Free The Gatekeeper's Son by C.R. Fladmark Page B

“It’s just gold, James, bought and sold. Don’t worry about it.”
    And so I sat staring out the window at the darkening sky as Lin snuggled beside Grandpa, trying to calm him. The more I learned, the less sense it made. The only thing I knew for sure was that the days of sandwiches and stories on Saturday afternoons were over.

Chapter 10

    CHAPTER
    10
    I sat slouched in the back of Grandpa’s Bentley, half-asleep, gliding toward my house. The driver had the stereo on, something classical and vaguely familiar.
    Lin had persuaded me to let Grandpa’s driver take me home, and I’d agreed once I realized how late it was. If I took the bus, I’d have to walk four blocks from the stop to my house. I hated being out alone at night.
    Suddenly I sat up and looked out the side window. We’d stopped at a light, and across the intersection I saw three guys under the green awning of a coffee shop, just outside the reach of the street lamps. My face, reflected in the glass window, seemed more real than they did.
    They were in their twenties, and the way they were pushing and staggering, I assumed they were drunk. My first reaction was to sink back into my seat. I was safe in the car and they weren’t my problem. But something out there, maybe Okaasan’s stream, demanded my attention.
    The car lurched forward after the light turned green. As we passed through the intersection, I saw someone walking alone, almost at the end of the block.
    “Stop!”
    The driver slammed on the brakes. I flew forward and hit the back of his seat—my seat belt was already off.
    “What is it?” he yelled over his shoulder as the car jerked to a stop in front of a narrow yellow building. He looked around, searching for the threat.
    “I’m getting out here.”
    He spun in his seat. “Close the door! I’m taking you home!”
    Our eyes met. My door was open wide now, and I had one foot on the sidewalk. I glanced outside. Across the wide sidewalk, a staircase rose into the yellow building, the steps disappearing into the darkness above. A shudder passed though me.
    I heard the driver’s seat belt click open.
    “The Chairman’s gonna kick my ass if I don’t get you home,” he said. “Now get back in!”
    I shook my head, still staring into the darkness at the top of the stairs. Something awakened deep inside me, something urgent.
    “Forget about me!” My voice was firm, clear, commanding. “ You go home. Now!”
    My other foot had barely hit the sidewalk when the car peeled away. I jumped back and tried to close the door but couldn’t. The car door hit a tree and slammed shut. The driver kept going.
    I stared down the street until the car disappeared into the distance. Then I turned and ran back the way we’d come.
    Spruce Street was as bare and bright as a dry lakebed. There were no cars, no trees, nothing to hide me. But it didn’t matter. The guys I’d seen were oblivious to me, staggering through the open parking lot behind the coffee shop, toward a back street.
    I hesitated. Now that I was here, all alone on the street, I started to question my sanity. I glanced toward the apartments. I wondered if anyone was there, watching and willing to help, but the windows were dark and empty.
    A light wind rustled my hair and blew past me, urging me forward. I moved with it, up the block and around the corner where the drunks had disappeared. The street was narrow, lined with cars on one side and a row of low apartments on the other. At first I didn’t see them, but I felt something. That tingling in my neck, the whisper of the breeze—then I saw them.
    They were hidden in the shadows under a tree, their gaze focused farther up the block, where a girl sauntered along the sidewalk, running her right hand along a hedge, unaware of the danger behind her. Even without the light of the street lamps, there was no mistaking those long white socks and short plaid skirt. It was Shoko.
    I glanced around again, let out a sigh, and started up the