Interlude [h.s]

four

"You don't understand, that man is unapproachable," Alouette mutters quietly.

She immediately silences herself when she hears steps on the other side of the door, relaxing again when they move away.

She isn't sure she's made for that kind of thing. She was doubtful before coming, and now that she's in there she is even more. She hasn't necessarily done anything bad so far, but she keeps thinking that if it was anyone else in her place, they would've found a way to get to him days ago.

"You still have almost two months, there's more than enough time," Nathan replies, and she sighs.

"That's the problem," she tells him, "I only have a few weeks to win than man's trust, and I haven't even seen him yet! He's not going to be easy."

"Evie doesn't want to let you meet him?"

"I haven't asked, that would be weird."

She's been in there for nine days, and so far she hasn't concluded anything aside from getting closer to Evie. She likes to think they're on a friendly basis now, even though she knows the most accurate definition would be "don't hate each other and have no issue working together" basis. Evie certainly isn't the problem, Harry is. As he's always been.

She runs errands for Evie all the time, while she works closely to Harry. It's like they're inseparable in a way, as long as she's there she'll never get even a glimpse of him. She understands what Ezra meant when he told her Evie was the key, now.

The only issue being, she doesn't know how to solve that riddle. Not that she'd have the time to do it, anyway.

For the past eight days all she's done is running around the upper floors of the building, doing everything she asks her to, to the point of getting on a first name basis with the lift attendant at the upper floors. From morning until evening, only letting her have some time for herself after dinner, before going to sleep. It's a vicious cycle she doesn't know how to break. As long as it keeps up she won't be able to get where she wants to go, but she doesn't have enough time to break out of it.

She can already see her failure hover above her head. She doesn't want to go back and have to look at everyone in the eye, she doesn't want to tell Amina it was all for nothing. She doesn't want to prove to everyone that she truly is useless.

"I'll let Ezra know about the issue, he'll come up with something," Nathan says, "a more permanent solution."

Alouette gives him a shocked look. "I'm not going to hurt Evie."

"Of course not, it isn't ideal. It'd be suspicious if anything happened in here before the time comes. I was referring to another kind of solution," he's quick to reply.

She lets out a long breath, leaning her head back against the cold wall. "I wish there was a quicker way, it'll take a while to hear back from him."

Nathan nods, narrowing her eyes at her. "I'll see if I can get you closer to him from the inside in the meantime. Don't be too hopeful though, I'm not going to risk blowing my cover for this."

"Of course."

He checks the time on his phone for an instant before looking at her again. "I was told your sister received the letter you sent her five days ago."

"You mean, the one I wrote on a napkin with a sharpie?"

He chuckles. "That one. I was told she sent back an answer, too. I'll pick it up during my round on Monday."

"Did they say anything else?"

"No, I'm sorry. You know how these things are. The less information is shared, the better."