“Isaiah needs you. Now.”
His shoulders straightened as he excused himself from the faculty who eyed me with suspicion. As soon as we were out of earshot, he snapped his attention down to me. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure. But I think it has something to do with Jack.”
He paused for a moment before cursing under his breath. I wanted to ask who Jack was, but I didn’t. Instead, we walked in stride. I had a feeling the headmaster was trying to act like he had everything under control in front of me, but he was actually sweating. The heat radiated from his body, and he frantically searched the bonfire for Isaiah.
“Where is he?”
My head snapped back and forth as I began to panic. “He was righ—” My gaze snagged onto Brantley who very subtly nodded his head toward the forest. I wasn’t sure what the secrecy was about, but I was sure there was a reason.
I nodded, tapping the headmaster’s arm before taking off down the grassy hill. He followed behind me a few seconds later, after Brantley had shouted something about winning their upcoming game, garnering everyone’s attention. I wasn’t sure if that diversion was planned, but with what I knew, I only had to assume. The headmaster following a female student down to the dark forest probably didn’t look too good on the outside—at least not with the way the rumor mill liked to stir up gossip at St. Mary’s. I could already practically see the blog post tomorrow morning.
“Jack? What’s going on? I can’t hear you.”
The crunching and snapping of leaves and twigs pulled me farther into the forest with the headmaster at my heels. A few branches sliced my bare thighs, and I scolded myself again for not changing after class today. Goosebumps raced along my exposed skin the second I was away from the fire, and when I heard even more panic in Isaiah’s tone, I shivered.
Something was wrong. Something way bigger than just Bain sneaking off in the middle of the night.
Headmaster Ellison grabbed a hold of my arm as I tripped over a tree stump. “Let me help you.”
His grip wasn’t firm, but it did hold me in place as we continued to walk. “Isaiah?” he shouted as we both looked through the foggy mist that crowded the forest. It was hard to get my eyes to adjust, but I saw Isaiah’s tall dark form up ahead, and I dashed forward, letting my arm fall and getting there before the headmaster.
“Get into the closet and lock it.” Isaiah’s eyes found mine, their glossiness hitting me right in the chest. His shoulders relaxed for a moment before he squeezed the bridge of his nose and shut his eyes.
“Isaiah? What’s wrong?” The headmaster whooshed up beside me, glancing down and landing on my thigh that had a slight sting to it. Our gazes collided, but I shook my head. I was fine. Isaiah wasn’t.
“Put it on speaker.”
Isaiah stilled, looking over at me, but soon the phone was face up in his shaky hand as a small voice filtered through the other side. “I was already in the clo-closet! She found me, so I ran, and I can hear her looking for me again.”
Headmaster Ellison cursed. “Where the hell is Mary, Isaiah?”
“I don’t know! Fuck, I don’t know! Cade already called her. She didn’t answer. I’m afraid Mom did something to her. Jack said the nurses stepped out, and I’m not sure where anyone is! He’s alone.”
Isaiah seemed to be straddling the line between being terrified and angry. His shoulders were bunched, and the veins along his arms were bulging as he gripped the phone tightly, but his voice didn’t sound like him. He sounded broken, and confused, and maybe even a little vulnerable. I wanted to take a step toward
him and let him know that he wasn’t alone. But I didn’t because the tiny, hiccupping sobs on the other end of the phone was alone. And that seemed to cause a whole lot of terror for the headmaster and Isaiah both.
“Okay, calm down, Isaiah.” Headmaster Ellison stepped forward and tried to take the phone out of Isaiah’s hand, but the murderous glare shot his way had him putting his hands up instead. The headmaster ran a hand through his unkempt hair as he looked down to the phone. “Jack? It’s Uncle Tate.”
“Un-uncle…Tate? It’s…Mom. She thinks—” A loud bang sounded on the other end, and I stepped forward as my hand flew to my mouth.
Isaiah’s eyes clenched tighter as choppy words left his lips. “She doesn’t know it’s him. She’s saying shit that he doesn’t need to hear about that night. I think she’s trying to hurt him.”
The headmaster pulled on the ends of his hair and snatched the phone out of Isaiah’s hands quickly. Isaiah stepped forward as Headmaster Ellison snapped toward me, “Calm him down.” Then, he began talking on the phone. “Jack. Listen to me very closely, okay? We’re going to play a game.”
Isaiah’s eyes gleamed with anger as his fists clenched, and I knew what that look meant. It was the same look he had when he almost hit Bain. It was the same look Richard got when he used to snatch Tobias up and keep him for days.
Before I knew what I was doing, I was leaping forward and putting myself between the headmaster and him. Both of my hands fell to his arms, and I peered up into his face. “Isaiah, stop.” His jaw was set as he stared behind me. “If you want to keep Jack safe, you need to let your uncle help.”
Isaiah’s chest was heaving as I put my hand on his chest. The beating of his heart was thunderous against my palm, and my tight belly clenched. “Take a deep breath. Jack needs you to stay calm. Trust me when I tell you that kids can sense terror from a mile away. You stay calm, he stays calm.” His steely gaze shot to mine, and the muscles along his face still held a tightness to them that I wasn’t sure would ever soften again. “Just breathe and listen.”
A rough swallow worked itself down his throat as his nostrils flared. Hot, seedy breath left his mouth and floated around me as I nodded. There you go. The headmaster’s voice broke through our heavy embrace as we just stayed put. “That’s right, Jack. Good job. Take your hand and run it along the side of the wall. Do you feel the little ledge?”
“Ye..yeah! I do!” Jack’s voice was less fearful and more excited now.
Headmaster Ellison’s chest caved as he put his fist to it. “Good! Push on it with those strong muscles I know you have. I bet you’re stronger than Isaiah.”