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“Altair?”
Nova nearly jumped out of her skin. She’d been so concentrated, she hadn’t heard footsteps outside the door. The man’s voice came from the hallway. She quickly put the papers back in the drawer and closed it shut.
“Altair, is that you?”
Shards.
There was nowhere to hide. She quickly turned off the light and ran for the door she’d left open, which she now realized had probably been a mistake. Maybe Altair wasn’t the only person who lived in his office?
She ran and hid behind the door just as she heard footsteps approaching the threshold. Her heart beat uncontrollably in her chest. The man entered the room, only a thin, wooden door separating them. She held her breath to avoid making a sound.
She touched the knife in her pocket. No, she couldn’t stab someone over this. Especially when she had no idea who he could be.
Suddenly the lights came on.
She couldn’t let him see her. With only a split second to make a decision, she grabbed the nearest object she could find, the flintoid statue, and rushed to hit his head just as he was turning around. She hit the side of his face more than the back. It wasn’t enough to knock him out but it was enough that he dropped his head down between his hands in pain.
She didn’t waste the opportunity and ran out the door.
She heard footsteps running after her. She reached the bottom of the stairs and ran out the front door, hoping she wouldn’t run into anyone on the way out. She turned down enough corners that she temporarily lost her way, until she found herself at the main square. She made her way home.
Even from down the block, she could see the lights were turned on.
Shards. Shards. Shards.
Had Altair noticed she wasn’t home? She’d pushed her closet in front of the door again. She hadn’t done it quietly. In fact, she’d made a big show of it, so he would know that she didn’t trust him. She turned around taking a route that would take her to the back of the house and her bedroom window.
She released her breath when she saw there was no light coming from her bedroom. She stayed close to the house wall as she snuck closer and peeked inside the room. She could make out the outline of her closet still in front of the door.
She lifted herself up on the window frame and climbed in rather inelegantly, the skirt of her dress hindering her legs.
She leaned her ear against the door, or as close as she could get with her closet in the way. She heard voices talking but couldn’t make out what they were saying.
She couldn’t relax. She listened to the voices, recognizing the deeper murmur as Altair’s, until they stopped talking. She couldn’t fall back asleep and listened instead to Altair moving around in the next room, comforted by the fact that he was moving quietly like he didn’t want to wake her. Hopefully, that meant he had no idea she was involved in the break-in.
* * *
Nova laid on her couch waiting for the time she would normally get up. She imagined Altair waiting for her to come out, purposely letting her stew while he figured out what he wanted to do with her.
When the sun shone in through her window, she got the courage to get up. There was no point in postponing the inevitable, she couldn’t run away on this planet. She got dressed for the day and pushed the closet away from the door.
Altair sat at the dining room table eating some fruit, so lost in thought that he didn’t look up when she walked into the room.
“Morning,” she said to gauge his mood.
He turned to face her, but looked right through her as he answered, “Morning.”
She sat down at the table where he’d already set a plate for her. They ate in silence until it was time for her to leave.
The next couple of days were nerve-racking. She didn’t know if Brent wanted her to report to him. They hadn’t told her when the next meeting was going to be, and she didn’t want to just show up at his doorstep, thinking he might not appreciate that.
She couldn’t talk to Elizabeth either. She never needed to see her for her delivery work, and she also did not want to arouse suspicion by walking into her office demanding to see her.
So she waited. She created a mnemonic device to help her remember the names of the places she’d seen on the map. She feared forgetting it all before having a chance to talk to someone.
On the third day, she had a delivery for Brent and Mak’s mother again.
Sure enough, they’d gathered a meeting.
