I guess she really has moved on,I thought. It made sense that she and Theo would end up together. It seemed they’d been destined from birth: same private high school, sailing trips every summer with their families. “Sailing” to her meant on his family’s yacht all over the world—he’s heir to a massive oil fortune, and she’d once joked that if she married him they’d probably have to have the union reviewed by the Federal Trade Commission to make sure their marriage wouldn’t be considered a monopoly.
I yelled out to her, “Cecily!” but she couldn’t hear me over the music. Suddenly I was frightened of the people around me, the way the whites of their eyes and their teeth glowed in the blacklight.
Daisy ran up to me in a neon-pink rave outfit with jewels all over her face. “Have you seen Lila?”
I shook my head. “I just got here.”
“Shit. Last time I saw her it seemed like she was headed to the back stairs. Come on.”
Daisy grabbed my hand and we wove through the crowd toward the back stairs. Knowing the only outlet was the roof, we took them two at a time until we reached the emergency exit.
The roof was dark, nearly pitch-black, but in the far corner I could make out two shapes, swaying drunkenly.
Daisy and I hid behind a heating duct and waited. It must have been freezing out there, but I was too wired with adrenaline to notice. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the darkness before I realized what was going on: they weren’t swaying, they were arguing.
Professor DuPont had Lila’s wrist in one hand and waved her phone in the air with the other. She was backed against the side of the roof, trying to get away, too close to the edge.
I had the sudden urge to rush over and yank her away from the side before she fell. But I was frozen in fear. What if DuPont saw me and panicked; what if that sent them over the edge?
My heart thudded against the inside of my ribs. I needed to do something. But what?What?
Suddenly Lila jerked free of his grip and ran for the door. Daisy and I scrambled behind the heating unit as he chased after her.
By the time we ran down the stairs after them, they were gone.
“I’m going to go check the officers’ rooms, you look downstairs,” Daisy said, her voice panicked.
I sprinted down to the main floor, but through the fog and bodies, it was impossible to make anyone out. Amid the writhing bodies, my eyes caught a streak of red hair. “Lila?” But the girl ran and jumped into the arms of a tall, unbuttoned guy. It wasn’t her.
Panic rose in my throat as I fought through the crowd of sweatybodies, disoriented by the flashing lights and throbbing music, and after several more minutes, I gave up.
Making my way to the library, I scanned the faces in the dim light, but everyone was stumbling around in pairs or draped over the furniture. That was when I noticed that the edge of the Persian rug was pulled back, exposing one seam of the trapdoor.They must be down there.
I pried it open and descended the narrow stairwell into the dark. With a loudbang,the door slammed shut, and I was plunged into complete darkness. Overhead, I could hear the bass, the footsteps, but louder was my breath, the blood rushing in my ears.
Turning on the flashlight on my phone, I rushed down the stairs. I had to hurry.
When I reached the door, it was locked. “Lila?” Putting my ear to the door, I listened hard. There was the softest noise, a groan.Lila.
“Open the door!” I slammed my hand against it again and again, heart hammering in my chest.
Remembering the first two numbers from when Lila had unlocked it, I entered1-5and tried various combinations for the last two until it opened. In the center of the room, Lila lay curled on the floor, still. She was soaking wet and blood had pooled around her on the concrete.
Oh no. Was I too late?
Her head was turned into the floor, red hair wet and matted. Scared to touch her for fear of injuring her further, I crouched next to her and checked to see if she was breathing. Barely.
I touched her shoulder gently. “Lila? Can you hear me?”
No response.
She started to shiver, so I pulled a blanket from a couch and laid it over her. A deep gash split the skin on her head, and her eyes fluttered open, but they didn’t focus.
“I’m calling an ambulance,” I told her as I slipped my phone from my pocket.
She shook her head in a barely perceptible movement.
“Lila, you need help.”
