Page 54 of Deadly Sights

“This is where you and the other girls your age slept.”

With fresh eyes, she surveys the room of empty bunk beds. When they shut this place down, they didn’t bother to resell the furniture, leaving the old utilitarian pieces here.

“Do you know which bed was mine?”

Warmth suffuses my cheeks as I point out where she slept.

Instead of heading to her old bed, she approaches me, her curiosity peaked. “You’re blushing. Did you sneak in here after lights out?”

“I had little choice. We found out a week before my cohort was moving to a new orphanage where the training was more advanced, and we wanted to spend as much time together as possible before they separated us. Every night of that last week,I snuck in here or you slipped into my dorm to hold each other and renew our promises to be with each other when we got out.”

Nadira gives me a thoughtful nod before going to her old bunk bed. “I’m sure they assigned the bed to someone new after I disappeared.”

“They didn’t. Chloe wouldn’t let them. At first, she told them she was saving it for your return. When she stopped believing you would come back, she fought anyone who touched it, saying that the bed was to remind everyone there was no place for traitors here. She injured several staff and other girls until they stopped messing with the bed.”

Nadira walks around the frame, but other than scratches from wear and tear, there is nothing to distinguish it from the others. She turns her attention to the trunk at the foot of the bed and opens it. She knocks on the interior sides. She continues with the top, but when she reaches the bottom, our eyes meet. She bangs against it again. The hollow thunk tells us the panel is a false bottom.

I close the distance between us.

“Did you know about this?”

I shake my head and kneel beside her.

She removes the piece of wood. Folders, yellow with age fill the space. We glance at each other before we each select a folder. The first page in the file I hold is faded, but I recognize the girl in the photo as a girl from the orphanage. I glance at the file in Nadira’s hands.

“Why would I hide a file about this boy?” she asks.

“I’m not sure, but he was like us, another student being taught the skills to steal and kill. So was this girl.” I hand her the file in my hand.

We continue perusing files, hoping something will resonate with her. Some hint that will lead to why she hid information about kids we learned alongside. When I no longer sensemovement from her, I glance in her direction. She looks shellshocked.

I gently remove the file in her hands, understanding her reaction. Staring up at me is…me. Or rather, the six-year-old version of me. “Why would you need a file on me?”

“I don’t know, but I think whatever I got involved with, whatever I discovered, I must have been trying to protect you. With us being as close as we were, that is the only reason I can think of for not telling you about this.”

With this discovery, the hair on my nape tingles. “I think we should pack this stuff up and leave. This place may be more dangerous than we thought.”

“I agree.” Nadira sets the files back in the trunk and resets the panel. She surveys the rest of the room, a frown pulling at her lips.

“What?”

“Just wondering. There’s a chest for every bed, but the files in there represent a handful of the kids here.”

“You think there are more?”

“It’s possible.” She kneels in front of another trunk and checks for another hidden panel.

The hollow thunk spurs me into action. While I knock on the insides of another box, she gasps.

“Holy shit.” She picks a folder out and I do as well.

We turn to count the trunks. There are eighteen in total.

“When we were here, there were probably a thousand kids from fifteen years and younger. Each chest holds about fifty files. Even if we condense them, we don’t have room to transport everything. We’ll have to return another day,” I say.

She sighs and nods. “I agree, but let me take a few with us. Maybe there’s a clue in there that will jog a memory or lead me where I need to go.”

“Good idea. I should have a case in the car that will protect the papers. We don’t want to manhandle them too much in case they disintegrate before we can read them.”

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