I wandered around the aquarium for the rest of the afternoon. There wasn’t really much else for me to do. As the day progressed, it became more crowded, and it was easy for me to blend in with the crowd, not that anyone would think to look for me here anyway, but just in case. I took the advice of the check-out girl and visited the seahorse exhibit. She was right. It was super cool. It was kind of relaxing to watch the seahorses float around on the water, and it made me forget for a moment about everything else.
When it started to near closing time, I made a quick trip to the restroom and then went back up to the rooftop. It was actually a pretty amazing place here, and I was surprised at how easy it was to sneak around and hide out after closing hours. I made a mental note of another thing that I would do if I happened to survive past Friday; write the aquarium and suggest that they beef-up their security and install a few cameras.
I wadded up a piece of plastic wrapper from one of the snacks I had bought and jammed it into the inside of the lock on the stairwell door, hoping that it would be enough to keep the door from locking completely when they went to secure it for the night. Then I went back inside the greenhouse and waited. After an hour or so, someone came to do a quick sweeping glance of the roof and then closed and locked the door.
I stayed put for a while longer, just to be sure that the straggler employees had left. I checked my phone, which was still holding out with battery charge surprisingly, and then went to check the door. My trick had worked, and the door was easy enough to open after a bit of rattling with the handle.
The aquarium was stunning at night since all of the lights except for the emergency lighting was shut off. The tanks were dimly light, and some of the sea creatures seemed to have a sort of bioluminescence that glowed in the most brilliant colors. I couldn’t help but stop and watch them for a while. It made me a little sad to think of all these animals being trapped here behind glass for people to stare at. I sometimes felt like I could relate to that.
Julian had been right about getting away from Charleston, and in hindsight, I maybe should have listened to him. It would be nice to think about going somewhere else. But who would I take with me, him? I could take Adam. I enjoyed his presence and how safe he made me feel. Would I end up with Michael, though? Even if I went with Adam? I hadn’t had a chance to stop and think about what had happened with each of them. I hadn’t had a chance to think about really anything at all, aside from trying to stay alive over the past few hours.
It was probably a waste of time anyway. Surviving the charity event after exposing what was happening on live camera was likely not going to happen. They would kill me on the spot, but at least the truth would get out. At least my mother’s death wouldn’t be forgotten as some melancholy suicide instead of the murder that it actually was. Her death would bring down the entirety of a corrupt institution, and for that, I knew she would be proud of me.
Still, I couldn’t help but think about what I would do if the story were to end differently and who I would choose to be with if I could hope to be with one of the guys after this. Anytime I started to think about them, any of them; I was warm and happy and pained, all at the same time. I didn’t want to be without any of them. Julian and I had a history that I would never have with anyone else. We knew each other better than we knew ourselves at times. And ever since that night in my dorm room, I had imagined what it would be like to be with him in the intimate way we had both been thinking about for years.
Adam, on the other hand, was like those bad-boy heartthrobs that you read about in fiction books. He was mysterious and gorgeous enough to make me lose my breath every time I saw him with his shirt off with that sprawling tattoo over his ripped chest, but he was also the only one who seemed to want me so much that he was willing to wait for me, even if I had hurt him by sleeping with someone else.
And then there was Michael.
I couldn’t put that explanation into words at all, not even in my own head. But it was impossible for me to ignore the way I felt about him. Despite all the reasons I should have hated him, I didn’t. Michael was the one thing that made me afraid to go through with what I was about to do because the thought of how much I wanted to be with him again tortured me. The thought of it never happening made me feel like I would rather die.
I brushed away the tear that had silently started to roll over my cheek and refocused my thoughts toward going to the coat check room. When I got there, I flipped the light on and was amazed by how big the room was and how full to the brim of clothes and other random belongings it was. The girl at the food place was right; it was a virtual costuming room. I pushed hangars around and looked through several racks of clothes.
There were more than enough fancy dresses to choose from. I found a green one in my size that was small and tight and sparkled like a princess-cut emerald. There was even a mirror in the coat check room for me to have my own private little fashion show. The dress was stunning, and I would have loved to have worn it. But I wasn’t looking to be the center of attention at the charity event; I wanted to blend in. I took off the green dress and hung it back up on the rack, and I kept looking. When I found a deep garnet silk sheath dress, I knew it would be perfect. Simple, sophisticated, and nothing glittery that would catch someone’s eye.
It fit perfectly too, and I was thankful to be the size that I could pull most dresses off the rack and be able to walk out wearing them. I folded the dress over my arm, dug around some more until I found a pair of shoes (seriously, how do you forget shoes at a coat check?), and grabbed a few thick-looking coats to use to sleep on.
Then, I made my way back through the stairwell and up to the roof.
It was cold, so I wrapped one of the coats around the outside of my hoodie. I didn’t want to go back into the greenhouse yet. I wanted to stay outside in the biting air and try not to think about things too much. I looked out over the city and realized how insignificant a place Charleston was in the scope of the entire world.
What was going on here probably didn’t matter to almost anyone, but it mattered to me.
I looked in the direction of Goldshire and thought about the guys who were likely fretting over me in Julian’s apartment. I had told them in my note to leave, but I knew that they wouldn’t do it. Michael and Adam would probably be allowed back into Lineage with a strict warning. Hopefully, Marta wouldn’t be too hard on them. And Julian? Well, he could eventually leave altogether.
I hoped for their sake they did, too. Because if there was one thing I knew, it was this:
Even if it cost me my own life, I’d figure out what was really going on. I’d figure out what the hell really happened to my mother.
And after I did—if they hadn’t already killed me—I’d kill them myself.
20
The next evening was the private party, which lasted until after hours. I needed a new place to hide out until everything was over, and then I could sneak back up to the roof. I had already familiarized myself with the coat check room. It seemed like the most obvious choice.
I waited until the employee hung the “Be Right Back” sign to use the restroom and then slid inside and hid behind a particularly full rack of coats. I had wrapped the dress inside one of the jackets so that it wouldn’t get dirty and hid it inside a large potted plant inside the greenhouse.
I didn’t even know if anyone would go inside the greenhouse during the party but wasn’t going to take the chance of having to find something else to wear all over again. I waited until the last of the staff had cleaned up and left for the night and then headed back up the stairs. There was only one day left to go. The charity event was tomorrow night, and then this would all be over one way or another. I knew that I should probably get rest tonight, but there was no way that was going to happen. Not with feeling like someone had set my nerves on fire.
When I got to the rooftop, I noticed that someone had pulled the piece of plastic wrap out of the lock. It didn’t matter. It was almost the end. I walked straight over to the railing and stared out at the city for one more night, pulling my hoodie around me and thinking about the terrifying, exhilarating night that Michael dangled me here over the city.
“Nice view, huh?” a voice called from behind me.
“Adam!” I whirled around to see him sitting on the ground next to the greenhouse. He looked different, not in his usual clothes but in a wait staff outfit instead.
“What are you doing here?” I asked in shock.
He can’t try to stop me now. I’m too close.
“I knew you’d be here,” he said as he stood up and walked toward me.
I tilted my head. “How?”
“Because we think a lot alike,” he said with a smirk. “If it were me and I wanted to hide somewhere that no one would think to look, and that would also put me right in the exact spot where I needed to be. I’d come here.”
I shook my head. “How did you stay up here during that party without anyone seeing you?”
Adam lifted his eyebrow at me. “Come on, you’ve seen me get on and off Goldshire campus with ease. This is my kind of game,” he chuckled. “Also, it helps when you’re able to snatch a uniform.” He pulled at the collar of his white dress shirt. He had walked straight in, pretending to be a server, and then just ducked out of sight while they were packing things up after the party…smart.
“Did you tell the others I was here?” I asked.
“No. Not yet, anyway.”
“You can’t tell them,” I pleaded. “You know I need to do this on my own.”
Adam didn’t say anything. He just took my hand and sat down with me on the roof.
