Nightmare Academy Part 3

"Fine and bored," the boy added. "Except for that panhandler, we haven't found anyone to talk to. Things were better last night."

"Do you think we should try somewhere else?" Elisha asked.

The vagrant spoke into his collar, "How does it look to you, Sarah?"

At the other end of the block, in the back of a large van, Sarah sat before an impressive bench of electronic gear and radio receivers, monitoring the conversation, a headset to her ear. "We might try under the overpa.s.s again. The people at the youth shelter say a lot of runaway kids congregate there on the weekends after it gets late."

Elisha pa.s.sed the word along.

Elijah looked at his watch. "It's 11:07 and 40 seconds."

Elisha smiled. Her brother was proud of his extremely accurate watch. "I think it's getting late."

Nate responded, "Are you kids ready for another night under the overpa.s.s?"

Elisha made a face despite herself. "Working on it." She told her brother, "They're talking about another night under the overpa.s.s."

"Well, hopefully we'll meet a different bunch," Elijah offered, "somebody who might know something."

"It's just hard to-Whoa, just a minute. Somebody's coming."

Elijah tried to look without looking. He saw her, too. "I think she's looking at us."

While Elijah and Elisha acted indifferent and preoccupied, Nate could see the woman they were referring to. She was a young and pretty redhead, and obviously not a runaway or vagrant; she was dressed casually, but dressed well in dark slacks, woolly red sweater, light jacket, and pricey running shoes.

"She's looking at us, all right," Elisha reported.

"Hi," said the woman, and Nate and Sarah could hear her voice over their kids' radios.

"Hi," Elisha responded in the dull tone of a glum, leave-mealone teenager.

The woman knelt down to Elisha's eye level, and offered a business card. "I'm Margaret Jones. I work with the Light of Day Youth Shelter, just a few blocks from here." She looked toward Elijah. "Is he with you?"

Elisha shot her brother a sideways glance and shrugged. "I don't know. He's just sitting there and I'm sitting here."

She addressed both of them. "Well, if you need a place to stay tonight, we have rooms. We'll give you a good hot meal, a shower if you like, and your own room with your own bed, no questions asked."

Elijah asked, "What's the catch?"

"No catch. We're a charitable organization, we've been working the streets for nine years, and all we really want to do is get you off the street where you'll be safe and have some shelter."

Elijah, staying in character, gave a cynical sneer. "You're not the Living Way Youth Shelter? We've already been there."

The woman laughed apologetically and added, "No, no, we're somebody else, just a bunch of do-gooders, trying to help kids in trouble. You may like us, you may not, but at least you'll have a room for the night." She held out another business card.

Elijah accepted it with a shrug, then read it out loud. "Margaret Jones, Light of Day Youth Shelter, 203 Miller Street. Shelter, rescue, counseling."

Sarah entered the name and address on a laptop computer. "I'm not getting any matches. I thought Living Way was the only youth shelter around here."

Nate carefully eyed the woman talking to his kids, thinking it over: no matches in the computer; no record of this particular youth shelter; a pleasant, nonthreatening woman with business cards.

It could be perfectly legitimate, or it could be a very sly trap. He spoke into his collar, "This could be it. Let's take it slow, one step at a time, and check it out."

Chapter 3: Truth and Soup.

'm ready and willing," Elisha replied.

"It beats another night on the street," Elijah conceded, taking his sister's cue.

Margaret Jones thought they were talking to her. "Great! Come on, I'll walk you there." She started up the street at a leisurely pace and the kids followed her. "It can get rough out here. Not too many people who believe in Right and Wrong. You know what I mean?"

"Yeah," Elisha answered.

"Sure," said Elijah.

"But it looks like you two trust each other, and that's the start of friends.h.i.+p right there, doing right by our friends. You know what I'm talking about? Do you think there's a right and there's a wrong?"

They came to an intersection and turned right, heading up the hill.

"They've turned right on Spencer," Nate reported, walking a block behind them.

Sarah was behind the wheel and driving the van, watching a moving map on the dashboard linked with a GPS receiver. "Miller's three blocks north of Spencer on Second. I'll check it out." She turned up Spencer and drove right by her kids as they walked with Margaret Jones.

Margaret Jones kept on talking, but there was something strangely "rehea.r.s.ed" about it as if she was driving at something. "Some kids grow up going to church, things like that, and they seem to have a pretty good sense of right and wrong. Were either of you raised in church?"

Go with the flow, Elisha thought. "I was."

"Did you like it?"

"Sure."

"Do you believe in G.o.d?"

"Sure. I'm a Christian."

Margaret Jones was delighted. "You are? Well, that says a lot, doesn't it? I'll bet you're a very honest person then."

"I try to be."

"That's great. How about you ... uh, what should I call you? You don't have to use your real name."

"Call me Jerry"

'Jerry, how about you? Do you believe in G.o.d?"

"Absolutely"

"So, do you think that helps you to be honest?"

He decided to act "dull" about it. "Sure, I guess."

"I mean, I've been wondering if a person's religious beliefs have anything to do with their morals. What do you think?"

Sarah drove past an old stone building cubbyholed between two newer ones and saw the little sign on the front window: Light of Day Youth Shelter. "I've found it and it looks real. I'm going to park somewhere."

"I still have the kids," Nate reported, following them up Second Avenue toward Miller.

Sarah parked against the curb a block past the shelter, shut down the engine, and clambered into the back where she once again manned the radio receivers and recording equipment.

"Here we are," said Margaret, pulling the door open.

Inside was a small reception area with chairs, couches, and a table neatly arranged with fas.h.i.+on, sports, and teen interest magazines. Through a wide archway to the right was a dining hall; several kids were sitting around the tables enjoying late-night soup and fresh baked bread. Through another wide archway to the left was a game and activity room; three boys and a girl were playing a game of pool, and Jay Leno was doing his opening monologue on television.

"Wow," said Elijah as they followed Margaret from room to room. "A game room, a pool table, a library ..."

Elisha narrated as well. "Hey, you even have an elevator!"

"That takes you up to the rooms. Do you want to see your rooms first, or do you want to eat first?"

"Let's eat," said Elijah, and he wasn't acting.

Sarah opened the pa.s.senger door of the van to let a dirty vagrant enter.

He climbed into the expansive freight compartment, removed his coat and hat, then took a chair next to the radio console. From where they were parked, they had a good view of the shelter through the van's pa.s.senger window. They could hear the kids still talking, describing the place. "Looks like they're going to be warm and safe."

Sarah wagged her head. "Life is full of surprises."

Elisha's voice came over the radio as she conversed with Margaret. "So, how many kids are here?"

"At last count, I think around twenty. Some have been here for a week or so, and some are fresh off the street, like you. Grab a spoon. Bowls are over there."

"I think I'll take these headphones off."

Sarah and Nate exchanged a glance. Elisha was letting them know she wouldn't be able to hear them for a while.

They sat at one of the dining tables with bowls of hot soup and slices of fresh bread, and Margaret sat down across from them.

Elisha muttered, "Who wants to say grace?"

Margaret smiled. "You go ahead."

Elisha bowed her head and prayed, "Dear Lord, thank you for this food and for a place to spend the night. In Jesus' name, Amen."

The kids got right down to the business of eating, trying to observe their surroundings and ask-or answer-questions between bites and slurps.

"It's nice to see kids who still say grace before they eat," Margaret commented.

"It's a G.o.d thing," said Elisha.

"So how long have you been on the road?" Margaret asked.

Elisha admitted, "A while."

"Yeah," Elijah muttered. "A while."

"So how's it been going?"

Elijah admitted, "Not great. We're both low on money, guess that's obvious, and stealing's wrong, so-"

"Really?"

He looked up from his soup. "Really what?"

"You believe stealing is wrong?"

He gave her a look. "Yeah. Is that news?"

She laughed. "Oh, no, not at all. But it's refres.h.i.+ng to see, especially under these circ.u.mstances. Say, I want to show you something." She slid two brochures across the table, one for each of them. "I don't show this to everybody, but you two are kind of special. Now, as always, there's no obligation ..."

Well, thought Elijah, now here's a new twist: a youth shelter with a sales presentation. We should have known there was a catch.

What's it going to be? Elisha thought. A vacation package? A time-share? Maybe they're recruiting people to sell candy door-to-door Their thoughts came to a dead halt the moment their eyes fell upon the brochure's large, bold t.i.tle.

Elijah picked up the brochure and opened it. It was a simple brochure, printed on glossy paper and folded into thirds, with color photographs. He read some of the copy inside: A very special opportunity to be all you can be, and we pay the bill. Cla.s.ses, activities, new friends ...

He was reading for information, of course, but also stalling for time, trying to make sure his voice would not quiver when he finally read the t.i.tle out loud: "The Knight-Moore Academy"

As one, Nate and Sarah leaned forward, eyes wide open, pressing the headsets against their ears.

"Uhh ... what is it?" Elisha asked, careful to control her voice.

"It's like a cross between a summer school and a summer camp," Margaret replied. "It's a place where kids just like yourselves can get away from the city, get away from distractions and ha.s.sles and just have the chance to, you know, get a grip on things. It's located in the woods, close to nature. We offer cla.s.ses for high school credits, if you're interested-and if you want, counseling, guidance, discussion groups. And there are plenty of activities to blow off steam: sports, tennis, volleyball, a video arcade with all the latest games."

"And where is it?" Elijah asked.

"Up in the mountains, not far from here."

Elijah and Elisha looked at each other. Pay dirt.

Nate and Sarah looked at each other. Bingo.

Margaret came on like a saleslady. "It's free. Free room and board for as long as you need to stay-and you can maintain all the privacy you want. No one will ask you for your real name, or where you're from, or any other private information. The academy is there for you, just to give you time to sort things out, to find yourself."