Chapter 33
WhenIspotCecil,he is climbing a wall. The boy scrambles up the brick enclosure surrounding the schoolyard, propelled by sheer force of will. A schoolmaster crosses the yard, yanking the boy down by his shirt, and instinct coils in me. Cecil hits the ground, and I spring like a wildcat through the gate.
A broad chest stops me. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“That boy. He’s—”
“Are you his parent?”
“Guardian.” Almost.
That sweet little face that had once looked up at me with such trust.Promise you’ll come for me?“Please. I must go to him.”
Across the yard, the schoolmaster lifts Cecil off the ground by his collar, and Cecil’s feet are flailing.
I lunge again, and the man grabs me. “You’re coming with me.”
“Cecil!” I twist away, but the man’s grip is sure…practiced. Cecil is trying to escape. Sooner or later hewillsucceed, becausehe always does, somehow. If he does, he’ll be lost to me. A tiny needle in the great, big haystack of the world.
The man hauls me into the enormous brick institution and through the first office door, where he drops me into a chair. I stand, grabbing the desk. “I’m taking Cecil Linwood out of here. With or without your consent.”
His smile is slow and glittering. I’m no threat to him, a woman alone, and he knows it. He lifts the telephone. “Operator, ring the police, won’t you? Send them to Cheltenham Prep. And in the meantime, connect me with”—he flips through an open book on his desk—“Lansdown 355. Sabine St. Laurent.”
“You cannot hold me here. This is—”
“Miss St. Laurent. Yes, she’s come, just as you said. Shall we—” A frown. “Oh. Yes, of course, we can transfer the boy. Where would you like him sent?”
I lower into the seat, straining to hear.Where?
“Yes, immediately. I’ll send a boy to fetch his things, unless…right, then. On the double. He won’t be harassed by her again, I assure you.”
Harassed?Byme? I want to beg, cry for the boy—for myself. Every turn I make is blocked. Every decision is out of my control, even for myself. My life is not my own.
“Right, good plan.”
My ears catch only the highest tones of Sabine’s voice over the wire. No words. No locations. I grip the armrests, until there are new voices in the distance. Loud ones.
Police.
Panic rips through me—what now?
This is the end, isn’t it? The end of my journey…of my chance to care for Cecil.
Of my freedom.
So many people snatching for control of me. At last, they will have it. I will be trapped.
But the image of Cecil scrambling up that wall, driven and desperate, stirs me forward. Escape must be a constant effort for him, which means he’s miserable here. Or worried that I haven’t come for him.
For a moment, I hear AJ prodding me to act. To take the risk. A sense of adventure I only ever felt around him stirs deep inside, and I spring out of the office. I bolt.
“Hey there,you!” the headmaster yells after me.
Heart pounding, I flatten myself against the wall behind the coat tree. When the man thunders past, I slip out and force my trembling legs to run down a long hall…until I see them. The officers enter—three of them. What now? Adventuring alone is entirely different.
I slow, lowering my gaze, politely deferential. “Good day, sirs.”
They hardly pay me any mind. They cannot know I am the one they’re here to arrest. I stare at the toes of my boots and continue walking. I’m shaking hard enough to fall down the front steps, if I make it to the door.
