Accessory: The Scarab Beetle Series: #4 (The Academy) Read online

  I joined Marc inside the small office. It, too, was very sparsely furnished. A simple desk sat in the middle of the room, with a single computer on it. There was a file cabinet, and a chair in front of the desk. The walls were dingy and bare.

  The desk also contained a tablet. Marc was swiping through a photo album on the illuminated screen. He curled his fingers at me. “Come take a look.”

  I hovered over his shoulder, looking through the array of pictures, some girls, but mostly boys. One I recognized as the girl from down the hallway.

  None looked like Wil.

  Disappointed, I nudged Marc aside, going through each picture one by one. There weren’t many. Some were marked as residents who had already left. One looked sort of like Wil, but his hair was too long, and the glasses weren’t his. Plus, the jawline wasn’t right.

  “No,” I said, pointing to the look-a-like. “I can see why you’d think this one might be him but...”

  “What about him?” he asked, pointing to another boy, who had a similar haircut and glasses but didn’t resemble Wil anywhere else.

  I shook my head, feeling some relief. Part of it was I couldn’t imagine Wil living in a place like this. Not that it might have been horrible, but that it didn’t seem all that comfortable from my perspective. Maybe, though, he would have thought it was still better than living with our father in a motel, about to be kicked out into the street.

  The other part was relief that I didn’t have to confront him yet. I preferred the idea of him approaching me when he was ready. It was torture to think of what I’d say to him if I did run into him again.

  I was going to explain to Marc that I appreciated his help, when a cell phone rang. I looked at Marc expectantly.

  Marc took his phone out, looked at it and then shook his head. “Not mine. Must be yours.”

  I blinked, surprised. I wasn’t used to having one. I took it out, noticed an unknown number, but answered it just in case. “Hello?”

  “Kayli-Bayli!” cried a shrill voice, male. Sort of. “God, tell me you’ve got a nice club or casino in this town.”

  I had a flash of a memory: a dark-skinned, bubble-butt crossdresser in yellow spandex and a blue halter. “Future?”

  “Did you forget your old friend already?” she asked. “Look, I’ve got a favor to ask you.”

  I looked at Marc, who shrugged. I wasn’t sure if he could hear, but I must have looked confused. “How did you know this number?”

  “I asked your boyfriend,” she said, and left it at that, leaving me to wonder who she meant. “I need you to meet me at the pier. The one off of...where are we?” she asked someone on her end. There was a voice, but I couldn’t understand what was being said. She came back. “Palm Island?”

  “Isle of Palms?” I asked. “You’re in town?”

  “Sure,” she said. “There’s a pier here, and you have to come see this boat. It’s fucking huge. I’d almost give up my boobs for one of these. Maybe if I show my boobs to enough guys I could afford it.”

  I checked the window; it was dark outside and the wind was sweeping through the nearby trees. “You want me to go right now?”

  “It won’t take five minutes. After everything I did in Florida to help you out, could you come hang out with me for a bit?”

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  “You’ll see,” she said and then hung up.

  I made a face as I put the phone down.

  “Something bad?” Marc asked.

  I shrugged and then put the phone away. “Future is calling in a favor. She’s in town.”

  Marc stared blankly at me for a minute and then his eyes widened and his mouth popped open as he seemed to remember who I was talking about. “Oh my god. She’s back? Tell me we don’t have to. What favor? What...” He pressed a palm to his cheek, rubbing. “Wow.”

  I was feeling the same way. I couldn’t guess the sort of favor Future would ask, but I had a feeling it was going to be something beyond my wildest imagination.

  A FANCY FUTURE

  Mary returned as we were on our way out. Marc lingered to talk to her and let her know we didn’t see anyone resembling my brother.

  The excitement of being in a rush to hurry to see Wil, the disappointment of not finding him, and then the sudden surprise from Future calling left me rattled. I went to the door and walked out without Marc. I needed to get air. I needed to get out.

  The cool air of late fall bit into my lungs as I crossed the yard. My eyes had a hard time adjusting to the darkness, but I moved forward anyway.

  Raven was slumped in the driver’s seat, listening to the radio on low and looking like he was almost asleep. He sat up as I approached, and unrolled the window. His dark eyes narrowed on my face, shifted to behind my shoulder toward the house, and then back at me. “Where is he?”

  “He’s not here,” I said, moving to stand next to the truck door. I folded my arms over my chest, tightening the jacket around my shoulders. I was pouting, but I couldn’t help it.

  Raven cursed, something in Russian, under his breath. He smacked his palm against the steering wheel. “I was too slow,” he said. “I should have jumped in the truck.”

  My head rocked back at his response, and my heart softened for him that he felt so strong and was blaming himself. It knocked me out of my uncomfortable disappointment and anger. “No, Raven,” I said, reaching for his arm and holding his wrist. “I don’t think he was ever here. Marc’s lead was wrong.”

  Raven mumbled something, shaking his head. “I don’t know what’s worse,” he said. “Being too late or raising your hopes.”

  I wasn’t sure, either. My imagination told me I might not even want to know what was going on with Wil. The longer I went without seeing him, the more I started to wonder who he really was. Had I ever really known him? After all these years, maybe he’d had enough of our family: the absentee sister after his mother died and his dad turned into a drunken slob. I thought he’d understood I was working to support us.

  Maybe he felt abandoned.

  “Little Thief,” Raven said, drawing me out of my pit of guilty thoughts. He reached out and cupped my cheek in his palm and held it. “We’ll find him. Don’t kill me like that.”

  I had to smile, not knowing where to start with his odd choice of words.

  Marc finally emerged from the house, Mary waving a final goodbye and closing up behind him. Raven dropped his hand from my face as Marc came up, waving a business card. He handed it over to me. “Listen,” he said. “She said to call her any time. I gave her your number, too. And she’s friends with a few of the other shelter owners and foster families around the area. She’ll call if she’s got any leads.”

  “It’s fine,” I said quickly. I smothered my urge to suggest maybe we should quit looking, that maybe he didn’t want to be found and didn’t really want to see me. Weeks had passed, and there’d been nothing.

  Marc nodded slowly. He combed his fingers through the length of hair that had fallen across his green eye, leaving only the blue one visible. His face needed a shave and there were dark circles under his eyes. I hadn’t noticed before, probably because I hadn’t seen him all day and we’d been in a rush when came in. “Hey,” he said. “I was going to say let’s call it a night, but since Future called, do you want to go see what she’s up to?”

  “Future?” Raven asked, his voice dropping in tone. His shoulders straightened and his face tightened.

  I recoiled slightly, surprised at Raven’s reaction. “Yeah,” I said, slowly. “She called. She was asking for a favor. She said something about a ship by the pier over on Isle of Palms.”

  Raven’s eyes flashed at Marc. “So?” he said. “We don’t need to listen.”

  “We do owe her,” Marc said.

  Raven’s lips twitched. “We don’t owe her right now.”

  I nudged Raven’s arm. “What’s the deal?” I asked.

  “How’d she get your number?” Raven asked.

  I shrugged.
I didn’t want to mention she’d said ‘boyfriend’. I had feeling that it could have been Blake. She’d called him to get my number?

  That left me with a slightly empty feeling. Weeks ago, when I had been kidnapped and needed help, I talked Blake into lending a hand. He did and I’d ended up in the hospital after the ordeal. I’d told the boys after I got home that I should probably call him and thank him, but all of them said I shouldn’t. When I pressured them with questions as to why, they had said they’d tried to thank Blake but he wanted to be left alone. They gave a few other reasons not to talk to him, too, mostly about the aftermath of being kidnapped, and trying to upgrade our own security.

  I didn’t want to admit to the boys, but one night when they’d been asleep, I’d snuck down to use the pay phone in the lobby and called Blake. It felt wrong to not at least thank him after everything he’d done. I don’t know why I thought to use the pay phone. It was just to see if he’d listen if it was another phone number instead of deleting it without answering.

  Despite my calling and leaving him a message, he never did call me back on my cell. I thought of a thousand reasons why, but now after Future admitted to getting my number from someone else, and the only other person she knew that knew me was Blake, I had to guess that Blake simply didn’t want to reach out to me. Maybe the boys had been right; he wanted to be left alone.

  It surprised me how sad I was about that.

  Marc studied me, his eyes tracing over my face. “Well, we can go find out, if you’d like.”

  “Maybe now isn’t a good time,” Raven said, again in a low tone.

  “You’re not scared, are you?” Marc asked, a smirk forming at his lips. “Come on, man, she’s been cooped up for weeks.”

  Raven narrowed his eyes in a death glare at Marc. “Future was trouble last time.”

  “We were trouble,” I said. “She was doing her job when she volunteered to help.”

  Raven grumbled and then sat back in the driver’s seat, folding his arms. The ring in his lip stuck out far.

  Marc shook his head and looked at me. “I still feel like we owe her, especially since she lost her job. It doesn’t hurt to check it out, especially with us there.”

  “We can still say no,” I said, trying to show Raven some empathy, since he clearly didn’t want to do this. I didn’t really want to, either, in case it was something dangerous or stupid. “We should at least ask what she needs. Maybe she’s trying to hook up with someone at a party and needs a wing girl.”

  “You’re not being a wing girl at a ritzy party,” Marc said.

  “But then we can watch Future surprise some dude when she finally goes in for a hug or something and he finds her special package.”

  Marc smirked, and the hair shifted away from his eyes, revealing a spark that leapt from his handsome face right into my soul. “That might be amusing.”

  “We just watch?” Raven asked. “No wings?”

  I nodded, liking the idea. I’d been cooped up for a while, and while crashing a boat party wasn’t exactly my flavor of fun, getting out of the house and paying back a friend at the same time might be worth it. “We’re just backup,” I said. “We’ll have paid up on our favor, and then we can go home.”

  Raven hesitated, glancing at Marc again. There was a quiet question in his eyes. I whipped my head around, trying to catch Marc’s response, but his face changed the moment I looked.

  Raven sighed. “Okay, okay. Let’s go.” He turned the keys and started up the SUV.

  I gritted my teeth, afraid to say anything since he’d agreed, even if I was uncomfortable with his driving. I followed Marc around the vehicle, climbing into the middle seat next to Raven, Marc sliding in next to me and closing the door.

  Raven hit the gas and turned the vehicle, spinning out in the gravel and tilting to one side on the end of the turn for a few seconds. He raced out of the driveway, hitting nearly every pothole along the way. I dug into Marc’s left arm while he hung on to the suicide bar with his right. We didn’t dare criticize Raven about his Russian driving skills.

  The Isle of Palms wasn’t exactly known for an ample amount of palm trees. Most of them had been cleared for the tourist shops and restaurants. Every island around Charleston catered to a different crowd, and Isle of Palms was for the flashy, seen and be seen crowd.

  In the fall, though, half of the island was in shut-down mode. Tourist shops were closed, some until March. The pastel painted large homes built on stilts were mostly quiet, more than likely not to be touched until next summer.

  A couple of bars were still open now as we rolled off the main street and onto a beach-front road. Raven pulled the car into the parking lot of the main pier.

  The lot was empty except for a handful of cars. There were medians planted sparsely with palm trees and grass, and at the end was a darkened guard house, abandoned possibly until summer. The pier was dark and wasn’t meant for boats, just a wood walking pier that stretched out into the ocean. There appeared to be a couple of people on it, even with the lights off overhead. Some people fished off the piers, even late at night when they weren’t supposed to.

  “I forgot,” I said, gazing around at the dark cars. No Future. I had been in autopilot to go to the pier like she’d said. “She said pier, but she meant a boat dock. Is there one?”

  “Maybe a dozen or more,” Marc said. He rolled down the window and stuck his head out, gazing at the street and the pier. The breeze from the ocean swept in, filling the SUV with a heavy scent of fresh salty air. “There’s a couple of big ones run by private associations or she could mean one outside one of these mansions for a private yacht. She didn’t mention an address?”

  “No,” I said. I pulled my phone out, looking at the screen. “I just assumed. I’ll have to call her back.”

  “I thought you were smart,” Marc said with a grin.

  I elbowed him in the ribs at hit the redial button. Marc twisted his face in pain but didn’t move. I rolled my eyes at his reluctance to strike back. No fun.

  “Kayli!” Future’s voice rose into a long shrill. “Did you make it?”

  “Which boat dock did you mean?” I asked. “I went to the pier.”

  “Pier, dock. Same thing,” she said. Someone spoke to her on the other end and she responded, but I couldn’t understand what they were talking about. “Okay,” she said. “Apparently there is a difference. I meant a dock.”

  “Which dock?” I asked. “And who’s with you?”

  “Surprise! You’ll see. If you’re at the pier, we’ll come meet you. It’ll be easier to show you.”

  I gulped. Before I could ask, she hung up. Surprise? Was it going to be Blake? My skin prickled, and my instincts woke up. I had a sinking feeling that Marc and Raven would say no to anything that might involve Blake.

  “Which way?” Raven asked.

  “She’s coming to meet us and show us the way,” I said, putting the phone in my pocket.

  Marc nodded and opened the car door. “Let’s get out so she can see us.”

  Raven opened his door and slid out of the seat. I scrambled out behind him. The wind whipped around my hair, and I reached back to tuck the ponytail into the neck of my shirt to get it under control. Marc’s jacket kept me warm, but I was feeling like a slob in boy clothes. I wasn’t going to be much of a wing girl.

  Maybe that would be good enough to let me off the hook. Future would realize I wasn’t glammed up and dismiss me as possible help.

  Raven folded his arms over his stomach, looking up and down the street. “I don’t like it,” he said.

  “It’s fine, Raven,” Marc said. “Don’t worry.”

  “I don’t like not knowing where we’re going or what we’re doing.”

  “We’re about to find out,” Marc said. “Future will meet us here and tell us what’s going on.” He stepped up next to Raven, putting an arm around his shoulders. “Relax. Doesn’t hurt to ask and check things out.”

  Raven stuffed his hands into his jean
pockets and frowned, still staring out at the street, aware and cautious. I sympathized with him. He was cautious and protective, and had been since Brandon and I had been kidnapped. I wanted to hug him and reassure him, but didn’t want to embarrass him in front of Marc.

  We waited there together. I stretched and twisted my neck to pop it, enjoying the smell of the cool salty air. It made me remember that I hadn’t been out much. I was looking at stars and shadows, feeling a little scared being in a new place, but I didn’t want to believe it was residual fear from being kidnapped.

  Still, I stood close to Raven, right at his elbow. No need to get carried away.

  Raven leaned his arm into mine, the bulk of his bicep seeming massive next to my own. He knew how I was feeling without me having to say a word.

  Up the road, a yellow sports car pulled onto the main street. There was a blue neon light underneath, causing the car to look green in the glow. It was an angular, low riding vehicle, zooming down the road toward us.

  I squinted at it, a sinking feeling starting in the pit of my stomach, turning into slight nausea as the car slowed down at the curb near the street. It was a foreign brand, the logo I didn’t recognize—not that I knew anything about fancy cars.

  Uh oh. I forced a toothy smile, forcing myself not to hop back into the SUV, claiming to be too sick for this.

  The car stopped and the passenger door opened, coming close to scraping the sidewalk with how low the car sat.

  Out stepped Future. She’d given up the yellow and blue Spandex and had stuffed in her amble faux breasts into a pink corset, shoulders bare. I wasn’t exactly sure how the bra part was hanging on. Maybe double sided tape and barely at that. She wore a frilly green skirt that fluffed as she walked and boots that went up to mid-calf. Her arms were stacked with bracelets, all the way up to her elbows. She had at least two rings on most of her fingers, many with large pink, green and blue stones. There were a dozen necklaces, gold, with additional pink and green stones. She had big dangling earrings, and a tiara in her straightened dark hair. Her dark skin sparkled, like she had dashes of glitter everywhere. Future was a walking jewelry counter.