Page 59 of Thrall
“Probably wise,” Lucy said. Though now that she was thinking about it, she had an idea. “And while you’re doing that—can you ask her if the two of us can go see them tomorrow?” At Mila’s arched eyebrows, she quickly added, “Those were the terms of the agreement, right? If I go, you go to keep an eye on me.”
“Just what I want to bring to the boss after a day like this,” Mila said dryly. “The terms of an agreement.”
“I know she’s not going to want to take more risks after today,” Lucy said. “But you said it yourself: We need to take at least a few. And when it comes to risks, I think this is one of the smaller ones. I think she’d hear that. At least, she’d hear it from you.”
Mila rubbed both hands over her face. Hard enough that it seemed, for a moment, like she was trying to erase herself directly from the conversation.
But when she dropped her hands, she looked resigned. “I know I said I’d do the talking,” she said. “But I think you should throw in a bit of groveling when you see her tomorrow, too. For diplomacy’s sake.”
Lucy laughed. “All right,” she said. “Deal.”
No one came to Lucy that night. Not Laurentius, not Vanya. But it was not a restful night. Mila had gotten a call from herotherboss, the building’s Resident Director, just as she finished securing Lucy to the headboard. The call was to inform her that one of their Quincey Hall residents hadn’t been seen or heard from in a few days, and her parents were getting concerned.
Mila had taken the call in the bathroom. It was probably easier to lie when she didn’t have to look at the thrall she had tied to her bed. But even then, Lucy didn’t know how she got through it. How could she pretend that they hadn’t seen Whitney just hours ago, fighting her would-be sisters to taste a single drop of blood?
The call couldn’t have lasted that long. But Mila was still in the bathroom by the time Lucy slipped into an uneasy sleep. She could hear Mila’s muffled voice in the dream, somewhere at the end of a hallway that kept growing longer.
Lucy crawled into wakefulness a little after sunrise, feeling even worse than she had the night before. But she woke to a bit of good news, at least. When Mila saw that her eyes were open, she flashed a deeply subdued thumbs-up.
“Library vampires are a go,” she said. So Lucy pried herself out of bed and prepared for yet another day of trying to keep herself alive.
Lucy must have looked as rough as she felt, because as soon as they arrived at L. Roman’s office on B2, Hiro bundled her into Laurentius’s nice chair and furnished her with a hot cup of sencha tea. Lucy sleepily allowed it. She was so far beyond having too much pride to be fussed over.
“You poor thing,” he crooned. “Just relax. Take a moment to catch your breath.” He paused a moment before turning his sunny smile toward the other side of the room. “Can I get you something, too?”
Mila had positioned herself in a chair by the open door, her bow perched on her lap. She had once again left her quiver at home. Though in exchange, she’d fished one of her spare arrows from her bag to place onto the chair next to her.
“No thanks,” Mila said. “Caffeine makes me jittery.”
“Fair enough,” Hiro said. “Wouldn’t wantthosehands shaking.”
Laurentius watched them with his usual withering eye. “If everyone is settled,” he said, “then I suppose we should get to the point. You said you’ve come to practice?”
“I mean…I get what you showed me the other night,” Lucy said. “Obviously I know how to lock a door. But maybe it would be good to try it a few more times. Just to make sure I’m fast enough.”
Laurentius, as always, had a look like she was wasting his precious eternal life. Though now that they were meeting for the third time, Lucy was beginning to suspect that his face was just like that. Sitting next to him, she felt oddly at ease. His presence was comfortable in the same way that watching the river on a winter day was comfortable. There was something soothing about keeping company with something thatcouldkill you but wouldn’t.
“Close your eyes, then,” Laurentius said. “Deep breaths. I can’t enter your dreams this time, but maybe a relaxed state will do.”
“You’re going into her mind?” Mila said. Lucy didn’t miss the shift in her voice.
“Mila,” Lucy said. She hoped that she sounded comforting. “It’s okay. If I need help, I’ll tell you.”
She closed her eyes. Even as the office slipped away from her, she could hear Mila, muttering on the other side of the room. “If you need help, you’d better scream at the top of your lungs.”
Though she was awake this time, when she opened her eyes, the scenery was just as it was the last time Laurentius had entered her mind. She was lying on Mila’s bed, unbound, in the blue-lit darkness of the dorm. When she sat up, Laurentius and Hiro were watching her from the little kitchenette table.
Lucy blinked into the dark. “I thought you were going to try to break in.”
“Well, about that.” Even in her mind, Hiro had somehow procured a pot of tea. “We actually thought you’d be better served by a bit of a breather.”
Laurentius ran one pale finger around the edge of his mug. It was one from Mila’s cupboard. A party favor from a family reunion. “You don’t need any more practice. You understand exactly what you need to do. But your body and mind are both under tremendous stress. The infection is demanding all your resources.”
Lucy bristled.NowLaurentius cared about her resources? He hadn’t seemed to care that much when he’d cost her a night of sleep. “You think I can’t manage it?”
“ObviouslyI think you can’t manage it,” Laurentius said. “You were never managing it.”
“Lucy,” Hiro said, “I’d say you were running on fumes, but I think you spent the fumes days ago. If you don’t slow down, you’ll end up like that poor sweet boy your friend back there came here to avenge.”
