The Circle of Lies Page 5

  She pressed a button, and a video feed came on the screen. There I was, typing a code into the tablet in the gym and turning on the sprinklers. I gasped, and my stomach dropped into my shoes. There were cameras in the gym? How could I not have known that?

  “As you can see, you’ve been caught red-handed,” Ferris said, shaking her head in disbelief. “Not only did you turn on the sprinklers, which have ruined the gymnasium floor, but there’s the little matter of how you were able to get into the system in the first place. Perhaps you didn’t realize that those tablets keep a log of who has signed into them and when. Funny. It looks like you on the recording, but the log says I’m the one who signed in. Care to comment?”

  Was it suddenly warm in there, or was it just me? I rubbed my grandmother’s bracelet, willing it to work its protective magic. “I—I can explain,” I stammered. “I did hack into the database to get your password, and I used it to turn on the sprinklers—”

  “I thought as much,” she interrupted. “I’m so very disappointed in you, Shani.”

  “B-but wait!” I cried, shooting out of my chair. “Did you even see what happened in the gym? If you did, then you know I had no choice. . . .”

  “Conveniently enough,” Principal Ferris said, rising from her chair, “the cameras in the main part of the gym were disabled.” She raised one eyebrow and gave me a knowing look.

  Oh my God, I thought. She thinks I did it. “Principal Ferris,” I said slowly. “You have to believe me. I didn’t disable any cameras in the gym. I didn’t even know there were cameras there.”

  Ferris shrugged. “Be that as it may, the level of vandalism to the gym went far beyond water damage from the sprinklers, and as you can see, it seems you were the only one there.”

  I realized then that the other girls had never gone near the front entrance of the gym. They’d entered and exited through the side door, which is why they were never caught on camera. But I was sure some of the eagles had gone out that way. Had none of them made it onto the recording? Or were they sort of like TV vampires who couldn’t be seen on film or in mirrors? An even more horrifying thought—were Doli, Lin, Ana, and I the only ones who could see the Chaos Spirits at all? I knew Jason had seen the bat back in the temple, so why couldn’t Principal Ferris see the eagles?

  “I swear,” I tried. “I have a perfectly good reason for being there last night, and it wasn’t to vandalize the gym. If you’ll just listen—”

  But she held up her hand to quiet me. “I know all about your reason,” she said.

  I stared at her in astonishment and relief. “You do?”

  “Of course. I make it my business to know what’s going on with my students. I know that you tried out for the tennis team recently. I know that shortly thereafter Coach Lawson started complaining about some odd things happening to her electronics—her phone dying, her Internet being disconnected, her access to certain mobile apps being blocked. . . . You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

  I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. I just went on holding my breath, hoping I might pass out on the floor and wake up somewhere else—I didn’t care where. Because what could I say? I had messed with Coach Lawson’s phone. When she had thought I was looking at pictures of her “adorable” niece, I’d really been uploading a virus here, installing parental blocks there. . . . Harmless stuff, I’d thought.

  Finally I breathed out and said, in as calm a voice as I could manage, “I don’t see what my trying out for the team or Coach Lawson’s tech problems have to do with—”

  “I think you do,” Ferris cut me off. She waited a beat before saying, “I think you vandalized the gym—just as you vandalized Coach Lawson’s phone—because you were upset about not making the team.”

  She sat down and leaned back in her chair, regarding me with a look that was both hurt and satisfied, like she was a detective who had solved a particularly heinous case and now had the pleasure of telling the criminal exactly how she’d caught her.

  I was speechless. How could she think I would do something like that? I knew I wasn’t exactly BFFs with the principal, but I’d been at Temple Academy for more than a year now—long enough for her to know I wasn’t the kind of person who destroys a gym because she didn’t make the tennis team. But from the look on her face, it seemed she’d already made up her mind that I was exactly that kind of person.

  I couldn’t really offer anything in my defense. If I were to tell her the truth—that Anubis had tricked us into going to the gym, that we’d fought off dozens of Chaos Spirits that served the Brotherhood of Chaos, and that I was part of an ancient order destined to stop them—she’d never believe me. She would think I was both a vandal and a schizophrenic.

  It’s hopeless, I thought. Might as well skip to the fun part.

  “So what’s my punishment going to be? Cleaning the bathrooms again? More community service? I could pick up trash on the side of the road, or maybe teach social media skills to senior citizens. You’d be surprised how many of them don’t even know what Facebook is. . . .”

  Principal Ferris stared sadly at me. “I’m sorry, Shani, but it’s much too late for that. You know that Temple Academy has a three-strike policy. Even if you hadn’t been in trouble twice before already for hacking, vandalizing the gym would count as all three strikes. You have cost the school thousands of dollars, and worse, you’ve abused my trust.”

  My mouth fell open. I could feel my legs begin to tremble.

  “Shani, I regret to inform you that, effective immediately, you are no longer a student at Temple Academy. You’ve been expelled. I will inform your parents today, but you’ll need to call them to discuss where you’ll go next.”

  “Today?” My voice quivered. It wasn’t until I tried to speak that I realized I’d started to cry. On the same day my mother sent me an e-mail practically begging me to stop being such a loser, she would get a phone call from my principal telling her that I’d been kicked out . . . again. “Can’t you at least wait until tomorrow to call them?”

  Her icy exterior melted a bit, but she shook her head. “No, I can’t, because a cab will be here tomorrow at noon to take you to the airport. You have one day to collect your things—and yourself.”

  “What?” I felt my knees go weak, and I slumped down into the chair. This can’t be happening.

  Principal Ferris rose from her seat and sat in the one next to mine. She handed me a tissue and patted my hand. “I really am sorry, Shani. You’re a bright girl, and I’d hoped that Temple Academy would be your home until graduation. However . . .”

  She continued to talk, but I couldn’t hear a word she said. My head was too full of the sound of blood rushing in my ears. I’d been kicked out? Again? How was I supposed to tell my mother? How was I supposed to tell my friends? I thought of Ana volunteering to come in here with me. I’d turned her down, but that was back when I’d thought it wouldn’t be such a big deal.

  The panic I felt taking over me made me look at Principal Ferris and ask, “What if there were others?”

  She backed away from me a little, tilting her head as if she were trying to hear me better. “Others?”

  “Yes,” I said, more confidently. “What if I told you that I didn’t do this alone?”

  Principal Ferris raised her eyebrows. “Well, I hope you would tell me if there were someone else involved. It wouldn’t absolve you of guilt, but it would restore a measure of trust between us. And if anyone else bore some of the responsibility, then they should share in the blame.”

  “Right, okay,” I said, “but would it keep me from getting kicked out?”

  She sighed. “Oh, that I can’t promise, Shani. The fact that you were involved at all, combined with your previous record . . . It’s just, Temple has rules, as you know, and I have a board of trustees to report to. The decision would not be entirely up to me. So if you do reveal your accomplices—provided there were any—you’d have to do it quickly, knowing full well that it might no
t change anything for you. But telling me would still be the right thing to do.”

  “Uh . . . I need to sleep on it,” I said, feeling completely numb.

  She nodded.

  I walked out of her office in a daze. I’d have to break the news to my mom eventually and thought sooner was better, so I sat down on the bench just outside Ferris’s office and took out my smartphone. It would be about six o’clock at night in Cairo by then, so I knew she’d be home. She picked up after the second ring.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi, Mom,” I said, my hand shaking so hard, I almost dropped the phone.

  “Ah, Shani! You must have gotten my e-mail. Did you want to congratulate your sister?”

  “No. I mean, yes. But first I have to tell you something—something bad.” My voice was now shaking just as hard as my hands.

  “What’s wrong?” Mom said.

  All I wanted was for her to tell me everything would be okay and that I could still fix this. “I—I’ve been expelled, Mom. I feel terrible. I don’t know what to do.”

  The worst part of telling my mother bad news was always the few seconds that passed before she reacted to it. The anticipation was almost worse than the yelling that would follow.

  “Unbelievable! What did you do this time, Shani?”

  “Nothing!” I yelled back. “At least not what they think I did.”

  “Nothing, huh? So they’re just kicking you out because you’re completely innocent?”

  “No, it’s just— I can’t explain it all, but I swear it wasn’t my fault. I was trying to help. I did help. Principal Ferris is going to call you later, but I want you to know that I’m innocent . . . mostly. She thinks I did something to the gym, and I was there, but she doesn’t know the whole story.”

  Mom puffed out hard, something she did when she was truly fed up. “Well, you’d better tell her the whole story, then, the complete truth, because I’m not going to try to fix this for you, Shani. I try my best to help you. I try and I try. But I don’t know what to do with you anymore.”

  “What are you saying, Mom?”

  “I’m saying”—she took a breath—“this time you’re on your own.”

  chapter 5

  Ana

  WHEN I GOT OUT OF history class that morning, I found Lin waiting for me outside the door.

  “Nine one one!” she said. “Emergency meeting back at the dorm. Right now!”

  She grabbed my hand and pulled me along toward Radcliff Hall, pushing past other girls without sparing a single “Excuse me.”

  “What’s going on?” I asked, doing my best to keep up.

  Lin hesitated, stopping for just a moment and looking back at me. She winced. “It might be better if you hear it from Shani.”

  But when we got back to the dorm, it seemed Shani was in no condition to speak. She sat on her bed with her knees drawn into her chest, rocking back and forth, her mouth clamped shut. I’d never seen her like this before. It reminded me of the way I’d reacted the night I had almost hit Nicole—before I knew what she was.

  “How long has she been like this?” I asked Doli.

  “Ever since she came from Ferris’s office,” she replied.

  I laid my backpack on the floor and slid onto the bed next to Shani, putting my arm around her shoulders. “So, I take it things didn’t go well with Ferris.”

  Shani rested her forehead on her arm. “That’s an understatement,” she said. “Major understatement.”

  “All right. Well, tell me what happened. Maybe I can help.”

  She looked up at me, and I saw that her eyes were swimming with tears and her nose was all puffy and red. “Unless you can turn back time and stop me from getting caught on video hacking into the gym security system, you can’t help me.”

  “What? They caught you on video?” I looked from Doli to Lin to see if maybe I’d just heard her wrong, but they were both nodding.

  “Yep,” she said, tears trailing down her cheeks. “I’m the star of my very own hidden-camera show. And now Ferris thinks I destroyed the gym because I was mad about not making it onto the tennis team.”

  “But that’s crazy!” I cried. “You would never do something like that.”

  “I know that,” Shani said, “and you know that. But as far as the video knows, I was the only one there that night, and you can see me on tape using Ferris’s password to get into the system. Pretty open-and-shut case. Anyway, that’s why she kicked me out.”

  I leaped out of the bed as if it were suddenly full of stinging wasps. “Kicked you out? Of Temple? Are you kidding me?”

  Shani slumped over on the bed, grasping a pillow to her chest. “Yes, I’m kidding. Pretty funny, right? Ha-haaaaa! I’m thinking of taking my act on the road. Principal Ferris thinks I should too, apparently.”

  I started to pace the small dorm room. “There has to be something we can do. Let’s go to Principal Ferris and tell her that we were all there, that we did it together.”

  “Yes,” Doli said, jumping up. “Let’s do it. Wildcats stick together.”

  But Shani just shook her head. “That’s sweet, you guys, but it won’t help. Principal Ferris told me that even if I were to name my ‘accomplices,’ it wouldn’t necessarily mean that I’d get to stay. In fact, all it would do is get all of you kicked out with me.”

  “Maybe not,” Lin said. “Not if we turn ourselves in. Besides, we’re first-time offenders, not lifers like Shani.” When we all shot her a look, she added, “No offense, Shani. I’m just saying—you have a record and we don’t. So maybe she’d take it easy on us.”

  “What about your parents disowning you?” Shani asked.

  Lin shook her head, then shrugged. “We both know there’s a lot less for my parents to disown me from, after that accountant stole half their money. I’ll take my chances.”

  “The point is,” I cut in, “we won’t let you stand alone.”

  “Yeah, you will,” Shani said. “You have to. It’s not worth the risk. Besides, we may have stopped Anubis from moving our school, but his temple is still right here below our campus. If he decides to come back, someone’s got to be here to defend the school.”

  I growled in frustration. “Fine. But no matter where you are, we’re still Hunters, and Temple Academy will still be Hunters Headquarters.”

  “What do you mean ‘headquarters’?” Lin asked.

  “As long as there are still Chaos Spirits out there, we’ve got to stay on the case,” Doli said. “And that means having a place we agree to come back to, no matter what.” She held out her hand, holding it flat. Lin slapped her hand on top of Doli’s, and I put my hand on top of Lin’s. We all looked at Shani expectantly. She sighed and for a moment she looked lost—like she’d once been a part of something and was now looking at it from the outside. Finally she put her hand on top of the pile, and in that moment I silently pledged that I would never stop trying to clear Shani’s name and get her back into Temple, where she belonged.

  Just then my phone trilled—the sound letting me know I’d just received a text message. I moved away from the girls and dug into my backpack for my phone. The text was from Jason.

  Hey, Ana. Have you seen the new pirate movie? It’s rated arrrrr . . .

  Despite the heaviness of the moment with Shani, I couldn’t help laughing at the dumb joke and feeling my heart beat faster; that happened any time Jason texted me. As I stared down at his name in my phone, an idea occurred to me. If it worked, Shani wouldn’t be going anywhere. “Let’s not be so quick to say good-bye,” I said, typing quickly. “I have an idea.”

  That night, after dinner, I stood on the track waiting for Jason. Finally I saw him jogging toward me, a sweet smile on his face. “Hey,” he said, “how are you? And also, how are you?”

  I smiled sheepishly. “Dork.”

  He laughed and gave me a quick hug. “I didn’t empty-handed . . .”

  “You didn’t have to bring me a present,” I replied, stunned that he would even thin
k he had to. “Or, oh no, is that something friends are supposed to do? Bring each other gifts every time they hang out? If so”—I dug into my jeans pocket and pulled out an old gum wrapper and fifteen cents in change—“today is your lucky day.”

  “A gum wrapper and money?” he cried, as if I’d handed him the keys to a new car. “You’re too good to me.”

  I shrugged. “Nothing but the best for you.”

  He laughed. “Well, my present is going to be kind of a letdown now. It’s nowhere near as extravagant as yours.” He reached into his own pocket and pulled out a Snapple bottle lid.

  I took it from him and read the words printed inside: Real Fact #349: Most cats don’t like lemonade. I smiled curiously at Jason. “Is that true?”

  Jason gave me a half smile. “You could probably answer that better than I can,” he said. “Anyway, I started collecting all the ones about cats, ever since I found out, you know, what you can do.”

  “That is so sweet,” I gushed. “Thank you. I’ll treasure this always.” I said it as a joke, but I also meant it.

  “Thank you for wanting to meet me,” he said, turning serious. “It was a good excuse to get out of my house for a while. I needed a break from my mom.”

  Just the person I wanted to talk about. “How is she doing?”

  “Not too good,” he said. “Honestly? I’m worried about her.”

  “Really? Why?”

  Jason fell silent for a moment and walked over to the risers on the side of the track. He sat down and looked up with concern in his eyes. “I know Dr. Logan wasn’t who he said he was, and I’m glad he’s gone, but ever since he left, Mom’s been, I don’t know, different.”

  “Different how?” I asked, sitting next to him, so close that our shoulders touched.

  “She’s usually so happy. But she’s been really down lately. When she doesn’t have to be at work, she stays in her pajamas all day long. Dr. Logan wasn’t even her boyfriend. The whole thing just makes me wonder if maybe he had some kind of mind control over her, you know? That’s possible, right? I mean, he was seriously evil, and he did have powers. . . .”