The Vault of Dreamers (14 page)

“When was the earthquake?” he said.

“Back in twenty-forty-five,” I said.

He smoothed my token lightly back in place. “You know, the token’s no good anymore.”

I laughed. “I like it anyway. I’ve worn it so long now, I’d feel weird without it.”

“You could give it to your sister.”

I was startled by the idea, and pleased. “Do you have any sisters or brothers?” I
asked.

“No.”

“Do your parents work in Forgetown?”

Linus shifted to lean his elbows on the railing of the pit. He clasped his hands over
the void. “They’re dead,” he said. “My ma died back in Wales, and my dad brought me
to St. Louis to live when I was eleven. He died a couple years later, and after that,
I was on my own.”

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“It’s okay,” he said. “I have an aunt back in Wales. She’s my next of kin, but there
was some hassle with the transit papers, and then we stopped hearing from her, so
the state put me in a couple foster homes.”

He spoke with such little concern, he could have been reading the weather report.

“Did that work out?” I asked. I smoothed my hands along the railing of the pit.

He glanced at me sideways. “Not really, and nobody looked too hard for me when I cut
out on my own.”

“So, how did you end up here?” I asked.

“Otis brought me. I have a good setup with him,” Linus said. He gave a half smile
and did the double jerk of his thumb to indicate the cameras. “You’re right. This
is a little awkward.”

“Would you go back to Wales if you could?” I asked.

“And find my aunt?” He turned and leaned back against the railing. “I think about
it. It would take a ton of money, more than I’m ever likely to see. But I would. I
sometimes wonder if she’s ever watched
The Forge Show
and seen me here, in the background.”

“Wouldn’t she contact you?”

“I’d like to think so.”

It occurred to me that he might be more visible now that he was on my feed with me.
That could be a good thing. “You’re earning something here, right?” I said. “You could
save up to go see her.”

He laughed with genuine mirth. “Yes.”

“So, maybe it will take a while, but you’ll get there,” I said.

He looked at me curiously. “You’re really a dreamer, aren’t you?”

“What’s that mean?”

The clock made a shifting noise above us, and then the bells tolled out the four-note
sequence of the quarter hour.

I hunched, pressing my hands to my ears and grinning. The reverberations filled the
space of the clock tower. In the din, Linus took a step closer to me and leaned near
to my ear. I lowered my hands.

“You were awake last night, weren’t you?” he whispered. “When I was in your dorm.”

I shot my gaze to his. I nodded. I leaned close, cupping my mouth to his ear. “Something’s
going on here at night. Something wrong. I have to figure out what.”

He stared at me hard a moment. Then he leaned close once more. “Like what?”

“I don’t know,” I said. The last of the bell resonance was fading to nothing, and
I knew the microphones would pick up our voices again.

Somehow his hands were on my waist and the tips of my sneakers dovetailed with his
shoes. With a start, I realized how close we were standing. I knew that we had no
privacy, but the air around us
felt
private.

“I could be wrong, but I think you’re the same girl who kissed me yesterday,” he said.

“That’s right,” I said. “Or you kissed me. Technically it was more of a mutual thing.
With rain.”

He smiled. “You’re nervous.”

“No.”

He nodded and silently mouthed
yes
.

I lifted my fingers to his tee shirt where he was warm and strong under the fabric.
He shifted a little, bringing me an inch closer, and I couldn’t decide whether to
look at his eyes or his mouth, so I glanced at his nose, and then I just closed my
eyes.

I could feel better with my eyes closed, it turned out. This time, I was happier,
and a little more certain, and his lips met mine with just the right pressure. The
tingly, tiptoe nonsense I’d heard about kisses pretty much came true, only now it
was mine, with Linus. I started to smile, until I discovered that kissing and smiling
at the same time didn’t work so well. When Linus mumbled a laugh, it lit me up inside.

His lips moved against my ear and his voice came as the softest whisper. “You’re safe
as long as you stay in bed.”

I couldn’t breathe. Then he kissed my cheek and reached for my hand, moving easily
as if nothing was wrong.

“Come on,” he said at regular volume.

I broke out of my shock and stumbled after him, holding hands. I blinked rapidly as
we left the clock tower and stepped into the sunshine.

“You look properly dazzled, Sinclair,” he teased.

“Sunlight will do that.”

He smiled and tucked my hand more firmly in his.

We shared a secret now. We couldn’t talk about it, but he knew for certain I’d been
awake. His warning to stay in bed was a promise that he’d understood me. This might
have been small to him, but to me, it felt huge.

I had an ally.

12

FISH TANK

THE MORE I
thought of it, the more Linus’s caveat piqued my curiosity. If he’d thought a warning
would make me take my pill like a normal student, it actually did the opposite. He
might have been simply reminding me that I risked getting sent home if I disobeyed
the rule to sleep, but it was also possible that he knew something dangerous was happening
at Forge. I couldn’t find out what that was if I slept.

So that Tuesday night, for the third time, I skipped my sleeping pill. Again Orly
checked my mouth and didn’t catch me. When my brink lesson finished, I opened my lid
and listened to the quiet as the other girls grew still.

Out the nearest window, the topmost leaves of a tree were silhouetted against the
darkening sky. When they were no longer visible, I slipped out of my sleep shell,
fluffed my quilt around my pillow so it didn’t look so empty, and stepped to the window.
The dean’s tower was visible to my left, and without any rain to obscure it, I could
see in the lit windows of the fifth floor. The angle was poor but not impossible,
and half a dozen techies were working at computers. How nice it was to spy on them
for once instead of the other way around.

Or maybe they were still watching me. Just because night scenes at the Forge School
were not broadcast to viewers didn’t mean the cameras went dead for twelve hours.
I looked at a few button cameras and up toward the camera at the apex of the ceiling,
but I could barely make them out in the darkness. Dr. Ash herself had explained to
me that we were closely monitored at night, but apparently, for some reason, whoever
was watching wasn’t reporting me for being out of bed.

I couldn’t make sense of it.

Maybe they didn’t notice immediately. Maybe the techies were less vigilant after the
fifty cuts. Like me, a few of the other girls now slept with their sleep shells open,
and since they were less visible without their faintly lucent lids over them, I figured
it was the same for me. Then again, it could be that the techies has spotted me, but
they were waiting to see how far I’d go. I wished I knew.

My feet grew cold as I kept watching. Around midnight, the techies reached for purses
and sweaters, and soon after, the lights on the fifth floor began going out. I was
about to get back in my sleep shell when a light came on in the penthouse, and Dean
Berg passed before one of the windows. Instinctively, I drew back a little. He loosened
his tie and walked out of sight again. I waited, watching for him to reappear. I felt
like quite the devious spy, and I hoped he would do something worth staying up for.

Long minutes later, Dean Berg walked past a different set of penthouse windows and
stopped beside a fish tank. He had taken off his blazer and tie, and undone a few
shirt buttons. He appeared to be talking to someone I couldn’t see, pausing occasionally
to take a drink from a gray mug. Dean Berg shifted out of view again, and a slender,
dark-haired man in a white shirt and jeans stepped into view beside the fish tank.

Linus. He was Linus. I about died. He stood with one hand in his back pocket and appeared
to be concentrating on the fish. Then he shook his head, turned, and spoke. The dean
walked slowly back into view with his mug.

My heart thudded as I watched. I desperately wished I knew what they were discussing.
Neither one was smiling, but I couldn’t discern any visible friction or tension between
them, either. The dean occasionally nodded. He paced back a step, talking, and Linus
absently linked a hand around the back of his neck while he listened. A minute later,
Linus passed out of view. He showed up once more, at a different window, holding a
tray of dishes, and then he was gone.

My curiosity was going to kill me. I pressed closer to the window, trying to see the
front of the tower where Linus would come out, but the corner of the building obscured
my view. I was ready to sneak out and find him when I heard a noise. Footsteps in
the hallway.

I flew back to my sleep shell, and burrowed under my quilt. Someone was entering the
dorm room. I labored to even out my breathing, and I listened hard as the footsteps
advanced and then stopped. A slight, shifting noise sounded from the middle of the
room and then a whispered voice. A squeak followed, and a rolling noise moved away.
I almost exploded with relief. They were taking someone else. I turned my face and
opened one eye a slit.

Down the room, a couple of people were rolling Paige’s sleep shell quietly toward
the door.

I shut my eyes again, trying to think what to do. Should I stop them? I could demand
to know where they were taking Paige. But if I spoke up, I’d be discovered breaking
the rules. I would jeopardize my education and get kicked out of Forge before I’d
discovered any real information about what was going on at night. That would be more
stupid than brave.

When the noise stopped, I guessed they had taken Paige down the elevator. I was just
starting to relax when I heard soft footsteps again. They were coming back, whoever
they were.

And this time, the steps progressed down the full length of the room to me.

My sleep shell vibrated with a slight touch, and my pulse skyrocketed. I lay as still
as possible, breathing deeply, willing my muscles to relax. A moment passed. Then
another. In excruciating suspense, I waited for another sound or hint of movement.

Finally there was a soft rustling.

“Rosie? Are you awake?” a man asked. “It’s okay to tell me. It’s not your fault.”

I recognized his voice. He was the bearded man who had assisted Dr. Ash two nights
before, when I’d seen them tending to Janice. Apparently, someone
had
noticed I was out of my sleep shell.

I kept my face slack. Every inch of my body was alert, expecting him to touch me,
and I didn’t know if I could keep from jumping. I sensed brightness through my eyelids
as a nearby light was clicked on. I heard soft rustling again, and a clink. Then a
ripping of paper.

“Okay,” he said. His voice was very quiet and calm. “If you can hear me, I’m just
adjusting your meds. It’s nothing to worry about.”

I felt a hand on my wrist. I kept my arm limp. It took all my concentration not to
resist. Next I felt a rubbery, binding tightness around my upper arm, and a couple
of taps on my forearm. A swipe of wetness along my skin came next, and a moment later,
the pinch of a needle.

Liquid entered my vein, surprisingly cool, and a sense of easy security washed along
my arm and into the rest of my body, erasing my tension. My face tingled, my jaw went
loose, and in a simple, complete flood, everything in my body and mind let go. My
last, clinging worry disappeared. I was out.

Moments later, it was morning.

I shot up in my sleep shell.

The dorm was totally normal. Down the row, Paige was up and doing her ballerina stretches.
Janice lay in her sleep shell beside mine, rubbing her arm over her face.

“What day is this? Wednesday?” she asked.

My heart was still pounding. Normal morning light was dropping in the windows, and
outside promised to be another clear day. The other girls were getting up. Janice
gave a great, loud yawn, and then smacked her lips. She reached for her shower caddy.

“How’d you sleep?” I asked.

“Good,” she said. “I think I’m getting an idea about how to play Hamlet in the scenes
with her mom.” She wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “I left your camera in
your wardrobe, by the way.”

“Thanks.”

She shuffled off toward the bathroom in her fuzzy, polka dot slippers.

I checked my arm, knowing before I looked that I would have a scab, and I did, right
where the needle had pinched me. It was faint, barely noticeable, and utterly real.
I felt dirty. Violated.

Angry.

I climbed out of my sleep shell and checked its orientation beside my bedside table
and my rug. The difference was so small I never would have noticed it if I wasn’t
looking, but I was certain my sleep shell had been moved in the night, like Paige’s.
We’d been taken somewhere. Something was being done to us while we slept.

I had a choice to make. If I spoke up about what I knew, I’d reveal that I was awake
at night, which was enough to get me kicked off the show. If I remained silent, I
was basically accepting the night treatment not only for me, but for Janice and Paige
and any other student they chose to wheel out. I didn’t know what to do.

The other girls, who were heading off to the bathroom and getting dressed, all seemed
fine. Totally and completely fine. Maybe whatever they were doing to us wasn’t that
bad, but if it was harmless,
The Forge Show
would have no reason to keep it secret. It occurred to me that the bearded man had
entered the dorm only after the techies had left, so maybe the other staff didn’t
know about it.