Point Blank

scarf and a single glove. He shoved one hand into a pocket. ‚Let’s go,' he said.

They went back down and along the corridor, passing the games room. Nicolas and Cassian were playing table tennis, and Alex stopped at the door to watch them. The ball was bouncing back and forth, and Alex found himself mesmerized. He stood there for about sixty seconds, watching. Kerplink, kerplunk, kerplink, kerplunk-neither of the boys was scoring. There it was again. Different but the same. Obviously, there were two boys there. But the way they played, the style of their game, was identical. If it had been one boy knocking a ball against a mirror, the result would have looked much the same. Alex shivered. James was standing at his shoulder.

The two of them moved away.

Hugo was sitting in the library. The boy who had been sent to Point Blanc for shoplifting was reading a Dutch edition of National Geographic magazine. They reached the hall, and there was Cassian’s poem, prominently pinned to the bulletin board. He had been sent to Point Blanc for smuggling drugs. Now he was writing about daffodils.

Alex pushed open the main door and felt the cold wind hit his face. He was grateful for it.

He needed to be reminded that there was a real world outside this bizarre goldfish bowl.

It had begun to snow again. The two boys walked slowly around the building. A couple of guards walked toward them, speaking softly in German. Alex had counted thirty guards at Point Blanc, all of them young German men, dressed in uniform black roll-neck sweaters and black vests. The guards never spoke to the boys. They had the pale, unhealthy faces and close-cropped hair he would have expected. Dr. Grief had said they were there for his protection, but Alex still wondered. Were they here to keep intruders out, or the boys in?

‚This way,' James said.

James walked ahead, his feet sinking into the thick snow. Alex followed, looking back at the windows on the third and fourth floors. It was maddening. A whole half of the castleperhaps more-was closed off to him, and he still couldn’t think of a way of getting up to it. He couldn’t climb. The brickwork was too smooth and there was no convenient ivy to provide handholds.

The drainpipes looked too fragile to take his weight.

Something moved. Alex stopped in his tracks.

‚What is it?' James asked.

‚There!' Alex pointed at the third floor. He thought he’d seen a figure, watching them from behind the window directly above his room. It was there for only a moment. The face seemed to be masked. A white mask with a narrow slit for the eyes. But even as he pointed, the figure stepped back, out of sight.

‚I don’t see anything,' James said.

‚It’s gone.'

They walked on, heading for the abandoned ski jump. According to James, the jump had been built just before Grief had bought the academy. There had been plans to turn the building into a winter sports training center. The jump had never been used. They reached the wooden barriers that lay across the entrance and stopped.

‚Let me ask you something,' James said. His breath was misting in the cold air. ‚What do you think of this place?'

‚Why do we have to talk out here?' Alex asked. Despite his coat, he was beginning to shiver.

‚Because when I’m inside the building, I get the feeling that someone is listening to every word I say.'

Alex nodded. ‚I know what you mean.' He considered the question James had put to him.

‚I think you were right the first day we met,' he said. ‚This place is creepy.'

‚So how would you feel about getting out of here?'

‚You know how to fly the helicopter?'

‚No. But I’m going.' James paused and looked around. The two guards had gone into the school. There was nobody else in sight. ‚I can trust you, Alex, because you’ve just gotten here.

He hasn’t gotten to you yet.' Dr. Grief. James didn’t need to say the name. ‚But believe me,' he went on, ‚it won’t be long. If you stay here, you’re going to end up like the others. Model students. That’s exactly the word for them. It’s like they’re all made out of plastic. Well, I’ve had enough. I’m not going to let him do that to me.'

‚Are you going to run away?' Alex asked.

‚Who needs to run?' James looked down the slope. ‚I’m going to ski.'

Alex looked at the slope. It plunged steeply down, stretching on forever. ‚Is that possible?'

he asked. ‚I thought—'

‚I know Grief says it’s too dangerous. But he would, wouldn’t he? It’s true that it’s expert black runs all the way down, and there’s bound to be tons of moguls…'

‚Won’t the snow have melted?'

‚Only farther down.' James pointed. ‚I’ve been right down to the bottom,' he said. ‚I did it the first week I was here. All the slopes run into a single valley. It’s called La Vallee de Fer. You can’t actually make it as far as the town because there’s a train track that cuts across. But if I can get to the track, I reckon I can walk the rest of the way.'

‚And then?'

‚A train back to Dusseldorf. If my dad tries to send me back here, I’ll go to my mom in England. If she doesn’t want me, I’ll disappear. I’ve got friends in Paris and Berlin. I don’t care.

All I know is, I’ve got to split, and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll come too.'

Alex considered. He was almost tempted to join the other boy, if only to help him on his way. But he had a job to do. ‚I don’t have any skis,' he said.

‚Nor do I.' James spat into the snow. ‚Grief took all the skis when the season ended. He’s got them locked up somewhere.'

‚On the third floor?'

‚Maybe. But I’ll find them. And then I’m out of here.' He reached out to Alex with his ungloved hand. ‚Come with me.'

Alex shook his head. ‚I’m sorry, James. You go, and good luck to you. But I’ll stick it out a bit longer. I don’t want to break my neck.'

‚Okay. That’s your choice. I’ll send you a postcard.'

The two of them walked back toward the school. Alex gestured at the window where he had seen the masked face. ‚Have you ever wondered what goes on up there?' be asked.

‚No.' James shrugged. ‚I suppose that’s where the guards live.'

‚Two whole floors?'

‚There’s a basement as well. And Dr. Grief’s rooms. Do you think he sleeps with Miss Stomach-bag?' James made a face. ‚That’s a pretty gross thought, the two of them together.

Darth Vader and King Kong. Well, I’m going to find my skis and get out of here, Alex. And if you’ve got any sense, you’ll come too.'

Alex and James were skiing together down the slope, the blades cutting smoothly through the surface snow. It was a perfect night—everything frozen and still. They had left the academy behind them. But then Alex saw the figure ahead of them. Dr. Grief was there. He was standing motionless, wearing his dark suit, his eyes hidden by his round wire glasses. Alex veered away from him. He had lost control. He was moving faster and faster down the slope, his poles flailing at the air, his skis refusing to turn. He could see the ski jump ahead of him. Someone had removed the barriers. He felt his skis leave the snow and shoot forward onto solid ice. And then it was a screaming drop down, tearing ever farther into the night, knowing there was no way back. Dr. Grief laughed, and at the same moment there was a click and Alex was shot into space, spinning a mile above the ground and then falling, falling, falling …

He woke up.

He was lying in bed, the moonlight spilling onto his covers. He looked at his watch. A quarter past two. He played back the dream he had just had. Trying to escape with James. Dr.

Grief waiting for them. He had to admit, the academy was beginning to get to him. He didn’t usually have bad dreams. But the school and the people in it were slipping under his skin, working their way into his mind.

He thought about what he had heard. Dr. Grief laughing and something else … a clicking sound. That was