Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 109903 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 550(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109903 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 550(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
"I don't want to know," Kevin said.
Neil let go, and Kevin tucked it under one arm. Neil pushed his safe closed and put it back where it belonged.
"Neil," Kevin said when Neil got to his feet.
"I'm coming back," Neil said, more for his sake than Kevin's. "You promised you'd finish this year with me. I'm holding you to that."
He slung his bag over his shoulder and slipped past Kevin out of the room. Matt was unplugging all of his electronics when the strikers showed up.
"Ready?" Matt asked.
"Yes," Neil lied.
Matt grabbed his keys and they left. They stopped by the girls' room first, where Neil was subjected to holiday hugs and well-wishes. Aaron settled for a nod when they checked in with the cousins next, but Nicky gave Neil a bone-popping squeeze.
"You packed your charger, right?" Nicky asked. "I expect you to text me everyday."
"I packed it," Neil said, but he doubted Riko would let him use his phone.
He left Kevin with the others to finish getting ready and followed Matt down to the truck. There was room at Neil's feet for his bag. Matt turned the key in the ignition and cut his radio off a half-second too late to save Neil's eardrums. Neil tried not to feel ill when the campus disappeared behind them but didn't quite succeed.
"When's your return flight?" Matt asked.
"New Year's," Neil said, "but I might come back early, depending on how things go."
"You bail early enough you should come join us," Matt said. "Mom can have your ticket changed."
"Thank you," Neil said. "I'll let you know."
Matt left him at the curb at Upstate Regional Airport. Neil watched him slide back into traffic, then turned to face the entrance. It was dizzying being here again. He and his mother never went through the same airport twice. He tightened his grip on his bag and went through the sliding glass doors.
The airport was busy this summer, but this close to Christmas it was downright chaos inside. Neil let himself get lost in the hubbub. He was just another face in the crowd, anonymous and unimportant. His airline had self-service check-in, so Neil scanned the barcode printed on his itinerary. His ticket and boarding pass popped out the slot at the bottom, and Neil headed for the security checkpoint. His bag made it through the scanners before he did. Neil toed into his shoes on the other side, grabbed his bag, and headed for his gate.
Most of the seats were taken, so Neil stood against a pillar to wait. He watched the crowd so he wouldn't watch the clock blinking at his gate. He'd half-expected to see more classmates here, but maybe they'd high-tailed it out of town yesterday. The airport was a sea of unfamiliar faces. Neil was alone.
He'd been around the Foxes for so long he'd forgotten what it was like to have breathing space. He should have been grateful to have a couple moments by himself before this nightmare started, but Neil was left feeling out of sorts. He buried his hand in his pocket and wrapped his fingers around his phone. If he flipped it open, his call history would still only show one name, but his message box was so full it emptied itself out on a semi-regular basis. He thought about reading through them for courage, but he couldn't make himself do it.
The gate attendant's voice on the overhead speakers startled him from his thoughts. "Passengers for flight 12 to Charleston, we will begin boarding soon. Please report to gate D23 and wait to be called."
Neil's seat was right behind the business-class section. He had the window seat, much to his displeasure, but the space under the seat in front of him was just big enough for his bag. He pushed the duffel into place with his shoes and tried not to feel trapped by his seatmate. Attendants squeezed up and down the aisles, trying to get everyone settled as quickly as possible.
When everyone was finally seated and the overhead compartments were snapped shut, the attendants launched into a spiel about safety. Neil glanced at the emergency exit door but wasn't as tempted as he thought he might be.
Facing Riko like this went against everything his mother taught him. He'd been raised to run, to sacrifice everything and everyone to ensure his own survival. His mother had never given him ground to stand on. Maybe that was why he hadn't been strong enough to save her in the end. A jumble of lies had nothing to fight for. But Neil Josten was a Fox. Andrew called this home; Nicky called him family. Neil wasn't going to lose any of it. If two weeks with Riko was the price to keep his team safe, Neil would pay it.
Somehow those thoughts made the flight easier. Neil even managed to doze through part of it, but he woke when they landed.
Jean was waiting for him in Arrivals. He watched Neil's approach with a cool look on his face, and there was an edge in his voice when he said, "You shouldn't have come here."
"Let's go," Neil said.
The ride was silent, but the first sight of Castle Evermore had Neil's blood humming in recognition. Evermore looked more like a monument than a stadium, and its jet-black paint job made it even more imposing. It was half-again as big as the Foxhole Court. Neil doubted the Ravens could fill every seat at every game, but the US Court likely sold out within hours of posting their matches. Neil could only imagine what game nights sounded like inside.
Jean stopped at a gate and reached out his window to type in a code. The gate swung open with a quiet squeal and Jean drove into the barricaded parking lot. A line of cars was already parked at the curb. Neil wished he was surprised that they were all identical. Even the custom license plates were only a couple digits off from each other. Neil stared hard at them until he thought he figured out the sequence. The EA had to be Edgar Allan, and the numbers following were class years and jersey numbers.