The Unmasking

Part 33

I was huffing heavily by the time Samantha pulled me around the side of the mansion, wispy trails of ivy curling up the aged brick to the second story where her attention was. She let go of my hand and I leaned against the brick to catch my breath, wordlessly asking why she was bringing me here to the outer brick wall and not exploring the garden like she'd told Mr. Blackbourne we'd do.

She shushed me and removed her gloves, shoving them into her coat pocket messily, not bothering to make sure they were all the way in. I stared at the two white fingers poking out of her navy pocket as she crouched and then jumped for a branch of a tree growing close to the wall, grabbing and hanging on as her feet kicked around. She wasn't having much success getting up, flailing like she was. I pushed off the wall and aimed to grab on to one of her feet, nabbing her by a heel and narrowly avoiding getting kicked. She looked down at me, surprised at the step up I was giving her at first, then smiling and accepting the lift. I wondered if this was normal for Academy families, all this sneaking around and entering buildings by any means but the front door. When she was up she scrambled through the branches, up to an arched window. She reached for it, straining a few inches too short and catching herself from falling, making my stomach drop with worry at her close call. Hadn't she done this before?

I got myself up in the tree, using a different, higher branch on my way to help with the window to avoid breakage of the one she was on. She froze below me, her eyes wide when the window swung open on it's hinge under my hand. I put a foot down on the sill, easing in quietly and turning back with my hand held out for her. Her eyes were still wide, but she took my hand and got in with much bumping and banging, falling in when she was finally free from the tree. I caught her, and she giggled.

So much for quietly sneaking in.

We both moved further into what was a dark room with sheeted furniture tucked into the corners, the hint of must capturing the length of time they had been unused. My eyes gazed over the hallow indents spread over sophisticated lines as Samantha bounced ahead, opening the door not so quietly so she could peek out. I waited, rubbing at my elbow and wondering what we were being not so secret about. The hallway was empty and dark. Weren't we supposed to be exploring outside?

She creaked the door the rest of the way open, throwing a wild, panicked look back at me with her finger to her lips, and sprinted, her heavy heels clicking on the wood floor. I stared at the empty doorway only a moment as I listened to her clatter round a bend before I followed her, sure I'd know where she was even if she moved ahead all the way to the other side of the mansion. A dark hall and several turns later she stopped suddenly, turned back the way she'd come, almost bumping into me.

"This way...I think. I haven't been here in a while."

She began searching along the wall with her hands, brows perplexed as she hunted. I glanced back down the hall, hearing voices murmuring back the way we came. I just wanted to go back outside and come in the normal way. Her hand suddenly gripped mine, tugging urgently towards a small open crawlspace similar to the one I had back in my room that led to the secret room the boys had made me. Her eyes were excited, anxious. 

"Don't you want to find out why Owie wants the old battle axe on your tail? Hurry!"

I halted, tugging my hand free gently. The boys were already on my tail all the time in one way or another, for reasons I probably couldn't tell her. Listening in to Mr. Blackbourne's conversation without him knowing, did I want to do that? Did I want her to hear that? She beamed at my hesitation and slipped through the little door, crawling so the bottom of her heels were the last thing I saw before she disappeared.

"Samantha!," I hissed, "don't!"

Her clunking continued further along the restrictive space, completely ignoring me. I pressed my palm up to my hairline, smoothing back my hair tightly so I could think. Mr. Blackbourne was secretive for a reason. Bringing me here was blatantly ignoring all the reasons he shouldn't be trusting me right now, and here I was, contemplating spying on him and eavesdropping.