Love's Cruel Redemption (The Ghost Bird #12)(30)

Mr. Blackbourne chose an entryway that cut through the very center of the hallway where students often collected before school. I didn’t look at most of them but sensed eyes on us as Mr. Blackbourne turned toward the main offices.

My eyes blurred a bit as we moved. I sucked in a breath, holding it for as long as I could. Mr. Blackbourne opened the door to the office for me, and I went in.

Mr. Blackbourne approached the front desk, pausing there for the woman sitting behind it. I recognized her, although I didn’t know her name.

She nodded once to Mr. Blackbourne, acknowledging him. “I left a packet for you on your desk in your office,” she said. She handed him a clipboard she had ready beside her. “And I also need your autograph.”

He took it up, signed and gave it back to her. There was a pause for just a split moment before he turned from the desk, heading toward the right side hallway.

I followed. I sensed the woman behind the desk following me with her eyes.

I was definitely being noticed. When he paused, I considered he was possibly waiting for others in the office to notice as well. As I’d thought, this wasn’t really for other students. This was to shake up staff.

The hallway was narrow, but we were soon at the door of the office Mr. Blackbourne and Dr. Green shared.

Mr. Blackbourne opened the door for me. Once I was in, he closed it. He remained near the door, his back to it. He slipped his hands into his pockets and waited.

I waited with him, anticipating we would leave in a minute.

The room only had a few subtle differences since the last time I was here. Dr. Green had added an origami lion on top his desktop monitor, next to frogs and bears he’d placed there before.

The radio that had been on top of the cabinet was gone, replaced by a Bluetooth speaker. Next to it was a vase with a few stemmed roses.

I waited in the silence with Mr. Blackbourne. When he checked in with me, I raised an eyebrow, asking silently how long we were waiting.

He showed me his hand, quietly counting down seconds.

Not long.

His desk held the packet that had been left on top of one of his organizers. “Did you need to look at it?” I asked quietly.

“This afternoon,” he said.

Must not be that important. I breathed slowly, allowing my nerves to settle and for him to let me know when to make the next move.

After a few more moments, he opened the door and held it. “Shall we?” he asked.

He was waiting for something here in the office. Or someone. I had a gut feeling I knew who it was.

I stepped out into the hallway. He closed the door behind himself and then, at a pace a little slower than I expected, guided me back toward the entryway of the office.

I followed close to his arm, keeping my hands to my sides, and minding to keep my head raised.

We walked slowly out of the hall just as Mr. Hendricks was crossing to the front desk. He wore a brown suit, matching his thick pair of glasses. His bald head reflecting the light from yellowed fluorescent bulbs over us.

And Ms. Wright was at the desk as well, signing the same clipboard document Mr. Blackbourne had signed. She wore a turtleneck, making her head appear to hover over her wide-framed body. She looked up shortly at Mr. Blackbourne and then at me.

Mr. Blackbourne did a very short acknowledgement of Mr. Hendricks and Ms. Wright before moving on past him toward the main door.

That moment stretched for me, feeling Mr. Hendricks’s gaze shift from Mr. Blackbourne to myself.

This was what it was all about. I was back. I was wearing the uniform. I was beside Mr. Blackbourne.

I was with them.

I was one of them.

This confirmed everything he suspected about me from the beginning but could never prove.

I kept my head up, my focus returning immediately to Mr. Blackbourne. I was here because Mr. Blackbourne and others wanted me to be here, but I was with them, under their protection.

They couldn’t hurt me. The moment Mr. Hendricks retreated, I knew he couldn’t do a thing about what I was wearing, where I was going or what I was doing. He couldn’t affect my grades or call my parents. There was nothing left for him to threaten me with.

I floated out of the office alongside Mr. Blackbourne. My confidence grew with every step. No longer was I his shadow, hoping to go unnoticed. It wasn’t just about wearing the uniform. It was about being with him, directly. There was no question now.

He took a long route around the school, at a steady pace. Mr. Blackbourne passed through hallways starting to become populated with students, and through the cafeteria. My eyes blurred, unseeing the reaction, but feeling it as we moved. The number of eyes that focused on me increased as we passed through more populated areas. Voices rose behind us. Questions. Curious comments.

He was making sure everyone knew.





One of Us




Music Room B’s chairs were precariously stacked high on one side of the room, enough so that some of those stacks leaned over. I wasn’t sure if anyone else actually used the room besides us if they were still stacked after a week of school being back in session. The linoleum floor’s corners were layered with dust. The chalkboard still had dusty chalk outlines from months ago.

The room was empty. The others hadn’t arrived yet as far as I knew, or they were hanging around the courtyard while we were here early.

Once we were out of eyesight from the rest of the school with the door closed, I relaxed, breathing out slowly through my lips.