There was a gentle turn of the doorknob to the bedroom. I was slow to respond to it, deep in thought, and part of me assumed it was North, coming to check on our progress. I wasn’t sure he’d actually gone back to sleep.
Luke sat up quickly, double-checking the laptop before getting up just enough to put a foot on the floor.
Victor appeared. His wavy brown hair was breeze-blown, part of it hanging across his dark, wide eyes. He wore a soft white sweater on top of his collared shirt, but the sleeves were rolled up to midway between wrist and elbow. He spotted me on the bed, and then Luke. An eyebrow went up. The intensity in his eyes, the fire, sparked with concern.
“Do we want to be in here?” he asked, the smooth baritone breaking the silence.
Luke relaxed, pushing aside the laptop a little more carefully on the bed. “I don’t care. Someone pick a place so I don’t have a heart attack.”
Victor’s eyebrow rose. “Did we say we were—”
“Get the fuck out of the way,” Gabriel’s voice came from outside the room. Victor stepped aside, holding the door open wider. Gabriel appeared, looked at the two of us, and leaned against the door frame. His hair was brushed neatly. The blond locks on either side of his face had dark roots coming in, matching the rest of the russet. His ears had the three black rings, and one more pink ring opposite the black rings. The crystal studs in each lobe were pink. He wore dark jeans and a collared shirt with a bright orange tie.
The shirt and tie threw me off. What was that for?
Gabriel scanned the room, from the waterbed covered in tech, to the cords going everywhere. There was a low dresser across the room with a TV on it, but we’d piled a laptop and tablets we weren’t using around the base. He made a face. “If we can’t use the rest of the house, this room is going to get crowded.”
“We shouldn’t use Kota’s place,” Luke said. He settled back on the bed, keeping an eye on the video feeds for my house. “Someone is going to notice us walking back and forth. And Erica will figure out something is going on with a ton of laptops and gear over there.”
Victor closed a door and then came to the bed, picking up a tablet. He leaned partially against the bed and typed something quickly. “We need something Sang can access via the woods. Something on the other side of the street, perhaps.”
“A place Jimmy won’t show up at,” Luke said. “Or Carol.”
A place? There were only homes on this road that had access to the woods. There was the diner as well, but that was somewhere Jimmy could come looking for me, and we couldn’t set up laptops all day there.
Gabriel came around the bed, sitting on the corner closest to me. He squinted at me. “Fuck me, what’s with the hair thing?”
I touched the band that covered most of my hair, and the clip securing the rest. “I thought it was easier to keep it out of the way than to wash out all that hairspray she used. Dr. Green took pictures. We’ll need to replicate the makeup.”
Gabriel rolled his eyes, shaking his head. “I saw those. I may need to run out and get a few of the same makeup items she uses. I’ll need to go through her shit if she keeps trying to do this. It is hard to match colors with photos.”
“Not sure when we’ll get a chance to go in together,” Luke said. “But I can probably get an inventory list today, probably tonight...”
“Better get pictures of the outside and the back labels,” Gabriel said. “I’ll be lucky if anything she has is still available anywhere. This shit gets replaced like every season.”
I glanced at the clock, showing closer to ten. Time was slipping away, and I’d have to be back. “When should I go? I’m assuming I only work part-time. She just said be back before dinner tonight.”
The others looked at each other, each one shrugging.
“Never,” Gabriel said with a grunt. “Let’s try never going back.”
“Probably shortly after lunchtime,” Victor said, returning to looking at the tablet. “Between...eight and one? Maybe two?”
I wasn’t sure what was normal, but when no one countered, sometime around one o’clock became the time I anticipated going back.
Besides, Kota and Nathan were at the house now. I wondered how long they could stick around. As much as I hated the thought of them getting caught, I hoped someone could get into the attic space before I got back so I wouldn’t be alone. Or was that possible?
When I did return, I wonder if I’d be allowed to shower and change clothing. Would I have to wear the dress all day?
It was all mentally exhausting, and I wasn’t even back at the house yet. I collapsed onto the pillows again, shoving away the notebook. “Do we have a plan yet?”
“I’m looking for a good location, sweetie,” Victor said. “This might take a minute.”
“I mean...on getting me out. Is there anything we can do to push this along?”
The guys stilled. I stared at the ceiling.
When no one answered, I sensed the heaviness, the doubt.
They didn’t know.
I didn’t mean to sound impatient. I simply dreaded going back. Jimmy shook things up, breaking the sanctuary of Nathan’s home for me. Here we were trying to figure out how to stay hidden longer, when I wanted to work on how to get out. I didn’t want to be on edge every moment. Not like this.
“If we’re going for a private school,” Victor said, “shouldn’t we work out a brochure?”
“A few,” Gabriel said. “Give her a choice.”
“North and Kota were trying to work out the technical details,” Luke said, staring at the screen. “They set up phone lines she can call where she’ll reach someone prepared to answer. Realistic-sounding names that didn’t already have schools associated with them...” He paused, his mouth open and eyes glazing over. “Ugh, why can’t I stop watching her? She’s dusting furniture. Why is this fascinating?”
Gabriel reached out, seized Luke’s pinkie toe and squeezed it, causing Luke to jerk. “Who the fuck cares what she’s doing? What’s he doing?”
Luke pulled his feet under himself to sit up, causing the waterbed mattress to stir and me to roll against the headboard. He switched cameras. “Jimmy’s playing basketball.”
“I mean Sang’s dad.”
“He was working, last I checked,” Victor said.
“On what?” Gabriel asked. He caught me looking at him. His crystal eyes lightened, but just a little. “On a weekend?”
“Filling in reports,” Victor said, and then pointed to Luke. “Check his screen. It should be...” Victor hovered over the keyboard, using the mouse pad to click on an icon.
A screen popped up, showing a computer screen, and some sort of electrical technical document. Words were being filled into brackets, then a short pause, followed by another bracket being highlighted and filled in.
It was familiar to me. The usual things he did for work.
Gabriel sighed and shook his head. “I don’t understand all this. Isn’t he at all worried?”
Victor squinted at the screen of the laptop, frowning. “Has he been at this all day?”