“No problem. We are going to get along just fine."
I gently slide out from under the girl, transferring her weight to Wills. “I'll be back, but you’ll be safe with Willow. She’s the best.”
Then I step out into the outer basement and fall into Alexis’s arms. “How is she?" he asks, keeping his voice low.
I shrug and whisper a reply. “Impossible to tell. Cosmo was trying to tell me something else, but his thoughts were too fuzzy. Should I go closer to the compound?”
“No, I think…” His words are cut off by an alert signal coming from his back pocket. A second later, my school tablet also starts blaring.
Alexis curses as he pulls out his phone. “All school safety alert. There’s to be another head count, plus a randomized dorm search.” He looks up, eyes weary and worried. “I guess they’re trying to find the fire bomb culprits.”
“Shit.”
Maximus hurriedly shrugs on a sweatshirt. “What shall I do?”
“Run. Get back to the tower right now,” his cousin replies.
“But…” Max meets my eyes. “I can’t abandon you all.”
“You have to go, Max. I need you to be safe. Make sure Donovan and Wes are OK, too. Please?”
He blinks, looking like he wants to argue, then sighs. “Fuck. Alright then.”
“Thank you.”
As Max shoots up the stairs at full speed, I gently open the bedroom door again and explain about the development to Willow.
“So we’ll have to go assemble in the foyer,” I tell her.
Willow immediately wriggles the little girl around to face her. “Honey, we have a challenge coming up, and you know what my grandpa always said? Never back down from a challenge.”
I join her to explain to the child. “Me and Wills have to go and line up to be counted, so you’ll have to stay down here alone, just for a little while.”
The pitiful whimper the girl makes, breaks my heart.
Alexis steps into the room. “We’ll have to hide her,” he adds in an undertone. “This dorm search isn’t going to just be about petrol bombs, I imagine it’s about finding the missing child.”
He’s right, of course.
“The tunnel entrance,” I say, getting up and heading to the back of the room. When I move the sheet of corrugated metal, the tunnel entrance is revealed.
Dark and cold.
“Yes, that will do. Get the kid, bring blankets,” Alexis tells me. “I’ll cast light and warmth to last for a couple of hours.”
Willow looks heartbroken as we place the child into the tunnel. “You won’t be here long,” she says, stroking the girl’s hair. “Try and sleep. And don’t forget your kingfisher. He’s there to keep you safe.”
The sirens on our tablets sound again.
“Headcount starting in two minutes. We’ve got to move.” Alexis drags the iron sheet back into place. The child’s wide eyes meet mine for a second, then go blank as she retreats back into herself.
Willow’s lip trembles. “I’ll stay with her, she shouldn’t be alone.”
“No, Bloomhower,” Alexis sighs. “If you’re missing from the count, then they’ll definitely search Defectivum. This is the only way.”
“Gods, alright.” She gulps. “We’ll be back as soon as we can,” she calls through the metal sheet. “I promise. I promise. I promise.”
???
