First Kiss: The Ghost Bird Series: #10 (The Academy Ghost Bird Series) (35 page)

“Because we’re secret,” someone said.

“Why are we secret?” someone else asked.

“While that’s a long explanation, the simple answer is: people would try to exploit and take advantage of our system,” Mrs. Rose said. “We are very selective of who we invite into the Academy and you should be very careful not to talk about it.” She paused and shifted her bag on her shoulders as she looked around at the group. “Would anyone like some trail mix or water? I forgot to ask before we started. We should stay hydrated.” She looked right at me.

I hadn’t realized, but my stomach was growling. Two bites of burrito and a candy weren't going to last me through a three-hour hike.

Mrs. Rose opened her bag to pass out water to anyone who didn’t have any. The girls who’d brought cinch bags offered their own bottles they’d brought along, too, along with bug spray and packets of crackers. Mrs. Rose had trail mix and she handed me a small bag.

When everyone had items in hand, we continued on the walk and Mrs. Rose signed to me that we’d take a break while I was eating.

As we walked, some of the girls talked but I concentrated on eating and the occasional streak of red zipping from tree to tree. I began to think there were two of them, the way my attention was drawn to different spots.

I glanced at the other girls, but they hadn’t seemed to notice as they ate and chatted.

I remembered how Mr. Buble was adamant to the new teens about not being peeping toms, and I sincerely hoped it wasn’t new boys who were spying on girls and would get kicked out. However, it didn’t really make sense, either. Why us? We were just hiking and learning more about the Academy.

Then I remembered new people were probably in groups like this, so it shouldn’t be them. So it had to be older Academy people who would know better, and that made me wonder why anyone would follow us at all.

Once I was finished eating, I let Mrs. Rose know I was ready to continue. She gave me a nod and began signing. “I also mentioned another half to our system. Favors.”

“You earn favors from the Academy,” Carla said. She was still in the lead, looking ahead at the trail, but spoke over her shoulder. “When you do jobs.”

“But you also spend favors,” Mrs. Rose signed. “And like the cash system, you begin with a debt.”

“Don’t tell me it’s ten thousand,” someone said.

“No,” Mrs. Rose signed. “It’s only ten favors out of a total of thirty.”

“That’s easy, then,” someone said. “Thirty favors?”

“Not as easy as you think,” she said. “This isn’t asking someone a favor like babysitting for a night or mowing a lawn. Favors mean you’re taking part in something big that could mean a life change for someone else, even if you might not see the result. Think of it like if you volunteer to build a house for the poor. It took effort and time and for that, you’re rewarded a favor.”

“How do we know it’s a favor?” someone asked.

“When you’re recruited to help,” she said. “And you’ll also know ahead of time when something costs you a favor as well.”

“How do we spend favors?” another girl asked.

“It’s the same principle as with the cash system. It never costs favors to work within your own team. I should also say that asking the Academy to help create a plan of action to help within your own family also never costs anything. We are always available for guidance.”

Carla spoke, “It’s when that plan of action requires more than your team can handle. That’s when you spend favors.”

“But you can also lose favors,” Lake said. It had been a while since she spoke. She looked at her boots as she walked. “I heard someone lost favors.”

Mrs. Rose signed, “Teams can choose to set rules within themselves. You can lose a favor by disobeying an important rule. You have to work to earn a favor back.”

I paused in interpreting. Breaking rules. Like when the boys couldn’t kiss me. Didn’t one of them say they didn’t have enough favors?

I had to concentrate to continue so I pushed the thought aside.

“Favors are earned back through our work in the community,” Mrs. Rose signed. “Once your family life becomes stable, we don’t simply stop. We reach out and use our skills and talents to help other people. Sometimes we’re improving neighborhoods and making them safe. Sometimes we help lost children find parents. It could be anything. Usually, we try to focus on areas where we can do the most good but have been neglected by authorities. We may take preemptive measures to prevent harm.”

“How do we find these jobs?” Lake asked.

“Your team will have an official Academy lead. He or she is our contact for your group. What jobs are offered might be dependent on your skills. This is why we keep a file, to highlight your talents and we try to create a match.”

Kayli had known about her file. I wanted to know what was listed in mine.

She waved her hand. “Anyway, I’m not going to go into those details now. Do you all understand the cash and favor system?”

“So we spend it once we’re a member?” someone asked. “The ten thousand and the ten favors?”

“You’ve got a credit limit of thirty thousand dollars and thirty favors, but as you go through classes and learn what you need to know, you’ll eventually get to where you’ve paid off your credit and favor debts, and you gain a surplus.”

“This is called graduation,” she said. “Once you’re able to support yourself and you have a surplus of favors and cash, you’ve officially graduated from member in training to full-fledged member.”

“Does that mean we can graduate early?” Lake asked.

“The moment you’re in the clear, you’ve graduated—there’s no other prerequisite like a number of hours or making good grades.” Mrs. Rose smiled at me. “Your doctor and his friend were the youngest pair to graduate, at age ten or twelve, I think. They were very young and did it all themselves.”

I had said it aloud because I was in translate mode but then stopped to absorb what she said about Dr. Green and Mr. Blackbourne. I’d heard it before but hadn’t really understood it until now. Dr. Green and Mr. Blackbourne had been the youngest ever to graduate?

“How’d they do it?” Carla asked, her eyes wide. Everyone else looked at me, too.

I looked to Mrs. Rose, waiting for her answer.

“It doesn’t matter,” Mrs. Rose signed. “Focus on your own graduations. Before you get to that, though, you should think of getting into the Academy. Any questions about the basics?”

“So when do we pick our teams? And how do we pick them?” Lake asked.

“You can pick whoever you want,” Mrs. Rose said. “As long as everyone agrees. We might make suggestions and ask you to try out other teams, based on what we know about you and learn this week, but it’s always up to you.”

She wasn’t telling them about their desire to keep boys and girls on separate teams in certain cases. I wanted to ask about it, but I didn’t know a way to bring it up and not reveal my own worries about joining a guy team too early.

The other girls started to talk to each other but then Mrs. Rose snapped her fingers to draw attention back to her. “I should tell you, though, that during your first few years, you will have trainers and a manager.”

This was a surprise to me. “What’s a manager?” I asked, looking at her.

Carla spoke instead. “All new teams need a manager,” she said. “How else are we supposed to figure out what to do?”

Did our team have a manager? I wasn’t sure. I had never seen one. Maybe we didn’t because Dr. Green and Mr. Blackbourne were graduates, and the boys had been through a few years of training. I wondered who their manager had been.

“A manager will be picked for you,” Mrs. Rose signed. “You might even live with your manager if you are young and in danger if you stay with your immediate family. It’s all decided individually. This won’t be a choice, however. Your manager won’t be your family, but you should still trust him...or her.” She paused, and then took a very deep breath before she continued. “This comes after you’ve gotten through application and become a member-in-training, though. I think it’s time for a break for now. Let’s enjoy this hike and give ourselves time to think. I don’t want to bombard you with too much at once.”

I was grateful for that. My voice was already scratchy, and it was hard to take sips of water when she was signing and needing me to talk. It also made me run out of breath more quickly as I tried to keep up with walking and interpreting at the same time.

“Why don’t you take a break?” Mrs. Rose signed to me.

With a nod, I retreated, walking behind the others to give my voice a break and take sips of water. I listened as the girls talked about teams, wondering who would manage them, and how that worked. Who would be my manager? I suspected it would be one of the boys. Maybe North or Silas. I’d thought of Mr. Blackbourne, Dr. Green or Kota, but they were already very busy.

She had said though that we wouldn’t get a choice in our manager. Was...was Dr. Roberts a manager? It would make sense since he shifted me in the line, and spoke for me within the group. I’d have to ask Kota.

OFF PATH

A
s we walked, I kept an eye out for whoever was following us. They weren’t easy to keep tabs on, but occasionally I could hear the crack twigs or rustle of dry leaves from off the trail. No one seemed to notice except for me and I wondered if I should alert Mrs. Rose.

Whoever it was, they didn’t seem to be doing any harm. They weren’t spying on us naked in a latrine. I doubted from the distance that they could even hear what we were saying. For all I knew, it was part of some Academy training.

Until I smelled something familiar. Sugar and vanilla. It was faint, but the wind had shifted in our direction.

Luke?

Maybe he was practicing with someone on how to follow people, because whoever was with him was noisy and wearing red. We just happened to be easy to follow with the simple trail. That seemed like an Academy training course.

Eventually, our group came to where the main trail split of into paths.

One of the girls pointed into the distance. “What’s that?”

There was a small dirt path that led through a group of trees to a clearing on the other side. We were uphill and could see the roof of a building.

I took out my map, wondering if we’d found some way around to where the rangers slept. Based on the map and the short distance we’d walked, I didn’t think we were anywhere near it.

“It could be a hunting cabin,” Lake said.

Mrs. Rose signed to me and I spoke. “If we’re curious, we should investigate.” I’d said the words, but I frowned. I didn’t really agree with her. They’d said not to let Mrs. Rose do anything too crazy. What about bears?

“Maybe we shouldn’t go too far from the trail,” Carla said.

As she was talking, Mrs. Rose forged ahead. I shared a look with Carla and Lake as the other girls started along the smaller trail after her.

“She’s a crazy old lady,” Lake said.

“She’s Academy, though,” Carla said. “We should trust her.”

We couldn’t just stand and wait for them to return. We snaked our way down the path behind the others.

The closer we got, the more I realized it couldn’t be a hunting cabin. The building would barely fit a cot inside, let alone much else. Was it an outhouse of some sort? A restroom along the trail?

Once we got to the clearing, the building came into full view, atop a small hill stuck against the rest of the slope. It had wood siding painted bright red, with a black roof, white trim, and little windows. There was a cranking noise coming from it.

The path wound around to the front of the building, meeting with a tiny, trickling stream.

The stream had formed a small trench, about waist-high and a couple feet wide, that wound north down the hill. I suspected it met up with the river eventually.

The little stream started from under the building, which had been built on top of the little gorge.

Underneath the building, the trench darkened as it deepened. A water wheel was on the far side of the building, turning as water flowed over it—this was what was making the grinding noise. The water flowed down, following a small ditch to a mini waterfall on one side.

“It’s like a water house?” Carla asked and looked at Mrs. Rose. “It’s pumping up water from a water source below?”

She nodded and signed. “Some sort of pumping station.” Mrs. Rose started up the hill to peer into one of the windows. She started signing again as she turned back to me. “Possibly for the latrines. They just made it look like a pretty little cottage with a water wheel.”

We all followed, taking turns looking inside. I stood at the end of the line, curious but also unsure. Was this what made this hiking trail interesting? This little water pump house? Maybe we should have taken the main trail further, and then tried another of the paths. Maybe it was part of the camp, but it didn’t seem like we should be poking our noses inside.

When the girls had moved on to go look at the water wheel, I peered inside, finding pipes and the inside of the gear that turned the water wheel. The grinding noise was louder here and echoed from below. While there was a floor, there was a lot of open space around the pipes and darkness into the cave area. The pipe inside led down into the cave.

When I stepped back, Lake was nearby, ready to look in. “Don’t let Mrs. Rose in the cave,” I said, joking.

“Too late,” Carla said behind me.

I turned, as did Lake. A trail of girls had dropped down into the trench. The stream wasn’t the issue. You could easily step over it, and there was room on either side within the gorge to walk along its sandy bank.

But the girls were heading under the building, and into the cave, skirting the mini-waterfall as they went.

“Oh shit,” Lake said. “The crazy old bat is going to get us killed.”

“There could be bears,” Carla said. “I read about it. This is Hunting Island. There’s bears. And wolves.”

“I’m more worried about snakes,” Lake said. “Snakes like caves, right?”

I pressed my lips together. We couldn’t just leave Mrs. Rose and the girls to wander around in caves that might lead on forever. “Do we follow them?”