Under Threat Read online

  “Yeah.” I pull the covers up around my bare shoulders, shivering in the cold air. “I knew I was probably being crazy and paranoid, but—”

  “You couldn’t risk not saying anything,” he says. “In case you were right.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Anyway,” he says, “that’s all I wanted to say.”

  I think of what my dad said. “Um. I’m sorry too. That I suspected you of doing that stuff.”

  He clears his throat. “I think it’s wrong. Abortion, I mean. But that guy showing up with a knife…that’s really twisted. Like, that’s way more wrong. It kind of freaked me out, actually. That someone would do that.”

  I can’t make sense of Jake. I can’t figure out how the nice guy fits together with the guy who called my parents murderers. The guy who called me a crazy dyke. “Did you tell Leah?” I say. “That you understand why I told the police?”

  “Nah.”

  “I know you don’t like us being together,” I say. “But…would you tell her? Please?”

  “I haven’t told her because she won’t speak to me.” There’s a pause. “She’s been in her room crying her eyes out all night.”

  “I never meant to hurt her.”

  “Yeah, well. Me neither.”

  “It’s not the same,” I say. “She’ll always be your sister. But I’ve wrecked the best relationship I’ve ever had.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure.”

  “Seriously? You think she might still…”

  “Leah is the most loyal person I’ve ever known. That’s why she defended me.” Jake sighs into the phone. “And that, unfortunately, probably means she’s not done with you.”

  I don’t hear from Leah that night.

  Or the next day. I pick up my phone every hour or so, think about sending her a text, then put it back in my pocket.

  I’m not sure if I’m just giving her space or if I’m scared to find out how she feels. Uncertainty sucks—but maybe it’s better than knowing for sure that it’s over between us.

  After school I drive down to the Gibsons’. Buddy still needs me, even if Leah doesn’t.

  I park my car, looking at the long line of trees that overhang the driveway and, behind them, the horses in the field. Buddy’s out there, grazing beside Snow, his blue blanket muddy from rolling on the rain-sodden ground.

  I’ll have to move him somewhere else, I guess. Another stable.

  Then the barn door opens and Leah steps out.

  “You’re home already?” Then I notice she’s wearing jeans and a hoodie, not her uniform. “I skipped school today,” she says. “I needed to think.”

  I take a deep breath.

  Wait.

  Hope…

  “I needed to think about us,” she says.

  “Us?” I say. “You and me?”

  Leah steps toward me. Holds out her hands. Smiles in that way that lifts the corners of her lips and leaves deep dimples in her cheeks. “Yes,” she says. “You and me.”

  Acknowledgments

  Thanks as always to my wonderful and endlessly supportive family. Thanks also to Alex Van Tol for coming up with the title, and to the fabulous team at Orca Book Publishers.

  Robin Stevenson is the award-winning author of numerous books for kids and teens. Under Threat is her fifth book in the Orca Soundings series, following Big Guy, In the Woods, Outback and Damage. Her other novels for teens include The World Without Us, Hummingbird Heart, Escape Velocity, Inferno, and the Governor Generals Literary Award finalist A Thousand Shades of Blue. Robin lives in Victoria, BC.

  Titles in the Series

  orca soundings

  B Negative

  Vicki Grant

  Back

  Norah McClintock

  Bang

  Norah McClintock

  Battle of the Bands

  K.L. Denman

  Big Guy

  Robin Stevenson

  Bike Thief

  Rita Feutl

  Blue Moon

  Marilyn Halvorson

  Breaking Point

  Lesley Choyce

  Breathing Fire

  Sarah Yi-Mei Tsiang

  Breathless

  Pam Withers

  Bull Rider

  Marilyn Halvorson

  Bull’s Eye

  Sarah N. Harvey

  Cellular

  Ellen Schwartz

  Charmed

  Carrie Mac

  Chill

  Colin Frizzell

  Comeback

  Vicki Grant

  Coming Clean

  Jeff Ross

  Crash

  Lesley Choyce

  Crush

  Carrie Mac

  Cuts Like a Knife

  Darlene Ryan

  Damage

  Robin Stevenson

  The Darwin Expedition

  Diane Tullson

  Dead-End Job

  Vicki Grant

  Deadly

  Sarah N. Harvey

  Dead Run

  Sean Rodman

  Death Wind

  William Bell

  Down

  Norah McClintock

  Exit Point

  Laura Langston

  Exposure

  Patricia Murdoch

  Fallout

  Nikki Tate

  Fastback Beach

  Shirlee Smith Matheson

  Final Crossing

  Sean Rodman

  First Time

  Meg Tilly

  Foolproof

  Diane Tullson

  Grind

  Eric Walters

  Hannah’s Touch

  Laura Langston

  The Hemingway Tradition

  Kristin Butcher

  Hit Squad

  James Heneghan

  Homecoming

  Diane Dakers

  Home Invasion

  Monique Polak

  House Party

  Eric Walters

  I.D.

  Vicki Grant

  Impact

  James C. Dekker

  In the Woods

  Robin Stevenson

  Infiltration

  Sean Rodman

  Jacked

  Carrie Mac

  Juice

  Eric Walters

  Kicked Out

  Beth Goobie

  Knifepoint

  Alex Van Tol

  Last Ride

  Laura Langston

  Learning to Fly

  Paul Yee

  Lockdown

  Diane Tullson

  Masked

  Norah McClintock

  Middle Row

  Sylvia Olsen

  My Side

  Norah McClintock

  My Time as Caz Hazard

  Tanya Lloyd Kyi

  Night Terrors

  Sean Rodman

  No More Pranks

  Monique Polak

  No Problem

  Dayle Campbell Gaetz

  Off the Grid

  Lesley Choyce

  One More Step

  Sheree Fitch

  One Way

  Norah McClintock

  Outback

  Robin Stevenson

  Overdrive

  Eric Walters

  Pain & Wastings

  Carrie Mac

  Picture This

  Norah McClintock

  Plastic

  Sarah N. Harvey

  Rat

  Lesley Choyce

  Reaction

  Lesley Choyce

  Redline

  Alex Van Tol

  Refuge Cove

  Lesley Choyce

  Responsible

  Darlene Ryan

  Riley Park

  Diane Tullson

  Riot Act

  Diane Tullson

  Rock Star

  Adrian Chamberlain

  Running the Risk

  Lesley Choyce

  Saving Grace

  Darlene Ryan

  Scam


  Lesley Choyce

  Scum

  James C. Dekker

  Sea Change

  Diane Tullson

  Shallow Grave

  Alex Van Tol

  Shattered

  Sarah N. Harvey

  Skylark

  Sara Cassidy

  Sleight of Hand

  Natasha Deen

  Snitch

  Norah McClintock

  Something Girl

  Beth Goobie

  Spiral

  K.L. Denman

  Sticks and Stones

  Beth Goobie

  Stuffed

  Eric Walters

  Tagged

  Eric Walters

  Tap Out

  Sean Rodman

  Tell

  Norah McClintock

  The Way Back

  Carrie Mac

  Thunderbowl

  Lesley Choyce

  Tough Trails

  Irene Morck

  Triggered

  Vicki Grant

  The Trouble with Liberty

  Kristin Butcher

  Truth

  Tanya Lloyd Kyi

  Under Threat

  Robin Stevenson

  Viral

  Alex Van Tol

  Wave Warrior

  Lesley Choyce

  The Way Back

  Carrie Mac

  Who Owns Kelly Paddik?

  Beth Goobie

  Yellow Line

  Sylvia Olsen

  Zee’s Way

  Kristin Butcher

  orca soundings

  For more information on all the books in the Orca Soundings series, please visit

  www.orcabook.com.