North: Meeting Sang - The Academy Ghost Bird Series, #7

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'.

 

North Taylor's world was all about protecting his family; his stepbrother, Luke, and the rest of his Academy team. Letting anyone else close would require North's approval, which hardly ever happens.

 

Until this girl crashes into their lives–and literally–into North's arms. Sang is sweet and pretty, and seems nice enough. But for some reason, the team have been keeping her a secret. And they want North to do the same.

 

The whole team has turned their focus to be around this one girl. Why hasn't the Academy been informed? Why is Mr. Blackbourne being kept in the dark about her? This isn't protocol.

 

But then North learns about Sang's terrible home life. How her family treats her is unimaginable. No wonder she needs them. And it might just take their entire team, a team who, through their own tragedies understands such things, to handle this one girl who needs them the most.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcato Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 30, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201679569

Book preview

NORTH

1

"Cheer up, Luke said, grimacing. You want someone who understands you. Like I do. But maybe...try being a little nicer? You know, like you are when you’re not grumpy?"

North Taylor refused to say anything after hearing this. It wasn’t what he wanted to hear from his brother. Suggesting he could be better, if only he were different.

Instead of talking to him anything further, North turned away.

There was no need to focus on the past. No need to think about old dates or lost relationships.

Focus on what needed to be done; making a decision about this diner. If their Uncle really wanted this old church as an ideal spot for his new business venture, it should be sound.

The old church wouldn’t have been North’s first choice. The structure wasn’t built to be a church, and he didn't think structurally, it’d be a great place for a diner either.

But maybe a diner would be better than a church, at least.

Built more like a warehouse, the structure was basic and utility only. No insulation. This place likely was its own oven during the summer. It’d be stifling now if it wasn’t so early in the morning.

Perhaps the only indication from the outside it had been a church was the large brown wooden cross that hung over the front door, and a sign out front with the name.

At least it didn't have a graveyard.

Likely the church had to move on because of the electric bill for the air conditioning. It must have been a few hundred a month to keep it tolerable, at minimum. What they’d saved in structure costs, they used up in the long term with utility bills.

Thinking about the building kept North from thinking too hard about what Luke had said. He wanted to process it and not be angry.

Out of sight from his brother, North stopped in the hall of the old church and quieted his mind. His admission of his failed date, that had happened what seemed like weeks ago, felt like a sorry excuse for how North had been behaving.

If you don't start trusting people, opening up to them, you'll be as isolated as you feel, Mr. Blackbourne had once told him.

And he had been trying. What he didn't understand was when the others claimed he was grumpy, usually at times when he was just trying to protect them.

Anger was fuel. It was a warning. There was a danger or things needed to be checked out.

He touched briefly at the newly installed gold hoop in his ear. A reminder to himself of this failed date and how it all happened. A reminder to slow down and think about what he was saying. It wasn’t what he was feeling, it was how he was saying it.

Footsteps further down the hallway broke his thoughts and suddenly the wave of awareness flowed over him. The noise had come from the direction he had been heading.

Shuffling. A slight crack of wood. A shifting of material.

North hurried along, mentally readying himself.

Someone else was here besides Luke.

The kitchen was predominantly dark, with thin beams of light filtering through cracks at the single window on the other side of the room.

There, on the counter, someone in the shadows was tugging at a curtain, trying to pull it away from the window.

He stepped closer, quieter. Were they trying to break out? They were small. Some kid who’d gotten in maybe. Micah or one of the others from up the road? What the hell are you doing in here? he snapped at them.

Suddenly the curtain gave way. The person twisted, falling backward off the counter.

North lurched forward. He reached out, grasped quickly at whatever he could get a hold of, and managed to just reach their hips. Precariously balanced, in the position they were in together, if he didn't help them to the ground, they'd likely both fall.

His heart beat in his chest heavily in the rush, as he figured out the safest way to shift them off the counter. He repositioned.

They staggered on their feet and he reacted quickly again, holding steady. He refocused on their face.

Only to be face to face with an angel.

2

With the sun beaming into her face from the now-open window, it left an illuminated light over her, over her skin and hair that seemed to shimmer. She was small, with light green eyes and golden hair under the sun. If innocent awe was ever a description for someone, it was in her face, her parted lips.

North had seen paintings of angels and it was the first thing he thought of.

Her eyes widened when she focused on him.

Are you hurt? North asked.

She shook her head quickly and said nothing.

He shifted both of them until they were standing and he was sure she was stable on her feet next to him. The sunlight continued to pour brightly through the windows over her, leaving her in a wash of light, until she appeared to be glowing.

It was the way she looked at him at first, and he was about to snap at her, to