University of Wonderland

Chapter Thirty-Three

The plan had seemed utterly attractive while lying in bed. Foolprof, even. Take the keys. Go inside. Find the information to link someone to the crime. Solve the case. What I hadn't put everything together, which I didn't have the guts to.

I paced in front of the City Hall, my heart pounding as if it was ready to jump out of my chest and leave me completely. I stopped in front of the rows of white roses lining the entrance and took in a deep breath.

You're not breaking and entering, I lied ot myself. You have a key.

I counted to three and took the keys out of my pockets, but my hands were sweating. The keys slipped through my fingers and hit the ground with a meatallic clink.

I should go home and forget about Minho's stupid plan. I tried to move quickly, but my feet didn't move, weighed down by the concrete. As scared as I was, I wanted to do this. I looked for my phone. 3:10 a.m. blinked at me on the screen. If I had Sehun's number, I would call him. Accomplices equaled encouragement.

But it wouldn't have mattered. Sehun didn't like Minho's idea. So did Sulli. If I called her, she'd try to talk me out of this. I knew what a bad idea it was. I'd broken up with my sense of reason when I first followed Sulli through the woods. Might as well go farther down the path of wrong and stupid. I let out a crazy laugh that echoed in the darkness.

Morality bites . . .

Before I could stop myself, I looked through my contacts to find Minho's number. It was absurb that Sulli had made me add my least favorite person's number when I still didn't have my own boyfriend's. Tonight, though, it came in handy.

"What?" he said when he picked up. He didn't sound tired, more like . . . prepared.

"Hey . . . It's Suzy. I have a weird question."

"Wow. Didn't strike me as the booty-call type."

My nerves blurted out of my mouth that sounded flirty. I covered it up with a cough. He was calling my crazy, and this was the first time he made sense. "I'm outside of City Hall."

"Keys?"

"Yeah." The word came out choked.

"Be there soon."

As soon as I hung up, I felt my stomach dropped to the ground. I'd just comitted to an felony. With my . . . enemy.

Aish.

To Minho's credit, he didn't share Sulli's penchant for being late. He arrived in less than five minutes, wearing the same uniform as me, hoodie tied tightly around his face so only his eyes and nose were visible. A skull beanie secured the hoodie in place. He carried a bag, and brought his face close to mine; I had to turn away. He kept staring. "Are you a hologram?"

"Yes," I said. "And a robot. I'm a miracle of modern science."

"That's absurb. That kind of technology won't exist for another seventeen years." He counted his fingers. "And six days. Now I know you're lying. Which means, you must be Suzy."

"That's debatable. I'm starting to think I was changed into someone else in the middle of the night." The real Suzy wouldn't do something this stupid.

He nodded. "That's probably true. It happens to me a few days a week."

"I hope you woke up as a superhero tonight." I leaned closer to his bag. "You better not have any camera in there."

"No camera." He opened the bag for me to see. Tubes rattled inside, but nothing small like a digital camera. He even let me check his empty pockets. So chivalrous.

"How do I know I can trust you?" I asked him.

"You don't, but you called me, which means you thought you could."

I pursed my lips. "I'm not sure I'm thinking clearly tonight."

"Let's say I need you as much as you need me. Besides, I've got plenty to blackmail you with already." He slowly smiled. "So why did you call me?"

"I need to get inside." I used my chin to point at the entrance.

"Did you try knocking?" He knocked in the air and clucked his tongue for the sound effect.

I ran my fingers through my hair. "That wouldn't make sense."

He snapped his fingers in an aha gesture. "There might be some sense in knocking, if for example I were inside and you weren't. Or you didn't bring the keys."

I jingled my pocket for proof. "Keys, yes. Courage, no."

"The you could always sit on the steps until tomorrow. Someone's bound to let you in then."

I gave him a dirty look. I knew what he was getting at. Why would I call him when there were other ways to get inside without him? "I need to find evidence about something, and I kind of chickened out when tried to do it alone."

"And you naturally thought of inviting me? I'm flattered."

"Would you be offended if I saif you were my last resort?"

"If I wasn't your last resort, I'd think this was a trap." He place the bag down and squatted, his eyes level with mine. "What kind of evidence?"

I might have been stupid for wanting to break into the City Hall, but I wasn't stupid enough to tell Minho my secrets. "You tell me what you're after first."

"Fair enough. It's probably better if we don't know. This way, we won't get in each other's way." He pulled out a flashlight and turn it on. The pointed the beam at my eyes, forcing me to squint. "Though, if you're trying to prove the city had been brainwashing us with subliminal messages, don't waste your time." He turn the flashlight to his own face, scary-story style. "I've recorded and analyzed every school announcement. They're clean."

"Good to know."

He moved the flashlight away from his face. "Where's yours?"

I showed him my empty plams. "Um . . . gone?"

He smirked and tapped his flashlight. "Good thing you got me, then." He handed the flashlight to me and grabbed another one from his bag.

It was almost sweet that he'd thought of me. Almost. Because really it meant he thought I was too incompetent to do this on my own, which - come to think of it - might've been true. But there was no way I'd ever admit out loud how much I needed him.

Though calling him at three a.m. probably sent the mesage pretty well.

He looked back at me as he went up the stairs and offered his hand. I refused to show any more weakness. I forced my legs to follow my commands while my hands took over nerve duty.

"You aim the flashlight. I'll take care of the cameras." He flashed me a smile more evil than comforting.

"You said you didn't bring a camera!" The flashlight rattled in my hand.

"Not my camera. The security ones, stupid." He extracted a can of black spray paint from his bag and shook it like maraca. "I thought you were supposed to be smart."

I swallowed hard. "Minho . . . I don't know."