Justice for All (The Outcast Book #1) Read online

  Mom was a troubled girl? I write.

  “How do you think she met Dad?” Jessica says.

  That place must not have straightened her out then, I write. Jessica shrugs. “I guess not, but it’s worth a shot, isn’t it? It’s this or there’s a military school in Maine.”

  It’s my turn to shrug; military school doesn’t sound any worse than nuns to me. I might actually learn something useful there. “Please, Robin? Do this for me. One semester. If you still hate it, then you can come home. All right?”

  I look Jessica in the eyes. If I could speak, I’d have already told her what to do with this school, but not being able to talk gives me some time to reflect. I know she and Carol are trying to protect me from a mess I created. I hiss through my wired jaw and then write, ONE semester. Then I come back.

  “That’s all I ask,” Jessica says. She gives me a careful hug. “You won’t have to go there until after the holidays, so we’ve still got a couple of weeks. That should be long enough to get those wires off, though it’d probably be better to keep them on.”

  I glare at her, but don’t write anything down. Like a good Catholic I’m going to do a penance for my sins, starting right now.

  Chapter 14

  Though the wires have come off my jaw, I’ve still got metal around my teeth. I already had to wear braces when I was thirteen, but now I have to wear them again until the dentist decides the teeth in my rebuilt jaw are straight enough. “Thith thuckth,” I grumble.

  Besides the braces I’m dressed in my new school uniform. The school doesn’t allow anyone to wear anything more than lip gloss—and only pink at that—so my face is pasty and dull. My hair is past my shoulders now and still boring light brown; it’s held back with a headband that makes me look nine again. The black-framed glasses are my idea to help conceal my identity the way they do in comic books.

  The name on my school ID is Rose Howard. I absolutely hate it, but Carol insists the computers at the Witness Protection Agency came up with it. I’m not a witness, but Carol has a friend there who used their equipment to create a new identity for me. That should make it harder for Madame Crimson to find me.

  Jessica runs a hand through my dull hair and smiles. “You look sweet.”

  “I hate thweet.”

  She giggles at this. “That’s so cute. You sound like Sylvester the cat.”

  “Thut up.” I can thank the stupid braces for that; it’s going to take a while to get used to them enough that I can talk normally again. In the meantime everyone is going to think I’m a retard. “I hate it.”

  “You should have thought of that before you decided to play vigilante.”

  “I know.” I look down sadly at the saddle shoes that are part of my new uniform. This is my fault. My fault for being stupid enough to get caught.

  “It’s going to be all right. A semester or two—”

  “One.”

  “A semester or two and then you can go back to public school—if you still want.”

  “I’m not going to thtay there.”

  “You never know. You might like the nuns.”

  “Not likely.”

  Jessica laughs again. “I doubt it too, but stranger things have happened. Come on, the car should be here soon.”

  “Great.” In case Madame Crimson’s people are watching, Jessica can’t drive me up to New Hampshire in her car. Not that her car could probably even get that far. Carol has arranged a couple of different cars to take me, along with a decoy in the city to help throw off anyone trying to follow us.

  I take off my backpack and then slip on an oversized coat to cover my school uniform. I sling the backpack over my shoulder and then turn back to Jessica. “Can you thee anything?”

  “No. You look like you’re playing dress-up now.”

  “Thut up.”

  She crushes me in a hug; I can hear her sniffle as she squeezes me so tight I can’t breathe. When she finally lets me go, she forces herself to smile. “You behave yourself up there. You get kicked out of there and it’s military school in Maine.”

  “I know. Thankth.” Then I trudge to the front door. There are two black SUVs waiting at the curb. I hurry over to the second one and then hop in. Carol is on the backseat, waiting for me.

  Jessica doesn’t come outside to watch us leave, but I’m sure she’s watching from the window. I hate the thought of leaving her alone for months, but she’s right that there isn’t a choice. I wave towards the house one last time and then settle back on my seat.

  ***

  After two hours we’re on a rural highway. I check over my shoulder, but there’s no one behind us. Unless Madame Crimson has a drone to watch us from the air we should be safe. I take off the oversized jacket and then sigh. “It’th tho boring up here.”

  “You better get used to it, kid. This is going to be your new home until June at least,” Carol says.

  “I know. It thuckth.”

  “A little Catholic school could do you good. Teach you some discipline.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  “You could use some discipline. Jessica is way too soft on you. So am I.” Carol shakes her head. “I suppose it’s because we aren’t used to having to be parents. And you never needed much parenting before your dad died. You were always such a good kid.”

  “I wath trying to do good.”

  “I know, but you have to understand there are rules. They aren’t just there to punish us. They’re there to protect us.” She puts an arm around my shoulders to pull me close. “It did take a lot of guts to do what you did. Your dad would be proud of that.”

  “Thankth.”

  “It’s too bad you had to leave. Dr. Tyrell was looking forward to seeing you again.”

  “He wath? Why?”

  “He said you’re a fascinating subject. He thinks he could do a paper on you.”

  “That’th not funny.”

  “I’m pretty sure he was serious. It’s not every sixteen-year-old who goes out at night like she’s Batman—or Batgirl.”

  “I’m tho glad he thought I wath tho interethting.” When Carol chuckles behind her hand, I glare at her. “I know. I thound like Thylvethter the cat. It’th jutht the bratheth.”

  “I know, sweetie. You’ll grow out of it. It is adorable, though.”

  “I don’t want to be adorable.”

  “You used to. I remember you used to come into the precinct in a sparkly pink princess dress. You even had the wand and tiara. You remember?”

  “No.”

  “Oh, come on, don’t be so sour about it. The other girls are going to love you.”

  “They’ll think I’m a geek.”

  “You have to give people a chance.”

  “Yeah, right.” I cross my arms over my chest and then turn to the window. Since it’s January all there is to see are dead trees and snow. There are occasional green spots from pine trees, but mostly it feels like we’re driving through Hell after it has frozen over.

  Carol shakes my shoulder to point excitedly out her window. “Look at that.”

  The school is on the top of the hill, the main building done in a Gothic style that makes it seem like an old fortress. “It’th tho big,” I mumble. It only gets bigger as the SUV starts up the hill. It’s good it didn’t snow too much or we’d probably need a snowmobile to get up the steep grade. As if the place isn’t already isolated enough by being out in the middle of nowhere; one snowstorm and we’re pretty much cut off from the rest of the world.

  The SUV grinds up to the top of the hill, where there are two huge iron gates with the name of the place spelled out on top. There’s a rush of cold air in the car as the driver opens his window to press the intercom button. There’s some mumbled discussion and then the gates yawn open.

  I’ve been more angry than nervous up to this point, but now that we’re here, my stomach starts to churn. I’ve only been away from the city for a week or so on vacation and to summer camp when I was a little kid; I’ve never gone month
s away from home. What if this place is as terrible as it seems? What if the nuns are the type who still hit you with rulers? What if everyone here hates me?

  Carol pats me on the back; my nervousness must be evident, as she says, “It’s all right, sweetie. It’s going to be fine.”

  “I know.”

  She reaches into her pocket to pass a Hello Kitty cell phone to me. “This is a prepaid phone. Untraceable. You get in trouble, you give me a call on this, all right?”

  “Thankth.” I give her a hug and like Jessica earlier I start to sniffle. I want to whine that I wanna go home, but I can’t. I have to wait until the heat has died down before I can go back home. That is if the heat ever dies down.

  The SUV stops in front of the Gothic building we saw from the base of the hill. From what I read, this used to be the whole school, but now it’s mostly for administration and church services. Church services. Do they still say Mass in Latin here? I never learned any of that.

  I gasp with surprise to see a nun on the front steps. She’s in the full getup with the black habit and a gold crucifix—no sign of a ruler. The lines on her face tell me she’s probably older than Carol, though it’s hard to be sure with most of her head covered. That outfit must be pretty warm if she can stand out in the sub-zero wind chill wearing only that. If I ask she would probably say her faith is keeping her warm.

  I open my door at the same time as Carol, though I wait for Carol to come around to put a hand on my shoulder. The nun doesn’t smile as she shakes Carol’s hand. Carol says, “This is my niece, Rose. She’s a little shy.”

  “Hi,” I mumble the way a shy girl would. It’s hard not to feel shy under the nun’s steely gaze.

  “I am Sister Mary Francis, the headmistress of this school. We prefer not to take students in the middle of a school year, but your aunt and sister stressed you were in dire need of some discipline.”

  “I don’t know about that—”

  The nun doesn’t hit me, but she wags a finger in my face. “Silence. Your first lesson for today: speak only when spoken to. Understand?”

  I wait a moment and then say, “Yeth.”

  “Good. Now, stand up straight. Slouching is for harlots.”

  I straighten to full attention; I’m tempted to salute as well, but that would get me into trouble. Sister Mary Francis studies me for a moment and then nods. “Very good. You can be taught.”

  I nod slightly to her. Sister Mary Francis claps her hands twice. Another nun scurries out; she must be younger since there are a lot fewer lines on her face. “Sister Matilda will show you to your dormitory. I trust your luggage is in the car?”

  “Yeth, ma’am.”

  “Go get it then.”

  I nod and then hurry back to the SUV. The driver has to get out to open the back gate for me. I’m glad I only brought a duffel of personal effects and one wheeled suitcase. It’s still awkward to carry it all down a snow-trampled path. Sister Matilda doesn’t say anything until we’re out of sight of the headmistress. Then she asks to take the duffel bag.

  “Thankth,” I mumble.

  “You don’t have to be scared. The headmistress isn’t as tough as she acts. She’s a real softie once you get to know her.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Not much of a talker, are you?”

  “I gueth not.”

  “Or maybe you need to warm up a little first. I keep telling Sister Mary Francis we should get a motorized cart, but she says that’s coddling the students.”

  “Are the dormth heated?”

  She chuckles at this. “Yes, of course. You don’t even have to chop your own firewood.”

  “That’th good.”

  We pass by some slightly newer brick buildings with brown tendrils of ivy hanging off of them. Sister Matilda tells me the name of each building; I try to commit them to memory for later. There’s what looks like an aircraft hangar made of bricks that she says is the gym. “I coach volleyball if you’re interested.”

  “Aren’t I little thort for that?”

  “Don’t be silly. You only need to be tall to spike it over the net.”

  I shrug. “I’ve never been into thporth.”

  “I think track would be more your speed. Though maybe not the hurdles, eh?”

  “Ha.”

  “Or gymnastics. I bet you have tremendous balance.”

  I think of when I tried to jump from one shipping container to another. “Not tho much.”

  “I see. It’s all right if you don’t want to try out for any sports. It’s not mandatory. It’s just that there aren’t many other activities on campus. We do have a drama club and debate team if that’s more your speed.”

  “I’ll think about it.”

  “That’s fine.” Sister Matilda gestures to a trio of rectangular buildings that don’t have any ivy growing on them. “These are the dormitories. We pair you girls off, or at least we try to. It’s determined by random lot, so no one gets to choose their roomie. You’ll have to hope for the best.”

  I don’t like the sound of that. What if I get stuck with some airhead or a weirdo who likes to cut herself or something? That will only make this whole situation worse.

  Sister Matilda holds a door open so I can scurry inside. I sigh with relief to finally get out of the cold. We stomp our feet on a rug for a minute to get any snow off and then she leads me up a narrow staircase. With how narrow and steep the stairs are and how poorly-lit the staircase is, this is a lawsuit waiting to happen. I’m glad I don’t still have my crutches or there’s no way I’d make it up.

  I’m out of breath by the time we get to the third floor. There’s still a long walk to almost the end of the hallway. We pass a few open doors, where I can see girls sitting on bunk beds. I shiver at that. Jessica and I never had to share a bedroom, so the closest I’ve come to sharing a room was at camp.

  She stops us at the door to room 319. “Here we are. The bathroom and showers are at the end of the hallway. Did you bring soap and shampoo?”

  “Yeth.” That was on the list of supplies the school sent to Jessica.

  “Good. If you need anything else, you can call Sister Marie. She’s your floor supervisor.”

  “OK.”

  Then Sister Matilda knocks on the door. She doesn’t wait for anyone to answer before she opens it. I gulp to see a room like the others we’ve passed, with bunk beds on one side, chests of drawers along another wall, and desks on the third wall. At one of the desks is a girl who looks about like me, except taller and without glasses. I just about pee my panties when I recognize my new roommate as the girl I rescued on the train.

  My disguise must be working; she doesn’t show any sign of recognizing me. She does hop off her chair and race over to me to squeeze me in a hug. “You must be my new roommate! We’re going to have so much fun, I just know it.”

  “Thure.”

  Sister Matilda clears her throat. “Melanie, I trust you can show Rose the ropes? Give her the lay of the land?”

  “Yes, Sister.”

  “Good. I’ll leave you two to get acquainted. Have fun.” The nun closes the door to leave us alone.

  Melanie keeps a hand on my shoulder as she gestures to the bunk beds. “I already took the top bunk. I hope you don’t mind.”

  “It’th fine.”

  She giggles and then says, “That lisp is so cute.”

  “It’th jutht my new bratheth.”

  She giggles again. “Oh, yeah, I’ve been there. You’ll get used to them.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  She lets go of my shoulder to snatch my bag away. She wheels it over to one chest of drawers. “These drawers are all yours. My stuff is in the other drawers. I was going to say we could share, but I don’t think my clothes would fit you.”

  “Too bad.”

  “You can use either desk for studying and junk. It doesn’t really matter. Unless you have a preference. Do you?”

  “No.”

  “Awesome. Did Sister Matilda tell you
where the bathroom is?”

  “Yeth.”

  “Good. We have to get up at six-thirty to shower and get breakfast and all that junk before classes. You don’t want to be late or they’ll make you work in the kitchen. It’s really gross.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  Melanie unzips my suitcase, but I grab her hand before she can start rifling through my stuff. Her face gets red and then she giggles. “Sorry. I don’t mean to snoop. I just thought I’d help, you know?”

  “I can do it.”

  “Your uniform stuff you can hang in the closet. I put mine on the left. If you need any help, let me know, OK?”

  “I can do it,” I say again.

  Melanie sits down at her desk. Since classes haven’t started for the semester, I wonder what she’s doing. It’s not until I go over to the closet that I see she’s drawing something. She must sense me peeking at her as she looks up. She holds up a sheet of paper and I nearly drop my uniforms to see myself on the page.

  “Check it out. I got the idea the last time I was in Redoubt City. I was on the train and this jerk started hassling me. Then there was this really awesome girl. I mean, she was like a ninja or something. She totally kicked this guy’s ass.”

  Melanie shows her pages, which recount the fight on the subway. My face turns warm at the thought she has drawn my breasts too big and my waist too narrow. Otherwise it’s a pretty good likeness. Except for the mask and black catsuit. “Ith the thuppothed to be a thuperhero or thomething?”

  “Yeah. I call her the Outcast. You like it?”

  “Outcatht?”

  “Because she’s a loner and she dresses up all in black and stuff.”

  “Oh. That’th awethome.”

  Melanie has gotten up to the part where I’m hunched over the bad guy, telling him to stay down. I wonder what she’s going to have me do next? I hope she isn’t going to have us kissing or anything. Not to sound like a homophone, but that’s not my thing.

  I hand the pages back to her. She says, “My brother owns a comic book shop in Redoubt City. I was thinking I’d show him when I’m done and maybe he could find someone to print it.”