The phone rang and kept ringing. At first, I wasn’t sure he would answer.
Right before a voice mail message would have started up, the phone clicked. There was breathing on the other end amid other sounds, but no voice.
My heart stopped. Volto did that. I breathed out slowly. “Luke? Is that you?” I tried not to sound panicked, but my voice was soft.
“Sang?” Luke said through the phone. “Everything okay?” His voice was concerned now.
My heart crashed back into my chest at hearing his voice. I brightened a bit, looking at the other guys and nodding. “Yeah, I’m okay.”
North started waving at me, getting my attention, and signaling that I shouldn’t let on that we were looking for him. “I just...came by the diner. I thought you were here.”
“Oh,” he said. “I was going to, but...I don’t know. I got distracted.”
“Oh,” I said. I didn’t want to get after him about not going to work. Hadn’t he had this same discussion with North where he’d promised he’d relieve Nathan? How could he skip out and make it sound like it was akin to daydreaming during class? “I was going to see if you wanted to...maybe...do something tonight.”
“Tonight? Like what?”
I bit my lip and looked at Nathan and then North. I couldn’t think of what to say, feeling awkward that they were watching me while I was trying to ask Luke out and find out what was going on at the same time. “Oh, I thought we’d get a pizza and watch a movie? Or maybe something else? Whatever you want to do.”
“Are you asking me out? Sang, if you’re feeling threatened by that girl giving me her phone number, there’s nothing to worry about.”
I swallowed and continued, unable to turn back now. Nathan was looking at me, a frown on his face and it was more than the situation. I was worried about jealousy. It made it more awkward to be sweet to Luke and try to lure him to take me along wherever he was going. “Maybe it’s a little bit of that,” I said closing my eyes so I didn’t have to look at Nathan. “But to be honest, I...thought we should hang out. We never get to. I haven’t gotten a chance since...”
“Sang, listen, I want to, but I’m halfway across town right now and I might not be able to get back.”
I sent a puzzled look at North. He looked at his phone and was shaking his head. “Oh,” I said, unable to hide my disappointment. “Where are you going?”
“Academy stuff. You know how it is. Save some pizza for me? I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”
I frowned. He’d said he was distracted. Now he was saying it was Academy stuff and he’s too busy? This didn’t seem like him. “What time will you be back, Luke?”
“Have to go. Bye!”
He disconnected. I pulled the phone from my ear, looking at it in disbelief. I’d never been brushed off by any of them like that before. I recalled what he’d just said, and it made me question the Luke who had been at the house earlier, friendly and funny. He didn’t even seem like the same person.
I turned to North. “At first he said he was distracted, like he was doing something else… and then he said he was doing something for the Academy. He said he was halfway across town.”
“According to the GPS on his phone, he’s...” North’s eyebrows moved together, and his lips twisted in confusion. “Back at our house.”
“We should go follow him,” I said. “He shouldn’t be alone. If he didn’t do the prank, then Volto...”
“Shouldn’t we warn him about Volto?” Nathan asked. “If we aren’t, then we need to keep an eye on him so he isn’t alone.”
North sighed and then went to the door, opening it. “Sang, you go with Nathan. I’ll stay here and cover the shift. Uncle will get the wrong idea if you and I leave together.”
“You shouldn’t be here alone,” I said.
“I’m not,” he smirked and then tapped me on the nose. “Uncle’s here. As are a couple other people...”
He meant there were plenty of Academy people here. Volto would have to get by all of them to get to North. Kota and Gabriel were still up the road, too. “Just be careful,” I said. “Don’t go home alone.”
North rolled his eyes and walked into the hallway. “Stick by her Nathan.”
Nathan grunted in agreement. He took me by the elbow and nearly carried me out to the hallway and toward the back door. “Let’s go find Luke.”
HIDE AND SEEK
Nathan had me keep the hood over my head while we were out, just in case anyone was following us or if anyone working for Mr. Hendricks spotted us.
When we got into the Jeep, I told Nathan quickly about finding the masks, and how we weren’t sure who had hung them. Then, I reluctantly told him about Luke acting strangely and how we wondered if he’d had something to do with the masks.
I kept the part about Uncle being weird about North to myself for now. I wanted to talk to North about that first.
As I was talking, I got a buzz on my phone: texts from North.
North: I got word back from Kota. Told him about the masks and he got the one off of his window. He said there were eight. Wasn’t sure if there was anything significant to the number.
I read this to Nathan. He was quiet for a moment and then counted on his fingers. “That’s just how many windows Kota has on the front of his house.”
I wrote this to North and got a quick response.
North: He wonders why it was the front of the house and not the side or any of the back windows.
“He’s overthinking the numbers,” Nathan said to me. “You know him. He assumes there might be answers in them sometimes. It might just be Volto only had eight masks, or he just wanted to do the front and didn’t worry about the back.”
“I guess he’s looking at all the information, and not dismissing anything,” I said.
Nathan nodded and glanced at all his mirrors and then out the front. He combed his reddish hair, shorter since Gabriel had cut it not too long ago. Now it stood up in the back at times, but was soft. He continued to brush his head, still not used to it being so short. “I just don’t like over-thinking the details instead of looking at the obvious. I don’t like knowing he’s out there and we haven’t been able to figure out who he is yet. He’s already done a lot of damage.”
“Has he, really?” I asked.
“You’re not telling me you like what he does, are you?”
“No,” I said. “But what has he done? Informed us about where Mr. McCoy was?”
“He set up that dangerous stunt on the football field. Someone could have gotten seriously hurt. Then there’s the photos he took of you. And he kidnapped you.”
“Just to talk to me,” I said. I didn’t have an excuse about the football field. “He said Muriel did the photos.”
“He could say that, but it might not be true. We can’t trust him.”
“I’m hoping this recent thing is Luke,” I said. “I’m hoping he just did a trick because he was mad at North. He might know we’re on to him about it and is just trying to avoid getting into trouble.”
“I’m not so sure he’d do something like that,” he said. He stopped at a red light and continued his constant looking toward all mirrors. “Besides, the problem is, Volto is still out there. Whether or not Luke played another prank, and is laying low now to not get in trouble for it, it doesn’t change the fact that there’s a potential danger. Not knowing who Volto is and not being able to stop him is making what seems like a stupid prank into something we have to take seriously.”
I agreed with that. “It still doesn’t explain what Luke has been up to, and why he’s skipping out on work when he promised to be there.” I really wanted to talk to him.
But would he talk to me about it if he knew I wanted to? He dismissed me earlier, even though he might be at home just thinking. Maybe this was more serious than I thought.
The light turned green, and Nathan rolled the car forward. The afternoon light was bright and I shielded my eyes from it.
“So, were you go
ing to take him out for pizza tonight?” Nathan asked in a quieter tone.
My fingers shifted, until they covered my view of his face. There was drop of jealousy in his question. I remembered the promises he made to me in one desperate moment when he’d confessed his feelings. From what I’d learned since, it wasn’t clear if he knew about the plan or not. I didn’t want to be the one to tell him if he didn’t—I had a feeling he wouldn’t like it.
I tried to talk vaguely, just in case. “Kota asked me to find out why Luke keeps running off,” I said in a quiet tone similar to his. “North couldn’t do it; he’s been harsh on him lately and he’s not so sure Luke would open up to him right now.”
“And Kota can’t do it?”
“He wanted me to try first, before he goes to Mr. Blackbourne and asks him to talk to Luke. Even Gabriel tried talking to him, but Luke’s been eluding him for a week or so.”
“It’s not a bad thing if he does need time to think,” Nathan said. “And Mr. Blackbourne’s not a last resort. He’s not going to kill him or punish him if he’s really having a hard time with something. Has anyone told Mr. Blackbourne about any of this?”