Rocky wiped tears of laughter from his eyes, breathing heavily. James smiled, too, remembering how angry Derek had been. But you always save me, James had said as he sat in the back of the ambulance, feeling like he had been hit by a train. Rocky and James’s eyes met and they broke into another fit of laughter. James couldn’t help wondering what the men who kidnapped him thought when he straight-up jumped off the side of the boat, seemingly to his death.
“You guys are ridiculous,” Katie said, going back to her papers.
After the mirth of remembering the Florida incident faded, boredom set back in. James quickly found that not all the mission reports were full of excitement. The next folder he opened described a routine flyover surveillance of New York. It was nearly a page long, and James kept waiting for the action, but when he reached the bottom, it said, Nothing out of the ordinary detected. He rifled through the remaining papers in the folder. How could such a giant stack of paperwork be for nothing out of the ordinary? His head began to pound as he read, and he found his mind wandering more and more.
Where was Calico right now? Probably searching for Lychnus and the others. But then why the secrecy? Maybe the Supers thought James, Rocky, and Katie couldn’t be trusted. Maybe this was their punishment for not finding the stone—not that it was their fault. But reflecting on their conversations, James thought it obvious that Calico had always been more focused on finding the stone. Finding the other Supers was almost an afterthought, something thrown in to appease James. But why? Why the lies and deception?
Something was up, and Rocky and Katie felt it, too. James’s eyes flicked up to his two friends. Katie was hunched forward, squinting down at the paper before her, her hand running along the words as she read. Rocky was leaning back in his chair, hands behind his head and eyes glazed over, completely checked out. They hadn’t explicitly said it, but all three of them had grown suspicious. Why else were they hiding the painting? It was like the three of them had silently agreed they were on their own. Without any words being spoken, a line seemed to have been drawn between them and the Supers. And that thought made James very uneasy.
There was a knock on the door. Afectrus entered, carrying a tray of sandwiches. She smiled at them. “I thought I’d bring you some lunch,” she said, setting the tray down at the edge of the table. She eyed the completed piles, about four or five folders each. “You guys are making great progress! I’ll leave you to it. We really appreciate your effort and scrutiny!”
With that, she disappeared, closing the door behind her. She hadn’t seemed to notice that Katie was the only one actively working, with Rocky and James both zoned out in their thoughts. Had she even looked at them? The whole thing had been quick, almost robotic. The enthusiasm in her voice seemed rehearsed.
Rocky reached for a sandwich, looking pleased to have a distraction. James grabbed one, too, and bit into it. His thoughts were a swirl in his head. What did the painting mean? Why was Afectrus giving them this work? Where was Calico? Why did he want the stone, if not to find the others? Where was Derek?
Where was Derek?
James was hit with a pang of deep sadness, a longing to see his brother again. Derek would have the answers. He’d lean in and tell James the truth in a conspiratorial whisper, saying what he always said: But you can’t tell anyone. And James would agree fervently shortly before going and telling Rocky. His brother wouldn’t hide things from him like the other Supers were. He’d tell him the truth, even if it was a hard truth.
Right?
But he hadn’t told James about all of this. He hadn’t told James about the Chintamani Stone. He hadn’t told James that the clues he left behind would lead him to a secret base on the other side of the world. Most of all, he hadn’t told James that he wouldn’t be there.
James shook away those feelings of resentment. Derek wouldn’t have put him in this situation on purpose. He just wished he could go back to the last time he saw Derek and ask him. Ask him for the truth.
But the last time James had seen Derek, he’d been too focused on himself to ask his brother anything. James had been selfish, complaining about all the attention Derek got from their family, about how his own accomplishments would always seem trivial next to his brother’s. That all seemed so silly now, so distant. His old life seemed like a dream, almost unreal. He couldn’t believe that less than twenty-four hours before Derek disappeared and James’s life changed, he’d been sitting in his bedroom, dreading his own birthday party because he knew everyone was there to see Derek, so preoccupied that he abandoned his homework, some stupid essay for school—an essay for his Art History class about...
James slapped the table.
Katie and Rocky jumped and looked at James with bewilderment. He stared at them wide-eyed, his mouth open, unable to form words. How hadn’t he seen it sooner?
“What is it, James?” Katie said, her voice worried.
“You look crazy, man,” Rocky said.
James found his voice. “I know where it is.”
“Where what is?”
James smiled. It had been there, sitting in the back of his mind the whole time. That stupid essay could end up being the most important essay he ever wrote.
“The Chintamani Stone.”
Chapter 27
Despite a barrage of questions from Rocky and Katie, James kept his mouth shut.
As soon as he’d uttered the words, James felt uncomfortable. He glanced at the doors, at the walls, wondering how far their voices traveled. But he also felt a
