Luke Read online

  The Academy

  The Ghost Bird Series

  Meeting Sang: Luke

  ♥

  Book One – Alternate Opening

  The Boys’ Version

  ♥

  Written by C. L. Stone

  Published by

  Arcato Publishing

  Published by Arcato Publishing

  Copyright © 2021 C. L. Stone

  All rights reserved.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

  Table of Contents

  Copyright Page

  LUKE

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  8

  9

  Also By C. L. Stone

  LUKE

  1

  A half-deflated helium star balloon drifted across the backyard of the Taylor compound. No telling where it came from. The old Victorian house was miles away from anywhere there might be children—or other people. The house, gray and dirt-caked, with cracked windows and broken shutters, at night appeared beyond creepy. During the day, it was dreary, lonesome, like the lone balloon.

  How far did a balloon have to go to get all the way out here? It was metallic gold on the outer shell. A gold star... for a birthday? The lackluster glide across the grass, it seemed lonely. Like the house.

  Like how he felt too often lately.

  Lucian Taylor’s palm pressed to his cheek, his head titled, blond locks of hair cutting into his vision. But he gazed out, unfocused on anything.

  The star floated across the windowsill’s view. He blinked a few times. What was he thinking about before the star distracted him?

  Probably about going to high school for the first time. A small knot formed in his stomach, the one he thought might be hunger, but it stayed no matter how much he ate. Did he have any reason to be nervous?

  What would high school life be like? Real high school. Not just a crash course in what they needed to complete their basic high school exams.

  There was so much the entire team missed out on skipping ahead.

  Dances? Could they make time to go to at least one?

  Sports... naw. Not for him, but the others never got to play on many team sports.

  Girls? Most definitely.

  The floating star outside distracted him. Could he get that balloon before it flew away? The guys would say get it and throw it away. Or just leave it alone.

  What they thought mattered to him, however, he felt differently about many, many things. Perhaps it was because the same guys surrounded him every day. North, his brother. Uncle, they worked with on a nearly daily basis. The Academy team, lots of guys, the same guys. His only friends now.

  He’d join the cheerleading team if it meant he just got to hang out with different people for a while. Maybe he would find someone that thought more like him.

  The sweet smell of sugar sizzling in a frying pan brought him back to cooking pancakes. Did he add too much sugar? The recipe had said a tablespoon... the hollow part of his palm was tablespoon... ish... The syrup and chocolate chips on top would be a pleasant touch. Melted together. Perfect combo.

  Luke checked his cooking once more, then as fast as he could, he dashed out of the kitchen, through the foyer filled with discarded house bits they still had to throw out, and out the door, jumping across the porch.

  The balloon teased the edge of North’s trailer, ready to float underneath.

  Luke raced for the balloon, and just before it was out of reach and at risk of getting stuck up under the trailer, he caught the thin white ribbon tied to the bottom. Luke carefully pulled it out from under. The foil material created a fizzling, scrunching sound with every movement of his fingers against the surface.

  A gold star balloon. It was his now. When was the last time he’d even looked at balloons?

  The front door to the trailer crashed open with a shuddering thwap against the siding. North appeared, looming with dark circles under his eyes and an overgrown chin of rough hair, glaring at him through irritated eyes. “What are you doing?”

  The proximity sensor probably went wild and woke him up. Luke held up the balloon, half floating out from his hand. “Caught this.”

  North lifted a dark brow. His brother was broad, muscled, dark hair, dark eyes, serious and often critical. Not one bit whimsical. Maybe they should have named Luke South instead, for as much as they were polar opposite in personality.

  “What the hell is that?” North asked.

  Luke grimaced at him. “Uh, just thought it was messing with the sensors by getting caught underneath the trailer,” he said. Not really. Luke wanted the balloon more than worrying about the sensors. It seemed lonely, forgotten, when it was a perfectly decent bit of décor. It would probably still float for weeks, even if all it could do was drift.

  North raised a dark eyebrow and made that harrumphing sound, like he’d argue but didn’t have the energy at the moment. “Just go throw it away.”

  “Sure thing,” Luke lied, though he smiled coyly at his brother. “Want some pancakes? I was just making some.”

  North shook his head and went back into the trailer. Likely, he’d sleep longer. It wasn’t early at all, maybe just before noon? He had been out late.

  North always stayed out late. Adjusting to the new high school job was going to make him cranky, with having to wake up early for school hours.

  Luke ran back to the house, catching the smell of overcooked pancakes. He eased the food out of the pan.

  With the burner off and everything safely out of the way, Luke rushed the balloon up the stairs, intending to go to his bedroom.

  At the top step, his uncle, wearing only a pair of boxers, stood sleepy-eyed. He rubbed his shaved bald head. “What’s with all the ruckus? The thundering around?” Uncle slept in a lot, too. He was used to doing night shifts.

  Luke stopped mid-step, instinctively tucking the balloon behind his back. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to wake you.”

  Despite hiding it, Uncle sharply tilted his head to Luke’s angling body, peering around him. “What’cha got there? Not stolen from your brother, is it?”

  “Nope! Why would I ever do that?” With a sheepish shrug of his shoulders, he revealed the balloon to him. “Just saw this floating around outside.”

  Uncle raised his eyebrow. “Whose is it?”

  He didn’t like the accusatory tone. “No one. Not that I can tell. It just drifted in on the wind.”

  The older man said nothing for a moment, blinking and moving his lips like he did when he was thinking. In a motion, he waved Luke to get out of his way. “Did I smell breakfast?”

  “Pancakes,” Luke said. “Save me some. I haven’t eaten yet.”

  “Just pancakes? What are you, four? Where’s the bacon?” Uncle didn’t bother waiting for an answer and continued down the stairs, his footsteps shuffling off as he disappeared into the kitchen. For an older guy, he was strong built and nimble. Like a mix of both North and Luke combined, he noticed.

  Uncle wasn’t bad. He wasn’t as grumpy once he got some breakfast into him. He was even funny.

  His brother seemed always grumpy.

  He still cared about them. They were golden on the inside, even with their tough exteriors.

  The opposite of the balloon, gold on the outside...

  2

  Luke tucked the balloon into his bedroom, and a second later, North’s voice boomed like thunder up the stairs.

  “Luke!”

  Again? Why was he in here? Luke, Luke, Luke...

  He rushed down again, his bare feet nearly sliding on the old, smooth-po
lished of the steps. He jumped the last three and landed squarely at the bottom.

  Now that everyone in the house was awake, he didn’t exactly have to be as quiet anymore.

  No one was in the foyer. Luke checked the kitchen.

  North stood by the stove, scraping the bottom of the frying pan with the edge of the spatula. He turned his head, raised the spatula in Luke’s direction and shook it at him. “What the hell is this mess in here?”

  He’d gotten dressed, same old black T-shirt and black jeans. Luke used to think he had depression because of the emo-like clothes he constantly wore. Turned out he just liked black. At least, that’s all he’d say.

  What did he just ask? “Breakfast?” Luke said.

  Uncle was by another part of the counter, with a large baking sheet he was covering in foil and a couple packets of bacon on the side. “Bacon will be ready in thirty... maybe. I haven’t calibrated this oven.”

  North chuffed and motioned to the still half-full bowl of pancake batter, the left-out bag of open chocolate chips—some had spilled onto the counter—the plate of just enough pancakes for Luke. “You just leave a mess like this?”

  “One, I was getting the balloon. Two, I didn’t think anyone else would be up for a while,” Luke said in a frustrated huff. “I was going to cover the leftover batter for you all later to make for yourself when you got up.”

  North shook his head and refocused on the pan, turning on the stove. “I don’t know what’s wrong with your brain sometimes. You were just going to leave pancake batter in the fridge? You were just going to eat pancakes with nothing else?”

  “It’s all I wanted.”

  “You need protein,” Uncle said. “You’re going to get a sugar coma one day.”

  “Make yourself sick,” North mumbled. He found the butter sitting out on a dish, and he cut a slab to put into the pan.

  “I’m not sick,” Luke said plainly. There was no point in talking to them. He didn’t really enjoy eating bacon, but they always insisted on the iron and protein. It tasted good, but he just didn’t want to.

  He couldn’t stop thinking about the poor pigs...

  “My morning is okay!” Uncle said sharply with a lot of sarcasm. “Glad everyone is asking.”

  It was his way of distracting the boys so they’d stop bickering. Luke appreciated it. It stopped North from going into tangents and prevented Luke from saying things that might cause North to go into his tangents.

  North just didn’t understand him. He tried, he asked questions of Luke, but whenever Luke tried to explain himself, North never really got it.

  They were simply different.

  North said nothing, just focused on finishing up the pancakes.

  Luke collected his plate, found the syrup, found a stool to perch on next to the dining table that was really too low to eat at. He bent over it, leaning weirdly to cut up his pancakes with a fork and pour syrup all over it. “What are you doing today, Uncle?” Luke asked, since North didn’t seem like he wanted to converse.

  “I’m heading out to look at a few properties for the diner,” Uncle said, splitting bacon up to place on the baking sheet.

  There was a crazy moment where the room seemed to silence all at once and the only sound was Uncle splitting bacon pieces. He’d been talking about starting a diner for ages. This was a recent development, actually looking.

  “Wait a second,” North said, ignoring the sizzling butter now and focusing on Uncle. “What, today?”

  “Yeah,” Uncle said.

  “When are you buying?”

  Uncle shrugged, his naked top-half jiggled around the torso a little as he tossed the packaging of the empty bacon wrapper aside. “Probably today. Maybe.”

  North paused a minute, slowly shifting back into pancake-making mode. He picked the mixing bowl up, using it to pour in the batter, letting the cakes sizzle in the pan. “Is there some sort of checklist of all the things you have to do to start your own diner? What about your boss? Does he know?”

  Luke went back to eating his pancakes, his mouth too full to comment, but he considered how North was asking, like Uncle didn’t know what he was doing.

  “Kid,” Uncle said sharply to him. “I turned in my notice weeks ago. Haven’t you noticed me hanging around the house lately?”

  “Thought you took some time off,” North mumbled.

  “I did. To get some projects around here out of the way so this place was more livable. Otherwise, I would have bought a place two weeks ago.”

  North sharply breathed in through his nose, a move he made when he was ready to make a list of points of what he thought.

  “Good job,” Luke said quickly, cutting in to stop him, but his mouth was full of pancake and he started choking. Not terribly, he just needed to cough and he was trying not to open his mouth to just spit pancake everywhere.

  North materialized next to Luke in an instant and quickly landed his palm squarely on Luke’s back.

  Luke’s lungs forced air out and he had to open his mouth or it was going to try to all go out his nose. He coughed pancake all over the floor.

  “Stop eating too fast,” North said, and he walked away quickly, back to the pancakes.

  Luke groaned and put his plate of pancakes down. North’s overprotective sensibilities sometimes went a little too far. Did he blame his brother? No. He wanted his family healthy and safe.

  And Luke tried not to get on his case about it. North wasn’t trying to fight. He was trying to help.

  Even if it hurt.

  He quickly went for some paper towels to clean up the mess on the floor.

  Uncle put his bacon into the oven and closed it. He crossed the kitchen toward the entryway. “If you’re not busy...”

  “We’re busy,” North said, not offering information.

  We’re busy. North had something planned for Luke today. Luke hadn’t been too sure what, but he could just tell.

  Probably Academy work.

  Uncle nodded. “Tomorrow?”

  “We might have time tomorrow,” North said.

  “I’d want an opinion,” Uncle said. “Maybe if I’ve picked a place. Could use opinions.”

  North glanced at him, and with his lips pursed, he nodded.

  Uncle seemed to accept this. He turned, heading up the stairs, likely to get dressed while the bacon cooked.

  Didn’t Kota say something about going over to his house? Luke quickly checked his phone. Kota sent a message a couple of days ago about showing up tomorrow. It was probably a home project of some sort, maybe Nathan’s. Sometimes they needed home repairs and wanted them to show up and help. North was good at home repair and Luke was good at fetching the supplies. So... what were they doing today? Did something happen last night?

  Luke returned to his pancakes. “Seems Uncle’s finally doing it.”

  “Uh huh,” North said, focusing on cooking.

  “He doesn’t know about the high school project.”

  “Not yet.”

  “We need to tell him something. He’s going to expect us to help with a diner.”

  “He has his friends.”

  “Not as many. Not with everyone working so much.” With the Academy so short-handed lately, a lot of the adults with normal jobs spent much more time out in the field.

  North frowned. “It’s why we need the diner.”

  True. Uncle had thought of it a while ago. A diner for Academy people to work part time, with an owner who understood when someone had to leave work quickly to go on a job. An entire team of people whose shifts were loose, and Uncle could funnel them money from accounts owned by the Academy if needed.

  With the internet and people being easier to track, shifting money to people who needed it on teams was increasingly becoming a problem.

  Plus, Uncle loved cooking. He liked diners. It made sense.

  “It’ll still take time to set up a diner,” North said. “We’ll be in school by then.”

  Luke didn’t answer him. He finish
ed his pancakes. He didn’t want to even ask about where they were going today.

  Maybe he shouldn’t be so quick to sign up for cheerleading. Not with this sort of schedule.

  3

  Later, North and Luke were in the Jeep. Silas had joined them, picked up on the way to wherever they were going.

  Luke still didn’t ask about what they were up to. They were heading away from Summerville, so he was having fun trying to imagine what the job they were going to be doing was. He wanted to clear his mind, be open-minded, and guess. He was never right, but he still liked to figure it out.

  It was fun to imagine until it started getting uncomfortable in the Jeep.

  “It’s too hot back here,” Luke moaned. The pancakes he also had for lunch settled into the base of his stomach, which wasn’t totally the problem. The problem was it was hot for a summer afternoon and riding in the back of the Jeep Wrangler and taking weird turns made him nauseous. “I’m melting.”

  North only chuffed. He’d been in the middle of giving Silas the update about Uncle and the diner.

  Silas smirked and switched the AC on max, pointing the air vents toward the rear seat. “I wish we didn’t have to do this thing today.”

  “You’re the one called out to a job,” North said. “And you can use the favors.”

  “Not a lot of time lately,” Silas said, almost a whole octave deeper than his normally deep speaking voice.

  “So tell them you don’t think you have the time.”

  “I don’t want to tell them yet.”

  North’s hands tightened at the wheel, his knuckles turning white. He was ready to argue.

  Luke gazed out the window, just hoping to get to the place they were going soon. He wanted some water badly. Was there any in the car? The Jeep soon pulled onto a street, and the GPS system directed them to an abandoned parking lot. Whatever it had been next to, someone leveled it long ago. Across the street sat a two-story motel, rundown, broken pavement, a few work trucks. It was still running, but likely a health inspection away from being shut down.

  Next to it, there was a derelict fast-food place, boarded up with weeds growing through the parking lot.