Sixteen
Luca and Vincebrought in chairs from the garage while Sky, Gavin, and Noah brought every chair in the house downstairs. It took over an hour for all the council members to arrive. I only recognized the guys’ parents and tried to stay out of the way as they assembled in the living room.
“Does this happen often?” I asked Tessa in the corner of the kitchen. She arranged drinks and snacks with a pleasant smile, but I caught her hands trembling.
“No, sweetie.” She stopped and faced me. “This is an emergency.”
I expected her to sugarcoat it or straight-up lie. The fact that she didn’t made my stomach roll. This was bad. Worse than I imagined.
“Am I going to be allowed to stay?”
She squeezed my shoulders. “Yes, you and the boys can stay back here. Gavin will go over the information he found, and then we’ll discuss next steps.”
I nodded, and she eyed the counter before rushing to the door when the bell rang for the umpteenth time.
The room was filling up, and Noah and Sky wove through the crowd and stood on either side of me.
“Are you guys okay?” I asked.
Noah shrugged, and Sky chewed on his bottom lip.
Vince and Luca came over a minute later, and Vince slid behind me, pulling me back to lean against him. I didn’t resist and sighed into him.
Daniel moved to the front of the living room, and all conversations died. “Thank you all for coming on such short notice. I know that we have a meeting scheduled for this week, but this couldn’t wait.” He cleared his throat. “My son, Gavin, has uncovered information that I felt was necessary for you all to hear immediately. I’ll let him explain, then we can discuss our options.”
Gavin smiled at his dad when he stepped to his side, then repeated what he found out about my guidance counselor. As soon as he was done, chatter broke out.
Daniel held up his hands. “Let’s keep this organized.” He glanced at a man sitting at the side of the room. “Are you taking notes, Ed?”
Ed nodded, and Daniel continued. “As you can see, this is something that must be handled immediately. I think it would be unwise to assume Arlington Park Academy is the only school the AS has infiltrated. If they know who our children are, then they’re watching them.”
A man with thinning blond hair stood. “They’ve taken no action in two years. What do you think they want?”
Daniel shook his head. “We’re not sure yet. From what Gavin has read, Mr. Haul reports anything out of the ordinary: students the boys hang out with that they didn’t before, if they miss school, anything out of the norm.”
“How do we know this is a threat then?” the blond man argued.
“Larry, sit down.” Luca’s dad, the Chancellor of the North American branch of the Society, stood and moved to the front of the room. “The AS wouldn’t change the name of one of its members and give him fake credentials if they had no ulterior motive. Even if his only mission was to observe our children, that’s enough. It cannot, and will not, be tolerated. With the attacks around the world, we will not sit back and wait for them to make a move. I’m grateful that until this point, no harm has come to our sons, but I won’t allow them to stay at that school knowing they’re being watched. It’s time to take action.”
I sucked in a breath. He confirmed the attacks and that they were considering removing us. Vince’s grip tightened around my shoulders, and Sky slid his hand into mine. Whatever happened, we had each other. That was all that mattered.
“Bruce, are you saying . . .” Daniel trailed off as he looked at Gavin.
Bruce nodded, and his eyes locked on Luca. “We have no other choice. We can’t deal with the AS and leave our children vulnerable. Splitting our focus could have disastrous results.”
I scanned the room looking for anyone to explain what was happening.
Mandy, Noah’s mom, stood. “Why don’t we break? Those that don’t have children should go to headquarters to address the issue of how the AS was able to get people past us and begin filtering through the other schools to find any other members.” She looked to Bruce and Daniel. “And those of us with children will discuss the next steps.”
It took a few minutes for the adults to say their goodbyes and leave while the parents moved closer together. We stayed in our corner, huddled together, and watched the room change.
When only about a dozen people were left, Luca stepped forward, and we followed him to empty chairs in the living room. I sat next to Noah and tucked my hands under my thighs.
There were a few faces I didn’t know, but I stayed quiet. I didn’t want any of them to suddenly decide we shouldn’t be here.
“The school in Montana, Drexel Academy, confirmed they have openings starting this summer,” Mandy started the conversation.
Montana? The school CeeCee and Gwyn told me about. Wait. This summer?