Chapter Thirty-Nine Maya

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Maya

February 2012

It was rave night at Sterling Club, and everyone was there except me. I was exhausted, lying in bed with a pillow over my head, on the verge of sleep, when a door slammed, jerking me awake. I sighed and glanced at the clock—one forty-five a.m .

My phone buzzed. A text from Daisy— Maya, get over here, quick. Something’s wrong with Lila.

—

My lungs burned as I sprinted to the street, and when I arrived at Sterling Club, the walls were pulsing with electronic music and strobe lights. My coat was soaked from the rain as I looked for Lila. I felt it in my bones: Something was wrong.

The ballroom was hazy, filled with a mix of sweat and steam. A fog machine blasted the dance floor, and by the DJ booth, Cecily and Theodore Hunt were dancing. She was a wisp of silver in her bikini and tiny skirt, one arm wrapped behind his neck.

I guess she really has moved on, I thought. It made sense that she and Theo would end up together. It seemed they’d been destined from birth: same private high school, sailing trips every summer with their families. “Sailing” to her meant on his family’s yacht all over the world—he’s heir to a massive oil fortune, and she’d once joked that if she married him they’d probably have to have the union reviewed by the Federal Trade Commission to make sure their marriage wouldn’t be considered a monopoly.

I yelled out to her, “Cecily!” but she couldn’t hear me over the music. Suddenly I was frightened of the people around me, the way the whites of their eyes and their teeth glowed in the blacklight.

Daisy ran up to me in a neon-pink rave outfit with jewels all over her face. “Have you seen Lila?”

I shook my head. “I just got here.”

“Shit. Last time I saw her it seemed like she was headed to the back stairs. Come on.”

Daisy grabbed my hand and we wove through the crowd toward the back stairs. Knowing the only outlet was the roof, we took them two at a time until we reached the emergency exit.

The roof was dark, nearly pitch-black, but in the far corner I could make out two shapes, swaying drunkenly.

Daisy and I hid behind a heating duct and waited. It must have been freezing out there, but I was too wired with adrenaline to notice. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the darkness before I realized what was going on: they weren’t swaying, they were arguing.

Professor DuPont had Lila’s wrist in one hand and waved her phone in the air with the other. She was backed against the side of the roof, trying to get away, too close to the edge.

I had the sudden urge to rush over and yank her away from the side before she fell. But I was frozen in fear. What if DuPont saw me and panicked; what if that sent them over the edge?

My heart thudded against the inside of my ribs. I needed to do something. But what? What?

Suddenly Lila jerked free of his grip and ran for the door. Daisy and I scrambled behind the heating unit as he chased after her.

By the time we ran down the stairs after them, they were gone.

“I’m going to go check the officers’ rooms, you look downstairs,” Daisy said, her voice panicked.

I sprinted down to the main floor, but through the fog and bodies, it was impossible to make anyone out. Amid the writhing bodies, my eyes caught a streak of red hair. “Lila?” But the girl ran and jumped into the arms of a tall, unbuttoned guy. It wasn’t her.

Panic rose in my throat as I fought through the crowd of sweaty bodies, disoriented by the flashing lights and throbbing music, and after several more minutes, I gave up.

Making my way to the library, I scanned the faces in the dim light, but everyone was stumbling around in pairs or draped over the furniture. That was when I noticed that the edge of the Persian rug was pulled back, exposing one seam of the trapdoor. They must be down there.

I pried it open and descended the narrow stairwell into the dark. With a loud bang, the door slammed shut, and I was plunged into complete darkness. Overhead, I could hear the bass, the footsteps, but louder was my breath, the blood rushing in my ears.

Turning on the flashlight on my phone, I rushed down the stairs. I had to hurry.

When I reached the door, it was locked. “Lila?” Putting my ear to the door, I listened hard. There was the softest noise, a groan. Lila.

“Open the door!” I slammed my hand against it again and again, heart hammering in my chest.

Remembering the first two numbers from when Lila had unlocked it, I entered 1-5 and tried various combinations for the last two until it opened. In the center of the room, Lila lay curled on the floor, still. She was soaking wet and blood had pooled around her on the concrete.

Oh no. Was I too late?

Her head was turned into the floor, red hair wet and matted. Scared to touch her for fear of injuring her further, I crouched next to her and checked to see if she was breathing. Barely.

I touched her shoulder gently. “Lila? Can you hear me?”

No response.

She started to shiver, so I pulled a blanket from a couch and laid it over her. A deep gash split the skin on her head, and her eyes fluttered open, but they didn’t focus.

“I’m calling an ambulance,” I told her as I slipped my phone from my pocket.

She shook her head in a barely perceptible movement.

“Lila, you need help.”

There it was again. More pronounced. She was shaking her head no.

No? She was scared. She wasn’t thinking straight.

But as I tried to help her to her feet, she pushed me away.

“He’ll be back any minute,” I pleaded.

Adrenaline coursed through me as I tried to imagine the best way out of Sterling. We could go straight through the library and down the main stairwell…but that would lead through the party. We could try the back stairwell to the kitchen instead. It had a door that led out the back.

“Maya?” Cecily’s face twisted in concern as she rushed in, followed by Daisy. “What the hell happened?”

“We need to call 911. She needs an ambulance,” Daisy said, looking her over.

“We should drive her there ourselves. It’ll be faster.” Cecily touched Lila’s shoulder. “Is she awake?”

Lila’s head lolled to her chest as Cecily and I hoisted her up. We slung her arms around our necks and managed to bring her all the way down the back stairwell through the kitchen exit to the backyard, but as we were stumbling toward the street, a door slammed open behind us.

In the doorway stood Professor DuPont.

Cecily shoved her keys in my hand. “My car’s out front.” She turned back to Professor DuPont, blocking his path.

My heart thudded in my ears as Daisy and I struggled to carry Lila to safety.

Once we’d reached the front yard, I looked back to see Cecily arguing with Professor DuPont. Cecily had her hands on her hips, blocking his line of sight, but when he caught sight of us, his face filled with rage.

I pressed the key, and Cecily’s car lit up. After we got Lila into the backseat, I slipped in the driver’s-side door and slammed it shut, heart thrashing in my chest. We need to go. Now!

My hands were shaking, palms slick with sweat, and I was having trouble with the keys. Come on. Come onnnn.

“What are you waiting for?” Daisy shouted from the backseat.

I shoved the key into the ignition and the engine roared to life. When I looked up, Professor DuPont was standing right in front of the car. His eyes locked on mine, and for a moment I didn’t know what to do.

Daisy was yelling, hitting my shoulder, and instinct kicked in.

I threw the car into reverse, knocking a bin over, before pulling off the curb. My heart was beating wildly, adrenaline making my head swim as I stepped harder on the gas. I glanced in the rearview at Lila, who was slumped over against the window. The only thing that mattered was getting to the hospital before we lost her.