers in the garden were lovely. I like how someone had added a few pumpkins and haystacks, too. It makes it feel so welcoming and normal. Although the swimming pool was amazing, too. Not quite as fancy as Excalibur’s, but nice just the same.”
“Maybe we can go swimming after dinner,” I suggested.
“Great idea.”
Frankie closed her eyes, declaring she wanted to take a nap. I envied her the ability to shut down. I wished I could do the same, but I was too wired. Instead I sat down at my desk, booted up my laptop.
There was no way I’d be stupid enough to search for information on my dad on a government network, but I could read the information I’d already downloaded.
Although I’d already read it a hundred times, I opened the police report on my dad. I flipped to the page where the police discussed my father’s workplace, King’s Security. Wally and I had traced it and discovered it was owned by the NSA. I’d never been told my dad worked for the NSA and apparently neither had the police, because it hadn’t been in the report. My dad’s official title had been security engineer. I knew that meant he would have been responsible for testing and screening computer security software and monitoring networks and systems for potential intrusions. They also implemented and tested strategies to plan and prepare for security threats. But my dad’s background was in cryptology and encryption. Cryptologists created and deciphered codes and cryptograms. So what had my dad been working on when he disappeared?
I googled for inventions and advancements in cryptology around the time my dad disappeared and read until I almost fell asleep at the keyboard. That’s exactly when Frankie woke up and announced we had to go to dinner.
We met Wally in the cafeteria. Everyone was there except for Jax and Kira. I hadn’t seen Kira since lunch, and she lived with us. Where did she disappear to all the time?
After dinner, we invited Wally to go with us to the pool. He declined.
“Are you kidding? I don’t want Kira to see me in my bathing suit. As you can see, I’m not exactly buff.”
“Seriously?” I crossed my arms, frowning. “You’re not going to start pining over Kira, are you?”
“How can I stop myself?” Wally sighed and pressed a hand to his chest. “Have you taken a good look at her? She’s gorgeousness times a million. The most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in this close proximity. And she’s got to be smart if she’s here. The perfect woman for me.”
I rolled my eyes. “You don’t know anything about her. You just met her. Don’t lose sight of what’s important here.”
“Oh, trust me. I know what’s important. I know you’re going to say I’m overreacting, but I feel like she’s my destiny.”
“Ugh.” I threw up my hands. “It’s lust, Wally. Knock it off.”
Frankie giggled, but Wally crossed his arms and glared at me. “It’s not lust. Well, maybe a little, but you do not know what’s in my heart.”
“Fine,” I said, huffing out a breath. “Your loss. If you don’t want to come swimming, we’ll go without you.”
We got dressed in our swimsuits and headed out. When we got to the gym, Jax and Bo were on the mats wrestling. Kira was in another corner lifting weights. Mike was nowhere in sight.
Jax saw me and waved cheerfully. “Hey, Red, you want to wrestle next?”
“Um, no, thanks.” My cheeks heated. “I’m going swimming.”
“Your loss,” he said grinning as he picked up a towel and swiped it across his brow. “Maybe next time.”
“Sure, maybe,” I called out. Biggest. Lie. Ever. No way was I going to get that close to him.
Frankie and I headed on to the swimming pool, grabbing a couple of towels on our way and dumping them on a chair.
“I think Jax likes you,” Frankie announced.
“What?” I frowned fiercely at her as I pulled my hair back in a ponytail, securing it. “I just met him. How can you extrapolate that?”
She raised an eyebrow. “He didn’t ask me to wrestle.”
I didn’t have an adequate answer to that, so I dived into the pool. We had it all to ourselves, so we swam a bunch of laps and then splashed around a bit. When we got out, Jax and Kira were gone. Bo was in another corner of the gym using a bow and arrow to hit a target. I wrapped myself in a towel and watched him hit the bull’s-eye three times in a row.
Holy crap. He had some mad skills with the bow. He must have felt me watching, because he turned around and gave me a little wave. I waved back, and he resumed his target shooting.
Anxiety swamped me. I’d never used a bow in my life, and I totally sucked at darts. I hadn’t held or fired a gun and didn’t play on any sports teams, other than when forced to do so in gym class. Other than swimming, I had no ability in anything physical, which was kind of scary after watching Bo nail the target time after time.
Frankie was chatting with the lifeguard, so I went into the locker room to change. When I came out, Bo was gone and the lifeguard was closing down the pool.
“The lifeguard is so nice,” she said. “I thought it must be a boring job watching us swim, but he told me he likes the solitude to think.”
“Well, hurry up and get dressed,” I said, a bit irritated I had to wait for her. Did she have to talk to everyone? “We’re the last ones in the gym.”
“Oh, sure,” she said, hustling into the locker room.
The fourth bunk in our room was still empty by the time we finally got back. It looked like it was going to be just the three of us. Kira was just getting out of the shower. She walked into the room, toweling her hair.
“Lights out at ten,” she said shortly and then turned her back on us.
I had no idea what was her problem with us. Her standoffishness was bordering on rudeness.
“We’ve still got an hour,” I said. “But after this day, I won’t have a problem falling asleep.”
“Me neither,” Frankie agreed.
Frankie took her shower next. I followed and then blow-dried my hair. When I got out of the bathroom, Kira was already lying in bed, her back to the room and us. Frankie was sitting on top of the covers, reading. She was dressed in yellow flannel pj’s with green blobs on them. Her wet hair was parted in the middle and rolled up in two socks on either side of her head.
I couldn’t stop myself from asking. “What’s that on your pj’s?”
“Frogs.” She set aside her book and tugged on her sleeve so I could see better. “Did you know frogs are considered good luck in China? They’re associated with rain. Rain means good crops will sprout. Good crops mean lots of food for the population. Lots of food means happy people. I just figured I could use a little extra luck to start off this new adventure.”
“Okay. And why are there socks in your hair?”
She patted the socks. “I’m going for the crinkly-hair look tomorrow.” She glanced over at Kira, who was lying as still as a stone. There was no way she was asleep with the light still blazing and the two of us talking, but she seemed intent on ignoring us. Frankie and I exchanged a puzzled glance.
“Hey, Kira,” Frankie said. “We didn’t get a chance to talk to you much earlier. What’s your story? How did you end up here? We’re looking forward to being roommates with you.”
She was still for a long moment and then she finally rolled over, propping her head up with one hand. “Look, I know you want to be friends, but I intend to stay focused on what has to be done here. So, no offense if I don’t want to join your posse. Just leave me alone and we’ll be good. Okay?”
“Hey,” I said. “No need to be rude.”
“We’re not a posse,” Frankie said earnestly. “We’re all inclusive. We can help each other, you know.”
“I don’t need your help. Perhaps I wasn’t clear. Leave. Me. Alone.” She rolled over again, pulling the covers over her head.
I clenched my teeth, but Frankie didn’t seem upset in the slightest.
“Angel, can you turn off the lights, please?” Frankie said. “Kira is right. We’d better get to bed. We have a big day tomorrow.”
I lifted my hands in a can-you-believe-that gesture. Frankie pursed her lips and looked disappointed in me. Huffing, I dropped my hands and stalked across the room, then banged my fist against the switch as I turned it off. I didn’t know who Kira thought she was, but she was acting like a princess, and my tolerance for that was exactly zero.
Still fuming, I climbed up to my bunk and settled in. I thought I’d be up for hours mulling over everything that had happened over the course of the day, but my last thought was I needed to up my game so I could handle whatever they intended to throw at us in the coming days.