Later, I did something I'd never had to do before. I sat down and thought. There were plenty of things that I probably should have thought about, millions of opportunities I could have thought about, and an awful lot of ideas floating in my mind that I knew deserved far more attention than I gave them. But I didn't think about any of them. Instead, I tried to work out where I actually was.
There weren't many places in this building that I hadn't been before, so this was new to me.
I'd been everywhere on the ground floor, I knew that for a fact. I'd explored every millimetre of the floor, mapped the hallways, traced the floors; I'd done it so much that I knew the whole layer with precision. I had to. I also knew exactly where each guard was positioned every second of the day. And besides all that, I was looking down on the gardens at that moment, so I was obviously above them.
There were two or three levels underground, none of which I knew much about, but I didn't have to. In fact, when I thought about it, the only room I'd seen down there was the Council Room.
I shivered.
It could have been the memories making me shake, but I doubted it. Leaning against the cool glass of the window was making goosebumps appear across my skin, but I didn't stop. When I pushed my head back and into the window's corner, I could just about see the trees that were hidden around the side of the building, and if I could work out what sort of trees they were, I'd know where I was.
I'd always assumed the higher parts of the building were for Calix's more important associates. After all, aside from the few meeting rooms underground and the hall on the ground floor - which was an extremely annoying room, as it was usually so close to being empty that it was difficult to hide or sneak out - most of the rooms that he used were upstairs. So was 'my' room, but I tried not to think about that, especially as most of the other girls resided downstairs.
But, the principle was still the same - the higher the floor number, the higher the priority. It was a real disadvantage for me, because that implied that where I was could also be considered 'high security', which wasn't something I wanted to think about - although when I did think about it, I realised it was probably just that. I'd seen two people since I'd been in here - excluding Calix himself - one of whom absolutely hated me and only came in because 'it got him high up', whereas the other had promised me he wouldn't be back. And I still wasn't sure how seriously to take that.
Sure, I hadn't seen Conner since that moment, but he wasn't one to stay annoyed - or even irritated - just as Lila had pointed out. I knew he'd have cooled off by now, but that didn't explain why I hadn't seen him. He wouldn't still be fuming about it - aside from anything else, Jacob had mentioned it, and I doubted that he would bring something up purely for my comfort - he was bound to be trying to trick me into making a fool of myself in one way or another, probably in front of Conner the next time I saw him. Surely Calix hadn't stopped him getting in? He had been known to do it, I supposed, but he wouldn't do it now, would he? Not when he needed me sorted out. He couldn't honestly expect any progress if the only person I saw throughout the day was Jacob - as it had been for the past few days. He wouldn't do that to me.
But, then...why hadn't I seen Conner?
There were two options - either he didn't want to come, or Calix wasn't letting him, but I couldn't believe either of them were actually in practise. Calix must have some kind of plan simmering away in that mind of his; he wasn't just going to leave me with only Jacob for company and hope that I cracked - I was positive of that. In which case, what was he thinking?
He'd done this before. He'd never been this extreme, but he'd done this before. I had to admit, four days was pushing it a little, but I'd be out of here soon enough - then I'd just have to keep my head low for a few weeks before I could start planning. Just little moves like being a few minutes late or vanishing for innocent reasons during the day at first - I still wasn't sure if they even realised that that was where the plan started. An early leave here, a late arrival there, and before you knew it, the panic of being missing didn't instil until you were well on your way.
But yes, I'd be out soon.
