Chapter 67: Chapter 67: Locked in a room

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Chapter 67: Locked in a room

Dinner ended in an unnatural silence; the din from the other rooms still surrounded them, yet at the table in Room 290, no one could find anything left to say. They left the common room without the usual banter, and as the dormitory door closed behind them, the tension in the air eased slightly not quite relief, but the chance to speak without fear of being overheard by the wrong people.

They sat together on the beds nearest the center of the room, forming a rough circle.

“I can’t get it out of my head,” Lena said, her voice still trembling and her gaze fixed on an empty spot on the floor. “A year. A whole year without seeing the sun. Without washing. Locked in a room, having his blood drained every day as if he were… as if he were just a container to be emptied and filled again.” She hunched her shoulders, wrapping her arms around herself. “I knew him. He slept in the bed where Kairan sleeps now. He used to tell me everything, every night before falling asleep. And I kept thinking he’d simply been lucky that someone had taken him away from here to something better. But he was right there. He’d been there the whole time, just two doors down from where we all slept.”

“You couldn’t have known,” Amara said gently, sitting beside her and taking her hand.

“I should have pushed harder,” Lena said. “I should have done more than just ask Mrs. Hargrove once and accept her answer.”

“None of us did much,” Gregory said quietly. “Not even me, and yet I never fully believed the adoption story. I thought about it, then just went on living my life as if thinking about it once was enough.” “It’s no use blaming ourselves now,” Clara said, though her voice usually so steady betrayed an unusual fragility. “We need to figure out what to do next.”

Kairan, who had been listening in silence, stepped forward. “There’s something I keep thinking about,” he said. “I don’t think Mrs. Hargrove has the slightest idea what Ezra is really going through.” Everyone turned toward him.

“Why do you think that?” Peter asked.

“Because if she really knew… if she knew there was a child being held captive, having blood drained from him every day, begging to be killed just to end it all… I don’t think she could keep running this place as if nothing were wrong. Even a tough woman like her would react somehow. Instead, she acts as if Ezra really was adopted. As if she actually believes her own version of events.”

“Maybe Grimsdyke lied to her,” Samuel said quietly. “He told her something different from what he’s actually doing.”

“Or perhaps she chose to believe the more convenient version,” Victor said, “because getting to the bottom of it would cost her something she isn’t willing to pay.”

“In any case,” Kairan said, “it means she isn’t our main threat. Grimsdyke is. And if we could confront her with the truth in a way she couldn’t ignore maybe we’d gain an ally instead of just facing an obstacle.”

Lena looked up; a glimmer of something resembling hope crossed her face, for the first time since they had left the common room. “Do you think she might help us? If she knew?”

“I don’t know,” Kairan said, as honest as ever. “But it’s a possibility worth considering… later on. First, though, we need to find out everything we can about him. About Grimsdyke.”

“What do you mean?” Gregory asked.

“We can’t act blindly,” Kairan said. “We don’t know exactly when he arrives. We don’t know where he goes before coming to the common room for the blood draws. We don’t know if he always stays for the same amount of time, if he always follows the same route, if someone accompanies him, or if he’s always alone. Every unknown is a factor that could get us discovered before we’re ready.”

Clara nodded slowly; a different, more practical kind of interest lit up her eyes. “You’re right. We need to observe before we act. Any plan we devised now, without knowing these details, would just be a structure built on nothing.” “There’s one thing I want to make clear,” Kairan said, raising a hand, his tone turning more serious than before, “before we decide what to do tomorrow. No one acts alone against that doctor. No one. Not even if you come across an opportunity that looks perfect. Not even if you fear that waiting is too dangerous for Ezra.”

“Why?” Peter asked, though his tone suggested he already partly knew the answer.

“Because it’s truly dangerous,” Kairan said, not raising his voice but speaking with a firmness that brooked no argument. “I’m not telling you this to scare you. I sensed it the very moment I was near him,”

“I sensed it the moment I got close to him. If any of you were to approach him alone, thinking you could handle the situation, you’d risk meeting the same fate as Ezra. Or worse.”

Lena looked at him; her eyes were still glassy but alert. “Not even you, then?”

“Not even me,” Kairan said. “Whatever we discover, whatever opportunity arises, we’ll discuss it all together first. We’ll decide together. We’ll move together or we won’t move at all.”

The silence that followed wasn’t tense like the one before. It was the silence of an agreement unspoken, yet understood by every one of them.

“Agreed,” Gregory said, speaking for everyone.

“So, how do we proceed tomorrow?” Amara asked.

“Grimsdyke never arrives before seven in the evening,” Kairan said. “Watching him during the day would be pointless; he simply isn’t there. But earlier in the afternoon I want to find out something more specific about his schedule.”

“How?” Clara asked.

“There’s a woman who handles the paperwork here,” Peter said. “Mileia. The orphanage secretary. She keeps the weekly log the times and signatures of everyone entering or leaving the main building. If Grimsdyke signs in when he arrives, she knows exactly when he comes and goes, every night of the week not just tonight.”

“I’ll go ask her tomorrow afternoon,” Kairan said. “Let’s see what she says. If I can get that list, we’ll know exactly when to stake the place out, instead of just staying awake without knowing what to expect.”

“And if she won’t give it to you?” Gregory asked.

“Then we’ll find another way,” Kairan said. “But let’s try the simplest approach first.” Lena pulled her knees a little tighter against her chest, but this time the expression on her face was different: no longer just pain, but something that was slowly beginning to look like a plan.

“For Ezra,” she said softly, almost to herself.

“For Ezra,” Amara repeated. One by one, the others did the same the phrase passing from mouth to mouth around the circle like a promise none of them intended to forget until the day’s exhaustion finally forced them to lie down and close their eyes.