Mezzanine

| 36 |

You've got to be kidding me.

Christine's thoughts pounded through my mind as soon as she saw Carter, Lola and me coming up the library stairs.

The entire day at school had gone by in a blur, and we'd left as soon as the bell rang. I knew I'd get in trouble for skipping detention again, but I could deal with that. We had more important things to worry about right now. It was already the twenty sixth of October. We were quickly running out of time before the thirtieth.

"Hi, Christine," Carter said as we approached her desk. He grinned, and as fake as his smile was, it still somehow looked genuinely friendly on him.

"Nope." She shook her head and picked up a stack of papers, flipping through them and pretending she was working. "We had a deal. I told you everything I know, and now—"

"This isn't about the night you spent on Ninth Street," Carter cut her off.

She narrowed her eyes as she tapped the papers on her desk to even them. Then what do they want? It must be something about that factory, even if it isn't about that night, otherwise he would have said...

"Look, Christine," Lola cut off her thoughts. "We need your help. And it isn't about that night."

"We were actually wondering if you'd seen..." Carter stalled out, glancing at me out of the corners of his eyes.

"A friend of ours," I filled in when he didn't continue.

Christine's brow furrowed. Why would they think I'd seen their friend? No one their age comes to the library.

"What friend?" she asked. Surely they could just talk to them at school or text them. "And why would you think I've seen them?"

"The thing is," Lola began, "we don't have his phone number, and we haven't seen him in a long time. We think he might have been here researching something." She paused for a second. "About a year ago."

Christine frowned as she set her papers aside, finally giving us her full attention. Why haven't they seen him in a year...and why are they acting so suspicious?

Her gaze met mine, and she blinked a few times. There's something about him...why do I get the feeling I should know what they're talking about? I'm missing something.

"Maybe your friend had a library card," she said instead. "It would have a phone number associated with it. I suppose I could check our system." She turned to her computer and started typing into it. "What's his name?"

Lola and Carter both glanced at me, like they were waiting for my permission to continue.

"Damien," I said. "Damien Mercer." I paused, biting my lower lip. "And I lied before. He isn't our friend. He's my brother."

Christine's eyes shot up from her screen. He hasn't seen his brother in a year and doesn't even know his phone number? And why does he think I would have seen him?

My pulse pounded through my ears as I listened to the thoughts I didn't want to hear. "Can you just check if he's in the system?" I asked before she could think anything else. "Please."

"Okay." She nodded, her expression softening as she turned her attention back to her computer. She twirled a strand of hair around one finger as she clicked and scrolled. Her thoughts whizzed through a stream of random names and numbers as she moved both hands to her keyboard and typed in a few searches.

I inched closer to the desk, resting my palms on the surface as my eyes involuntarily went to her computer. The idea of seeing Damien's name flash on the screen made my heart race. I was suddenly so close to a clue that he was alive—something I'd been wanting more than anything for the past year.