Page 52 of Tell Me Why
He turned away as though that was the end of the conversation, and Tina looked at Tell to see if it would be.
He pursed his lips, watching after Daryll, then nodded.
“We’ll see ourselves to our room,” he said to Isabella.
He dipped his head, then put his hand out to Tina.
She took it, walking back upstairs with him.
He looked back down the stairs and shook his head.
“He is yet stupider than I thought,” he said. “It changes a few things, but not much.”
“Why is shewithhim?” Tina asked, unable to contain herself.
“It’s a question worth considering,” Tell answered thoughtfully, then motioned. “Come. This is where we’re supposed to be, for now.”
She wondered if he meant that sort of metaphorically, like they were on the right path, or literally, like this is where Daryll told them to be.
He closed the door behind her, then went to look out the window.
“Beautiful night, though,” he said.
“Nice that it stopped raining,” Tina answered, and he nodded.
“Exactly.”
Exactly.
They were still going out.
He still thought that Isabella was going to be there.
Well.
This was going to be interesting.
The room was a box.
It was a fancy box.
And the door opened.
But it was designed to keep the power of the sun off of them as much as possible during the day.
And the windows didn’t open.
So Tina wasn’t sure how Tell intended to getoutwithout going down through the party and risking Daryll noticing them- or whoever else Isabella was afraid of finding out that she was talking candidly to them.
But she also knew that she wasn’t supposed toask, so she sat quietly, still, waiting.
If they were going to sneak out without the people listening to them being able to tell that they were gone, they needed to be accustomed to silence. She hoped they weren’twatchingthem. And not just because that would make getting away harder.
Finally, Tell rose, going to the door.
He pressed his hand to the door as he twisted the knob, then pulled it open silently, sliding out into the hallway ahead of her. Tina waited, as his hand remained behind him, flat and just visible through the door.
Wait.
