The Vault of Dreamers by Caragh M. O'brien

eyes to feign sleep as the noises gradually worked their way down the
     room toward me. When I heard Linus’s voice nearby, I nearly jumped.
    “Touch her and you’re dead,” Linus said.
    “Come on,” said another guy. Some nasal quality of his speech reminded me of a weasel.
     “She’d never know. They’re completely asleep.”
    A brief squeak came from a rolling wheel.
    “All right,” said the same weasel voice. “I was only curious. Take it easy.”
    “I don’t even know what you’re doing here,” Linus said. “I thought you stuck to the
     fifth floor.”
    “It’s good extra money. Besides, I wanted to see my girl in person. Check her out,”
     said the weasel guy. “Why do you suppose she leaves her lid open?”
    “I don’t know. Don’t touch it.”
    “It has been one crazy run. Victor couldn’t believe it when I came in at fifty. You
     heard about my bonus, right?”
    “I don’t care about your pissant competition,” Linus asked. “Watch your foot there.”
    “Victor sure cares,” said the weasel guy. “This was the first time in three years
     he wasn’t in the top fifty. Bummer.”
    “You got lucky being assigned to Rosie,” Linus said.
    I was surprised to hear him use my first name.
    “No, she was lucky to get me ,” said the other voice. “Picking the angles is an art form. It’s so ironic, filming
     a girl who calls herself a filmmaker. The students get all the credit, but they wouldn’t
     be stars without us.”
    Okay, he was a jerk, but still, it was totally cool to realize this guy was one of
     the techies who managed my profile for The Forge Show .
    “Is that so,” Linus said.
    “The better I know her, it’s like I can read which way she’s going to turn, and then
     she does,” the weasel guy said. “She moves right into my picks, like we’re dancing
     together. Except she doesn’t know it. She beamed that smile at her mother last night?
     And bam, I was right there to get the gap and all.”
    “She doesn’t even like the cameras, Bones,” Linus said.
    The weasel guy, Bones, laughed softly. “They all like the cameras, idiot, or they
     wouldn’t come. What did she say when you kissed her?”
    “Let me check my notes and get back to you,” Linus said.
    “So funny. Truth be told, the visuals were tough with the rain,” Bones went on. “I
     only had four decent camera angles to choose from, and I didn’t want to spin between
     them too often. Pacing’s everything, especially when you’re respecting an intimate
     moment. I had to choose between Otis’s wide shot from the lookout tower and a button
     close-up from behind her head. The close-up had no lips, so I went with Otis’s. The
     man’s an ace for framing it up, but I could have killed him for not going in closer.”
    “Incidentally, I don’t give a crap about your angles,” Linus said.
    “You know, I should have mic-ed you,” said Bones. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
    “Possibly because I’d beat your brains in before I’d ever let you mic me,” Linus said.
    Their voices were moving farther away. I itched to take a look and see what the weasel
     guy looked like. I didn’t dare move, though.
    “What if Berg insisted on it?” Bones said. “I’m surprised he didn’t. Maybe next time.
     I’ll talk to him.”
    Next time? Dean Berg? A chill spread over my skin. If Dean Berg could make Linus wear
     a microphone, what else could he make Linus do? He couldn’t have sent Linus to kiss
     me, or to meet me in the first place. No. Of course not. Linus was on staff, but that
     didn’t make him a puppet. I was way too suspicious.
    I kept listening to the quiet movement of furniture, hoping to hear Linus’s voice
     again. Once I heard my techie Bones again, speaking to Orly, and once, later, I heard
     steps coming near that I thought might be Linus’s. I expected he might say something.
     My ears strained for a clue to where he was, and how near. I opened my mouth slightly
     to take in