Double Black Diamond
the room you’ll share with Veena. I suggest you familiarize yourself with it before attending classes tomorrow morning.”The student handbook? Was this guy serious? “Don’t worry, Dr. Muth. You won’t even notice I’m here.”
The head of school’s gaze traveled coolly from my face, to the hospital band I hadn’t had a chance to cut off my wrist, to my scuffed, second-hand boots. He literally sniffed like he smelled something gross. “I’m sure.”
I flattened my fingers over my thighs to keep from making fists.
“About your classes,” he said. “Veena is taking several advanced placement courses. What level of education have you had?” Slight emphasis on the you.
I held my chin up. “I earned my diploma before being accepted to the Juno Academy.”
“A high school diploma.”
“That’s right.” Just like the special snowflakes here will get when they graduate.
Muth looked ill. All he saw, I could tell, was a young, poorly educated Vegas girl in cheap boots. I imagined dragging him off that fancy leather couch and showing him what nine months of intense hand-to-hand combat training could do.
“Our classes are rigorous, Miss Rossi. We don’t give our students a pass because they are also high-level athletes—or for any other reason. We ensure they have challenging coursework wherever in the world they travel to train and compete. They are true scholar-athletes. Many will go on to compete at the college level, several ski or ride with their national teams, and a few, like Veena, will be Olympians.”
My temples pounded and my chest tightened with anger the more this man talked, but I relaxed against the couch, doing my best to keep it together.
“Your school sounds very impressive, Dr. Muth. I’ll do my best to keep up with your students. And, while I’m at it, I’ll be sure Veena doesn’t end up blindfolded and gagged in the back of a van.” I got to my feet. “We done here?”
If he was going to be an asshole, I might as well drop my professional act, too. At least we’d know where we stood.
His snotty stare could have cryogenically frozen me for a century. “Mr. Brown informed me that your company has a contingency plan in case you turn out to be too . . . inexperienced. I’ll be sure to keep him apprised of your behavior.”
Threats now? My hands itched to reach around his neck. “You do that, and I’ll go ahead and do my job.” I stormed from his office, lava flowing through my limbs.
“Nicole?”
“What?” I whirled to face Newman, who was holding out an envelope. I don’t know what I looked like, but he actually flinched for a second.
He smiled apologetically, like he heard, or could imagine, my conversation with Muth. “This is your VMA student ID. It will access your room door and the outer doors, which are locked after 10 pm, and it allows you to purchase food in the dining hall or the adjacent coffee shop, the Mogul Café.”
Coffee shop? Is this place for real?
He went on. “If you lose it, please let me know. I can deactivate it and issue you a new one. For a twenty-five-dollar fee.”
I opened the envelope. Brown must have sent them my Juno headshot; it looked more like a mug shot. Whatever.
“Dinner is from 5:30 to 7 pm. Welcome to Vail Mountain Academy.” His expression was genuine, so I did my best to thank him with a little sincerity.
But then I paced all the way down the hall to the lobby and out the front doors. Brown or Bart would ping me as soon as the tracking system told them I’d left, but at this point, I didn’t care. I needed to let off some steam before I talked to Veena.
Welcome to Vail Mountain Academy? Yeah, I felt super freaking welcome about now.
I’d been in Colorado for twenty-four hours. In that time, I’d managed to get myself hospitalized, I’d puked on the ski patrol, pushed away my principal, pissed off my chief, and brawled with the headmaster.
What else could go wrong?
My watch vibrated against my wrist. “Get back to the school—now.” Brown sounded alarmed when I answered. “Ice and Owl’s teams changed up, and they can’t confirm Black Diamond’s in the building. Does she have her tracker?”
Shit, shit, shit. “No, sir . . . I didn’t have the chance to give it to her. I’m on my way.”
My heart free-fell to my feet as I sprinted. My day had sucked, but at least nothing had happened to Veena.
Yet.
Five
I bolted up the stairs instead of using the elevator, glad I’d studied the floor plan. I blew past a girl and boy kissing on the second-floor landing; they jumped to the side with a shout. Kovitch stood in the hallway outside Veena’s third floor room, dressed in the same maintenance uniform as the guy on Cooley’s team that I’d seen outside.
He tilted his head toward Veena’s door. I pulled out the ID card Newman gave me. With my other hand, I slid my baton out of its hidden sheath on my back and deployed the stick like I’d practiced a thousand times. I held it ready beside my leg.
Kovitch stood, back to the wall, as I held the ID against the reader to unlock the door. It swung open.
Staying behind the door, I glanced in. The bedroom was empty, and the bathroom behind the door was dark. Soft music played. I gave Kovitch the all-okay signal, and he ducked past me into the room, head swiveling left and right as he entered. I flipped the light on and checked the bathroom, keeping my stick ready. Nothing was amiss.
The space was triple the size of my room at home, with double everything. Two beds, two dressers, two desks, two closets. Both beds were made, but one was pristine, the other lumpy with crushed pillows and clothes strewn across the end. An open laptop glowed from a desk. A wireless speaker beside it was the music source. My battered black suitcase and brand-new messenger bag waited by