“We can’t do anything now,” he said.
“Are you kidding me?” Sean’s eyes widened. “We can’t just wait for something to happen. That’s what happened last time, and look where that put her? In a closet.”
Owen turned to him, his expression still tight and filled with concern. “What are you going to do? Knock down the door and kidnap her? There’s risks involved here.”
“Damn the risks!” Sean straightened, facing him full-on. “The longer we leave her in there, the crazier this gets, and the harder it will be to pull her back out.”
He raised an eyebrow ever so slightly. “Should we?”
With everything Sang had been through, giving her back to Carol and her father during all of this seemed like a huge step backward. Anger rippled through Sean, from his tightening stomach through to his stiffening face. He sputtered a few syllables before managing to come up with an answer. “Don’t you try your psychology tricks on me. I taught you that. It won’t work.”
Owen relaxed his shoulders but otherwise was unchanged. “Don’t start screaming. Someone’s bound to hear us.” He turned fully to Victor, Kota and Gabriel. “Speaking of which, standing in the woods isn’t ideal. I know we want to be close, but from what we’re seeing, there’s no dire emergency.”
Kota lifted his gaze from the computer. “She’s talking to Jimmy.”
“Seems kind of stupid to me,” Gabriel said and then blew a raspberry with his lips. “Asking her how old she is. Please. Whatever, motherfucker.”
Sean glanced quickly at Owen, ready to counter if he tried to get after Gabriel for his language.
Owen merely tightened his lips more. “Let’s focus on the important things. Someone needs to bring her supplies. Mr. Lee...”
Kota stood, holding his phone in his hands. “I’ll get her some clothes, and other things she can use. Her schoolbooks, maybe. She can at least pretend to do schoolwork if she needs to.”
Sean rolled his head back, looking at the hazy clouds overhead. “Why? Why bother?”
“What do you propose?” Owen asked.
“Text her. Tell her to walk out. Or, hell, I’ll go get her.” He laughed mechanically. “You want to be nice? Have her tell them she’s off to live with other family.” He pressed his palm over his heart. “Us.”
“You’re not thinking clearly. You’re stressed and tired,” Owen said, his tone becoming sharper. “We’re all tired. We’re all worried about her. But that woman is talking about divorce, which will expose everything.”
“I’m not that worried about Sang’s Academy career,” Sean said.
“Her career may be at risk,” Owen said, more sharply and loudly than before, “but her freedom is too.” He took a step toward Sean, turning those hard eyes on him. “He wants to send her to a boarding school, remember? That idiot father of hers allowed Carol into his life. If Carol is anything like the feedback reports about her suggest, taking Sang at this point will have Carol calling the police. She’s already starting to make inquiries about divorce lawyers...” He looked at Victor for confirmation.
Victor confirmed with a silent nod and a scowl, all without lifting his eyes from the laptop.
Owen redirected his attention to Sean. “We’re having to circumvent her phone calls and redirect her to Academy lawyers. She clearly doesn’t understand what’s happened here, and no one is telling her the truth. This makes her way more dangerous. She’s unwittingly going to reveal the truth. Exposure of the past to the wrong people means attention to Miss Sorenson. McCoy. Hendricks. This Volto character. They’re dangerous enough without knowing what’s happening here. And if word about Sang reaches official channels, she’ll be gone. Out of our hands.”
“Then let’s take her away from all of this,” Sean said.
“Yeah,” Gabriel said, standing up. He folded his arms across his torso, shivering. “Let’s get her the fuck out of there. She doesn’t need to be in the middle.”
“Do you want explosions, or do you want to walk away quietly with her?” Owen asked. “Explosions may give us immediate results, but what are the costs? Most of you are out of favors.”
“I can get more,” Gabriel muttered.
Mr. Blackbourne shot a look at each of the guys. “I’m not sure how many of you know, but Miss Sorenson sold her ghost bird status to the Academy, promising to work with them in exchange for the debts we incurred with her to be erased.” He motioned to the house. “Are you going to charge in and risk losing her status and her sacrifice for us, without even asking her what she wants?”
Silence fell between them all. Sean clenched his teeth, trying to come up with an answer that wouldn’t allow for explosions, costing the last of their favors, and yet where Sang would end up with them, where she belonged. He knew she wouldn’t be happy without them.
He’d be unhappy without her.
From what he remembered about Carol, though, she reminded him of his own mother: strict and uncompromising. Maybe she wasn’t abusive, but she wouldn’t have Sang’s best interests at heart.
“I don’t like this,” Sean said.
“No one does,” Owen said, and he turned toward the house. There was the slightest of twitches at the corner of his mouth. He was perplexed, and unhappy. “But all of us need to agree not to do anything rash until we come up with a peaceful solution. Carol isn’t abusive, at least not from her reports. She’s just a strict mother. Not what our Miss Sorenson needs right now, but it might be better to handle this situation delicately.”
“Hey!” Victor said, looking up at Kota and waving at his phone. “Give me that. She’s gone into the bathroom by herself. Let me call her.”
Everyone took their phones out at once. Sean was faster. He pressed the green button for Sang and it was ringing in seconds.
“I’ve got her,” Sean said before Sang picked up.
The others lowered their phones and all started hand-signaling to Sean at once. Let me talk to her. What’s she saying? He waved to the others to stop distracting him.
Sean heard a soft click. Sang didn’t say a word. He imagined it probably wasn’t safe to be overheard if she was in the upstairs bathroom.
“Sang,” he said, turning his back on the others to look toward the two-story gray house, picturing exactly where she was, and coming up with a plan. Owen was probably right. Staying there until they were sure they could extract her was for the best. “Don’t say anything. I know you can’t talk.” He paused and took a long breath. “Sweetheart, don’t worry. I’ve got an idea. Ask if it’s okay for you to sleep in your attic room for now. Give yourself some privacy, at least.” He checked in with Owen, who slowly nodded in approval. “Trust me, Pookie,” he continued. “We’ll work this out.”
He wanted to believe this.
Hopefully they weren’t putting her further into danger, and pushing her further away from them.
Diving In
SANG