Page 54 of Thrall
“But by all means,” Mila said, “if you see blood, pull the fire alarm.”
Natalie shrugged blithely. “That’s generally my philosophy anyway.”
Despite the obvious wear and tear on the walls and fixtures, Lower Alton was a bright, airy space, full of sunlight and floor-to-ceiling windows. There was a door leading straight into room number 105 from the outside, and it was not hard to spot the philosophy majors, clustered up ahead around some pizza. This was a decidedly medium-sized event, taking up less than half of the atrium ahead. The scene couldn’t have been further from the dark neon crush of Natalie’s party. It wasn’t a group large enough to hide anyone, let alone Vanya.
Even so. Standing a ways back from the other students, Lucy couldn’t help but think of Natalie’s kitchen, the party behind her and the turned back of Ivan Volkov ahead. She hadn’t been expecting him then. She was expecting him now.
“I’ll be here,” Natalie said under her breath.
Lucy attempted a smile. “We’ll be back, hopefully.” And then she fell into step with Mila, and left Natalie behind.
Mila leaned in as they approached the table. “Let’s chat with them for a bit,” she said. “Get the lay of the land. Make sure to keep me in your sight. And this probably goes without saying, but don’t get anywhere near the basement stairs.”
Mila had been right. That went without saying. “Oh, hey,” Lucy muttered, as they passed the cheese and fruit table. “Garlic crostini.”
“Pocket one to throw at him,” Mila said. “You never know.”
They fell silent as a girl with a blazer and a crisp smile spotted them coming. She hurried over to shake hands, like they were at some kind of business meeting. “Come on in, grab some pizza,” she said. “Ah, you two don’t look like first-years—are you thinking of changing your major? Or are you prospective minors?”
“She’s a first-year, actually,” Mila said, as smooth as ever. “I’m just along for the ride.”
Lucy felt a little pang, looking into Blazer Girl’s bright, enthusiastic face. It hadn’t been that long ago that Lucy would have happily listened to her talk about her hyperspecialized thesis or self-designed major. The question of Lucy’s future major had seemed so overwhelming, just a few days ago. It would have been nice if that were still her biggest problem.
“I was talking to one of your grad students the other day, actually. He got me really interested in the program,” Lucy said. “Do you know Luke Thompson? He said he’d be here.”
“Whoa,” said a curly-haired man over Blazer Girl’s shoulder. He looked older than her, maybe grad-student age himself. “You actually saw Luke? Like, in the flesh? He’s been in his dissertation cave for so long, I was kind of worried that he died in there.”
“Oh!” Lucy said, as if her stomach hadn’t just crawled into her throat. “Do you know him?”
“Only a bit,” the man said. “He started his PhD at a smaller university that shuttered its program, and one of his advisors got him transferred here. Super nice guy. But by the time he got here he was already done with coursework, so we don’t get to see him much.”
Lucy carefully avoided Mila’s eye. Athena had been right. Vanya did have an identity here—one he had designed well. A graduate student in the midst of his dissertation: Who would notice if he kept odd hours, or didn’t socialize? What student would second-guess him if he reached out, hoping to collaborate? Lucy thought of Whitney, of all the weird, passionate people of Rollins University, and felt sick. She had to protect them. She had to try, anyway.
But what Blazer Girl said next knocked every other thought out of Lucy’s head. “Isn’t he coming today?”
“Is he?” Lucy said. It was a miracle she got the words out of her mouth without throwing up. “I was really hoping I could talk to him again.”
“I mean, I don’t know if he’s herenow,” Blazer Girl said. “But he definitely registered for the event. I printed a name tag for him.”
“If you’re talking about Luke, he’s definitely here.” Another girl leaned over. “I saw him in the seminar room earlier. Scared the hell out of me, actually! I didn’t hear him come in at all.”
Somehow, Lucy summoned a polite smile. “I’ll check there for him, then,” she heard herself say. “Thank you so much.”
“We’ll be here if you have any other questions,” Blazer Girl said. And then she turned back to a clutch of impossibly young-looking undergrads, leaving Lucy and Mila facing the door her classmate had indicated, in the corner of the room.
Lucy took a step closer to the seminar room. It looked dark and still. Like no one was in there at all. “I’ll be right back,” she said faintly over her shoulder, in case any of the others could still hear them. “I just need to make a quick call.”
“Do you want me to go with you?” Mila said.
More than anything. But good bait didn’t bring company. “No,” Lucy said. “I should only be a minute.” She hoped she’d only be a minute, anyway.
As she stepped away from the crowd, the sound of breathing in her ear startled her. She’d almost forgotten that Athena was listening in. “Lucy?” she asked.
“Still here,” Lucy whispered.For now.
She drew closer to the dark seminar room. She could feel Mila behind her, trying to stay close but far enough away. The way they were moving was all wrong, she thought. Predators cornered prey, not the other way around. But there weren’t many examples in nature of what they were trying to do, were there? Survival so often depended on evasion. Being poisonous, or being hidden, or being able to run.
Unfortunately, Lucy had already decided that she was sick of evading. And steps from the seminar room door, there wasn’t anywhere else to go.
