“No,” I said. “They keep saying they’re waiting for dark to move us.”
His eyes shifted, calculating and then looking toward the wall. “Is that a camera?”
“I broke it. It still works but it’s pointed to the ground.”
“I can’t really see well. You’ll have to be my eyes.” He twisted his body. “How did you get like that?”
I think he meant untied, but he wasn’t saying so out loud. He wasn’t giving away the fact that I was free. He was smarter than the last one. “They dragged me in here like you,” I said carefully. Maybe that was the trick. A couple more people to keep an eye on me. But the way he squinted, blind, and also just his presence, actually bruised up and way more distressed and careful than the last guy… “But I was able to get my hands to the front at least.” I left it at that.
He twisted his body, and then pointed to me with his feet, legs partially up off the ground. “Maybe you can help me with that?”
“Why don’t you ask your friends to come in and help?” I asked.
He raised an eyebrow. “You think I’m with them? Because they tricked you?”
“I don’t know who to believe anymore.”
He sighed and then looked toward the masked body on the floor. “You should take that bag off. He could be awake listening to us. Maybe that’s the new trick.”
He could be telling the truth. “How do you tell if he’s faking?”
“Just open one of his eyes,” he said. “I’ll tell you if he is.”
I went to the lanky body. I hadn’t really recognized it, but now looking at it, it was odd to see some old scars along his shoulder and at his lower back. Scars that were familiar to me, as I had similar…
I touched the black bag on his head but the moment I did, the body jerked around, coughing, body gyrating like he was retching.
“Get it off!” Buble called to me.
I gripped the top of it and yanked up.
My brother’s face appeared. Wil. Eyes wild, his mouth contorted as he was trying to breath in the fresh air.
I couldn’t believe it.
“Who is he?” Buble asked.
I wasn’t sure what to do. My own brother. They’d found him. They’d brought him here. This Buble… I didn’t know him. It could be another trap. If they didn’t know who he was, then I didn’t want to tell them.
I didn’t want to risk his life, thinking they could get to me through him somehow.
“I don’t know,” I said. I looked up at Buble, trying to focus on him, looking upset. “Someone else I don’t know. Someone else thrown in to try to get information out.”
Wil scanned the room and then me, shaking his head and looked over at Buble. “Who’s that? Where are we?”
“Long story,” I said. “Why don’t you start by telling us who you are?” I put a hand on his bare shoulder, squeezing just enough and giving him a long look. Just go along with this. Trust me.
He seemed disoriented and tried to sit up, only to realize he couldn’t get there on his own with his hands tied behind his back still. “What the hell…”
“Easy, kid,” Buble said. “Just take it easy. They caught us, too. But who are you?”
“William,” he said carefully. His full first name. He looked at me as he said it. “What’s happening?”
“We’ve been tied up, and we’re being kept here.” I motioned to Buble. “He was brought in when you were. Do you recognize him?”
He looked over at Buble. Like Buble, Wil normally wore glasses and he squinted to see his face. “No. I don’t…I don’t think so.”
I helped him sit up. “Do you recognize me?”
He blinked rapidly and a little more high pitched, he said, “No?”
At least he caught on. “Okay, so let’s start at square one. How did you get here?”
“I was…” He stopped short and looked over at Buble. “I think I was at school?” He swallowed thickly and then looked at his nude body. Instinctively, he tried to turn himself and then looked at me and realized I was naked, too. “What did they do to you?”
“Nothing,” I said. “They just brought me here.” Did I have bruising? The car crash did more to me than the one slap across the face. “I was in a car accident. But I think I’m fine.”
“We’re not fine,” Buble said. “We’re tied up, and they’ll attack you if you try to escape or make trouble, believe me. I have no doubt our sleeping companion here did something very similar.”
“If we’re all being honest with each other,” I said, “they said they don’t want to hurt us.”
“But they do want something,” Buble said, He nodded to Wil. “If neither of us recognize him, then he’s got to be with Alice. He is the trick to get us to talk.”
“Alice? Is she here?” Wil asked.
My eyes widened. “You know her?”
“Sure,” he said. “I mean if it’s the same person. Red hair. Blue eyes. Like late twenties or something like that?”
My insides were on fire with anger. “How long have you known her?”
He blinked rapidly, seeming surprised by the question. “For weeks. At least? Ran into her and she asked a few questions about something.”
I gripped him by the shoulders. “Like what? What did she ask you?”
“I don’t remember,” he said. “Nothing bad. But she helped me with some problems I was having at school. Then I said I’d help her.”
“And then what?”
“I haven’t heard from her for a while. Until you mentioned her.”
“She tricked you,” Buble said.
“She wouldn’t do that,” he said. Wil looked at me, motioning with his elbow. “Get me out of this? How do we get out of here?”
“We need to bide our time,” Buble said. “Wait until the right moment.”
“So they can move us where they want us?” I asked as I helped Wil move to where his hands were in front of his body by moving his legs enough. He scraped part of his feet on the hard plastic ties as his legs were a bit longer. It was more difficult to do, but it eventually worked. “Waiting just gives them time they want. That’s why they want us in here.”
“What do they want from us?” Wil asked. He sat back down on the floor pulling his knees up and using his tied hands to hold his legs to his body. “Why us?”
“They’re looking for information,” Buble said. “It’s the only reason to detain us.”
“Someone,” I said. “They want someone who is in charge.”
“Who someone?” Wil asked. “Who?” He paused. “Is it that Academy? It’s not that, is it?”
Buble coughed roughly. “They’re listening still. Even if the camera is broken.”
Wil seemed confused. “But is that who they want?”
“What are you talking about? What Academy?” I asked him carefully.
“Alice,” he said. “She told me about them.”
I wanted to curse, but I did my best not to give anything away. “Some school? What does that mean?”
“I don’t think it’s a school.” He turned those big brown eyes on me, wide and fearful. He then looked at Raven on the ground. “Who is that?”
“It’s Raven,” Buble said. “Her husband.”
It was something I hadn’t told Buble, but if he knew Raven enough to know his full name…if he was Academy, he’d possibly know that, too. Just like my face was familiar. But was he? Or was he one of them, sent to confuse us more using the same name, and he was just better than the other guy?
Wil choked and coughed once. “What?”
Surprise, surprise. “He was knocked out like you two.” I didn’t give more away. We were supposed to not know each other right now. There was no time to explain it. “He might be out for a while. They drugged him enough to keep him like this. It was the only way to keep him contained, apparently.”
Wil rubbed at his face with his palms, the wrist ties tightening to indent into his skin as he tried to pull them apart. “They just want
to know a name? Why can’t we just tell them one?”
“They’re looking for a boss,” I said. “At least that’s what they say.”
“So who is it?” Wil asked. He looked at me. “Who leads this Academy?”
On instinct, I looked at Buble, unsure how to answer. Could that be who they were looking for, for sure? They hadn’t mentioned the Academy once, just Wil did.
Buble’s lip twitched as he said, “I don’t know what he’s talking about. What Academy school? With kids? Explain this to me.”
He was lying about not knowing. I don’t know how I knew, but I did. Still, it could mean he was one of the bad guys and knew who they were, or he really was Academy and had to lie for whoever was listening.
Wil looked from me to Buble and back. “You don’t know?” he asked me. “Do you know the Academy?”
“Not really,” I said. Wil could tell when I lie, he was the only other person to be able to tell. If they were listening, they’d hear this but he’d know the real deal. “Rumors, maybe. I don’t really know. Some sort of school?”
“So why did they pick you up?” Wil asked. “What have you been doing that would make them think you’d know?”
“I’ve been scraping by, picking up odd jobs.” I remembered the note I left for him—and he never picked it up—and confronting Jack about it and the aftermath. He never checked in, according to the Academy. “You’ve been at school?”