he was going to have a hard time getting Nina to take him seriously. He tried anyway.
'This was my idea! I don't want to be just a… a decoy!' 'Shh,' Nina said. 'Someone's going to hear you.' She shook her head and pulled the door completely shut. Now they were in total darkness. Nina bent over and whispered directly into Matthias's ear. 'You can't just think about what yew want. Everybody notices you, because of Tiddy. If you disappeared, it'd make a big stir. Besides, if your plan works, we need you to keep eavesdropping on the com' mander's office.'
Matthias imagined his future as Nina saw it: He'd lie on his bed for the rest of his life listening to the bug from the commander's office. No — eventually the commander would expect Matthias to start attending the meetings. Eventually Matthias would have to start acting like a true member of the Population Police. Start hurting people, killing people — joining in their evil.
He'd have to do that, or the rest of his life would not be very long.
'Nina, I can't go on eavesdropping,' Matthias whispered back, his words sinking into the darkness. He wished he and Nina were in full sunshine; he thought that maybe if she could see his face, she'd understand that he wasn't just being selfish by wanting to get away from Population Police headquarters. 'Give the tape recorder and headphones to someone else — anyone in the building should be able to pick up the signals.'
'Without getting caught?' Nina challenged.
Matthias shrugged helplessly, forgetting Nina couldn't see him. He'd gotten distracted from what he really wanted to say.
'Nina, you knew Percy and Alia,' he began. 'You know what great friends they were. You know they never had the chance to eat all the food they ever wanted, to wear nice clothes, to be treated like… like some sort of precious toy. Like I'm being treated now. But they didn't ever have to act like an evil man is their best friend, either, or pretend to be grieving for a killer. Remember how nice Alia always was to you when Percy and I still weren't sure we could trust you? She wasn't pretending. She really liked you, and she always wanted to believe that people are good, underneath it all.'
Matthias stopped because the words were getting caught in his throat. There was a silence, and he was afraid that Nina hadn't even heard him.
Then, 'What's that got to do with your role in the plan?' Nina asked. She sounded like she was trying to stay harsh and businesslike, but she had a catch in her voice.
'Nothing. Everything,' Matthias said. 'It may not make sense to you, but I have to do this. For Percy and Alia.'
'I think—,' Nina began, and Matthias could tell her answer was going to be no. She had to have everything making sense; she wouldn't let his emotions overrule her carefully plotted reasons.
And then suddenly the closet door whipped open, and two Population Police guards were shining flashlights right at them.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Too bad. We didn't catch them kissing,' one of the guards said.
It was Mike. He stood there leering at the two of them, the lights of the cafeteria blazing behind him.
'The kid keeps saying he needs a midnight snack. The girl always says she has extra work to do,' the other guard said, shaking his head. 'And I'm supposed to believe them?'
Too late, Matthias realized that this was the same guard who had been on duty the last time he'd sneaked down to meet Nina. The guard reached out and grabbed the back of Matthias's shirt collar. Mike took hold of Nina's collar too and pulled her out of the closet.
'Think the commander will be interested in hearing about this?' the guard asked. 'Think he'd give me a reward?'
'Or a swift kick,' Mike mused. He steered Nina by the collar until she was right beside Matthias. 'Don't you think they're cute together? It'd be kind of a shame to thwart young love. And you've got to give the kid credit for winning over an older lady.'
Nina and Matthias stood stiffly, side by side, frozen in fear.
'But the commander—,' the guard said.
'The commander just lost Tiddy,' Mike said. 'You want to be the reason he stops trusting the kid?'
Nina tore away from Mike's grasp and fell to her knees.
'Please,' she begged. 'Punish me if you have to. But don't — don't tell on my boyfriend.' She lowered her head, and Matthias could see tears glistening in her eyelashes.
'See?' Mike said. 'How can you resist that?'
'But what if they're—,' the other guard began.
'What?' Mike asked. 'Spies? Saboteurs? Rebels? Con men? Give me a break. They're just a couple of kids. In love. Don't you remember the first girl you kissed?'
The guard got a dreamy look on his face, then he shrugged it away.
'Okay, okay,' he muttered. 'I won't say anything this time. But if I ever catch the two of you sneaking down here in the middle of the night again, you're in big trouble. Now go on back to your rooms.'
He shoved Matthias forward and Matthias fell over, sprawled out on the floor. As Matthias was scrambling back to his feet, he heard Mike say, 'Oh, at least let them hug each other good-bye.'
Mike stood back looking thoroughly entertained as Matthias awkwardly put his arms around Nina's shoulders. She was still on her knees, so Matthias had to bend over. He kept his head on the side away from Mike and the other guard, so he dared to bury his face in Nina's hair and whisper into her ear, 'You have to let me go with you now. Now that they suspect—'
'Okay! That's enough!' the guard called out.
Nina pulled away and stood up. Matthias could see the tears welling in her eyes, the red marks on her neck where Mike had pulled her collar too hard, the individual hairs that had escaped from her braids and reached out toward Matthias like they had a mind of their own. And he could see her head moving slowly, up and down.
She was saying yes.
Chapter Thirty-Six
At dusk the next day, Matthias took his basketball and stepped out of his room, latching the door firmly behind him. Nina's new instructions — which she'd passed to him at lunch — had reminded him to act carefree and playful; he just hoped he could keep his legs from shaking. Ever since he and Nina had been caught in the closet, he'd been imagining all the ways this plan could go wrong.
He strolled past all the guards in the hallway. One of them winked at him, and he didn't understand why. Was the guard trying to warn Matthias somehow? Did the guard know something that Matthias didn't? Or was the wink just because the guard had heard about Matthias being caught in a closet with a girl? People acted like that sometimes about boys and girls falling in love. Matthias didn't understand it. He didn't want to. Love made him think of the way Mr. Talbot had acted, saying good-bye to his wife when she'd gone to help Percy and Alia. Right at the end, Mr. Talbot had let his fingers linger on the side of the car, as if he couldn't bear to let her go. And then she hadn't come back….
He couldn't think about that right now. Too distracting. He forced himself to walk down the stairs, out the front door, and several feet down the driveway. So far, so good. He positioned himself near the line of guards at the front gate and began bouncing the ball.
