"Come on Mr Hotchner, move those skinny legs." Morgan hollers across the field.
Reid rolls his eyes and keeps running, gangling legs trying to find some coordination over the cold hard ground. Portland is colder than Washington, and though he's come accustomed to being in different climates each week the chill that's settling over them in the late afternoon light is starting to play havoc with his breathing. He's not completely unfit, but he's never been much of an athlete. If he'd known this would be part of the ruse he'd have tried some basic push ups in his room first, hopefully pulled or broke something so he would be excused from this kind of torture.
Despite FBI training he's still lagging behind the rest of the class on the track. He doubts Morgan's going to give him a pass. One, because that would look suspicious, and two, Morgan is having way too fun at his expense.
Reid collapses at the far end of the track, out of view of his friendly tormentor and anyone who'd care to notice. He can't take much more. Just as he decides to hell with it and stroll his way back, Jessica the girl from the dinner hall his first night stops by his side.
"Hey, you dead?"
Leaning over him, hands on her knees, dark hair haloed by the low hanging sun, Reid can only breathe raggedly and nod.
"You want to ditch?" She asks with a curious brow, indicating the trees mere feet behind them, marking the border of the school grounds.
"What?" Reid looks over in the distance, Morgan is yelling at another out of shape kid near dying on the track. "Can't, we'll get in trouble." He finishes lamely.
"He's new, he won't even notice."
Reid knew differently of course, Morgan would most certainly notice his absence. "We really shouldn't leave. It could be dangerous."
"Don't tell me you believe this killer in the woods story." She frowns at him, her painted lips giving him that creepy stretched smile.
Looking at the track laid out before them, Reid ways up the pros and cons of disappearing on Morgan. Skipping the rest of this physically draining nightmare did sound appealing. But then Morgan sure was going to be pissed at him later. He's going to give a hard time either way though. There was no way he'd catch up with the class now. What was he being good for anyway? He's supposed to be a problem student, bad behaviour was expected of him! Morgan should know that, also it would be a good opportunity to ask around about the missing students. He had every reason to act out and not one to behave for a change.
Jumping up, Reid felt a new zest for this case. "Let's go."
...
"You skipped class." Came the disappointment down the line later that evening, and though Spencer knows it's only because he's in a room with Mrs Henderson it still stings to hear it.
"Sorry dad," Reid tries to look and sound forlorn. It doesn't take much effort. "Can I call you later?"
He eyes Miss Henderson warily, hoping Hotch understands he can't explain himself now.
"Your mom and I are going out for dinner at eight," Hotch says in the same tone.
"Okay." And Reid hangs up, ready to face his first ever school punishment along with the rest of his teenage cohorts.
…
"He ditched Morgan?" JJ holds back a chuckle, torn between being proud and terrified at what could have happened.
"He skipped a class."
"And left the school grounds with another student."
"I know how it looks and sounds but we need to give Reid the benefit of the doubt."
"Hotch I don't know, I've seen him around here the past couple of days. He-"
"He's doing his job, blending in and getting the other students to trust him." Hotch sighs. "He's calling me back at eight, hopefully he'll have something for us. Can you get a message to Morgan to cover for him?"
Hotch gets the affirmation and quickly ends the call.
"JJ's not happy I take it." Rossi sums up, approaching with coffees.
"Neither is Morgan." Hotch takes his, turning back to the whiteboard slowly filling with information gathered by the three on the inside.
Prentiss laughs. "Morgan's livid I bet, it was his class."
"Good on the kid I say." Rossi joins in.
"It's not funny," Hotch says without managing to keep a straight face at the thought of Morgan's reaction. "He could have been hurt or worse, ended up as a victim. We still don't know why the kids leave the grounds."
"Lured out under the guise of cutting class sounds like a good easy ruse." Rossi adds seriously. "These kids are all consistent rule breakers, its why they're there."
All fell silent thinking on why Reid was there.
"Did Reid say anything else?"
"No, his teacher was with him." Hotch hopes he'll have something productive to tell them later to make the stress and worry they'd experienced a few brief hours this afternoon all worth it.
…
At eight on the dot Reid sneaks out of his dorm. Morgan's the teacher on duty as arranged and lets him go with a stern eye, he's not happy about earlier and hasn't spoken to him yet, but Reid knows he's in trouble.
Jogging down the stairs, heading for the basement, Reid finds himself in the boiler room. He takes a studious look around, feeling the tingle of trepidation in his stomach. Not the best location to be alone given his past experiences and eidetic knowledge of heinous crimes, but the only place he can pretty much guarantee not to be overheard.
"Hotch?" he asks as soon as his call gets picked up.
"Reid? You okay, you alone?"
"Yes."
"Good I'll put you on speaker, what do you know?"
Reid hesitates, not having the heart or nerve to say his escapades this afternoon where wholly for fun and not necessarily for the case. Thankfully he did have something to tell them.
"What do you know about The Bloody Bandage Man?"
...
Jessica ran across the far field leading them to the boundary of the school. She checks he's still following and as they draw closer to a narrow brook running the length of the field Reid realises what she expects him to do. Jumping from one muddy ledge to the other Reid lands surprisingly well. He guesses he has Morgan's constant badgering to keep up his basic training to thank for that. Thinking of Morgan Reid realises that it won't be long before his absence is noticed. He suddenly wishes he'd been able to get a signal to him so he doesn't panic. After all Morgan's going to notice his absence immediately.
"Come on don't waste time, we haven't got long."
"Long for what?"
But Jessica doesn't answer. She leads the way deeper into the forest, Reid following and wondering what the hell he was thinking.
The walk felt like miles, but Reid knew, because he was good at that sort of thing, that they were less than a mile from where they'd start started. They continued along a very narrow path, climbing over fallen trees and through overgrown bushes. Signalled the path hadn't been active in a long while. The trees were closing in, getting taller and denser blocking out the light. Reid was about to suggest they head back when a shriek penetrated the silence.
"You brought him?"
It was phrased in such a way by the bodiless voice that they were expecting her to bring someone, but that they were dubious about her choice.
"He isn't going to squeal. Are you Spencer?" Jessica smiled at him.
Reid shook his head. Little confused by the group of teenagers suddenly standing before him. Jessica had acted like leaving was just a spur of the moment thing. In truth, he hadn't even considered that she'd had a plan.
"He better not." Brent, the boy from his first near miss in the corridor appeared to be in charge of the group.
Looking around at the faces gathered in the little clearing Reid counted five other kids present that he'd seen in his classes or in the dinner hall. Only one was strange to him.
"Who are you?" He challenges, staring the strange kid in the eye. He looked closer to Reid's real age. A memory from an early case sprang forth. A small town, dead teenagers and rumours of devil worship. "You're not from the school."
The older kid removed what Reid had already realised wasn't an ordinary cigarette, holding it out to him. Luckily Reid's magic skills came to his rescue and allowed him to only appear to smoke the joint he was handed. If Morgan could see him now he thought coolly. He bet none of his team would expect him to be competent enough to pass off himself off as a 'cool kid'. Though as the group started to relax, conversation passing lightly between them and him Reid reassesses his theory of the group.
These weren't the popular kids. They were the out casts.
That's when he started to formulate a plan and channelling his alter egos ability to get the answers needed he was grateful despite the obvious risk and stupid action of doing exactly what Hotch had warned him not to, Reid had something to report that night,
...
"Is he serious?" Spencer hears Rossi in the back ground.
"Reid?" Hotch groans.
"He's an Urban legend!"
"An urban legend based on the killings last year?" Prentiss' voice joins the conversation, sounding much more amenable to listen.
"Try from thirty years ago."
"Thirty?"
"I think whatever's been happening here has been going on longer than we think. You might want to ask Garcia to look into a series of deaths that occurred in the winter of 1988. And the accidental death of a logger in 1868"
"Let me guess the Bloody Bandage Man." Ross drawls with a humorous air.
"'88," Prentis answers Reid, catching Rossi eye and smirking. "That rules out the same unsub."
"Not necessarily."
"How so?" Hotch this time, drained from a day of stress and worry, close to shutting the group conversation down completely.
From the tone Reid can pretty much picture the stern frown being glared at the phone but carries on with pushing his theory. "Think about it, what do high school, colleges or any institution with a ridged code of conduct have in common?"
Silence, then just before he can prompt them Emily speaks up. "Hazing!"
Reid inwardly smiles knowing out of all them, Emily would be the one to have the most first-hand experience.
"You think these kids taking part in some kind of initiation?"
"I think it has its roots in one, only I'm not clear on the psychology, it would require the same influence and I can't understand where that would be coming from without knowing more."
"The unsub may not be performing the killings himself but someone is instigating them somehow, that widens the pool in age considerably."
Reid fills them in on his afternoon, leaving out unnecessary details he fears they won't handle well. He tells them about the kids he knows a little about and about the older kid who was definitely not part of the school. All he managed to get out of the group was he called himself Drew and no one really knew where he came from other than he'd been providing students with a regular supply of marijuana since before any of them were students. They'd been introduced by past students which confirmed Reid's theory Drew was not as young as he seemed.
"We'll have Garcia look into him." Hotch says.
Reid hears a click on the line and knows the rest of the conversation was to be only between them.
"How are you Spencer?"
"I'm fine," he squeaks looking at his toes, even without Hotch in the room he still makes him react like a naughty school boy. And he doesn't even want to know how he's going to react about the joint when he hands in his report.
There's silence like Hotch wants to say more, but instead settles on telling him to be good and stay out of further trouble if he can help it, which makes Reid blush. He promises to behave from now on unless absolutely necessary to his cover and offers his own goodnight before hanging up and sneaking back to his dorm.
.
Hotch utters a heartfelt goodnight, holding the handset to his ear long after Reid's hung up, listening to the dial tone. Face giving away his feelings to his teammates watching on.
"You okay?"
"He's fine," Hotch answers.
"I said are you okay." Prentiss repeats.
"I'm… pensive" Hotch settles on taking the offered coffee.
She smiles saying no more on the subject, "come on, we've got profiling to do before Reid actually turns back into a kid again."
She laughs, he laughs and together they walk back over to where Rossi is compiling details ready for Garcia.
…
Spencer springs forward, the momentum sending him toppling off the unfamiliar narrow bed and towards the hard wooden floor. His landing's cushioned only by the thin bed sheets tangled between his arms and legs in a massive knot. Sitting up, slamming his back against the metal frame, sweat beading his forehead making his hair stick to his face Spencer breaths in deep heaving panic inducing gasps. Unable to calm on his own Reid feels around the floor frantically, palm eventually grasping the still cool plastic casing he remembers clutching tightly before falling sleep. He presses the speed dial and waits for his call to connect.
"Hey boy wonder, shouldn't you be fast asleep?"
Penelope was pulling an all-nighter, gathering info on the students Reid had provided names for earlier. She'd also found some juicy gossip on the school. It had been hidden well, but once she had an idea of what she was looking for she found it and more. She's about to tell him about her progress on discovering the bloody Bandage Man's identity but when Reid's breathing comes thick and fast down the line, she changes priorities immediately.
"Reid, you okay? Should I send Morgan to you?"Her hand is picking up her other phone ready to dial.
"No, it's fine" Spencer manages in-between gasps. Desperately trying to slow his breathing so he can talk, Reid listens to the level voice that doesn't even give a hint of sleep and let's his mind fast forward the events of the last day. "...just a bad dream." He answers uncensored, thanks to the pull of sleep still hanging over him.
Garcia doesn't ask further questions, but Reid tells her anyway, finding it very easier to talk over the phone where he can't see her face. It's never been difficult to admit things to Garcia. He's rang her a lot recently after a nightmare, whenever he wakes up in a panic and needs someone to talk to. She's already warned Reid if Morgan or Hotch asks her she's not going to lie for him. For his own good. But he chooses her over any of the others because not only will she most likely always be up when he needs her, but surprisingly she's a wonderfully calming influence. Plus Garcia doesn't treat him like a child because he's young, she coddles everyone equally. Reid briefly wonders if Hotch already knows about his and Garcia's recent phone game, it would certainly explain why her number was already pre-programmed in the new cell he handed over.
"You okay now sweetie?" The voice asks when his spiel runs out and he falls silent.
"Yeah actually," climbing back on the bed, dropping against the pillows Reid breaths out a long sigh, "tired."
"Get some sleep, I think Hotch and Emily aka mom and dad are planning on visiting you at school tomorrow."
"Okay," Reid smiles not registering, managing to wish Garcia goodnight before hanging up and falling back to sleep with the cell still wrapped in his hand.
...
The line disconnects. Penelope stares forward unmoving, thinking long and hard afraid the slightest movement will break the fragile tethers of thought.
Breaking out of her trance decision made Garcia hits her own version of speed dial and in a snow-covered motel, out in the forest of Portland a cell phone chimes.
"Hotchner" - "No Garcia, I'm up."
