“Sometimes…,” said Seiji. “Sometimes when I look at Nicholas, I see Jesse. I don’t know why that would be, but it’s true. I was—angry with Jesse, and it made me furious with Nicholas.”
His father’s voice was mild, in the way it was when he pointed out unassailable facts on business calls. “Well then, you’re going to stop that, aren’t you? Because you want to play fair.”
Seiji nodded to himself.
“I will. I have another question. Do you think I should do my hair differently?”
His father sounded surprised by the question. “It might be time for a change. A lot of people tell me that my ponytail is dashing.”
“I am not ready for a ponytail,” Seiji said flatly.
His father laughed. “Whatever you want. You’re a very handsome kid. You take after me, how could you not be?”
The sun was rising on a troubled sea, giving every choppy wave a golden crown. Seiji was somewhat abashed by his father’s words, and he was still deeply worried about the day to come, but it was like making up with Nicholas. Seiji was glad he’d called.
“Thanks.” Seiji paused. He didn’t want to seem like those people who only wanted to fence Seiji for the victory, calling his father purely to get something. He offered, “Next time, I’ll call just to… chat.”
He wasn’t sure what he would say, but he would figure it out.
His father sounded as though he was smiling. “Looking forward to it. Say hello to Nicholas from me.”
“I will,” promised Seiji. “Later he’s helping me trespass.”
“Um,” said his father. “What?”
Right. Nicholas had made it clear that the first rule of petty crime was not alerting authority figures.
Seiji told his first lie of the day. “Oh no,” he said. “The connection of this international call has gone wrong. You’re breaking up. We can’t continue the conversation.”
“Seiji—”
“Goodbye, I love you,” Seiji announced stiffly, then escaped from terminal embarrassment and criminal revelations by hanging up the phone.
The sky was pearl white over a slate-blue sea. It was time to face Jesse, but Seiji wouldn’t do it alone.
31 NICHOLAS
The last day of training camp was going great so far. Nicholas and Seiji had made up, and now he was going to help Seiji do crime. The first order of business was finding Eugene and Bobby to explain the situation—and Nicholas and Seiji’s scheme—to them. That took almost all of breakfast time, with Nicholas waving around his breakfast roll from Seiji to illustrate the master plan.
“I dunno. It’s a million-to-one chance,” said Bobby.
Nicholas grinned. “… But it might just work?”
“I wasn’t going to say that,” said Bobby. “I mean, I’m with you to the death, Nicholas, but I’m actually very worried it won’t work! Can we get banned for life from Camp Menton?”
“The dream,” murmured Dante.
Nicholas appreciated everybody’s support.
“Where were you at breakfast yesterday, by the way?” Eugene asked Seiji. “We missed you, bro.”
Seiji inclined his head without saying a word, but he did the thing where his mouth wasn’t frowning or in a perfectly ruled line, which was something like a smile.
Next up, drills. Nicholas found they were actually going more smoothly than before. A few other teams had to run more suicides than Kings Row.
Aiden had gotten into some kind of trouble, though, so he wasn’t at drills. Without Aiden and Eugene, their team felt incomplete. Nicholas couldn’t wait to go back to normal, but that meant making sure Seiji stayed at Kings Row where he belonged.
Nicholas had to prowl the training grounds until he found Marcel, then wait for him to finish his bout, then demand Marcel lead Nicholas to Jesse. When he did, they found Jesse standing and chatting in German with two other fencers. Jesse was wearing a sunny, charming smile, and his companions seemed dazzled.
As Jesse’s eyes fell on Nicholas, the sunlight drained out of his face. He scoffed, “You?”
Nicholas smiled a wicked, delinquent smile. “Me.”
“He says Seiji sent him,” Marcel reported.
Jesse hesitated, then nodded to the other fencers, who departed with speed, obviously freaked out by the abrupt change in Jesse’s demeanor. Nicholas turned, and Jesse and Marcel followed him out of the practice grounds and through the trees, to the rock by the sea where Seiji stood waiting. Seiji was wearing his fencing whites. Nicholas had argued strongly for Seiji not to wear them, as white from head to toe was the opposite of sneaky.
“I can see you for miles. There’s a reason ninjas don’t dress this way,” Nicholas said in greeting.
Seiji rolled his eyes so hard Nicholas thought he might hurt himself. Jesse was right there, but Seiji was paying attention to Nicholas, so Nicholas felt great about everything.
“Why is this person even here?” Jesse demanded.
Seiji’s gaze moved to Jesse. Nicholas stepped in between them.
“I’m helping out my buddy,” he announced cheerfully, watching Jesse’s mouth go pinched. “You challenged him to a fencing match, right?”
Echoing silence was Nicholas’s answer.
“Did you just think it would work out for you, because you expect everything to work out for you?” asked Nicholas. “Lucky thing Seiji has me. I know how to break the rules.”
“Seiji, is this person a criminal?” demanded Jesse.
“No!” exclaimed Seiji. “Unless you mean in the sense of, Has he committed certain petty crimes? In that case, yes.”
That caused Jesse to make the only expression Nicholas had ever enjoyed seeing on his face. Nicholas felt someone should frame it and put it in an art gallery, and title the masterpiece Jesse Coste, Rendered Speechless.
Nicholas proceeded to explain the plan. “I wanted to have this planning session now, because our team captain is having a fencing match with Bastien. Nobody will overhear us. They’re all watching the match. Our coach has put money on it. Actually, many people have put money on it. I think most of Camp Menton is expecting it’ll be a fun opportunity to see another lousy American fencer get crushed. Which is hilarious, since Harvard’s totally going to win!”
Marcel made a dismissive sound. “Please. My friend Bastien is going to win.”
“Of course he is,” said Jesse. “He’s better than all the Kings Row fencers.”
The calm certainty in Jesse’s voice made Nicholas’s fists itch. He’d wanted to go to Kings Row because his father had gone there before him. Whenever Nicholas walked through Kings Row, he told himself he was walking in his father’s footsteps. Being at Kings Row was the closest he’d ever been to his father.
Jesse had all the rest of their father. He shouldn’t get to look down on the only piece Nicholas possessed.
“What about”—the words stuck in Nicholas’s throat, but he forced them out—“your father? Didn’t he go to Kings Row?”
“Exactly,” Jesse responded. “If my father thought Kings Row were the right place for a promising young fencer, he would have sent me there. That place, that team, almost dragged my father down. That’s why I’m doing Seiji a favor by getting him out of Kings Row.”