The Other Side of Envy: The Ghost Bird Series: #8 (The Academy) by C. L. Stone Read Free Book Online

show I wasn’t angry or upset with him. I wanted to work on my place in my new family, and get some secure footing before I tiptoed out into muddy waters of the past. “I wanted to tell you that I would like to divide my time up a little better. I don’t get to see Gabriel as often as I’d like since he lives so far away.”
    “If you need me to manage your schedule,” he said, “I’ll be able to do so. You’ll also need to let me know if you need free time to yourself.”
    I nodded, although the thought of being alone wasn’t a big deal to me. “I’d rather focus on Gabriel for now. And then the others. Perhaps if I convinced everyone other than Kota, then maybe Kota will change his own mind.” I was repeating Silas’s thoughts from earlier, but it fit.
    “It’s a possibility,” he said. He used his knife, cutting his omelet into pieces, and started to eat. He seemed to think while he ate, focusing on his food and occasionally looking up at me while he sipped at his coffee.
    I followed his actions, allowing myself to pick at the yogurt. My stomach was still knotted, so I slid the yogurt over a bit to look like I’d eaten more than I had. The fruit wasn’t as heavy, and I ate what I could of it.
    Time passed as we were quiet. After denying his request to help him locate my real mother, something was different between us. We’d come to a crossroads. I wasn’t sure how to get around it. I wasn’t sure what to talk about other than the guys.
    There wasn’t much I knew about Mr. Blackbourne personally.
    That lead me to start listing things I could talk about with him. I glanced at his food. He liked garden omelets. He liked one sugar and a little bit of cream in his coffee. He could play violin and piano. What else could he do? What was the real Mr. Blackbourne like outside of school and the Academy?
    If I needed to get to know and spend time with each of them, I needed to get to know all of them, including Mr. Blackbourne. Here I was having breakfast with him, and I found it difficult to start any conversation.
    I fought for a question. All of them sounded horrible in my head. So you like eggs? Have you played the violin lately?
    I tried one that didn’t seem too weird. “What are your plans for the day?”
    “Mr. Lee will be needing groceries for his house, but he’ll be busy with those children we brought in,” he said immediately, as if he’d been waiting for me to ask just that question.
    What an odd idea: Mr. Blackbourne at a grocery store. “You go grocery shopping for Kota?”
    “For any of them,” he said. “If we’re gone on assignments, someone needs to stay behind and make it look like everything is normal. For those of us with family, we need to appear to be around more than we are. At least for now.”
    “For now?”
    “One day,” he said, “we won’t need to check in with parents. You’ll all be eighteen and then we’ll be on our own. You’ve got a bit of a head start.”
    I hadn’t thought of it that way. My cheeks heated. I’d moved out, but I felt far from being grown up and on my own. I fiddled with my yogurt. “What happens when we’re all eighteen?”
    “I could make some guesses,” he said. “Right now, though, we’re trying to survive our year in high school.” He picked up his napkin and dabbed it at his lips. “How’s your yogurt? Is it not to your liking?”
    I should have guessed he’d notice I wasn’t eating much. “I wasn’t really hungry this morning,” I said. “The fruit is more than enough.”
    “As long as you don’t forget to eat,” he said quietly. “Keep up your strength. We’ve got a ways to go. I know it hasn’t been easy, but all the hard work we’re putting in will pay off. Maybe not in ways we expected.”
    I looked up at him then, at the gray eyes, and questioned his meaning silently. He met my gaze with confidence. In some way, it felt like whatever they were expecting, I was the interruption, the change to what they’d