Imprisoned (23 page)

“I know, but still.” He glanced at the kids getting their food. “Why’d you really hide those power bars? Is it to take when we escape?”

Still feeling embarrassed that it was due to Beth’s bullying, I nodded, not seeing a good reason to tell him the truth. “Yeah.”

“Well, don’t worry about it. I’m sure we can find food once we get out. Especially if we hook up with one of those groups you mentioned.”

I nodded. “Let’s go get in line.”

I saw Alyx, Cassidy, and Piper in line ahead of us, but because cutting was deeply frowned upon, Billy and I went to the back and waited our turn. After we got our food we walked toward our table. I was worried about Alyx and what she would do. After all, she straight-out told me she hated me an hour earlier. Whatever had upset her was surely still on her mind.

Her back was to Billy and me as we approached. Piper looked at me, glanced at Billy, then raised one eyebrow in question. I gave an imperceptible nod and she smiled.

“Hey, guys,” Billy said as he set his tray on the table next to Alyx.

Alyx turned her head and saw me. Her eyes were like ice. “You.” She glared at me. “Sit somewhere else. You’re not welcome here.”

“What did I do?” I asked, a feeling of panic clawing its way up my throat as I so clearly remembered wandering from table to table the last time she’d banished me. At least before I knew what I’d done. Now, I had no idea.

“Just get out of here, Morgan, before I do something I might regret. And I do mean
might
.”

I glanced at Piper, whose eyes were wide as they went back and forth between me and Alyx. Then I turned away, my two power bars and bottle of skim milk in my hands, knowing once again I was on my own. A moment later I was shocked to hear Piper call out to me to wait. I turned and saw her and Billy coming toward me, their trays in their hands.

Warmth towards them radiated in my chest and I knew we were going to make a great team. They were sticking by me, even if that endangered their status at Alyx’s table. I glanced at Alyx, who did not look happy, then smiled at Piper and Billy.

“Let’s sit over there,” Billy said, motioning with his head towards an empty table.

The three of us sat down and I said, “What’s wrong with Alyx? Do you know why she’s mad at me?”

“I don’t know why she blames you, but apparently Austin told her he doesn’t want to have anything to do with her anymore.”

I thought about my interaction with the jerk who had been her boyfriend and looked at the table. “Oh.”

“What’s the deal, Morgan?” Piper asked. “Why is she mad at you over this?”

“I kind of told Austin that I knew about the two of them. He must have panicked and dumped her.”

“Oh, crap, Morgan,” Piper said. “No wonder she hates you.”

“He’s just using her anyway,” I said, as if that mattered to Alyx.

“Enough about Alyx’s love life,” Billy said. “Let’s talk about what’s important.” He leaned in and whispered, “Like getting out of this place.”

Piper and I both nodded.

“I told Morgan I think I can get matches or something,” he said to Piper. “Assuming I can get those in the next day or two, when do you guys want to do this?”

Piper’s eyes widened. “Uh, wow. Really?”

“You’re not backing out now, are you?” Billy asked.

“Well, no. But I guess I didn’t think it would be so soon.”

“That’s kind of the idea,” he said as he ate his food.

I’d finished one power bar and momentarily considered saving the other one for Beth so that I’d have five to give her, but I had such a powerful craving to eat it that I decided not to worry about Beth just then, and opened the second one.

“I know, I know,” Piper said. “Let us know when you’ve gotten the matches and then we can decide exactly when, okay?”

“Okay.”

I half-listened to their conversation as I savored the power bar. I was beginning to understand why Beth wanted extra. It was
so good
.

Chapter Twenty Five

After dinner I went to my room and saw Alyx wasn’t back yet. I got on the floor and retrieved the four power bars I’d stashed earlier, prepared to take them to Beth. As I stared at the colorful wrapping, I couldn’t help it—I opened one of them and gobbled it down.

I wiped my mouth, then abruptly felt ashamed for my weakness. Now I would only have three to give Beth. Sighing, I carried the three bars to Beth’s room and knocked. This time she answered.

“Hey, loser,” she said.

“I only have three. That’s the best I could do.” I held them out to her.

She snatched them out of my hand. “Where’d you get them? I saw that you didn’t get any regular food today and that you ate the power bars they gave you.”

“Why do you care?”

 She grinned. “I don’t. I just wanted to see if you’d say.” Then she laughed and closed the door.

Ecstatic that she didn’t punish me for only getting three for her, I walked back to my room. As soon as I opened the door, I saw that Alyx was inside. Now that I knew why she was mad, I hoped I could do something to fix it.

“What do
you
want?” she sneered.

“Look, I didn’t mean to cause trouble between you and Austin, okay?”

“No, it’s not
okay
. He dumped me because he was afraid you’d rat on us.”

“Well, I won’t.”

“Doesn’t even matter. As long as he thinks you might, he won’t have anything to do with me.”

“Why are you even with him? If you get caught, you wouldn’t get out of here when you’re supposed to.”

Tears sprang to her eyes, which shocked me. “I know, okay? I know it’s stupid. But I love him.”

Yuck.
I was completely revolted by the idea. Thinking about the way he’d come on to me, I asked, “What do you think will happen once you get out?”

“He promised we’d keep seeing each other.”

I softened my voice. “Do you believe him?”

“Yes. He told me he loves me too.”

Though I knew he had to be flat-out lying to her, it was also obvious that she believed it, and that was all that mattered. “What if I talk to him? I’ll let him know I won’t tell anyone about you guys.”

“Would you really, Morgan?”

I nodded, the idea of having to talk to him face to face on purpose making me nauseous.

She walked over to me and threw her arms around me. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

I smiled despite the task I had just promised. “You’re welcome.”

She let go of me. “Will you do it now?”

“Now? Like, right now?”

“Yes. Please.”

I sighed. “Fine.” Then I paused, wondering if there was something she could do for me in return. “Alyx, if I do this, will you do something for me?”

“Of course. Anything.”

I wasn’t so sure she’d feel that way after I made my request, but I pushed onward. “When I need you to, will you borrow his electronic key card for me?”

Her head jerked back. “This is for you and Piper, isn’t it?”

“The less you know, the better.”

She stared at the wall behind me, then her eyes met mine. “I don’t know, Morgan.”

“You can tell him you need to borrow it—that you need to get outside for some fresh air and you’ll give it back. Better yet, just take it and don’t say anything.”

“He could get in a lot of trouble if he doesn’t have it.”

Like I cared. “If you want me to do this favor for you, I need you to do this for me.”

“When do you want me to get it?”

“I’ll let you know.”

She hesitated, then smiled. “Okay.”

I hoped she would follow through and wasn’t just telling me what I wanted to hear, but what could I do? “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Now, will you go talk to him?”

“I’d better act like I’m going to go work out.”

“Good idea.”

I changed into my workout clothes, then headed to the gym. I wasn’t sure that Billy, Piper, and I would need Austin’s key card, but it seemed like a good idea to have on our escape night, just in case.

When I got to the gym, I went past the office where I usually checked in and stood in the entrance to the workout area. Immediately, I saw Austin. He was talking to a girl on a treadmill and she was smiling at him, like she was flirting. I almost turned around and left, knowing in the long run I’d be doing Alyx a favor if they stayed apart, but Austin turned his head and saw me looking at him. He squinted in my direction—I guess he was trying to figure out why I was there—then he said something to the girl and headed my way.

My heart pounded as he approached. I didn’t relish being anywhere near him, but being Alyx’s messenger girl made me even more uncomfortable.

“Morgan,” he said as he stopped in front of me.

I forced a smile on my lips.

“Back for another workout?”

“No. I’m actually here to talk to you.”

His eyebrows rose. “Really?”

I nodded.

“Let’s go into my office, where we can have some privacy.”

When he winked at me, then walked toward his office, I had to force my feet to move, though what I really wanted was to turn and run.

He held the door to his office open for me and I went inside. My gaze was immediately drawn to the yellow vinyl couch along one wall. He must have noticed me looking at it because he said, “Sometimes I need to take a nap.”

I tore my gaze away and looked at him, wondering if he did anything else on that couch.

He motioned to one of two chairs facing his desk. I sat and he went around to the other side and sat in his chair, which was a relief. For a moment I’d been worried he was going to sit right next to me.

“What did you need to talk to me about, Morgan?”

I hated the way he said my name, like he knew me, like we were friends—which we most definitely were not. “I came to talk to you about Alyx.”

He frowned. “What about her?”

“She’s really devastated that you broke up with her.”

“What do you mean, ‘broke up with her’? You make it sound like she was my girlfriend. That sort of relationship is completely inappropriate.”

Clearly, he was covering himself. “Can we drop the act?”

His eyebrows rose. “Excuse me?”

Though he made my skin crawl, and I really didn’t want to have this conversation, I was only doing this for Alyx. And for the insurance that she’d get me his key card when I needed it. “I care about Alyx and I don’t want to see her upset.”

“Wow.” He laughed. “What do you want me to do about it?”

“She’ll only be here for a couple more weeks. I promise I won’t tell anyone about you guys.”

“Of course you won’t. Because little Miss Alyx would get into way more trouble than I would.”

“Will you give her another chance?”

He seemed to consider it. Then his eyes drilled into mine. “On one condition.”

“What?”

“When she leaves, you take her place.”

I felt myself recoiling and had to force myself to stay in my seat when I so desperately wanted to jump up and flee. “I don’t understand.”

He grinned. “Oh, I think you do.”

“What if say I no?”

“Then Alyx’s heart will be broken. And as for you? How much longer are you going to be here?”

Not long, if all went as planned. “Six months.”

“Six months,” he echoed, staring at the ceiling, then he looked at me. “There’s a lot I can do to help those six months pass more pleasantly.”

I doubted that.

“Or I can make them the worst six months of your life. It’s really up to you.”

“And if I agree?”

He grinned, apparently thinking he’d won. “Then you can go tell Alyx that she can forget what I told her today.”

Why was I doing this? Did I really care so much about Alyx’s happiness? Or was it because I was so certain that our escape plan would succeed? But what if it didn’t? What if I really was here for six months? Then what would I do? I thought about Mr. Madsen and how he was dying for some juicy information. Maybe after Alyx was safely gone, only then would I tell him about Austin and what he was doing.

“Morgan? Do we have a deal?”

I looked at his grinning face and held back a shudder. “Okay.”

He stood. “I look forward to it.”

When he opened the door, I bolted through it and hurried to the bank of elevators. On the ride to my floor I thought about the deals I had made—first with Beth to keep her from bullying me, and now with Austin to keep Alyx from hating me. As the elevator doors slid open on the sixth floor, I walked toward my room and realized that I was only doing what I had to do to get by. But I fervently hoped our escape plan would come together—and soon. I couldn’t keep on living this way.

The moment I walked into our room, Alyx leapt from the bed. “So? What did he say?”

“He said to tell you to forget what he said today.”

Her face lit up and she hugged me. “Thank you so much, Morgan.”

I pulled away, hating her for putting me in this position. “Remember your part of the deal.”

“Yeah, of course.”

I worried that she was only telling me what I wanted to hear.

“Well, I’m off to the gym,” she said, a smile on her face.

After she left, I decided to see if Piper was in her room—I wanted to talk over our plans some more. I knocked on her door and Cassidy answered.

“Hey. Is Piper here?”

“Hi, Morgan,” Piper called from within the room. “Come on in.”

Piper was sitting at her desk, working on homework.

“I’ll see you guys later.” Cassidy walked out the door.

Piper dropped her pencil and turned around. “Any news?”

I sat on her bed. “I think I’ll be able to get us a key card that can get us to the first floor.”

Her eyes widened. “Really?”

I nodded. “Yep.”

“How’d you do that?” Then she shook her head. “No, I don’t want to know.”

Maybe the deal I’d worked out with Alyx and Austin wasn’t so bad after all. Not if it meant extra insurance on getting out of here.

Chapter Twenty Six

We talked about how we hoped everything would happen on our big escape night. We’d wait until everyone was asleep, then Piper and I would each start a fire and Billy would start a fire on his floor. When the alarm rang and we were evacuated, we’d slip away. The slipping away part was a little fuzzy since we didn’t know how many Enforcers would be around, but with the added insurance of Austin’s key card—I ended up telling Piper about my arrangement with Alyx—we believed we’d find a way out.