I watched her for a moment. She’d been a V, Mason had said. She’d helped start the V’s. And now she was so… broken. Lonely. I felt a sudden ache—I wanted to go after her and say something. I wanted to hug her.
I’d find her tomorrow. It could wait until we weren’t surrounded by other students. I couldn’t imagine that the Society liked seeing me talk to her.
I finished helping with the chairs, then hurried back across the dance floor to where Jane stood, laughing with two of the V girls. When she saw me, she excused herself.
“Hey,” she said, taking my hand. “Want to go for a walk?” She motioned toward the door.
“Won’t you be cold?” I asked, looking at her bare arms and neck.
“You’ll have to put your arm around me.”
“How could I say no?”
We stepped out the patio door and were met with a cool breeze. I slipped my arm around her and pulled her tight against me.
“Hang on,” she said, bending down. A moment later she stood back up, her shoes in her hand. “I hate these things.”
“But they look so good,” I said with a laugh.
“I’ll give them to you and you can look at them anytime you want.”
The moon was out and we could see the dim traces of the track, the forest, and the groundskeeping sheds. A few other couples were out on the lawn, strolling and talking. A deer stood out beyond the track, cautiously watching us.
“What would you do if you got out?” she asked. We were walking close to the building—I hoped it would keep some of the breeze off her.
I was about to answer but she stopped me. “I know what you’re going to say, and that’s not the answer I want. Skip all the stuff about calling the police and freeing everyone from the school. After that.”
“I haven’t really thought that far ahead,” I said with a smile.
“What about a job?”
“I told you. I’m going to be a field surveyor.”
Jane laughed. “For real.”
“I honestly don’t know. I’ve always thought I’d like to own my own business, be my own boss. But I don’t know what I’d do.”
We turned the corner toward the front of the school.
“I think I’d like to be a doctor,” Jane said.
“What kind?”
“No idea.”
We walked in silence for a little while, and she had me move my arm from her waist to her shoulders, to keep her warm. I offered my sweater, but she said she didn’t want to cover her dress.
I formed a question in my head, and tried to think of different ways to ask it. I know you hate it when I bring this up… Let me just ask one thing and then I’ll shut up… I’m only asking because I really like you…
What if we ran away?
But I couldn’t force myself to say it. At that moment, it just didn’t feel right. I didn’t want to think about climbing walls and cutting razor wire and starting forest fires. Even if Jane was totally willing. It was dangerous. Lily had died.
If we followed the rules, no one would die. Jane and I could walk like this all the time, every day. Of course, eventually someone would have to do something. But I could worry about that later. For now, things were good.
She turned toward the building and led me to the wall, to a small alcove between a short manicured pine and a window well. I felt my blood pressure surge as she turned to face me. She slipped her arms around my neck, just as she had on the dance floor.
Her green eyes were locked on mine.
“Thanks for asking me to the dance.” Her voice was barely above a whisper, her lips curling up in a tiny, uncertain smile.
“Thanks for saying yes.”
I could feel her breath on my face.
“I’m glad you came to Maxfield,” she said.
My heart was thumping in my chest. She smelled so good, like fresh roses. “Me too.”
She leaned toward me, and I wrapped my arms tighter around her back.
Her lips were cool and soft, and every other thought disappeared from my head. There was only Jane.
I didn’t let go, didn’t want to ever let go. I didn’t want to go back to normal life.
Why couldn’t this be normal life?
She pulled back. She was beaming, her eyes sparkling in the starlight.
We stared at each other for a moment. The scent of her perfume still hung on my lips, and I wanted to kiss her again. But I could see from her smile that she wanted to say something.
“What?” I asked, unable to hide my own grin.
Jane stepped up to me again, her face an inch away. I could almost feel her lips on mine, but instead of kissing me she spoke.
“You don’t still want to leave, do you?”
I smiled. “Well, not tonight.”
Her eyes narrowed and she moved back slightly. Her arms hung around my shoulders. “You’re still planning on it, though.”
“Of course,” I said, confused. “We’ll go together, you and me.”
“But…” Her voice trailed off, and she looked up at the stars.
“I can’t stay here.”
Her hands fell to her sides. “But this is good,” she said. “Can’t you see that? We can be happy here.”
“If we stay here we’ll die.”
“If we stay here then we’ll have more of this,” she insisted with desperate eyes. “We can be together. We can be happy.”
I took a breath, wishing we could rewind the conversation and go back to where we were a minute before.
“I’m not saying that we have to escape tomorrow.”
She clutched my arms, her face again close to mine. “Then let’s just not talk about it. Let’s wait. Let’s just be like this, you and me. Think about it.”
“Think about it?” I said, my voice raised. “No, you think about it. What do you think is going to happen a year from now, or two years from now? This is some weird prison—it’s not a resort. No one grows old here.”
Her eyes flashed as she stepped away from me and folded her arms. “Don’t tell me what this school is like. I know it better than you do.”
I yelled, “Then what do you think is going to happen?”
Jane spun away from me, facing the cold rough stone of the school’s walls.
I could feel adrenaline pumping in my veins, and I tried to calm down. I didn’t want to act like this, not tonight. But Jane, of all people, should have realized that the school was a death trap. Every day we stayed was a day closer to detention or worse.
I reached out with one hand and touched her shoulder.
She shrugged me away. “Don’t.”
“Jane…”
I could tell she was crying now. It didn’t have to end like this. But maybe it was better if it did. Mason’s words rang through my head. If you’re going to get killed next week crossing the wall, stay away from Jane.
I touched her shoulder again. “I’m sorry.” She didn’t shake me off this time.
Her hand reached up and touched mine. She was ice cold. She turned toward me.
Suddenly her eyes went wide, looking over my shoulder. Her mouth opened in a scream, but it was knocked out of her—something hit me in the back and I smashed forward into Jane, knocking her into the wall.
I stumbled and turned just in time to see Dylan swinging a pipe. I wanted to duck but turned my back to the
