that resemble the chairs you would find in a dentist’s office, the space is mostly empty.
“This is the training center. Nobody gets in without Cap’s permission.”
Luka quirks his eyebrow.
He seems to be as baffled as I am. I mean, if any room were to be a training room, you’d think it’d be the one with the weights or the mats. “Training for what?”
“You’ll see.” Rosie’s impish smile turns more impish as she beckons us ahead and turns off the main corridor, into an antechamber of sorts. I hear murmuring—signs of life. She points out the restrooms—male and female, complete with showers. “This is the boy’s hall,” she says, nodding in the direction of the narrow hallway that leads left. “And that is the girl’s hall.” She points to the narrow hallway to the right. “Cap doesn’t like any purpling.”
My brow furrows. “What is purpling?”
“Boys are blue. Girls are red.” She threads her fingers together, so that her hands are linked as one and scrunches her nose again, like purpling is the last thing she’d ever want to do. “After lights-out, there’s no boy-girl mingling. Claire thinks Cap’s too old fashioned. She tried sneaking into Link’s room once, but she got into big trouble.”
I glance at Luka. He’s turned into Gabe—expressionless yet attentive. Rosie said sixteen people live down here. Judging by the number of doors down each corridor, there is plenty of room to grow. She turns us around and points out yet another hallway. “This is where the adults stay, including the Cloaks. You know what a Cloak is, right?”
Luka and I shake our heads.
“They hide our location from the other side. We only have two of them and since the hub’s pretty big, it’s a lot of work. They keep to their rooms mostly.”
My mind pops with questions. The other side? Does this mean Scarface can’t find me down here? Is Luka a Cloak? Am I? Pop, pop, pop , until I’m standing in front of another room, not quite as large as the common area and humming with life. We have found the rest of the hub’s population. Students mill about tables of varying shapes and sizes. The noise slowly fizzles into silence as one by one each person nudges the person beside them, nodding toward me and Luka and Rosie standing in the doorway.
“This is where we eat,” Rosie says. “There’s a kitchen off to the side there. We take turns with meal prep and clean-up.” She points toward a makeshift counter in front of an opened door, which leads, I assume, into the kitchen. “Dinner’s in twenty. There’re some other rooms I haven’t shown you yet, but we should probably get back to Cap.”
We make our way through the underground labyrinth until we’re back in the common area. Cap and Gabe are where we left them. Everyone else, however, has dispersed. There must be more than one way to the cafeteria, since we never passed Sticks or Non or Claire or Link.
Cap wheels toward us. “What do you think of the place?”
“I think we’d like to stay, if you have room for two more.” This is the first time Luka has spoken since our tour began. His voice rings with a certainty I rarely ever feel. It’s one of the things that makes him so appealing, I think. He possesses a confidence that can’t help but instill confidence in those around him.
“Where were you staying before you came?” Cap asks.
“Hotel Magnum, next to the Greyhound station.”
“You need to go back. Clear out your stuff and check out. We can’t have the hotel manager reporting you missing. Don’t leave behind a trace that you were there.”
My pulse quickens. I’ve never been in a hurry to leave base. As a kid, Pete and his buddies used to kick me out of the game for staying on too long. I’m no different now.
“When you come back, make sure nobody follows you.”
Luka nods grimly. Some strange look of understanding passes between him and the captain. For whatever reason, it makes me uneasy. Luka slips his arm
“This is the training center. Nobody gets in without Cap’s permission.”
Luka quirks his eyebrow.
He seems to be as baffled as I am. I mean, if any room were to be a training room, you’d think it’d be the one with the weights or the mats. “Training for what?”
“You’ll see.” Rosie’s impish smile turns more impish as she beckons us ahead and turns off the main corridor, into an antechamber of sorts. I hear murmuring—signs of life. She points out the restrooms—male and female, complete with showers. “This is the boy’s hall,” she says, nodding in the direction of the narrow hallway that leads left. “And that is the girl’s hall.” She points to the narrow hallway to the right. “Cap doesn’t like any purpling.”
My brow furrows. “What is purpling?”
“Boys are blue. Girls are red.” She threads her fingers together, so that her hands are linked as one and scrunches her nose again, like purpling is the last thing she’d ever want to do. “After lights-out, there’s no boy-girl mingling. Claire thinks Cap’s too old fashioned. She tried sneaking into Link’s room once, but she got into big trouble.”
I glance at Luka. He’s turned into Gabe—expressionless yet attentive. Rosie said sixteen people live down here. Judging by the number of doors down each corridor, there is plenty of room to grow. She turns us around and points out yet another hallway. “This is where the adults stay, including the Cloaks. You know what a Cloak is, right?”
Luka and I shake our heads.
“They hide our location from the other side. We only have two of them and since the hub’s pretty big, it’s a lot of work. They keep to their rooms mostly.”
My mind pops with questions. The other side? Does this mean Scarface can’t find me down here? Is Luka a Cloak? Am I? Pop, pop, pop , until I’m standing in front of another room, not quite as large as the common area and humming with life. We have found the rest of the hub’s population. Students mill about tables of varying shapes and sizes. The noise slowly fizzles into silence as one by one each person nudges the person beside them, nodding toward me and Luka and Rosie standing in the doorway.
“This is where we eat,” Rosie says. “There’s a kitchen off to the side there. We take turns with meal prep and clean-up.” She points toward a makeshift counter in front of an opened door, which leads, I assume, into the kitchen. “Dinner’s in twenty. There’re some other rooms I haven’t shown you yet, but we should probably get back to Cap.”
We make our way through the underground labyrinth until we’re back in the common area. Cap and Gabe are where we left them. Everyone else, however, has dispersed. There must be more than one way to the cafeteria, since we never passed Sticks or Non or Claire or Link.
Cap wheels toward us. “What do you think of the place?”
“I think we’d like to stay, if you have room for two more.” This is the first time Luka has spoken since our tour began. His voice rings with a certainty I rarely ever feel. It’s one of the things that makes him so appealing, I think. He possesses a confidence that can’t help but instill confidence in those around him.
“Where were you staying before you came?” Cap asks.
“Hotel Magnum, next to the Greyhound station.”
“You need to go back. Clear out your stuff and check out. We can’t have the hotel manager reporting you missing. Don’t leave behind a trace that you were there.”
My pulse quickens. I’ve never been in a hurry to leave base. As a kid, Pete and his buddies used to kick me out of the game for staying on too long. I’m no different now.
“When you come back, make sure nobody follows you.”
Luka nods grimly. Some strange look of understanding passes between him and the captain. For whatever reason, it makes me uneasy. Luka slips his arm
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