Chapter 8

“I need your help with something,” I told Brock on the way to school the next morning.

His face lit up. “Anything, man. Just name it!”

A car passed us slowly, its windows tinted too dark to see through. I watched until it turned the corner ahead of us and drove out of sight. “I need to see some of the student files.”

Brock glanced at me, his expression curious. “Sure. The Administrators have a meeting right after school and I told them I’d watch the front desk. That’d be a good time.”

“Perfect,” I replied distractedly. My attention was on the car again. It had circled the block and then pulled to a stop at the curb on our side of the street not far ahead.

“They leave me the keys and it’ll be no problem. . .” he noticed I wasn’t paying attention and followed my gaze. “Jaze, what’s up?”

“That car.” The passenger side door opened and a man of medium build wearing a faded jean jacket and a black baseball hat got out. My heart slowed. “Brock, we’ve got to find another way to school.”

I looked around, wondering if it was too late for Brock to hide. Maybe he could go ahead and pretend he wasn’t with me. I discarded the idea as quickly as it came. It was too dangerous if they had already linked us together. The other occupants stayed in the car, but I could see silhouettes of the driver and two more men in the back seat. I fought to keep my breathing even.

The man in the baseball hat turned. We were close enough to see the smile he gave that showed too many teeth. A breeze brushed past him to us and I fought down the urge to growl.

“Jaze, how fortunate to meet you here!” he said. His tone was casual, but his eyes studied me intently.

“Uncle Mason, what are you doing here?” I forced the words out lightly despite the knot in my throat. It was all I could do to keep my face expressionless, let alone look happy to see him.

“I just thought I’d check to make sure you and your mother got moved in okay.” I had to fight to keep my fists unclenched when he mentioned her, but he didn’t seem to notice. “I heard you were here and figured you might need a hand.” He gave a shrug. “It’s the least I can do, after what happened to my brother.”

I ground my teeth so hard at the mention of Dad I was surprised they didn’t break. I stopped a few feet from him so I wouldn’t give in to the impulse to throw him through the windshield of his car. “We’re doing fine, thank you. Brock and I are late for school, so we’ve gotta go.”

“Oh, I understand.” He turned his sickly sweet smile on my friend. “Brock, is it?” I kicked myself mentally for giving Mason his name. When Brock nodded, his eyes alternating between Mason and me, Mason smiled again. “A pleasure to meet you, my boy.”

Brock glanced at me. “Thanks.” It sounded more like a question than a response.

I grabbed Brock’s arm. “Come on, we’re going to be late.”

Brock followed close behind; I passed the car facing it until I practically walked backwards. “Thanks for stopping by, Uncle Mason. I’ll be sure to tell Mom you send your regards.”

He nodded. “You do that. I went by the house, but she must still be at work. Let her know I hope she’s settled in comfortably at the office.”

Cold fire ran through my veins, but I forced myself to turn and continued to school. We passed through the doors just as the first bell rang. I threw my plated silver bracelet into a cup, stepped through the metal detector, and put it back on in a blur, angry and more frustrated than I could think. My feet took me toward my classroom and it wasn’t until Brock called my name the third time that it registered.

“Jaze!” His face was red and he fought to catch his breath as he put on the last few pieces of silver jewelry he had taken off for the metal detectors.

I waited for him. “Sorry. I was distracted.”

“Tell me about it!” At the look on my face, Brock slowed down. “Was that who I think it was?”

I nodded.

“What’s he doing here? I mean, I assume you guys moved to get away from him or something if he’s the one you told me about that-“

I held up a hand to cut him off. “Don’t say it. I can’t handle it right now.”

Brock nodded quickly. “Okay, no prob. But what do we do?”

We had reached my classroom. I glanced inside, wanting more than anything to go check on Mom and not sit inside a brick room all day listening to lectures that wouldn’t sink in past the tornado of thoughts in my head anyway. “I don’t know.” I took a deep breath to slow my pounding heart. “But until I figure it out, we’ve got to go on as normal.”

Brock nodded, his eyes wide.

I gestured to the classroom. “I’ve gotta go. See you at lunch.”

I slid into an empty seat just before the second bell rang. Two more students ran in late and received a reprimand from the teacher. Mason wasn’t supposed to know we were here. We had justified using my real name because we needed my school records for the transfer, but I didn’t think he would track us so quickly. He obvious had more pull than I realized. But to take a trip so far east just to check on us? He either worried I suspected something or was here on business of his own.

I wondered if I had given anything away. We had never had a close relationship anyway, so I hoped the standoffish encounter didn’t give him any reason to suspect I knew anything. I forced myself to stay seated, rationalizing that Mom would be safest at work surrounded by her coworkers and customers. Something was definitely wrong and I had to get to the bottom of it soon for all our sakes.