I smiled to myself and reached into my bag to fish out my phone. “Okay, so I call Dr. Ramirez, and let’s say he answers … then what?” After unlocking my phone, I scrolled through the contacts until I reached the Ds. “Are we still suspicious of foul play at that point, or can we assume this is simply a harmless meeting and we can all go into Denny?” I gave Kat’s hand a squeeze. “Does Kit-Kat still get the grand tour?”
I watched Dominic and Nik exchange a prolonged glance, watched Nik’s irises bleed back to their usual pale blue hue. Finally, Nik shook his head. “It’s not worth the risk, Lex. Ask him to meet you somewhere else … somewhere crowded with humans.”
Nodding slowly, I thought about where to propose Dr. Ramirez meet with me, my thumb hovering over the green call button. I considered the HUB and By George, the two main places to eat on campus—it was after noon, and we’d planned to eat before the meeting anyway. A hungry Nejeret is a grumpy Nejeret, after all.
The Husky Union Building, affectionately called the HUB by anybody who knew anything at all about the U, would likely be more crowded, since it was lunchtime and there were more dining options in comparison to By George—aptly named due to its proximity to a rather prominent statue of George Washington—and its cafeteria-style dining. But the HUB was also clear across campus, which I doubted would please my not unwanted but very overprotective bodyguards. There was also the nearby Burke Café, but it was tiny and rarely crowded.
Suddenly, an idea struck me and I sat up straighter, smiling broadly. It was so obvious; I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it right away. “I know just the place.”
It had been ages since I’d been in Suzzallo Library—okay, maybe only months, but it felt like ages when I was used to spending hours there every day, hunting through the stacks or hunched over a wooden desk with a wall of rarely opened books blocking me off from the world. The café on the first floor would serve our dining purposes well enough—it had a full-service coffee bar and grab-and-go sandwiches, pastries, and snacks—but it would also give me a chance to show Kat around one of my favorite places on campus. One day all of this universe-at-stake hoopla would be over, and she’d go to college like a normal kid, and I’d be damned if I didn’t try my hardest to convince her to become a Husky.
I pressed my thumb to the screen and called Dr. Ramirez.
After three rings with no answer, I held my breath. After the fourth, I squeezed my eyes shut, and after the fifth, my heart was beating so hard it felt like it was pounding against my ribcage.
“You’ve reached the mailbox for 206-555-0173,” said the emotionless automatic recording. “The caller you’re trying to reach is not available. Please leave a message at the tone.”
Panicking, I ended the call before the beep. I looked at Dominic, then up at Nik, knowing they’d heard the impersonal recording as well. “At least the number’s not disconnected,” I said softly. It was the only thing I could think to point out that didn’t lend further credence to the possibility that something had happened to Dr. Ramirez and that this whole “meeting” was just an elaborate ruse. A trap.
“I think you should get back into the car, Lex,” Nik said, turning his back to me so he could scan the countless trees and shrubs scattered nearby for potential dangers.
I didn’t even consider arguing. There was no point, and he was right—the situation was looking grimmer and grimmer with each passing minute. I was on my feet, my hand on the door handle, when my phone buzzed twice to alert me of a text message.
Hastily, I unlocked the phone and opened the message. It was from Dr. Ramirez. Or, at least, it was from his number.
Sorry I missed your call, Lex. Is everything alright? Do you need to reschedule? I had a cancellation, so my whole afternoon is free, if another time works better for you.
I stared at the phone’s screen, dim in the bright sunlight, my hands shaking. I could feel Kat behind me, reading over my shoulder.
“Um … why didn’t he just call you back?” Kat’s voice wavered a little. “Am I the only one wondering that?”
“No,” I said under my breath. “No, you’re not.”
6
Ah… & Awe
“Hello? Lex?”
I exhaled heavily upon hearing Dr. Ramirez’s deep, familiar voice. “Hey, Dr. Ramirez!” I took a deep breath to calm my frazzled nerves. “Sorry to keep calling you, but texts haven’t been getting through on my phone lately,” I lied. “And, well … it’s a long story.”
“It’s alright, Lex.” I thought I could hear a smile in his voice. “I’m on a conference call right now, so …” Such a simple explanation as to why he hadn’t answered the first time.
“Oh my gosh, I’m sorry! I’ll make it quick, then.” I relayed my request for the change in meeting locale and let him know that I had a bit of an entourage with me, and when Dr. Ramirez agreed to the new plans, we said our goodbyes so he could return to his call.
Practically giddy with relief, I turned around to grin at my companions. “So that’s good news.” I looked from Nik to Dominic and back, knowing they’d heard everything Dr. Ramirez had said on the phone. “Right?”
They might not have been overly enthusiastic about it, but they did both nod. Eventually.
“Okay, so … we’re good, right? We can head down to the library and get settled in for the meeting?” My stomach grumbled. “And eat.”
Again, Nik and Dominic gave their reluctant nods. They moved so similarly it almost appeared rehearsed.
“Good,” I said with a heavy exhale. After tucking my phone back into my bag, I linked my arm with Kat’s and started toward the sidewalk that led to the stairway down to Red Square and across the expansive brick plaza, to Suzzallo Library. My spirits were the highest they’d been all day, and I didn’t want to waste a minute more of our oh-so-rare free day now that we’d banished most of the dark clouds.
“So where we’re going now is one of my very favorite places on campus,” I told Kat, squeezing her arm to hug her a little closer as we wound around a roundabout and headed toward the school’s main flagpole. “It’s just so … I don’t know.” I tossed her a sideways glance, meeting her bemused eyes. “I remember the first time I came here—it was for a middle school field trip, and my mom was my group’s chaperone.”
As we reached the broad cement stairs leading down to Red Square, I leaned in closer, like I was going to share a secret. “She was a Husky, too,” I said, then straightened. “So she had all kinds of stories that made this place seem magical. It was like getting a chance to glimpse into her past.” I snorted. “Ironically enough …” I shook my head. “But anyway, Suzzallo was the place she was most excited to show me, because she knew how much I’d love it because it basically looks like an old castle.”
We reached the bottom of the stairs and stepped onto red bricks whose color had been dulled by the span of dry heat we’d been having. Passing between aluminum bike racks and a row of alternating purple and gold flags boasting the benefits of attending the U to new and prospective students, we made our way into Red Square. A few moments later, I pointed ahead to where part of the grand old library was coming into view behind Kane Hall, made only more majestic in comparison to Kane’s blocky cement colonnade and overall general hideousness.
“And there it is,” I said quietly, “dear old Suzzallo.”
“You know,” Kat said, “I have been here before. Like every year we’d take a field trip here and learn about all the history and stuff.”
I looked at her, shaken out of my nostalgic reverie, and grinned. “Of course you have, but you’ve never been here with me, and that’s an entirely different thing.”
She looked at me, a single eyebrow raised. Lucky girl to get that gene when it had passed me by without a second glance. “Why’s that?”
“Because I’m not going to tell you the history.” A little bounce entered my step as we drew nearer to the library’s arched doorways, the central figures in Suzzallo’s elaborate Gothic f
açade. “I’m going to help you feel the history of this place. And it’s so much more than that—it’s the beauty of knowing how much knowledge has passed through its doors, transported in the minds of students and researchers, the appreciation and awe that comes with understanding just how purposeful each and every piece of architecture and decoration is and how each element represents not only academia and discovery, but this crazy unique place we call home.
“I mean—” I stopped in the middle of the nearly empty brick plaza and gestured to the stairs that led away from Red Square to the south end of campus. Tree-lined brick buildings bordered a wide walkway leading to a large, circular fountain surrounded by a sea of rose bushes. Beyond that, the horizon was decorated with two staples of the Puget Sound area: never-ending evergreen-covered foothills and majestic Mt. Rainier, grand as ever against a backdrop of clear blue summer sky. “There’s nowhere else in the world like this.”
There was a reason Marcus had chosen to establish his line’s main complex in the Puget Sound despite his propensity to grumble about the prominent damp chill that lasted full-on half of the year—it was so damn beautiful. And I could see in Kat’s rich brown eyes that she understood, maybe better than either Marcus or I ever could, because she was from here. This place was in her bones, in her blood. It was her home.
“Well, come on,” she said, tugging on my arm and dragging me onward toward the library. “Now that you’ve got me all excited to feel the history, let’s get this show on the road already!”
I laughed and, more than willing, let her tug me toward Suzzallo. Glancing over my shoulder, I spotted Nik hanging back several dozen yards, seeming to watch everything and nothing at the same time, but I didn’t see Dominic anywhere.
At spotting my quizzical expression, Nik nodded toward the library, and I understood. The other half of my minimal guard for the day had gone inside to scope out any potential dangers before I stepped through the front doors. Duh.
Once we were inside in the foyer, the muffled echo of voices surrounded us. A buzzing tour group huddled together further in the library where the 1970s addition joined up with the original 1920s structure, and people sitting in clusters in the cavernous café to the right of the foyer shared hushed conversation over iced coffees and laptops.
Kat had been in the library before, but never as a Nejerette, and I couldn’t help but wonder if that added to her rapt expression as she took it all in. She was especially intrigued by the shallow grooves worn into the travertine steps of the split grand staircase from thousands upon thousands of library-goers ascending and descending the twin curving, carved stone stairways over the past century, though she also “oohed” a bit at the elaborate leaded glass windows stretching high overhead in the walls sheltering the staircases.
“I think I get what you mean about the ‘feel’ of it,” she whispered. “It’s like I’m at Hogwarts or something,” she added with a giggle, placing her hand over her mouth when the sound echoed more than she’d expected.
Dominic stood at the top of the stairway, his back to us as he waited for us to finish our ascent. I touched his arm as I passed him, offering a quick smile before moving on. He nodded, his deep-set eyes filled with secrets but his face stony. “Ah, Lex?” he said quietly.
I paused and turned around partially to face him, motioning for Kat to continue on.
“The Reading Room is safe enough, but please don’t venture into the stacks at all.” He tilted his head minutely toward the newer portion of the library, an aisle running between bookcase after bookcase in a seemingly endless optical illusion. “Too many hiding places for my comfort.” Though his words had sounded like a polite request, I knew them to be much more. Don’t go into the stacks. Noted.
“No problem,” I told him, flashing him another smile, tighter this time. “Thanks.”
I found Kat standing in one of two doorways to the Reading Room, which was, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful and relaxing places to research in the entire world. It was one of the few places I’d ever been where the rule of quiet was obeyed universally, as though even raucous coeds could sense the volume of knowledge and wisdom that had been absorbed under its vaulted ceiling.
I stopped beside Kat in the doorway and leaned my shoulder against the wooden doorframe. “So what do you think?” I asked her in the barest whisper. “Worthy of a sketch or two?”
She nodded, eyes wide as she took it all in. “It reminds me of those cathedrals in Florence,” she whispered, “except warmer, like here they actually want me to sit down and stay for a while.”
I smiled broadly, having felt exactly the same way about this room from the moment I first set eyes on it as a young teen. When my phone buzzed, I fished it out of my bag and glanced at the screen; it was Dr. Ramirez.
Before answering, I pointed to the carved wooden bookshelves bordering the room and whispered, “Check out the friezes on top of the bookcases.” At Kat’s confused look, I amended, “The carvings—they’re all of flora native to this area. It’s pretty cool.” I watched Kat’s face brighten with understanding as I backed out into the landing and answered my phone.
“Hey, Dr. Ramirez,” I said, still keeping my voice hushed. I hurried past Dominic and the staircase and into an off-shooting hallway that led to the restrooms, where I could speak above a whisper without bothering anyone.
“Ah, Lex, so glad you answered,” he said. “I don’t, by any chance, suppose you’re already on campus?”
“Actually, I am.”
“Well then, I’m heading to Suzzallo right now. Think you’d be able to move our meeting up a half hour?” A muffled laugh made its way across the line. “This is the last thing on my calendar today, and with the rest of the day unexpectedly free, I thought I’d take advantage of the sunshine and head home afterwards to get a full afternoon of gardening in.”
The mental image of big, burly Dr. Ramirez rolling up his shirtsleeves and getting dirty in a flowerbed was enough to make me grin. “Yeah, of course. I’m actually already here. I’ll meet you in the café in a few minutes.”
I emerged from the hallway to find Kat and Dominic waiting for me at the top of the nearest staircase. And for some strange reason, that eerie sense of waiting had a resurgence. Or maybe it had been there all along, but wanting to enjoy at least part of the day, I’d been too stubborn to acknowledge it. It’s just the weirdness in the At, I told myself. And the dream and my hormones and, as much as I hated to admit it, being away from Marcus. It was a perfect recipe for a crappy day.
I took a deep breath, then forced a smile. “Who’s hungry?”
7
Tick & Boom
“Egypt certainly seems to have agreed with you,” Dr. Ramirez said after releasing me from a body-engulfing grandfatherly hug. His soft brown eyes scanned my face. “You look absolutely radiant.”
“Oh, well …” I glanced down at the floor and felt my face heat. Gracefully accepting compliments had never been my strong suit, a facet of my personality that appeared to intrigue Marcus.
“That’s because she’s pr—” Kat slapped her hands over her mouth. When I glanced down at her with what could only be called “a look,” I found laughter and apologies dancing in her eyes.
“Dr. Ramirez,” I said through a slightly forced smile. I placed my hand on Kat’s shoulder—she was seated with Dominic at the good-sized square table we’d claimed a couple minutes earlier, my chair beside hers and the extra for Dr. Ramirez opposite her currently empty. “This is my youngest sister, Kat.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Kat,” Dr. Ramirez said, offering her his hand. She looked a little stumped, but just for a moment, before reaching out to shake hands. “For whatever reason,” he said when they’d finished, “I was under the impression that you only had the one sister.” He frowned thoughtfully. “Hmm … Jenny, if I’m correct?”
“I did only have the one sister,” I said, motioning to his free chair before pulling out my own to sit. “Or, at least, I thought I
did.” I glanced at Kat, meeting her eyes and smiling fondly. “Kat’s my half-sister, and we just found out about each other a few months back.” I let out a breathy laugh. “It’s a long story,” I said, shaking my head. And complicated. And absolutely, completely unbelievable.
“It would seem that you’re full of long stories today.” Before he sat, Dr. Ramirez pulled a slender, polished wooden box out of his leather briefcase and set it on the table.
The feeling of waiting—what I was now starting to recognize as a strange mixture of dread and expectation—quadrupled with that single action. It was like a timer was ticking, counting down to something, only I didn’t know how long it would tick for or what would happen when it stopped. It just kept on ticking and ticking and ticking, silent and unsettling.
Dr. Ramirez rested his bag on the floor and eased himself down into his chair. My eyes were glued to the slim wooden box, but he didn’t notice, as he was too focused on something else. I forced my gaze to break away from the box to see what had captured his attention.
It was Nik. Of course.
Walking around with Nik was the opposite of camouflage, but in some ways, that was better than trying to hide. He was one of those people who was always gawked at, but those same gawkers usually went out of their way to ignore him. The same thing that made him stand out often rendered him all but invisible. He was the guy with the piercings and tattoos. That was all most people saw. It was all most people wanted to see. A sad notion, but sadder still was my suspicion that it was all Nik wanted people to see when they looked at him. His appearance was a barrier between himself and the world—by choice. I didn’t get it, and unlike most of the Nejerets who weren’t too afraid of him to talk about him, I didn’t pretend to.
At the moment, my confounding friend was returning from the coffee bar with a monstrous energy drink, a plastic-wrapped sandwich, and a couple of large cookies, everyone around him either watching him or trying to appear disinterested. He sat two tables away, seeming to ignore us completely as he kept an eye on everyone else in the room.
Dissonance: An Echo Trilogy Novella (Echo Trilogy, #2.5) Page 4
