Chapter Nine: Shield
"That's all. Let's go do the best we can in these tragic circumstances."
With that, Bill Greene closed a quite extraordinary staff meeting. He had delivered no other news than what had already been circulating over the past few days. All he'd done was to outline the strategies for how we would deal with a school that was now reeling from the death of one of its students.
It had been Bex who'd told me, she'd tried to call as soon as she heard the news. While visiting family in the UK for Christmas, Jess Taylor, along with her Grandma had been killed in an explosion.
"I had to get your home number from Angie Cope. I've been trying your cell all day. Is it working?"
"No it's broken." I said, thinking of the pulverised remains of it in the drawer.
"I have something awful to tell you…"
Life couldn't have gotten much worse. But it was about to.
"Stephanie? Could I have a word, please?" I followed Bill into his office and he shut the door behind us. I took a seat and Bill slumped heavily into his large leather chair, placing his elbows on the desk and clasping his hands together under his chin. "I don't quite know how to say this. Of everyone here, you are the last person I ever expected to receive a complaint about."
"A complaint?"
"Korvin Silversmith refuses to attend your classes."
"What?" My voice jumped up an octave. "Why?"
"His exact words? 'She insults me on a moral level'. Whatever the hell that's supposed to mean."
"I insult him on a moral level? What am I supposed to have done?"
"I don't know. When pressed, he wouldn't say. His parents support his decision and have formally requested that he be removed from all your classes. I need to ask you Stephanie, what are you involved in outside school?"
"Nothing!"
"You're not part of any weird cult are you? Sexual… stuff or anything?"
"No! I did astronomy for six sessions last semester, that's the extent of my social life and I'm not even doing that now." I'd made the decision that I wasn't going back.
"Astronomy?"
"Yes, is that morally insulting?"
"No, but it's not what I would've had you down for. Thought yoga might be more your thing. So there's nothing you can think of that would give Silversmith a reason to be morally insulted by you? You don't have any questionable friends?"
"I can't think of anyone." Well, I could, but as I wasn't in contact with him and nobody knew about him anyway, it seemed unlikely to be Daniel.
I walked to my first class of the morning in a daze. The campus was quiet, as if every building was in mourning for Jess. I passed her locker and there, in front of it was a large semi-circle of candles, teddy bears and bunches of flowers. Little notes had been stuck to her locker, as had a picture of her, her arm casually slung around Ness and the two of them beaming broadly into the camera. We all felt her loss, but none more so than the two people who I walked into my room to see sitting next to each other: Ness and Dan. Ness was holding it together, but Dan was the personification of the living dead. He sat there inert and deathly pale. The only signs of life in him were the shallow rise and fall of his chest.
Bill's words in the staff meeting came back to me. "Dan's been very badly affected. Obviously he's lost his twin and we don't know the extent of the bond between them. I have given him permission to stay away from school, but he wants to be here; said it might help take his mind off things. I've said the same to Ness, but she wants to be wherever Dan is. Go easy on them both and give them all the space they need."
I could see why Ness wanted to be wherever Dan was. He looked desperately fragile and on the verge of falling apart. Her job, I guessed, was to catch him if he did. Life was complicated enough for me; but at least I wasn't the one having to cope with the death of my sister, or my best friend.
"Call me Santa Claus, but do I have a gift for you!" Said Bex, as she hurried into my class as my twelfth graders left. She smacked the paper down on the desk. "It's just come on the market and you need to see it." I picked up the house details. It was a two bedroom house in my price range and the picture of it grabbed me immediately. "What do you think?" She asked eagerly. "A possibility?"
"Yes."
"Great, because I've made an appointment with the realtor to see it over the lunch break."
"What, today?"
"Yes! You need to see this house as soon as possible. It'll be snapped up real quick and I want you to move to Forks."
"It's here in Forks?"
"Well duh, look at the address." I wasn't quite with it these days. "I'll come with you, I promise, you're going to love it. It's perfect for you! Don't tell me I don't know you well. See you at lunch!" Bex flitted out of the room as my next hour students filed in.
Bex was right, I did love it and it was perfect. If only it wasn't in Forks. The little white clapperboard house nestled up against the forest edge and gave me everything I was looking for with the added bonus of privacy. All the other properties I'd viewed were overlooked by every house around. Here, the houses were spread out along the street and the neighbouring house was a good distance from it, with the bonus of having a six foot fence running along the side boundary. The realtor had gone to sit in the car while Bex and I had some time in the house alone, but I could feel myself very much at home here. This was indeed a gift of a house.
"I can tell from your face that you love it. " She grinned.
"I do." I admitted. The smile on my face felt unfamiliar. It had been a tough could of weeks and I wasn't used to being happy.
"Are you going to go for it?"
"It's in Forks; I don't really want to live in Forks."
"You're not going to get anything this good in Port Angeles. Look at size of the yard, that's just made for summer barbeque parties."
"If we ever get a summer to have barbeque parties in." The Olympic Peninsula wasn't known for its Mediterranean climate. "But what about the neighbours? Knowing your ability to get drunk they'll be calling the Police."
"I don't think Chief Swan can call himself."
"Chief Swan lives next door?"
"Yes." From loving this house a few moments ago, it was suddenly consumed by the shady world I was dealing with. Bex saw my unease. "What? You don't want to live next door to the Chief of Police?"
"I'm going to have to think about it." I said.
"Well don't think too long. I think for the money, you couldn't buy better and it's been well cared for, Buddy Johnson worked hard on it. It's nice he's going to live closer to his son, he was getting old."
I walked around the house again, standing in each room and getting the feel for it. Upstairs, I looked down from the landing window out onto the yard. The empty flower beds were neat, and the lawn flowed like a lush green carpet to the edge of the forest at the back. There was room to stretch out here, a forest for Lyra to explore and a second bedroom that would make a great study and occasional guest room. All the work had been done and the only thing it required was my choice of paint and a few of my own touches.
But yet there was something - its slightly isolated location perhaps – that made me hesitant. There were five houses on this street and all of them had their backs to the forest. Everyone else lived here just fine; but I wasn't everyone else. Walking to the window of the front bedroom, I looked out into the forest across the street; the three remaining houses were further down the road off to the left. I liked this house, I liked it a lot, but this whole thing with Daniel was stopping me from saying yes. I went down the stairs and Bex darted out of the kitchen.
"Well?"
"I still need to think about it."
"OK, but don't think about it too long."
That evening found me back at the house once again. It had occupied my mind all afternoon and as soon as I'd finished teaching, I'd called the realtor and asked to go back. Bex was right, it was a great house and I loved it. The only reason stopping me from saying yes was this thing with Daniel. But I couldn't live my life in the fear of something nebulous and I'd already decided that I wasn't going to see him again. I'd email him about that when I got home. I wouldn't mention what had happened, but I'd say that I wanted to concentrate on things with Mike. The realtor came back in, looking to see if I'd made a decision.
"I want it." I said. At least on this I could be certain.
So much for emailing him; Daniel was outside my apartment block when I got back. I think he guessed I wasn't happy to see him.
"Is this a bad time?"
"Not really." I snapped. "It's just the end of long and rather difficult day."
"I can come back."
"No, don't." He clearly got what I meant by that.
"Is something the matter? I've been calling you all week. Have I done something to upset you?"
"What gives you that idea?" I snapped.
"You've not taken any of my calls."
I lost it then. "That's because I don't have a cell that I can take your calls on, somebody crushed it and put it beyond use. You know; it's one thing for you to live a secret life, but it's another to drag me into it; meaning that I have my apartment broken into, my cat scared, my computer bugged and for their latest trick; to hold me at knifepoint, pulverise my phone and scare the living daylights out of me. So no Daniel, even if I do get another cell I won't be taking your calls. Leave me alone." I tried to put my key in the lock put he moved my hand away.
"We need to talk about this."
"There's nothing to say!" I tried my key again, and once again Daniel moved it away.
"He attacked you."
"No they didn't, they attacked my phone."
"There was more than one?"
"Yes, two of them. One to talk to me and the other to hold a knife to my throat."
"When was this?"
"It doesn't matter."
"It does matter!" He put his hand on my shoulder and turned me to face him. I couldn't look at his face; I knew that if I did I would be unable to resist him. "I don't want to see you hurt." He said softly.
"Well that's odd, because they said you did."
He scoffed. "I absolutely don't! Can I come in and talk to you about this? What happened to us being friends?"
"I've taken four years of crap from a guy and I'm not…"I didn't get it out. Fool that I was, I stole a look at him and in an instant my defences were useless. I looked away, but it was too late.
"Stephanie, please can we talk about this." He was under my skin, his voice was low, persuasive and I was powerless against it. His hand slid down my arm to the bag of papers that I was carrying. He took it from me. "It's really important that I talk to you about what happened. Then I promise, I'll go and not come back. If that's what you want. Please, I don't want us to part like this." And just like that he was in my apartment. His eyes were like Star Trek phasers set to stun.
I pulled off my coat, turned the oven on and set some fresh coffee going. He followed me into the kitchen. "I'm sorry; I'm not geared up with food for two." I said.
"It's fine, I don't eat 'til later anyway."
"Coffee?"
"Yes please." So when did this happen?" He said gently.
"The night we went to The Shed. They intercepted me after you left." "And you say there were two of them?"
"From what I experienced there were two. One man held a knife to my throat and the one who spoke stood somewhere behind me."
"He didn't identify himself at all?"
"No, he said that you knew what you were dealing with but that you didn't know the extent of it. He said he had his own forces just like you have yours and that I was surrounded. Great." I exhaled.
"I'm sorry."
"And where were my Stormtroopers that night? He said they weren't there."
"It was totally my fault. If I'd have stayed home and not gone in search of you, it wouldn't have happened."
"What do you mean by that?"
Daniel sighed. "They're able to track me."
"Well, they appear to be able to read my mind too."
"That's what we feared."
"Is there anything you can do about it?"
"In certain places, yes, this apartment and your classroom we can cover. Anywhere you're remaining in a fixed place for some time. We can't cover you while you're walking around."
"Why?" He remained silent, his gaze steady on me. I took a guess. "I'd see something that perhaps I didn't want to see?"
"Yes."
"So you're telling me that the best way I can protect myself is to not think about you when I'm out?"
"Yes. You can think about anything else; work, people, things in the news; but it would be better if you kept any thinking about me or this situation to the places where we can shield you."
"Your people can shield my thoughts."
"Yes."
"How?" It was out of my mouth in an instant but I knew I wasn't going to get an answer. He gave an acknowledging smile.
"Sorry, there's so much about this I can't tell you. But one day…"
"Don't give me that 'one day' shit." I snapped, cutting him off. "You will tell me the whole truth the second this is over and I don't care what federal laws you have to break in the process." I glared at him, trying to wrench back some control. "I am placing enormous trust in someone who can tell me diddly squat about themselves. That doesn't sit very easily with me and I hope you appreciate that. Are my thoughts shielded now?"
"No, I need to go set it up."
"Well get on to it." I was in full teacher mode. "I want to feel safe here. Oh and tell them they'll need to switch location in a few weeks, because I just bought a house."
"You bought a house? Where?"
"Next to Chief Swan in Forks. I hope that pays off with some added security."
His brow furrowed. "That's on the market?"
"Yes, just went on today and I was the first one through the door. You know where Chief Swan lives?"
"Everybody knows where Chief Swan lives."
"Great. That doesn't fill me with a great deal of confidence."
"Well, it should. To be honest, you couldn't have picked a safer place."
"I did something right today then." I slumped down on the sofa. Daniel sat down in the armchair opposite.
"Tough day?" He said.
"Yeah."
"Want to talk about it?"
"Don't you have a job to go to?"
"I have time. Tell me about your crap day."
"You don't want to hear it."
"Hey, what are friends for?"
But friends turned out to be for nothing other than sitting in chairs as the next second the phone rang and it was Mom with news; big huge news. Sam had asked her to marry him and of course she wanted to talk about it. Knowing this had the potential to go on forever, I let Daniel out of the apartment and stuck my dinner in the oven, setting the timer. I knew full well she'd still be going strong when it had counted down its thirty minutes.
The next morning as I was setting up my room for the day, Angie Cope bustled into my room carrying a parcel. "This just arrived for you, it's marked urgent." I took it from her and much to her chagrin, didn't open it. "It's urgent." She repeated.
"I know. It's also personal." Angie was like Bex; if you told her anything it would be right around the school in no time. That I'd received a parcel that I'd refused to open in front of her would be making the rounds as soon as she'd left the room.
As I heard her heels retreat into the distance, I took the parcel to my store cupboard and keeping the door ajar, opened it. It turned out to be a new cell phone and a note from Daniel, written on the back of one of his cards.
It's the least I could do.
If you use this SIM card, we'll pick up the tab,
But I understand if you don't want to.
BTW, your class is now shielded.
D
I smiled. A free cell phone? A shielded class? This was getting weird. All of a sudden the store cupboard door was wrenched open and I yelped in fright.
"Miss Chambers, in the storecupboard, with the… cell phone? That's hardly a secret." Mike said, slightly confused.
"Mike, you scared me!" I glared at him. "What do you think you're doing sneaking about like that?"
"I'm not sneaking about. Besides, I'm not the one opening parcels in the store cupboard. A cell phone? What's so secret about a cell phone?"
"Angie wasted no time." I said sardonically.
"I was coming over here for my good morning kiss and she told me she'd just given you a parcel and you'd refused to open it, saying it was personal. Why's a new cell phone personal?"
"It's not, but I don't want what I receive in the post broadcast around the school." I slipped the card from Daniel into the back waistband of my skirt. Mike took the phone from me and placed it on a shelf. He switched the light on and closed the door.
"But as you're already in the cupboard…" He eyed me with mischief, pulled me to him and gave me a very long and slightly desperate kiss. "I'm just not going to be able to stop thinking about you all day." He murmured, running his hands up and down my body. "Dinner, tonight?" He continued. It was Thursday.
"Sorry, no. I'm out."
"Doing what?"
"Yoga."
"Oh." His eyebrows flew up and a wicked smile appeared on his face. "I wonder what yoga moves we could get up to in here?" He moved in to kiss me again when there was a noise in the roof cavity above our heads. Both our faces tilted up to look at the ceiling. "What was that?" He said.
"I don't know; mice?"
"That didn't sound like a mouse."
I became aware of footsteps in the hall outside. "Someone's coming!" I hissed, pushed past him and out into the room, fishing the card from my waistband and pushing it into my bra while I had my back to Mike.
"You're going to have to give me a second!" Mike hissed. I caught the implication of why he couldn't leave. I bit my lip and tried not to laugh.
Into the room came Dan, looking even more pale and empty as he had done yesterday. Ness was with him. He went straight for his seat and put his bag on the chair beside him. Ness went to the desk in front, where she'd sat before Christmas with Jess and I saw her face wrinkle in distaste when she saw Mike leave the cupboard. Dan did not react.
With Mike gone I went to the cupboard and retrieved my new phone.
"Thanks for the warning." I whispered, at whoever it was hiding in the cavity above my room. There was no reply. Oh great, I was talking to myself now.
