“And what?”

“Nothing. Never mind. Just people walking around, the fields, the nursery, a few government buildings, the palace … that sort.”

Alex turned around and peered into Mr. Today’s office again. “Are you joking?”

“Listen, Stowe, I’m getting tired of you never believing a word I tell you. It’s very irritating.”

“Well,” Alex said, “you haven’t exactly been very trustworthy, have you?” But he was not in a mood to fight, and since Samheed ignored it, he turned his face back to the glass. It grew foggy under Alex’s breath. “Have you ever seen … you know. Your parents or anything?” Alex’s voice sounded light, like he probably wasn’t really asking what Samheed knew he was asking, but both of them in that room knew better, though neither would say it.

“I’ve only been close enough twice to really see anything at all,” Samheed said, as if that explained it.

Alex didn’t quite dare to ask again.

Samheed glanced over his shoulder. “What are you doing up this late, anyway?”

“I—I had a nightmare,” Alex said, his face flushing guiltily now, because this was the second time he’d thought of Aaron in two minutes. “Got some milk and a snack. Decided to finally give this hallway a try …” He trailed off. “What about you?”

Now it was Samheed’s turn to blush. “My door won’t let me in. I was just on my way down to the dining room so I could take the tube when I saw you.”

Alex snorted. “What did you say to it this time?”

“I told it to stop being so stupid cheerful all the time because it was driving me insane.”

“That would do it,” Alex said. “I suppose you could use my tube.”

“Thanks.”

The two boys walked back toward the balcony, hushing their voices as they neared it, and peeked around the corners, being very careful no part of their bodies showed until they were quite sure no one was around. Then together they stepped out of the hallway.

“By the way, I’ve always wondered,” Samheed said. “What’s actually on the wall where the secret hallway is?”

“It’s a gigantic mirror,” Alex said, remembering.

“Ah, well, that makes sense.” They continued down the boys’ hall. “One day when I was standing on the balcony waiting for Lani, she came out and immediately told me I had ink on my lip. I said, ‘Where?’ And she looked at me like I was stupid, pointed at the secret hallway, and said, ‘Well, just look in the mirror, you dolt.’”

Alex laughed quietly. “So then what?”

“I looked at the clock and said, ‘We’re late!’”

Alex’s door sang out an overly cheerful greeting as they approached. Samheed rolled his eyes but held his tongue as the door swung open. He looked around Alex’s room for a moment before sliding into the tube. “Hey, Alex, if you want to check out the”—he glanced sideways at Clive—“thing, tomorrow’s a good day for it. Lunchtime.”

Alex nodded. “Thanks.”

“But don’t get your hopes up.” Samheed narrowed his eyes, studying Alex’s face for a moment, and then he disappeared.

Alex stood, looking at the empty space where Samheed had been. “It’s too late for that,” he said.

Defense

It was rare to see Lani without a book these days. She always seemed to be reading, whether at meals or walking across the lawn or through the mansion. And while she didn’t usually bump into things while reading and walking, it happened that as she left the girls’ hallway on her way to breakfast, someone sort of popped out of nowhere in front of her and she ran right into him. Her book flew out of her hands and sailed over the balcony railing, causing quite a stir down below.

“Hey—watch it, shrimp!” It was Will Blair.

Lani scrambled to her feet and peered over the railing. “Sorry,” she called out to the pedestrians down below, but those assaulted by the book had moved on by now. She turned back to Will, her eyes burning. “Why do you have to be so rude?”

Will, who was a wiry boy of sixteen, snarled. “Why do you have to be such a priss?”

Lani flounced off down the stairs in a huff. When she got to the bottom, she couldn’t help but look over her shoulder to see if Will was following her, but in the stream of humans and creatures all heading down the stairs for breakfast, he had disappeared. Lani rolled her eyes and picked up her book, which someone had kindly set on a hallway table to keep it from being trampled, opened it up, and began reading again as she made her way to the dining room and joined the others at their usual table.

“You’re late this morning,” Meghan remarked as Lani sat down next to Samheed. Both Samheed and Alex were bleary-eyed from their nighttime escapade, and they ate in silence. But Meghan was as bright as ever.

“That Will Blair,” Lani grumbled, “knocked me down and blamed it on me.”

“Were you reading?” Meghan asked.

“Well, yes, but he came out of nowhere and I ran right into him.”

Samheed paused his chewing, turned to look at Lani, swallowed and said, “What do you mean, he came out of nowhere? Were you standing in front of the boys’ hallway or something?”

“Well, that would be a stupid place to stand, wouldn’t it? Don’t you think I know better than that?” Lani rolled her eyes and grabbed a jelly-filled pastry from the basket at the center of the table.