The adrenaline coursing through Ellie's veins felt familiar, a not so subtle reminder of a similar run through a trap infested corridor. Back then, she wasn't trained to handle that sort of the thing. The danger, the physical strain, the exhilaration as she was chased through the darkness of the night. If Mare could see her, she would have been proud. If Ellie lived to see her again, she would hug her so tightly, never letting her go.
When Ellie came to the statue in the middle of the path, she didn't slow, didn't turn. Instead, she just barreled in, jumping over the base and barely brushing against it as she continued onwards. Through the trees, she could see one of the many libraries on campus, but she knew it would offer her no safety. None of them would be open at such a late hour, and she was pretty sure that this one closed earlier than most of them. Still, she focused on the building, just trying to get to it before getting caught. She hoped that its soaring spires would somehow safeguard her against what she knew was coming after her.
She wasn't looking when she came to 59th Street. She didn't see anything flash out of the corner of her eyes. There was nothing that told her that danger was coming. Then, suddenly, out of nowhere, out of the darkness of the night, lights flashed at her. They startled her more than anything else. They bathed the street in a light brighter than day. Her arm came up reflexively, blocking out the illumination, trying to preserve her night vision. However, as she did so, she also turned towards the light, as if it would save her from the darkness of Rebecca Anne's eyes.
Rebecca Anne hadn't reacted to the light. She hadn't slowed in the least, having stayed on Ellie's heels since getting past the car. She didn't even slow as she barreled into her. The two girls fell in a heap to the hard cement of the sidewalk. Together, they rolled, their collective momentum slamming themselves into the trashcans that were placed there. Ellie looked above her, past the dark eyes of her attacker, to the emergency post above her head. She couldn't reach it, couldn't get her hands past Rebecca Anne where she was grappling with her.
"Freeze," came a bark of a voice from the direction of the lights.
Chapter Eighteen
This Land is Guarded
Ellie looked towards the sound, towards the lights, but was once again blinded by them. Rebecca Anne, however, didn't seem to notice the sound. She continued to fight with Ellie, trying to break through her defenses, reaching for her throat, her face. "I said freeze," the voice said again.
Suddenly, Rebecca Anne was pulled away from Ellie. She continued to punch and hit feverishly, her random movements wild and out of control. Behind her flailing form stood a security guard. He stood tall over her with a staying hand on the neck of her shirt. The black hat hid his face, and more notably his eyes. Ellie wasn't sure who he was, or what side he would be on when the chips fell.
"Will you stop?" he asked. A fresh note of humor was in his voice as he looked over at Rebecca Anne. "Seriously, whoever the guy is, he's not worth it."
Ellie rolled her eyes at the man, though she figured the darkness would hide the movement as well as it did the guard's eyes.
"We're not fighting over a man," Rebecca Anne spat in the guy's face. "She broke into my dorm room." She pointed an accusatorial finger in Ellie's direction, though she still struggled to get away from the guard and towards Ellie. It seemed off for this stranger to be able to hold the creature at bay, given the extensive speed and strength she seemed to have betrayed in her chase. Ellie wouldn't have been the slightest bit surprised if the guard fell in on Rebecca Anne's side, whether or not he was one of them.
"Did not," Ellie shouted. It was the first thing that had come to her mind, though it did feel childish considering the truth of the matter.
"Did..." Rebecca Anne started to say.
"Okay," the guard said. He pulled Rebecca Anne aside, placing her on the cement near the stairs to the library. When she moved towards Ellie, the guard blocked her path, stepping in her way and physically restraining her. "I said, okay." He stood there, pushing her away from Ellie's prone form, waiting for the girl to calm down enough to be reasoned with. The lights that came from up the road fell on her face enough that Ellie was able to watch as the fire slowly faded from her eyes. The guard seemed to have a similar view. Once she settled down, he started questioning her. "Do you have any proof that she was in your room?"
"She stole something," Rebecca Anne yelled. "An envelope."
"I don't have your envelope," Ellie said. "Because I wasn't in your room."
"Liar," she shouted.
"Alright, settle down," the guard said. "Wait here. If she has your envelope, we'll deal with it then. Alright?"
The guard waited there, his arm stretched out towards Rebecca Anne, blocking her way, until she finally nodded her agreement. A satisfied smile stretched across her face as she glared down at Ellie, where she was on the sidewalk. It was as if she knew that it was only a matter of time before the security guard found the envelope and arrested her. Once he was relatively satisfied that Rebecca Anne was done trying to tear Ellie's eyes out, he turned towards the prone girl. With two quick looks over his shoulder, the guard knelt down next to Ellie, helping her back up to her feet. His hands lingered on hers as he looked down into her eyes. A familiar look flitted across his face in the light.
"Now, then. Let's see if we can't assuage her of this idea that you would break into her room."
"Humph," Rebecca Anne mumbled.
Ellie steeled her expression as she raised her arms out to her sides. The guard's smile only broadened as he started the search. He spent more time in the safer areas of her arms and legs, having her simply lift up the front and back of her shirt to show that nothing was tucked in there. Ellie spun around in the spotlight. Once her eyes had adjusted to them, she was able to discern the golf cart style security vehicle as the source of the light, shining out three bright beams into the night.
"Search her again," Rebecca Anne said. "She has to have it somewhere."
"You said it was a manila envelope?" the guard asked. "How exactly is this little thing supposed to hide that?"
"I don't know. I just know she did. She has it. She was in my room. Just check the room. You'll see that it was broken into."
"Alright, calm down. I'll come back to your room and check it, after--"
"Oh, no. You're not letting her go. She broke into my room. She stole my envelope. She... She must have stashed it somewhere while I was chasing her. We just need to retrace our path. We'll find it somewhere."
"In the dark?" he asked. "Even with my cart, that's a lot of ground to cover. I'm sure that, once we go back to your room--"
"No. It's out here somewhere. She's not getting away with this."
"No one is getting away with anything. Let's just go back to your room. If there are signs of a break in, we'll take it from there. If the envelope is somewhere outside, we'll find it in a few hours once the sun is up. It's late, it's the middle of the night. People are trying to sleep. Please, just remain calm."
"I am calm," she shouted, her voice echoing in the night.
The guard stood there, his arms raised once more, ready to stop the girl if she charged Ellie. Ellie tried not to smile at the girl, though she knew she couldn't hold it in much longer. It seemed to her that they, or at the very least Rebecca Anne, was no longer interested in having her join their strange club. Perhaps, once Rebecca Anne spreads the news of her little break in to the rest of the group, they'll join in on the ostracization and leave Ellie alone. However, something was telling her that it wasn't that simple.
"Fine," Rebecca Anne spat at the guard. "Let's check my room. Then you'll see that she really did break in. She really did take my stuff."
"Okay, then," the guard said.
He motioned for the two of them to follow him to his little cart. Ellie quickly hopped into the front, next to the guard, as Rebecca Anne slinked into the back. Rebecca Anne ended up needing to face backwards, as the seats were pointed that way. Ellie very much liked the idea that she wouldn
't be staring daggers at the back of her head the entire trip back. For all she knew, she could very well do serious damage to her with those eyes of hers.
As the guard drove back to the dorm, Ellie started to wonder just what was so important about the envelope. Rebecca Anne had interrupted her search, so she hadn't gotten a chance to peek inside. All she knew was that it was important, important enough, and secret enough, to hide behind that drawer. When they passed the part where she was certain that she had lost the envelope, Ellie did her best not to look in the direction of the bushes. Instead, she focused on the sidewalk ahead so she wasn't even tempted to look in that direction. She would have to hope that she could find the envelope in the dark, somehow. Preferably without Rebecca Anne or anyone else seeing what she was doing.
The cart moved slowly through the night, but it wasn't long before they pulled up in front of the dorm. The guard quickly hopped out, without even turning off the cart, to circle around it and stand by Ellie. He held out his hand, helping her down from the seat. The cart wasn't that tall, and Ellie certainly wasn't that short. But she figured it was better to humor him than snub him, given the fact that he seemed more likely to believe her word over Rebecca Anne's. As Rebecca Anne jumped down from the back of the cart, she gave the two of them the biggest stink eye ever made. With the dark eyes, it seemed like she was trying to cast a spell on her. Ellie wouldn't have been surprised if she suddenly melted into a puddle under that glare.
As they moved away from the cart, Ellie tried not to look over towards where the rope had been. She hadn't seen it as they approached and hoped that Becky had been smart enough to hide it. Ellie was so focused on not looking in that direction, she almost missed it when the guard pulled the door open for her. She was following too closely behind him and, as he backed up, she bumped into him. The guard lost his grip on the door as he turned to catch her before she fell, though she was in no danger of doing so.
"Oopsie," he said. Ellie tried not to roll her eyes as he stabilized both of them on their feet. She gently pushed away from him, but then let out a giggle, trying to brush off the offense. The last thing she wanted to do was antagonize the man that was supposed to be arresting her. Unfortunately, he seemed to take the giggle as flirting on her part, as his smile broadened.
"Oh, give me a break," Rebecca Anne said. She went through the front door, barely pushing it open for the guard to grab it. The guard gestured for Ellie to head in first, and he ended up taking the rear as they went into the building.
"Good evening," the guard said, tapping his hat at the person behind the counter.
"Yea," the girl behind the counter barely grunted. "Evening? It's more like morning. Very morning."
"Not quite. I usually consider it officially morning more around 3AM. It's barely 1."
"Don't remind me. I'm on this stupid desk for another three hours." She yawned broadly. It seemed to Ellie that she might be literally on the desk at some point in the night, trying to catch some sleep while on shift.
"Were you working the desk oh, say, about, an hour ago?"
"I've been here since eleven."
"Have you seen this woman before?" He motioned over to Ellie, who gave a half-hearted wave.
"Probably," the woman muttered. "If she came through and doesn't live here, she would have signed in there and had someone bring her in. If she does live here, well, they all seem to blend together at some point." She barely managed to point at a binder on the edge of the desk.
"Do you live here?" the guard asked.
"Nope," Ellie said. "I live in that new dorm building on the north side of campus."
"Ah ha," Rebecca Anne said, pointing an accusatory finger at her. "Then what were you doing on this side of campus?"
"I heard there was a party somewhere around here," Ellie said. "I don't know. I got lost in the dark. Then you started chasing me like a crazy person."
"I don't see her name here," the guard said, after looking down the list. "Everyone who comes in here signs--"
"Hey," the girl behind the desk snapped. She pointed her finger at a student that had just come in the door, walking straight past the four of them. He was ducked down a little, as if he was trying to slip by them, using the guard as cover. "No ID, no pass. Sign the sheet."
"Oh, come on. I live here. I just left my ID upstairs," the guy whined.
"I don't care. Sign. Call." She pointed between the book and the phone that was sitting next to it. "God, I hate this job." She folded her arms on the desk and rested her head on them as if she were trying to get some sleep. Although it was clear to all of them there that she was still awake.
"Are you always this tired on night shift?" the guard asked. "I actually kind of like them. It's nice and peaceful out at night."
"This is my first night shift and I had an 8AM class this morning. So, sue me."
"Well, her name isn't on the list," the guard said, again, as he turned to Rebecca Anne.
"So?" she asked. "She could have put someone else's name on there. Or... Well... Well, she kind of climbed out the window. Maybe she got in that way, too." She seemed reluctant to reveal that little bit of information. Ellie thought that was because it made her claims sound more crazy than the guard already thought they were. Something told her that wasn't the case.
"Why didn't you lock your window?" the guard asked, seeming not the least bit surprised by the new information
"I did lock the window. I never touched it from when I moved in."
"Which is it? You locked the window or didn't touch it? If it wasn't locked--"
"It was locked. Okay? I know it was locked. I'm not stupid. I grew up in the bad parts of Seattle."
"Pfft," Ellie snickered. "Does Seattle even have bad parts?"
"Yea, it does. Blame the demons for that."
"Okay, both of you, enough," the guard said, though he looked pointedly at Rebecca Anne. "Let's see this window that she supposedly broke into."
Ellie's stomach sank, though she had been trained at boarding school not to let it show. One of the first summer classes she took was how to bluff, which mostly amounted to playing poker for hours every day. By the end of the summer, she had gotten pretty good at it, though Mare could always tell when she was lying. As the guard led the way to the elevator, Ellie smiled. She tried to think that she had nothing to worry about. That seeing the window would vindicate her. Yet, at the same time, all she wanted to do was run for it.
"Hey, if you're going to the fourth floor, could you maybe see if anyone is around that will bring me up?" the guy asked. "I don't have a roommate."
"Sorry, kid," the guard said, emphasizing the epitaph. Ellie found it weird, seeing as how she was younger than the guy, and yet the guard was clearly interested in her. "We're going to the fifth."
"Dang it."
The elevator ride was slow, quiet, and awkward. Ellie stood in the corner, trying to not be seen. The guard stood front and center, so he would be the first to get off the elevator, while Rebecca Anne just slumped over by the control panel. She glared over at Ellie around the guard the entire time. Her dark eyes seemed to bore through her, to drink thirstily of the light that shined from her fake smile.
Ellie breathed a sigh of relief when the door finally opened. The guard stepped back and away from the door, holding out his arm for Ellie to go first. Rebecca Anne just rolled her eyes, darting out around his arm and leading the way down the hall.
"Let's just get this over with so I can go to bed," she muttered.
Ellie was genuinely lost as they came out of the elevator. She had never been in the hall, never seen it, so she had no idea where she was in accordance with the outside. The one thing that boarding school hadn't been able to teach her was a sense of direction. She tried to orient herself to the direction she thought was the front of the building, but when Rebecca Anne stopped at a completely different door, she just shook her head and followed along.
"Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but, if there is evidence
of breaking and entering, I'd need to take a statement. That means you'll have to stay up longer. Or, we could just drop the matter now and everyone can just go home."
"Not on your life, dork."
Ellie held her breath as Rebecca Anne keyed in her combination. Rebecca Anne looked over her shoulder back at Ellie, as if to make sure that the girl wasn't trying to see what her combination was. Ellie figured she had already seen all there was to see inside her room, so she hadn't bothered to try. As the door swung inward, Rebecca Anne put her arms up as if presenting a prize, though she hadn't bothered to look inside the room herself.
"Excuse me," the guard said, as he slipped by Rebecca Anne.
Rebecca Anne stood there, blocking Ellie's path, though she was just as happy to stay in the hall. The two girls squared off, Rebecca Anne's arms crossed over her chest as she stared down at Ellie. Ellie just stood there, trying her best not to run away or back down under that stare. Those eyes just bore into her, drilling through to her brain. Ellie was starting to wonder if that stare was contagious, if these dark eyed individuals were created by others of their ilk staring death into them.
"Nothing seems to be amiss in here," the guard said.
"What?" Rebecca Anne asked. Startled, she spun around, her hair flipping out behind her and brushing against Ellie's face. With both of their backs turned, neither would have noticed the similar look of surprise on Ellie's face as she, too, stared through the door to the room beyond.
Nothing seemed out of place. It all looked just like Ellie remembered it looked when she had slipped into the room. The window was closed tightly, the latch locked into place. There was no sign of a rope hanging outside the window, no sign of any disturbance or anything amiss. All the drawers were closed, lining up perfectly with the one below. The room was as pristine as it had been half an hour ago.
Light Through the Window Page 12