Gabriel was silent.
Simon? Who was Simon?
Tailor threw up his hands. “Fine, don’t answer. Deny it. Deny everything. I’m sure horrible things are just random, and you always being there is just coincidence. You can smile and lie your way around everyone else, old man, but you don’t fool me.”
He stormed out the front doors and Camille ducked back against the wall. As they shut behind him, it was almost like a pressure change in the air. Camille’s hearing improved immediately. The sound of Charlotte straightening her shirt was crisp.
“For the record,” the chemistry teacher said. “I don’t think you had anything to do with Simon. I’m sure he’s fine, wherever he is.”
“You don’t think he was kidnapped, like they say?”
A slow breath. Camille could hear her muscles moving. Shaking her head no, perhaps? “Not Simon.”
“That would mean he abandoned his daughter, then. I wonder what would make him do that?”
“Who can say,” Charlotte said softly. She sounded sad.
“Coincidence or not, the timing is suspicious. John’s instincts are not bad,” Gabriel admitted.
“You think someone is trying to frame you?” Charlotte asked.
“Possibly. Though that seems too easy,” he said wryly. “I’m more concerned about what Simon has gotten involved in over the last decade or so. I should have kept better tabs on him. Without John or Kyra to hold him back, I fear his lack of caution will cause problems for all of us. He’s almost as selfish as I am.” Camille could hear Gabriel smile. “Do you mind if I ask you something?”
“Um, sure.” She could hear Charlotte blush. Yes, her hearing was definitely back to normal. And her chemistry teacher was totally into her guardian. Gross.
Gabriel paused, like he was going to ask her one thing, and switched to something else. “There hasn’t been anything unusual going on at the school in the last week, has there?”
Charlotte laughed. “You mean more unusual than usual? Not really. I mean, there’s been a small rash of theft in lockers, but we’ll figure out who that is soon enough. It’s probably Hyde, anyway,” she sighed. “I’m not sure that boy is worth the trouble he causes.”
“Oh, alright.” Some papers shuffling. Gabriel was probably turning away to his inventory lists.
“What were you actually going to ask me?” Charlotte asked.
“No, it’s stupid, don’t worry about it.” He only said things like that to draw you in, and it worked on her like a charm.
“There are no stupid questions. I’m a teacher, I’ve heard just about everything,” she teased.
“I was going to ask if you’d heard from Simon at all recently. Like I said, a stupid question. Of course you haven’t.”
“No, of course not,” she laughed nervously. She was disappointed in his question. She was also lying. Camille was taken aback. What was really going on around here?
“If I knew where he was I’d feel better,” Gabriel said. “I suppose it’s up to the New York City police at this point.”
“I guess so,” Charlotte said awkwardly. “Well, I’d better go. I’ve got lesson plans to finish up before tomorrow and a cat that will tear up my drapes if I’m not home soon. I’m looking forward to when this place is done - it’ll be nice having a place close to school to get good tea. You will have good tea, right?”
“Promise.”
“You’d better.” She paused. “Why Benvolio?”
“Hmm?”
“The name of the cafe, why did you pick Benvolio? It’s kind of odd.”
“Is it? I just liked the sound of it.”
Charlotte shook her head. “Goodnight.”
And then she was gone, the door clicking lightly in her wake. Camille descended the stairs.
“I have bad news,” Gabriel said, bent over his inventory sheets. “This is going to be harder than I thought.”
“Why, because Ms. Miller lied to you?” Camille asked.
“You heard it too? That’s my girl. I need you to help me keep tabs on her. She knows something about Simon Graham, and I need to know where he is as soon as possible.”
“Graham? Like Jul Graham?”
“Yes, that’s his daughter. Keep tabs on her, too. I doubt Simon will contact her, but stranger things have happened.”
“What was that Tailor said about a sword?”
Gabriel waved the question away. “Old family heirloom of theirs. I don’t have any swords. He would blame me for the common cold if someone suggested it. Extremely useful boy though...well, technically he’s a man now...” He looked up from the papers at her, eyes narrowed in thought. “Did you say what extra classes they’d given you?”
She handed him the folder of her class schedules. “What’s so bad about this Simon guy anyway?” Camille wanted to know.
“The most dangerous people in the world are idiots who think they’re geniuses. Simon is one of those, except he’s got talents that make him even more dangerous. In retrospect I should have dealt with him years ago, but at the time...” He shook his head. “Getting to the bottom of this Graham problem is numero uno.”
“I thought you said we were here for my education,” she said, folding her arms.
“I lied. A little. The sooner we find Simon Graham, the safer you’ll be. In the meantime, what say we humiliate these Havenwood snobs a little, hmm?” He began flipping through the folder.
“I’m not going to be awesome at English by tomorrow,” Camille grumbled.
“Well, Rin Umino may have given you that,” he said, sifting through her folder and holding up a green piece of paper. “But she also put you in kendo. Are you ready to kick some ass?” he grinned.
Camille grinned back. If there was one thing she did well...
Chapter 6
Mac
At lunch the next day, Destin reiterates his disapproval of yesterday’s tactics. We carry our trays of food to our usual table. Other people tend to not sit by us. Because we’re cool like that.
“Just to be clear - your brilliant plan was to ambush her coming out of Umino’s office and show up late to English so Tailor could publicly ridicule you.”
“Your sarcasm, while hilarious, is not helpful. My plan was to offer gentlemanly assistance to a disoriented new student.”
“And then get publicly ridiculed in front of her.”
I sigh, sitting down. “You know what? Public ridicule is getting to be a sort of daily thing for me, so I figured, why not?”
I cast a glance to our right, where Jul sits alone at a table, forlornly stirring a bowl of vegetable soup. “We should go sit at her table,” I say in an undertone. “Do you see how sad she looks?”
Destin glances over the top of the comic he’s already cracked open. He has a bad habit of reading all through lunch and forgetting to eat. “Far be it from me to stand in the way of young love, but I think that’s a bad idea. I mean I feel bad for her and all...”
“She’s all alone over there!” I exclaim as quietly as I can. “It’s like a tragedy!”
“And yet...”
Splat. A bowl of pudding upends onto my head. Laughter erupts from a couple tables away. Hyde slides onto the bench beside me, arm around my shoulder. “How’s my favorite leprechaun? I found you a hat.”
Oh, how I love that all the grades eat lunch together. It is so cozy.
I push him away. He smells like cigarettes and old laundry. Now I feel like I need a shower, for more reasons than the pudding in my hair.
“Thanks, that was all that was missing from my life,” I say through my teeth.
“You’re welcome, little buddy,” he says, squishing the bowl into my hair one more time. “Don’t forget to drink your milk so you can grow up big and strong! You remember what day it is, don’t you?” He cackles, returning to a table with some other juniors who give him a round of high-fives.