Silas: Meeting Sang - The Academy Ghost Bird Series, #3

By C. L. Stone

The Academy: Ghost Bird series in a different look at the very beginning. Read Introductions with a whole new perspective--the boys'. 

Silas Korba's days are filled with working for the Academy and dealing with the realities of bringing his family from Greece to America. Only today is a little different; he meets a girl—a mysterious girl—who needs his help and maybe the help of the Academy.

He doesn't know her, but he wants to. There's something different and special about her and he has a feeling she's going to change his life forever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcato Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Oct 24, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386171157

Book preview

Silas

1

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Just outside Silas’s closed bedroom door was the sound of shuffling footsteps.

The sound drifted, starting from the far end, where there were more bedrooms. It carried down to the very edge of the hall, stopping just shy of the adjoining hallway that turned into the living room area.

He paused there. Silence filled the apartment.

Silas sat up as quietly as he could and planted his feet on the floor. Listening, he tilted his head toward the sound. He stared blankly at the wall as he focused.

Slowly, the footsteps started again, returning down the hallway, back to the bedroom.

Silas sucked in a deep breath, holding it in his lungs as if to stretch them out. He brushed sleep away from his eyelashes.

Theo, his brother, was too chicken to ask for a light for his cigarette. He’d already been yelled at last night for burning more holes into his mattress. Silas pictured him walking the hall, trying to get up the nerve to ask their father.

Silas let out the breath in a puff through his lips. It was eight, a little late for Silas to be sleeping in anyway. How long had Theo been pacing silently through the hallway? He was going to wear down the beige carpet.

Their father held a rule in the house: Charlie was the only one Theo could ask for a light. It was a rule Theo didn’t always follow, because he’d keep lit cigarettes constantly to have something burning, even if he wasn’t smoking them. Sometimes when Charlie wasn’t at home, he’d use the stove.

It was Saturday. Charlie was home for the day from work, so either Theo asked, or he didn’t get his cigarette. It’d be a long weekend if he didn’t ask.

Maybe it’d be good if he stopped for a couple of days. Smoke seeped out of his bedroom, and while he kept an air filter near the door, it still leaked out. Every day. Every moment. Except when Theo fell asleep and the burning cigarettes eventually went out.

It was difficult to keep clothes and other items from smelling like smoke. Gabriel had been over several times to spend the night, figuring out what worked and what didn’t to keep the smell at a minimum.

Silas pressed a palm to his chin, feeling the scratch of coarse hair. He needed a shower and to shave, but he didn’t want to get involved in this.

Silas stood, went to the closet, and rummaged for a pair of jeans and a baseball shirt. When it was time to go, he wanted to get out quickly.

His cell phone rang from the bed where he’d left it. He dropped the clothes across the bed and scooped up the phone.

The name displayed across the screen: North Taylor.

Silas slid a forefinger across the screen to answer.

Did you get a letter? North asked.

What letter?

Something about new crops and shit. Old school Academy job recruitment letter.

Odd. Wouldn’t an email be less noticeable compared to an actual paper letter? No one got letters anymore. Haven’t checked the mail.

There was a knock on Silas’s bedroom door, and Theo popped his head in.

Theo’s long, black hair hung around his chin, and he wore pajama pants and a T-shirt too big for his thin frame. It was possibly Silas’s. Theo’s eyes had heavy shadows underneath.

When was the last time he even slept?

Silas grunted, only feeling a little put off that he was naked and his brother just barged in. He must be pretty desperate. What? He pointed to the cell phone, indicating anyone could hear him.

Theo blurted out, "Échete énan anaptíra?"

Wanting a light. Theo knew better. Silas didn’t keep lighters or anything that could set fires anywhere except in a small emergency kit in his car. Theo would scavenge his room to find them if he wasn’t home otherwise.

No, Silas said, not bothering to cover the phone for North. He’d hear it anyway. Just ask Dad.

Theo groaned and didn’t bother shutting the door. He shuffled to the living room. He’d get a lecture about using English instead of Greek, about smoking when he should quit, and about getting a real job, like plumbing. Silas got lectures on a regular basis, too, only not as harshly as Theo.

Theo needed to be kept under control, and Charlie knew it.

You really need to get him to quit, North said.

Don’t start.

Is he going to therapy?

Not really.

He’s going to spiral. He doesn’t have any direction in life. We’ve got to do something about him.

Silas sighed, partially wanting to defend his brother and still agreeing with North. Theo had it pretty hard over the last few years. He didn’t have direction because he didn’t want to be here, in America.

Even his father missed Greece. He said so all the time.

Silas kept them here. A new start for Theo. A new life for all of them. His dad had work, where in Greece, he wouldn’t. But America still wasn’t home.

Keeping his brother and father here where they weren’t happy left him constantly feeling pangs of guilt. They just didn’t understand. Theo’s return to