“Oh, hello, Lorena,” she says, noting my presence only half a stride before knocking into me. “I was just coming to shut the door.”
“But—is everyone already back then?” My pulse is an ascending piano scale as I think of William.
“I am not locking it,” she says, walking around me. “The cold air is just overworking the heating system.”
The door shuts with a bang that echoes through the grand hall as well as my bones.
“There we go,” she says in a satisfied tone. “Shall we?”
I have to take two steps for each one of hers to keep pace with the director. “Do you—have you heard from William’s parents?” I chance, despite knowing the odds.
“I have not. I take it this means you have not heard from him, either.”
I shake my head.
“Alas, it appears you have lost your sparring partner in my class,” she says, and her words make me less excited about my favorite subject.
As embarrassing as it is to admit, our literary debates were my favorite moments with William.
“I am curious.” She stops walking, and I wonder what she’s going to ask.
“Did you see who picked him up from Hanover?” She looks into my eyes the same concentrated way William used to early on, when he wasn’t sure if he could trust me. “Was it his parents?” she adds, blinking away the intensity so that she now looks only mildly interested.
“Um—his friends,” I say, choosing my words carefully. “Cousins,actually.”
“What were their names?” she prods, and the way she says it is not her usual voice. She seems to catch herself because she clears her throat. “You see, I need to have a report ready in case the district asks for details on his absences, and since he took off in the middle of a school-sanctioned field trip, I must make sure everything is aboveboard.”
But William’s words come back to me about the green book having the Legion of Fire logo. What if Director Minaro is part of it? Trevor said his parents sent him here against his will. What if it was for a purpose, only he doesn’t know it? Maybe they’re in league with Director Minaro.
And maybe they’re not the only ones.
What if the reason so many students felt a draw to this place is because they all come from families that belong to the Legion—?
“Lorena? Are you all right?”
I inhale deeply to push down my paranoia. “Sorry, headache,” I say because it’s the first lie that comes to mind. Then I follow it up with a second lie: “I don’t remember their names.”
“Oh,” she says, and I get the feeling she knows I’m lying.
It’s only when I’m walking up the tower stairs that my worries about William are overtaken by a more pressing concern: My impending reunion with Salma.
I unlock the door, and it creaks open, revealing the gray air of dusk. A quick pan from the top bunk bed to the single bed by the window tells me the room is empty.
My shoulders sag with disappointment.
“Hey.”
I look around for the source of the voice, and that’s when I spot her. Salma is already in uniform, sitting on the bottom bunk.Mybed.
I take it as a promising sign, and I give her a small grin as I come over—then I see the white thing on her arm.
A cast.
“What the fuck?” My heart’s chambers crash like cymbals as I sit at her side. “What happened, Sal?”
“Sprained my elbow,” she says, shifting away from me a little. There’s a gauntness in her cheeks that makes me wonder if she ate anything over break. She usually has her meals at my house, since there’s no one at home to cook for her. She must have been living off granola, frozen veggie burgers, and iced coffee.
Guilt rises up my throat, threatening to choke me. “Why didn’t you call? Or why didn’t the hospital call Ma?” She’s Salma’s emergency contact, since her dad is never around.
