“So-oo,” Dara said, when several seconds had passed without anyone speaking, “are you going to escort us off the premises or not, General Ames?”
Ames? Like the Ames in Level IV?
Only, no—this wasAmesAmes. General Gordon Ames, home secretary of Carolinia. Of course Dara knew him. If he grew up here, under Lehrer’s care, he must know everybody. So how come he hadn’t been recognized, wandering around here when he clearly wasn’t allowed?
Illusion magic.
Dara must have made himself look like somebody else and dropped the guise when he ran into Noam.
But why? If he had illusion, he could have walked right out of this place amid the throng of government employees flooding the exits.
That meant...
Dara only dropped the illusion because of Noam.
He’d done it to save Noam. Because he didn’t want to leave Noam behind.
But you hate me, Noam thought as he stared at the side of Dara’s face, the elegant lines of his features in profile so beautiful but always so, so cold.Why would you help me?
“’Fraid I can’t do that, Dara,” Ames said, shaking his head. “We’re on total lockdown. Someone tried to hack the Ministry of Defense servers, so no one leaves campus until the building’s been swept down.”
Fuuuuuck.Noam’s fingernails dug so hard into his palms he thought he might have split the skin.
Only... technopathy wasn’t traceable. And he’d been on Holloway’s absurdly unsecured personal computer, not cracking Lehrer’s department. He shot another tiny sidelong glance at Dara.
“Oh, come on,” Dara said. He took a half step closer to the general, that fey smile curving farther along his lips. “You know we’re not supposed to be here. We’re going to get in trouble. You’ve known me since I was five. I’m not a spy. Can’t this be our little secret?”
It was a long cry from the way Dara acted with Lehrer. If Noam didn’t know better, he’d think Dara was flirting, which was ridiculous, butreally?
But Ames just gave Dara another fond smile. “I’m afraid this is the worst possible time for you to be out of bounds, Dara. I have to call Minister Lehrer. But I’m sure he can sweep this under the rug.”
Ames seemed to believe he was doing Dara a favor, but Noam had been around Dara long enough now to realize this was probably the worst outcome Dara could imagine. Dara’s face could have been carved from stone.
Noam felt sick too as he fell in step beside him, Ames leading them both down the hall and into his office. Whether or not they’d trace the hack back to him, whether or not it was even his hack that had set off the alarms, Lehrer would immediately suspect Noam. It would be a pretty huge coincidence otherwise. A technopath in the building while someone else fucked around on the MoD servers?
He and Dara sat side by side on one of General Ames’s plush burgundy sofas while the general dialed a number on his desk phone.
“Minister? It’s Gordon Ames. I found Dara wandering around the third floor. I’ve got him up here in my office now. He was with another student.” A beat. “No, sir, I haven’t told anyone else. I thought you should be the one to handle this. Considering how it might look... right. Yes, sir. I’ll be here.”
He hung up. Neither Noam nor Dara moved, both frozen in place. Dara was pale, his fingers digging into his thighs. Of course he was nervous—he’d hacked the MoD. He was the one they were searching for. And Noam or no Noam, Dara must think there was a good chance Lehrer would figure that out, too, or else he wouldn’t look like he was about to throw up.
What was he doing?Dara had no reason to hack the MoD. The minister of defense was basically his father. Why would he...
An idea splintered through Noam’s mind, cold and terrifying—an idea that united Dara’s presence here, the hack, Dara’s obvious fear.
What if Dara is working against Lehrer?
“It’ll be a spell before Minister Lehrer gets here,” Ames told them, taking a seat in his desk chair and gazing at them like a benevolent god, oblivious to both of their discomfort. “I’m not sure what else he’s got to do given the situation, so y’all go on and get comfortable.”
But it was no time at all before Lehrer showed up. He shook Ames’s hand at the door, thanked him for looking after Dara and Noam, and barely spared the slightest glance at either boy until he gestured for them to follow him out into the hall.
The electricity hadn’t been fixed yet, the emergency lights nauseatingly green on Dara’s skin as they followed Lehrer in silence. Lehrer didn’t say a word either. His disapproval wound out behind him like a thread that wrapped around Noam, around Dara, tight and digging into flesh.
Lehrer took them to the study. There were no emergency lights here. Lehrer waved his hand, and flame lit the wicks of several lamps and candles scattered throughout the room, cutting the darkness with an incongruous warmth.
He turned to look at Noam and Dara, silhouetted black against the window. “Sit.”
They sat.
