Sang

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Kota cringed as his dog took off toward her. The moment Max ran at her, Kota was sure he’d made a big mistake. She’d run into the garage. She’d scream. She’d break her arm.

Max didn’t hesitate. Once the order was given, he’d see it through. Kota held the leash and ran after him.

Max collided with her, and the shadow dropped back. Her book bag fell away. No scream.

A sudden thought that Max might have knocked her out scared him. “Hey!” He called, hurrying. “Are you okay?”

She moved, looking at him. She was in shadow, so he couldn’t get a good look, but the fact that she was moving was a good sign. Max sat on her legs, holding her down like Kota had trained him to do.

Kota slowed to a jog so as not to scare her. When he got to her, he caught Max licking her arm. At least Max knew she wasn’t a threat. Maybe he went easy on her. “I’m sorry,” Kota said. He made a motion with his hand. “Max, get off of her.”

Words tumbled around in his head, mostly a billion questions. He was worried she was really hurt. He wondered if she’d run once she was upright. He wanted to say something, anything to make her not run away. Give me a chance. You can talk to me.

The fact that she wasn’t saying anything, not even yelling at him about his dog, worried him.

When Max climbed off of her, Kota’s instincts took over, and he knelt beside her. He slid an arm around her shoulders and started to lift, but then hesitated. It was a normal reaction, helping someone when they’ve fallen, but he could already feel her stiffening. “Are you hurt?” he asked.

She shook under his touch. Now that he had an arm around her, she felt small, fragile, and he had a strong desire to lift her at that moment, away from the dirty street and wet ground and out of the rain. He resisted the urge.

She shifted, shoving her arm toward over her chest, and spoke through gritted teeth. “It’s okay,” she said, her voice soft. He’d never heard her voice before, but it had a flowing sweetness to it. “It’s fine.”

He could only see the outline of her face—shadows covered her features—but he knew she was lying. “No, you’re not,” he said, trying to keep his voice light and friendly. “You scraped your arm.” She hadn’t pulled away yet. She’d barely even moved. He shifted and put an arm around her waist. Maybe she’d run, but at least he’d help her up. “You can stand, right?”

“I think so,” she said.

He stood slowly, testing her to see if she winced at any point. The wind picked up, sending a fresh wave of rain and chill around them. Kota moved, trying to shield her from it as much as possible. What a night to be out.

But now that he was up close, he clearly saw the book bag was packed full, and she seemed nervous, even in the shadows. She stayed quiet. She didn’t want anyone to know she was out there. She wasn’t pulling away now. Maybe this was his chance. Maybe he shouldn’t risk it, but if he made what he was thinking sound like it wasn’t a big deal, she might go for it. “I’m going to take you to my house,” he said, realizing after it probably sounded more like a command.

She turned her head, and her face caught a bit of light from down the road, giving her features an angelic glow.

His heart was pounding as if he’d done a hundred pushups. His cheeks heated as he realized he was hanging on to her. He wanted to help, but couldn’t stop thinking about how pretty she was.

He sucked in a quiet breath. No need to get carried away. She’s in trouble.

He spotted the book bag, and moved to pick it up. It was heavier than he’d expected. Was she carrying books with her? How long was she planning on being gone for? Maybe she was trying to run away.

Maybe he caught her just in time.

“Let me take it,” she said.

“No.” Kota lifted the bag over his shoulder and then wrapped an arm around her. He turned her toward the street. Her clothes were soggy. His poncho stuck to her. How far was she planning to go in clothes soaked like that? “Let’s get you out of this rain. We’ll assess the damage inside.”

“What about your dog?” she asked.

He started to smile. She was the one hurt and she’s worried about Max, the dog who had knocked her down? “He’ll follow.”

She started to shake a little, and he held firm, steady. He wasn’t sure if it was the chill or if she was in pain somewhere, or maybe it was from fear.

He wished he could convey to her she didn’t have to worry. He knew trust took time, but right then, he wished there was a way to make her believe. She seemed to need it right now.

Kota guided her two houses down from hers, back toward his garage. He crossed in front of the security light, triggering it to help guide his way into the darker garage. The wind pressed the poncho hood against his head, almost in his face, but he could see enough to get them inside.

Max went to his crate, expectant.

“Not now,” Kota said.

Max sank to the floor, his head dropping.

The security light went out, but Kota was far enough inside to get to the door. “Come on,” he said to her, trying to sound encouraging. If he got her inside quickly enough, maybe she wouldn’t be so scared. He tenderly reached for the arm she cradled, tugging her inside.

Once they were in the downstairs hallway of his house, he released her, and she fell in behind him. He checked over his shoulder. She followed close, her eyes squinting in the dark.

If she really wanted to leave, she probably would have. Kota blew out a breath, crossing his fingers that if she’d come this far, she might actually tell him what was going on.

He thought about taking her into the kitchen, but didn’t want to risk waking Jessica or his mother. He opened a door in the hallway, revealing the staircase that lead to his bedroom above the garage.

He started up, checking again to make sure she was following. She seemed to hesitate at first, but then started climbing. He hurried over to the computer desk in the corner, touching a lamp a couple of times to brighten the place up.

He turned, and seeing her in the better light, he froze. He’d seen her during the day and had tried to determine her age, but worked out that she had to be his own age: sixteen or close to it. Her blond hair was wet, making it darker, and it was pulled back, messy now. Her cheeks and nose were pink from blushing or from chill or both. She was wearing a poncho, and he hadn’t realized it until now. Her jeans and shoes were wet.

Her eyes, light green in the light, really drew his attention. Beautiful, aware, terrified, haunted...and above it all, curious.

He hadn’t been able to get this close to her since she’d moved in. She was stunning from a distance, and more so even now. He tried to smile to show he was friendly, and started counting: ten fingers, two eyes, one, two, three, four...light bruises on her arms but they appeared old. Was that a light scar at her elbow? And then he noticed the bright red scrapes along her arm. He felt a pang of guilt, and even more guilt when he realized that while he was sorry for hurting her, he was entirely relieved that she also wasn’t too injured and managed to trust him enough to follow him. Try looking on the bright side.

“I’m sorry,” she said, jarring him from his thoughts. “I should probably have taken my shoes off. They’re soaked.”

Internally, he was grinning at her concern, but he tried to suppress it a little. “I’m not worried about the carpet right now. One thing at a time.” He took the book bag off his shoulder, and then headed to the bathroom. He wanted to get a good look and bandage her up. “Take that poncho off and let’s look at your arm.”

The bathroom was snug, even for one person. He pressed a palm against his forehead, wiping away some of the remaining drops of rain.

She struggled for a moment with the poncho sticking to her. When she managed to get it off, her shirt was sticking to her body.

He swallowed, urging himself to turn quickly, but he couldn’t help but look. Part of it was expecting some other form of injury, and part of it was her shape and the sudden surprise of seeing it in such a way.

When she tried to fix her shirt, he realized he was staring and focused on the poncho, taking it from her to hang over the curtain rod. Focus, he told himself.

He reached for her arm, trying to turn it enough to check it. There was a gash, and she lightly tugged, wincing.

He looked closer, testing it, and the guilt settled harder into him at seeing the blood. “My god,” he said. “I’m sorry. Really. This was my fault.”

She shook her head. “It was your dog. Not really his fault. He was excited, I guess.”

If only that was how innocent it really had been. He’d meant well, of course, but he wished there had been a better way. “He was excited,” Kota said. He moved quickly to stop the urge to tell her more, worried he might reveal something he shouldn’t. He found the first aid kit, and took out a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. She didn’t appear to need stitches, but he’d have to clean it up to find out how bad it really was. At the same time, he came up with what he’d prepared for his story, trying not to out and out lie by talking about real things that were technically true. “I’ve noticed the lead was getting thin in the middle for a while. When he smelled or heard you, he took off and it broke.” Okay, small lie. Did he have to explain everything? “He’s not usually that bad. He needed to go out but hates this weather. So, I’m sorry about that. I should have replaced the lead before now. And I don’t know why he jumped on you. He never does that.”

Was he rambling? He stuck his tongue to the roof of his mouth, stopping himself from talking any more. He started arranging what he wanted to use to clean her arm, and then looked up, noticing her stare. He looked quizzically at her. Did she know? Could she tell when he lied? He wasn’t sure if he had many tells left, maybe a few, but some people were more perceptive of others. Maybe she...

“...name,” she said, in a soft voice.

He stopped for a second, confused. “Hm?”

“I don’t know your name.”

He started to smile. Of course. “I’m Kota.” She stood quietly, and he found it hard to read her. He released a chuckle. “What’s yours?”

“Uh...Sang.”

There was a short pause, like he expected more to it, or that maybe he’d heard it wrong. “As in, I sang a song?”

She nodded. “I know it’s weird.”

Weird wasn’t the term he would have used. Unique was better. “No weirder than ‘Kota’.”

She smiled, and the subtle change boosted Kota’s confidence. This had to be the right thing. She had to feel safe here. Mr. Blackbourne and the others couldn’t say anything against this.

Part of him didn’t really want to mention it. Maybe he didn’t have to. What if he could talk to her and figure out what the problem was? He normally wouldn’t hesitate to bring anything to Mr. Blackbourne or the other members of his team, but if he could solve it himself quickly enough, or at least provide some support for her, there wouldn’t be a reason to ever tell them.

He wanted to believe, but she was standing in his bedroom late at night after she’d tried to run off. There couldn’t be a simple reason for that. Most girls wouldn’t have followed him home. Most girls would have been suspicious. But this one didn’t seem like most girls.

He prepped a clean cloth with the peroxide quickly. “It’s nice to meet you,” he said. “And please don’t hate me.”

“For what?” she asked.

He took her arm, and as gently as he could, applied the cloth to her arm. She stiffened hard at first, like it was unexpected, and then started shaking.

Kota grimaced and tried to clean her arm quickly. She turned her head away, and he assumed it might be easier on her if she wasn’t watching what he was doing. The gash was raw, and bled a bit, but looked like it was mostly a surface wound. He could imagine it really stung.

He found a large bandage to cover it. She didn’t say anything, or reach to do it herself, so he went ahead and applied it. “I think you’re patched up,” he said, rubbing the edge of the bandage to make sure it stuck, and then tossed the wrapper away. “Anything else broken or bleeding?” Please say no. Not that he wouldn’t fix it, but the arm was enough to feel guilty about.

She shrugged and shook her head. “I’m fine.”

Kota wasn’t really sure if that was true. She did fall, so he imagined a few more body parts struck the ground pretty hard. Maybe she meant there wasn’t anything scraped up like the arm. If that was the worst of it, then—while it wasn’t perfect—it wasn’t so bad. He nodded. “Okay. Well, Sang, I hope this won’t ruin your impression of me right off.”

“What do you mean?” she asked. She looked...alert. Curious. Her eyes darted around, her body shook. She was nervous, and he understood, but that spark of interest in her eyes captured his attention. She wasn’t too afraid of him.

He thought of an angle he could start from to figure out what was going on. It was on the tip of his tongue to simply be blunt and ask outright, but he got the feeling she might not answer, or might quickly get uncomfortable. It’d be better to ease into it to gain her trust. “I mean we are neighbors, right? Your family just moved in?” It was an obvious question, but he had to start somewhere.

Her eyes widened. Was she surprised by the question? Or surprised that he noticed they’d moved in? Maybe it felt like he recognized her, and she didn’t recognize him. “Yes,” she said. Her head shook a fraction. “No.” Her head moved slightly in a nod. Kota’s training would normally say she was lying, but it felt more like she just wasn’t sure how to answer. “I mean, don’t worry about it. It was just an accident.” She pressed her lips together.

Kota struggled with how to ask, because her lip movement usually meant she didn’t want to reveal too much. Instinct told him she maybe wanted to talk, but wasn’t sure if she should. She didn’t trust him that much yet. Still, he thought if he asked, she’d at least try to answer. “So what were you doing out so late?”

Short pause. Her eyes darted, and Kota knew it was a lie before she even said it. “Just taking a walk. I couldn’t sleep.”

“With a book bag weighing a ton on your back?” he asked. He was trying to be delicate in calling her out. “In the middle of this weather?”

Her cheeks turned red. Her lips twitched like she wanted to say something, but couldn’t find the words.

Worse than he thought. He tried to look sympathetic. “Hey, I’m sorry. Look, it’s personal. Whatever it was, did you have to do it in the middle of the night?”

Her shoulders moved back, her chest expanding as she breathed in. “It felt like a good idea at the time.”

She answered because he’d asked, but she seemed to not want to talk about it.

Then he realized she was still in wet clothes, probably freezing, and really stressed. If he was going to get her talk, she needed to be more relaxed and comfortable first. “Okay,” he said. “Here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to find you something to wear. I’m going to go downstairs to change. I’ll make some hot chocolate, too. If I come back and you’re not here, I’ll understand. If you are, you get to tell me what’s going on.” He moved closer, and slowly, until his head was near hers; he wanted her full attention.

For a moment, he stopped, because those light green eyes stole his attention. It was a delicate cut across his heart, feeling her wanting to trust him, the curiosity still as bright as ever, and then that little twinge of haunted ghosts floating around inside her. She held back because that was how she protected herself.

Take a chance, he told himself. Be honest with her about what you want. “I make a halfway decent friend, if you give me a chance.”

She didn’t say anything, but she nodded. She turned her head to look away.

He studied her for a moment. Was she just trying to appease him for now? If he went downstairs, maybe she’d take her things and go.

He couldn’t make decisions for her. He could only offer to help.

If she tried to run off, he’d have to call Nathan. He’d have to call on the others. He’d follow her, to make sure she was okay. He might not be able to push her to stay, but he wasn’t going to let her run off in the middle of the night without making sure she was safe. The Academy could send in a girl, perhaps, someone she might be more comfortable talking to.

He hoped she’d stick around. The longer he stood there, the more determined he was to figure this out.

He moved to the closet quickly, seeking out some clothes for her to change into. He supposed she might have something to wear in the book bag she carried, but he wanted to offer something.

“It’ll be big on you,” he said as he pulled out a gray T-shirt.

He found some pajama bottoms as well, some a little too small for him. They might actually have been Gabriel’s or Luke’s, but their clothes sometimes got shuffled. Gabriel sorted through them when he got a chance, but they’d all been pretty busy lately.

He folded the clothes over his arm. “These might be too big as well, but at least they have a tie.” He closed the closet and turned. She’d retreated a bit into the bathroom, and he offered them to her. She took them willingly, and he watched her expression. She seemed compliant. She’d gone deeper into the bathroom, not out further into the bedroom, toward the stairs. A good sign she wasn’t going to leave. “Just put your wet things in the bathtub for now. When they aren’t so soggy, we’ll toss them into the dryer.”

Her lips moved, and for a moment, it looked like she wanted to say something.

Then she smiled.

It was the warmest smile he’d seen from her the entire night, and perhaps since he’d noticed her at all. It lit up her eyes in a way that—in spite of the chilled, soggy outward appearance—struck him as absolutely stunning.

Kota struggled, wanting to smile, wanting to say something. Anything. Tell her she’s pretty. Tell her she’s safe. His words were lost.

What was wrong with him? He’d never felt so jumbled before.

He gently closed the bathroom door and leaned back against it, waiting, listening. If she wanted to leave, she’d turn the handle and peek out to see if he was gone.

Nothing. For a long moment, he didn’t hear anything. Maybe she was considering her options.

He waited for shuffling. When he heard her move, and it wasn’t to open the door, he blew out a breath, relieved.

At least for now, Sang was safe. If he had anything to do with it, that’s the way it’d stay.

He walked away quickly. He wanted to get downstairs to make something warm to drink and get back before she had a chance to change her mind.

As he moved, his heart was racing, pounding. His mind was zipping through ideas, one after the other. He tried counting; he was way too excited.

He shouldn’t feel like this. He was helping someone else, someone in trouble, but the deepest part of him was struggling to control a happy spark inside.

He knew, even if he didn’t want to admit it, that he did want to help Sang, but at the same time, he had a selfish desire to learn everything about her. Those green eyes of hers, that amazing smile... he wanted to see that smile again. He wanted it to stay in place and not disappear.

He swallowed, trying to pull himself together. He needed to focus.

Despite telling himself this, his thoughts settled on that smile. Those lips. Her lips. They managed to melt him in ways he hadn’t expected.

He pressed a palm against his chest, trying to calm his heart, as he hurried to do what he needed to so he could get back to her.

He’d help Sang, no matter what it took.

♥♥♥

Kota tried to take his time downstairs as he changed and made some hot cocoa. As he waited for the milk to heat, he knew there was a chance that when he returned, she wouldn’t be there.

He couldn’t blame her. She didn’t know him at all, and in the space of a few minutes, he had brought her home and to his bedroom. Under normal circumstances, even he would have considered it creepy.

In the back of his mind, he was counting the seconds until he knew the milk would have heated just enough for the chocolate mix. He’d done this often and with the same stove for years, so knew exactly how long it took to boil water or fry a pancake at the correct settings.

While counting, he was listening. He did some things to distract himself, collected the mugs, the marshmallows, and spoons. He cleaned his glasses with eyeglass cleaner kept in the kitchen. He straightened a few mugs in the cabinet that weren’t aligned the way he liked them.

The urge to run upstairs to make sure she was okay and to ensure she was still there was difficult to contain.

The moment he got to two minutes and thirty seconds, he poured the milk, stirred in the powder and added marshmallows, placed the pan in the sink, and hurried, as quick as carrying two filled mugs of piping hot chocolate would allow without spilling.

His heart thundered in his chest. What would he do if she’d managed to slip away into the night? He supposed he could follow her and watch to see what happened. If she left, he hoped she’d return home and he’d be more confident approaching her in the morning.

He’d have to stay up all night anyway at this point. What if she got the nerve to run off forever? He couldn’t let her do that. It was too dangerous.

Putting both mugs into one hand, Kota made sure the door was closed behind him before he climbed up the stairs. The stairs were tricky to navigate with the hot drinks in his hands.

He forced himself to slow down, holding his breath as he ascended.

She was sitting by the window seat after changing into the clothes he’d given to her. Her small frame was evident with the way the T-shirt draped around her shoulders and how she’d rolled up the pants around her ankles.

She was very still, very quiet as she stared out.

Nerves started to work up through Kota. Her hair was still a little messy and damp; ringlets framed her cheeks. Her face was mostly in shadow with the way she angled to look out the window, but there was a quiet beauty to her.

He dismissed this thought immediately. He needed to focus and not get too distracted. She was in trouble, after all. This wasn’t a date.

He searched for the right words to say to her. “I guess you’re staying,” he said, and then instantly regretted it. Wasn’t it obvious? He forced a gentle smile anyway, and hoped she wouldn’t think him too stupid.

She said nothing, but turned to him with those big green eyes of hers, studying him and then focusing on the two blue mugs he carried.

He looked down, almost forgetting he’d been carrying them. “I hope you’re good with marshmallows.”

Again she didn’t answer, but she smiled in such a strange way. He liked it, and yet, there was something off. He had seen it before, right before he had gone downstairs. She seemed haunted and her smile didn’t reach her eyes to light them the way he’d expected.

He approached slowly and then tilted his head. “Scoot over,” he said.

She shifted and then slid to the very furthest wall away from him, her knees up and against her chest, like a shield against her body.

Kota hesitated, flinching at her retreat and instinct to protect herself. He tightened his smile, hoping it appeared to be genuine. Her move caused him to be uncertain about where to sit, and he wondered if it might be better to sit on the floor rather than next to her. Instead, he sat with his back to the wall, facing her in the window seat alcove.

He handed her the mug carefully, holding it until he was sure she had a grip on the handle and wouldn’t burn her hand. He waited until she took a sip, and struggled to drum up something to talk to her about. He needed to establish some connection with her if he was going to get her to trust him. “So where did you move from?” He sipped quickly from his mug, wanting something to do with his hands to keep from fidgeting.

Her cheeks went red and her eyes darted toward the window. “A tiny town in Illinois.”

She paused there, and he waited, but she seemed distracted by the rain or the darkness, or perhaps looking for something else.

“Did you have any friends?” he asked when it was obvious she wasn’t going to continue.

Her head shook, and she returned her focus to him. “No one I would write to. I really wasn’t that close to anyone.”

No close friends. He didn’t like this at all. He had assumed she had lived in Illinois for a while, though. Maybe her family moved regularly and she hadn’t had time to make friends. He silenced his suspicions. He needed to know more before he could draw any conclusions. He traced his finger along the lip of the mug, thinking of what else to ask, something that would generate more than a one sentence response. “You’ll be going to the public school, right?” Again he berated himself silently for the idiotic question. Of course she would, unless she was going to a prep school of some sort, and those were of limited supply in the immediate area.

“Like everyone else, I guess,” she said.

Yeah, silly question. “What grade?” he asked.

“Sophomore,” she said.

He sat up, hopeful. They’d most likely be attending the same school this year. If he made a connection with her, and if he could determine he could help her, he might be able to convince Mr. Blackbourne to change her schedule and put her in some of the same classes. The only problem was, Kota was going to take advantage of being in this school since they had to be there anyway, meaning he was planning to take more advanced courses.

No one would mind if he changed things up a bit to secure a friendship to help out someone in need. He didn’t have many favors left, so he hoped this would be something he could do on his own. Maybe all she needed was a friend. “Me, too,” he said. “What are you going to take this year?”

She shrugged. “I don’t really know what I want.”

It was like pulling teeth to get her to open up. He studied her as he sipped his cocoa and tried to figure out what would get her to talk to him. They might not make it to when school started if she didn’t find someone she could confide in, and instead decided to go off on her own again.

“Do your parents want you to take something in particular?” he asked, determined to keep trying.

She sighed and something in her seemed to change. Her shoulders dropped slightly, relaxing as she nodded. “The daughter of an electrical engineer should have a degree in something. My older sister already started in the arts. I’m getting pushed into science.”

Well, well... there’s a start. “Would it be that bad?” he asked. “Science is pretty awesome.” He couldn’t help but hope she had some interest in science. At least he would have found something they might have in common.

She grimaced. “I don’t know if I want to do that.”

Did she not like science? Would she rather be in an art course? “What do you prefer?”

“I’m not sure, really,” she said. “There’s so many choices. I don’t know if I want to devote my life to science. Or art. Or something else. It all sounds good.”

This was sounding better. She was indecisive because she liked everything. He’d been worried maybe she didn’t have any interests at all. He brightened and laughed. “That sounds familiar.”

Her cheeks reddened. He felt instantly guilty. He hadn’t meant to sound like he was laughing at her.

Before he could respond, she continued. “I don’t hate science. I don’t hate anything. It’s like I want everything. Not fully. I just want a touch.” She tucked her head down and sipped at her hot chocolate.

Kota relaxed his smile. While he’d picked science and some math to study on his own, maybe she just needed to try different things and discover what she really liked. Maybe she was curious like him and liked everything but hadn’t figured out her focus yet.

Their conversation didn’t tell him anything about what she was going through at home. He sought out a delicate way to ask the question he’d been waiting to ask. “Sang... where were you going?” He lifted his gaze to her face, hoping to get a read on her from her expression.

She kept her eyes on her own mug. “There’s that new house up the road. I was going to sleep there for the night.”

Kota’s eyes widened. He knew the place; the garage was still unfinished and the construction workers had left the doors open. It was an empty house in a quiet neighborhood, so there wasn’t much risk that a hobo or someone else would enter. Still, that didn’t mean she’d be safe there. And why there? “You were running away?” he asked.

Her eyes closed and her lips tightened. Kota wondered if he’d asked the wrong question, causing her to clam up. She spoke, but her voice was softer, almost a whisper. “No. Not for forever. I just wanted one night out of the house.”

Alarms went off in Kota. Her wanting a night out was a desperate move. And if she was willing to admit it was only going to be for one night...she felt trapped enough to think she couldn’t just run off forever. Kota gritted his teeth and held more tightly to the mug. It was clear that something was going wrong over there. He desperately needed to establish a rapport, but he also needed to learn more about what was going on at her house. “So you wanted to break into a house? Alone? In the middle of the night?”

She turned her head, her cheeks taking on a deeper shade of red. “It sounds crazy.” She sighed and turned to look at him once more, tears pooling in her eyes. “I wasn’t going to hurt anything. My parents are...”

He held his breath as she paused.

“...different. I don’t get out much. I just wanted to get away for the night. I didn’t want to feel trapped anymore.”

Different wasn’t helpful. Despite her feelings, she was still protecting her family, unwilling to divulge whatever it was that had driven her out. He smothered a frown, wondering if perhaps he’d made a mistake. Maybe it was over something insignificant. Maybe he’d been wrong and she’d simply had a disagreement with her parents and had taken off. Maybe she was rebellious in that way.

“You just needed a release,” he suggested.

Her face brightened slightly. “It was just a bad night to do it. I probably shouldn’t have thought of the empty house. I just knew the back door was open and I wouldn’t have harmed anything.”

He smiled at her being worried about hurting an empty house. She hardly seemed the rebellious type. “I have to admit, I can’t imagine you committing a breaking and entering. You don’t look like the bad girl type.” He was trying to be funny, but at the same time hoped she’d share more.

Instead of answering, her face twisted and she stuck her tongue out to make a face. The goofy gesture caught him off guard and he chuckled.

Seeing she’d made him laugh, she giggled and continued, “I guess it seems pretty silly. It’s just a single night.”

He tilted his head. “Why tonight? I mean, what happened today that you felt you had to get out?”

She blushed, and then pressed a palm to her cheek. Did it hurt? Had she gotten slapped? He jumped to all sorts of conclusions but reminded himself he needed to hear her story before making assumptions. “It’s complicated.”

“I’m pretty smart,” he said. “Try me.”

“It seemed a better idea than hiding away forever,” she said, her voice changing from amused to wistful. “I don’t want to believe the world is all that terrible.”

He considered her strange behavior. Overprotective parents? Her sister stayed at the house while Sang escaped to the woods. She wasn’t easy to approach. But maybe he was wrong about the abuse. Maybe they simply kept her at home to protect her. It wasn’t really fair, of course, but if there wasn’t abuse, he could work with it.

He relaxed. Maybe she just needed a secret friend. Someone on the outside who she could talk to. At least she got to school, instead of being kept at home all day. Maybe she’d get a fresh start when school started. He could help her find a few other friends as well. He smiled. “Sang, you’re an idiot.”

Her mouth made an “o” in surprise. “But... I...”

Pressing one finger against her lips, he stopped her from talking. It was a bold move, even for him, but it oddly seemed natural, too.

Her lips were soft and they stilled the moment he touched her. “Three reasons,” he said. “For one, you picked a bad night to take off. Two, if you knew the house was empty, someone else could be lurking in there, too. Maybe a hobo or some other teenagers.” He thought of some other kids on this street who might take advantage of an empty house for a night. They weren’t dangerous, but a couple of them might not be the best ones to be hanging around if she was having problems at home. “It might not be true of you, but people who break into houses are often not very nice people. You’d be walking in on them.”

“What’s the third?” she asked, her words slightly muffled as his finger was still on her lips.

She was a little silly. He liked that. Despite whatever she was going through, she had a positive attitude.

He pulled his finger away slowly. “If your parents caught you, you might have been grounded for a lifetime and I would have never met you.” His heart raced with this confession. Of course that couldn’t be true. He would have met her eventually given their proximity and that they’d be at the same school together. Still, he wanted to impress upon her that she was worth meeting and it would be a terrible shame if she was arrested or grounded or worse.

She said nothing, but her eyes danced. He could sense some confusion and could imagine what she was thinking: Who was he, some stranger saying these things? He couldn’t blame her.

He drank the rest of his cocoa to get it out of the way and to give himself a moment to consider his next move. It seemed logical to have her stay, but there were some problems. For one, his mother might not understand him having a girl spend the night here. He might have to find a workaround for that. Also, he had to consider if she didn’t accept, how he’d be able to convince her to go home. Returning now could be more dangerous for her and might expose him as a bad person to her parents if he was caught helping her. A misunderstanding like that would be contrary to his plans.

He didn’t see a lot of options; might as well take the chance. “Do you have to be somewhere tomorrow?” he asked.

She shook her head.

“Are you still intent on staying out for the night?”

She hesitated. He didn’t know a less intrusive way to ask. What else was he supposed to do in a situation like this?

“If I could figure something else out...”

You’ll just have to go for it. As he thought of what he wanted to say, he counted to three. He put down his mug and placed a gentle hand on her knee to get her attention. He realized it was a bold move, but he wanted to be direct. “So how about this, I’ll let you sleep here tonight. I think you’ll feel better in the morning about it all. After that, give me a month.” Maybe it was crazy, letting a girl sleep here for the night. He could let her go on her own, but she may just try to run away again, or she could go back to her house and get into trouble. Staying here might be the best solution to keep her safe. She could sneak back early tomorrow without being found out; he already knew she took walks, sometimes early in the morning. If he dried her clothes, she could walk in tomorrow morning and tell her parents she was just out on a walk.

He didn’t want to admit that he wouldn’t mind keeping her around a little longer. He liked her and sensed there was much more to her than even he had realized before tonight.

“To do what?” she asked, her eyes wide.

“We’ll get your parents to relax so you don’t have to sneak out.” It was a stretch since he still didn’t know the situation. Perhaps her parents were introverts and they stayed home a lot, and wanted their children to be the same. Whatever the case, Sang was unhappy, enough to run off for a night, possibly more. So in any case, he wanted to fix whatever was making her feel like running.

She smirked. “Now who is being idiotic?”

Her disbelief didn’t waver his determination. “I mean it.”

“You don’t know me. Why do you care?”

There was more than one answer to that question. Even if he didn’t care personally as a decent human being, his association with the Academy meant he would be obligated to contact someone for help.

But he did care. “Friends help each other. We’re friends now, aren’t we?”

Her hesitation to his question scared him a little. He tried to wait it out, but was going to say something encouraging when she finally responded. “I suppose so.”

It wasn’t very reassuring, but it would have to do for now. He stood up, collecting both of their empty mugs. He didn’t suspect she’d leave at this point, but he wanted to give her a little breathing room and a chance to relax. “I’m going to take these downstairs and put Max into his crate. You go hop into bed.”

Her mouth opened in surprise and she looked over at the bed, shaking her head. “But... you...”

Cute. He laughed a little. “Don’t worry. There’s a roll-away bed underneath that one. When I get back, I’ll pull it out and will sleep there.” Was that still too close? He’d sleep on the couch downstairs, but that would draw attention from his mom if he didn’t wake up before she did. His sister got up sometimes in the middle of the night, too and would ask why he was on the couch. He didn’t want to have to make up a lie.

“But maybe I could sleep on the roll-away thing. I mean, it’s your bed.”

He hid his smile and turned toward the stairs. Silly girl was too nice for her own good. “Just get in, will you? It’s late.” He made his way down to clean up.

Despite appearing composed, his heart was still racing, even after several moments at the kitchen sink, watching as water filled the two mugs to rinse them out.

He was thinking about her green eyes, trying to determine who she was. She didn’t seem like a troublemaker or a bad kid. He knew looks could be deceiving, though. He considered doing a little research and asking Mr. Blackbourne to run a background check on her. Maybe her old school records would reveal more about her.

She wasn’t in danger at the moment. She didn’t appear bruised from her home life and she was able to goof off a bit with him. Both were good signs.

So what would drive such a girl out of her home?

He breathed in deeply, pulling the air in to fill his lungs until near bursting, and then held it for five seconds, counting backward slowly, before letting it all out between his lips.

Trying to figure her out wasn’t his favorite sort of puzzle. He could be completely wrong; maybe things were worse than he thought. He’d just have to keep an eye on her.

Maybe in the morning, she’d talk more. It had been a strange night, she was probably overwhelmed.

When he returned upstairs, she was in his bed on her side with the blanket pulled over her. When he slid the roll-away bed out, she didn’t move at all.

When he finally settled in, he listened to her gentle breathing, counting along as she slept so close. He focused on her to push the problems away and blank out his mind. He wouldn’t be able to help her at all if he was tired in the morning.

One hundred...ninety-nine...ninety-eight...He counted down to get to sleep.

♥♥♥

The vibration of his phone alert was what woke him. His eyes parted, and while he couldn’t see fine details of the room, the dim gray light washing in via the window was enough to let him know it wasn’t yet six.

Had he meant to set his alarm this early? He tried to recall what he’d meant to do that morning but wasn’t yet awake enough to recall. He stretched and yawned, then turned with blurry eyes toward the spot where he usually kept his glasses, and then reached further when he couldn’t feel them. Then he froze when he realized he wasn’t in his bed.

Kota blinked, rubbed at his eyes, and looked over at the lump in his own bed and then down at himself in the pullout. He instantly remembered last night. Sang. The girl who needed help.

Kota cringed, feeling silly for forgetting. He must have slept harder than he’d realized. He’d meant to keep an ear out in case Sang decided to leave early on her own.

But she hadn’t. He got up as quietly as he could, checking on her, noting how she was sleeping. He couldn’t see her face, but she was breathing normally.

He counted the seconds between when her chest started to drop until it rose again. Long, steady breaths. She was well asleep.

He hurried, as quietly as he could, to collect his clothes and to get downstairs. He dressed in the bathroom and then found Sang’s clothes in the dryer.

He was about to leave the laundry room when he heard Max bark once, and then the padding of footsteps coming toward him.

Kota reacted quickly, snatching up a towel and wrapping it around Sang’s clothes just before the door opened.

His mom stood there, bleary-eyed, her short brown hair sticking up on the side. She was carrying her basket of dirty clothes and paused in the doorway. “Kota?” she said, her voice softer than normal, a little rough. She coughed once to clear it. “Did you just throw in a load? It’s not your normal day...”

Kota counted to stop himself from blushing as he thought about Sang upstairs in his bed. Tell the truth, even if it’s not the full truth. “I came in for an extra towel,” he said, and was about to give a reason but then stopped himself. If she didn’t ask, he didn’t have to make one up.

“Hmm hmm,” she mumbled. “Well then get out of the way, this basket is heavy.”

“Let me take it,” he said, but she nudged him out of the way. He shrugged. “Let me get some things out of the way and then I can help with breakfast.”

“By the way, there was a letter in the mailbox for you.”

“A bill?” he asked, expecting his cell phone bill, which he covered.

“No, just a letter. I didn’t know you had a friend in Virginia. Did you get a new pen pal?”

He almost shook his head and then stopped himself. “Oh, yes. I...” He stopped again. He didn’t have an answer. Best just to be casual about it, but he was curious. He didn’t have a friend in Virginia. The fact that she’d asked specifically about a pen pal made him suspect it was a hand-written envelope, so it probably wasn’t junk mail, either.

He considered going to get it, but he needed to hurry along, too. Sang could wake at any moment and walk downstairs. He didn’t want to have to explain to his mother why there was a girl up there.

His mother had turned toward the washing machine and was loading her clothes inside. Kota backed away and started toward his room again when she called out to him.

He stopped and poked his head back into the laundry room. “Yes?”

“Is Victor still coming over?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said. “I was trying to get some chores out of the way. I still need to brush Max and do a few other things.”

“If you’re heading to the kitchen, get out the things for breakfast. He’ll have time for pancakes, won’t he?”

Kota smirked and shook his head. “Don’t go all out.”

“It’s my day off. If I want pancakes, I’ll make them. I just need to know if you’re running out the door like usual.”

Kota sighed. There was never an easy way to explain. His mother knew they belonged to an Academy, and that they sometimes disappeared without warning to deal with ‘school stuff.' He suspected she was much more aware of what they really did than she let on, and turned a blind eye on most of it. She might not know everything, but she was smart.

Not to mention, this Academy paid for things like his little sister’s education and had been helping to support them ever since...

He shook off the painful memories of his father finally leaving. He had no time to think about that now.

“We’ll stay for breakfast. I’ll start in the kitchen as soon as I can,” Kota said.

“And wake up Jessica.”

“Okay.”

“And my closet door is squeaking something awful. I thought maybe you could look at it. Do that thing you did before to make it stop.”

Kota’s smile tightened. Normally, this wouldn’t be an issue, even if Victor was on his way to take the two of them off for an appointment. If Sang wasn’t upstairs, he could probably have fit all that in just fine.

“Sure,” he said, and then hurried off upstairs with the towel and Sang’s clothes bunched up inside.

He stood at the top, wondering how he was going to manage things with Sang likely waking up and wandering around alone if he was downstairs doing a list of chores.

He put her clothes away in his closet for now to hurry along, and then moved to the bed, hovering over her. He made up the pull-out bed and gently put it back into place. When she didn’t stir, he watched her for a minute, thinking he could lock the door behind him, deterring his mother from going up. And then if she started down, it would maybe give him a chance to hear her jiggle the handle. He would have to explain her appearance then.

Then, there was the issue of going to their scheduled appointment, leaving her to fend for herself and return home. He couldn’t just run off.

He’d have to catch Victor on his way in and convince him to help.

Would Victor insist they call in the Academy? That it would be best to perhaps let a female group handle Sang’s situation?

Kota hoped Victor would understand and wouldn’t press for them to hand off her situation. Sang had started to open up to him. He felt a connection to her already. It would mean another job on top of the one they were doing, but he’d know if it would be too overwhelming to ask. He wouldn’t let it take over the high school job they were working on this year. Anyway, she was going to be at that school, so it just made sense.

Kota looked over Sang one more time as she continued to sleep. Even if a girl team came for her, he’d still want to at least be friends.

He had promised her, after all.

He went down the steps again to rush through his few chores. He carefully locked the door behind him to keep Sang safe. He would always keep her safe.

♥♥♥

Next Up—Meeting Sang: VICTOR, free for newsletter subscribers.

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