The Black Coats(73)
Silence. The teachers seated onstage shifted nervously. Adam Porter stood up and looked around. Thea ducked before he saw her.
“Drew Porter, there is a diploma here with your name on it.” Assembled students laughed awkwardly as the principal scanned the crowd. Then he smiled reassuringly. “Happens every year. I’m sure Mr. Porter will come seeking his diploma sooner or later.” They chuckled as he went on to the next name. Adam was making his way down the steel bleachers with an expression of panic on his face. Thea looked back down at the note.
We’re going to take good care of your handsome little predator, just as long as you bring his daddy here. Otherwise, we’ll see if this boy has some wings of his own.
Kisses,
Julie
Her heart sank as the stadium blurred into the background, the noise of the crowd overwhelming as she struggled to gather herself in a smothering cloud of terror.
The Monarchs had Drew. Thea was moving before she was even aware she was moving. Her flying feet carried her out of the stadium, away from the crowds and the cars and the cheery yellow-and-black banners. Her fingers fumbled over the phone as she texted Mirabelle what had happened. She wouldn’t put her team in danger again, but she needed Mirabelle to be her witness in case she never made it home. The car was in sight now. Thea racked her brain.
She couldn’t call the police. The Austin police force was deeply infiltrated by the Black Coats. If she brought Adam to the house, they would kill him without hesitation; he was the one they wanted. Drew would lose his father, and Adam Porter’s innocent blood would be on Thea’s hands. She wouldn’t do it. The Black Coats had played enough games with her. She had to be a step ahead of them. Think. Think. Think.
Thea slid into her car and spun out of the parking lot, onto the road heading to Mademoiselle Corday. She watched as her speedometer ticked upward. Seventy-five. Eight-five. Ninety. As she drove she ignored the trembling of her hands, unable to see anything but Drew’s face, her mind stumbling over a messy plan. Go to the house. Find Drew. Leave. As simple as it sounded, Thea knew it was anything but; Mademoiselle Corday was a labyrinth of hallways and hidden rooms. Drew could be anywhere. She would have to search the entire house, which could take hours. Was he hurt, or simply waiting for Thea to come get him? She ground her teeth together, trying to come up with a plan.
The road diverged in front of her: one lane heading east to the grand, gated entrance of Mademoiselle Corday, and one heading west. That same road that ended at the tree, the one she had come down so long ago, with a black envelope in her hand and a heart desperate for something, anything, to take away the pain. The Black Coats had taken that, twisted it, and used it against her. Damn them. Anger flared through her, but its flames weren’t enough to cover her much stronger fear.
Twenty-Eight
The pavement became gravel, and after a few minutes Thea stopped her little Honda in front of that same enormous cypress. A plywood board sat across the ravine now, thank goodness. She closed her eyes for a moment. I can do this. I have to. When she opened them again, her gaze rested on the black bag on the passenger seat. At least one thing was going to work out in her favor today.
Thea left her lace dress inside the car, the familiar Black Coats uniform snug on her body, her favorite sneakers on her feet. If I am going to run, it is not going to be in these stupid ballet slippers. She took a deep breath and raised her head, with her eyes trained on that black iron weathervane, the skeletal butterfly turning slowly in the breeze.
Please be okay, Drew.
She tried to move as quietly as possible as she neared the house, her footsteps light and fast. Around the perimeter of Mademoiselle Corday, thick brambles of rosebushes, creeping buttercup thickets, and kudzu draped over a wooden fencing cleverly hid a line of barbed wire. That is the Black Coats, Thea thought, a gold Texas rose adorned with razor-sharp thorns. She made her way to the side of the house, to a small hill where she could view the perimeter. Once she had some adequate cover, she raised her head ever so slightly, her hands curling in the dirt.
Shit. Around the perimeter of the house, every member of both Swallowtail and Emperor stood in a curved line surrounding Mademoiselle Corday. Some of the girls looked bored—as they were, no doubt—but some of them looked hungry and mean, particularly Valentina and her horde of Emperor nasties.
There was no way Thea was getting through them. She looked at the ground for a minute and then back toward the house. Maybe I don’t need to go through them. Instead of fighting them, perhaps she could enlist them. Maybe, just maybe, she could lead them.
She took a deep breath and stood, losing the ground cover she had worked so hard to achieve. “Hey!”
A dozen heads jerked her direction, looks of shock upon their faces. “It’s her!” one of the girls from Swallowtail yelled. “It’s Thea!”
Valentina whipped out a switchblade as the whole of the Black Coats surged toward her. “They told us you would come back.” She smiled cruelly. “Fancy a dance, traitor?”
Thea swallowed nervously but still stepped toward the house, and the girls. Her boldness took them by surprise. Some of them stopped moving, confused as to why she was coming toward them, but Team Emperor was still swiftly making their way across the lawn. Thea whipped her head around, looking for something that would give her a height advantage, and there it was: a picnic table flanked by antique planters. On the count of three Thea darted for it, leaping over the barbed wire and racing for the table. She was much faster than the rest of the girls, and the table put her halfway to the house. The old wood of the table gave a shudder as she landed on it and made quick work of kicking over the mason jar candles that sat in the center.