Silas hand signaled to me to leave the line, and we went to the hallway on the right. No one stopped us.

We hurried down the hallway to Mr. Blackbourne’s office.

Nathan and Mr. Blackbourne were inside, at the desks, with Nathan taking over Dr. Green’s.

Silas went to look over Mr. Blackbourne’s shoulder.

I went to Nathan.

His attention shifted to me quickly. When I turned to check out what he was doing, he reached up and placed a hand at the small of my back, holding me next to him while he focused on the monitor.

We were watching Ms. Johnson. Mr. Blackbourne must be watching Karen and Mr. Hendricks. I wanted to know what was going on, but I also didn’t want to leave Nathan.

Nathan made small circles with his fingertips at my back. “Went okay?” he asked quietly.

I nodded. I didn’t want to interrupt the others. I was aware Victor was listening, too. Things happened really quickly and there was so much I wanted to talk to him about, but we needed to focus.

Academy work was frustrating at times.

Unable to do much else, I put an arm around Nathan’s shoulder and just waited.

But there wasn’t much going on with Ms. Johnson. She was in class. I noticed a section of desks where four of us previously sat and attended the class. It felt like ages ago. Part of me still anticipated homework. I never imagined a time when things like grades and tests didn’t matter to me anymore. It was hard to shake.

Silas picked his head up and cocked an eyebrow, looking across at me. “He claims she’s in for breaking into lockers.”

I made a face. “When?”

“Apparently during homeroom,” he said.

“There’s no report of such a thing,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “There was no way for him to know this.”

“An excuse?” I asked. “To bring her in?”

Silas spoke, “He’s threatening calling the cops. A lot of bluff.”

“He wouldn’t dare,” Nathan said. “What’s he want?”

“How is she?” I asked.

“She’s glaring at him,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “She’s tough. I don’t know if I believe this about the lockers, but there are a lot of students we don’t know about.”

“I don’t think she’d do that,” I said but then stopped. “But didn’t he bring her in before for this?”

“Yes,” Mr. Blackbourne said.

“And we know the lockers are pretty easy to break into,” Nathan said. “You did it.”

“Not easily. Not until someone else showed us the knack of it.” I just didn’t believe Karen would be the type to break into them.

I left Nathan then, not wanting to, but my curiosity got to me.

Hendricks looked like he was getting into a long tirade with her. She crossed her arms, seemed annoyed by it, but she was focused, listening.

He opened a hand, pointing to fingers, like counting off.

“What’s he doing?” I asked.

“He’s listing off locker numbers,” Mr. Blackbourne said.

This went on for a bit, with the principal reciting the locker numbers a couple of times, threatening to call the cops. He finally settled down, told her to check in with the front desk for a pass for class and told her to leave.

That was it? No detention? Nothing?

Karen didn’t seem too bothered. She got up, went to the front desk and waited for a hall pass.

“I want to follow her,” I said.

“Do it,” Mr. Blackbourne said and looked up at me. “Stay far back. If she returns to class, I want you to come back here. Don’t linger.” He nodded to Silas. “And make sure Miss Sorenson isn’t stopped.”

Silas went to the door, opening it for me and waiting.

I gazed back once at Nathan on my way out. He paused in his monitoring to look at me.

A heavy, dark look reached his blue eyes. “Be careful,” he said.

♥♥♥

Using Victor as a guide, we followed Karen. We didn’t turn corners until she did, relying on Victor to tell us which direction she went.

We followed her upstairs to a particular section of lockers. She slowed near a row and quickly opened up a couple next to each other.

I peeked around a corner. Silas stayed back.

She rummaged through the two lockers, picked out an iPod, a technical calculator, and some sort of makeup bag out of one. From the other, she collected more things that were similarly random.

She closed both, dumped everything she collected into her bookbag and then walked off down the hallway.

“She’s heading to another set,” Victor said.

I went to the lockers, looking at the numbers. I whispered for Victor, “Locker one seven one five and one seven one six.”

There were a few moments of silence, then Victor spoke. “I don’t know these students, but those were the numbers Mr. Hendricks told her she stole from earlier.”

Odd. “He told her to do this?”

Victor didn’t respond, but he could have been discussing it with someone else.

Suddenly, I felt an arm around my shoulders, pulling me away.

“Come on,” Silas said.

I didn’t know where he was taking me, but realized there were footsteps in the hallway further down, behind us. Someone else was coming.

When I looked back, a teacher was passing in the hallway, spotted us, almost staring us down.

Like he expected us to be there.

My heart raced. Silas almost carried me a few feet, with his big arm wrapped around my shoulder. When I was able to step down, he kept his arm around me. We headed around a corner and aimed us toward a restroom. His hurried pace kept me focused on following and not looking back.

He closed the door behind us once we were inside and threw the lock on the door.

I checked the stalls, but there was no one around.

He remained by the door, listening.

“Who was it?” I whispered.

“Another teacher,” he said. “I don’t know if he was responding to Karen’s noise in the lockers or...I’m thinking Mr. Hendricks might be on to us listening in on his office. We may have just proved it.” He turned, took off the jacket he’d worn and put it on the counter near a sink. He pressed a finger to one of his eyes and rubbed. “Let’s let Mr. Blackbourne figure out what. Maybe we can go nap in the nurse’s station after this.”

“What were you doing last night?” I asked.

He moved his finger from his face. His broad body leaned against the counter. The muscles of his chest and arms made the collared shirt strain a bit. “My dad had an emergency call last night. I bailed to help out Nathan, but was up really late, too. He...wants me to go with him more lately.”

“More plumbing work?”

He nodded. “Everyone always needs a plumber,” he mimicked, thickening the Greek accent. “I’m trying to convince a few cousins to fly over to replace me. I don’t know if it will be enough.” His gaze suddenly focused on me. “I don’t like how it keeps me away from you.”

Now that he mentioned it, while the others had been in an out of the Lee house while I was on bedrest, he wasn’t around as much. “Maybe it was for the better this week.” After Erica discovering Nathan, would it have been worse if it was one of the others?

He pressed his lips together and then curled his fingers at me. “Come over here?”

I stepped closer to him. He opened up his arms and he hugged me. It was deep, drawing me in, lifting me and nearly crushing my ribs. He dipped his head to my hair.

I pressed my cheek up against his chest. It relaxed me. I breathed in an ocean scent he carried, along with a damp scent of something earthy, like he’d been crawling around in dirt. It wasn’t his clothes, but the skin underneath.

“He asks about you,” he said. “I may need you to come by sometime soon.”

“Okay.”

“Spend the night?” he asked.

It felt like ages since I’d done so last. I remembered the way he’d held me in his bed, and sleeping next to him. I tilted my head up toward him. Silas lifted his head, his large brown eyes gazing down at me.

I wanted to answer him, but I stopped when he inclined his head. His lips met mine.

He kissed me. Shortly after he started, he lifted me and turned until my butt was on the counter. It made me a little taller and was probably easier for him so he didn’t have to bend over as far to kiss me.

But I was conscious that Victor could listen in, and while I did kiss him, I didn’t deepen it. I didn’t want to get too carried away.

He must have sensed this because he pulled back. His hand came up, touching at my hair, drawing away a strand that framed my face. He brushed it away. “One of these days, we won’t have to be here anymore.”

“Let’s make that soon,” I said.

He nodded, and I caught the same determination I witnessed in a few of the others. They’d been sent on this job, but they were tired and there were other priorities now. No one wanted to give up.

But we all wanted this to be done.