"Maybe he was dropping off his wife, Paige. You said she comes here--"
"There was no helmet on the back of the bike."
"What?"
"Paige would have left her helmet. Savannah's fifteen. She'd carry it inside with her."
From Trsiel's silence, I knew this didn't answer his question, but I wasn't wasting my breath explaining the adolescent coolness quotient of toting around a motorcycle helmet. I cut through the solid wall of kids heading up to the lunchroom, and bounded down the stairs so fast I tripped. Trsiel grabbed me. I righted myself, shook him off, and kept going. A few steps from the bottom I stopped. I peered out over the sea of heads. People kept walking through me, blocking my view. I climbed onto the railing for a better look.
"Eve," Trsiel said, laying his hand on my leg to steady me. "If we find Lily, she can't hurt anyone, including Savannah."
"You go after Lily, then. I'll find--"
"I need your eyes, Eve."
A shape shimmered below, on the other side of the railing. Kristof appeared, looking up at me.
"Oh, thank God," I whispered. "Kris! It's Sav--"
"I know," he said, putting out his arms to help me down. "I'll find her." He lowered me onto the floor. "You find the Nix."
I squeezed his hand. "Thank you."
Trsiel wheeled through the crowd, grabbed my elbow, and tugged me away.
"The basketball court," I called back to Kristof. I gestured to the north end of the building. "It's that way."
Kris nodded and jogged off.
We started our search where we'd begun--in the janitorial rooms below. As we hurried down the hall toward the lunchroom and office, something clattered to the floor in one of the storage rooms, like a broom or mop falling over. I veered toward it. Then, from the end of the hall came the muffled sound of a phone ringing. Someone answered after the first ring, with a reedy, feminine-sounding "Hello."
Trsiel changed course. I darted ahead of him and ran through the closed office door. On the other side, back to us, stood a slight, pale-haired figure. Tinny music wafted from a cheap radio on the desk, the rise and fall of the music cutting into the phone conversation. I took a step closer, then saw the gnarled hand clutching the receiver. The elderly male janitor.
As I turned to leave, the song on the radio ended, and the janitor's words became clear.
"...exit door shouldn't be locked. I opened them all myself this morning." Pause. "Which room is it?" Pause. A sigh. "I'll send Lily." He hung up, then muttered, "If I can find her. Damned girl is making herself scarcer than usual today."
He lifted the walkie-talkie. Trsiel and I stayed where we were, hoping to catch the room number so we could head off Lily there. The janitor pushed the Call button four times, but only static responded.
"Lazy kids," he grumbled.
He stalked to the door and yanked. It didn't open. Another pull, but it stayed shut.
"Goddamn it!" he said as he yanked on the door.
I stepped through to the other side. A broom had been jammed through the handle. Trsiel and I looked at each other, then dashed for the stairs.
On the main level, doors all along the corridor banged open and slammed shut as kids raced out of classes. We headed for the gym. As we turned the corner, a shriek cut through the din. I leapt through the wall and came out in the boy's changing room. Two ten-year-olds were whipping each other with wet towels, dancing out of the way, and screeching with laughter.
We walked through the next wall and found ourselves in the men's shower room.
"Circle around back to the hall," Trsiel said. "But keep your eyes open in here for that young man Brett."
As we stepped into the changing area, a loud pop sounded. A man leaning into a locker jumped, head clanging against the metal shelf.
"Damn it!" he said. "Did those boys get hold of caps again?"
"Nah, that came from the classrooms. Science club, I'll bet," another man said with a laugh. "Those kids. Remember when they made that--"