IN the last twelve hours, Erik had made a series of brainless decisions that cascaded to one final outcome. He'd risked getting expelled multiple times, all while completely disregarding sobriety. Despite the remnants of sour spirit coursing through his veins, she stood out vividly. As the boys walked back across town silently, each silently tending to a splitting headache, he wondered if the booze had tainted his image of her. It was unlikely that he would even see her again, but he got the feeling she wasn't the kind of person you could happen to forget. He knew he was just amused, or bewildered at best. But as they neared the fork in the road that led to Columbus, it grew increasingly difficult to think about anything except what they might return to. The others felt it too. The air seemed to stiffen around them, and though none spoke about it, the possibility of being found was crossing their minds.
They had no way of knowing what had happened at Columbus during their absence. Principal Byrne would be woken just as the first telltale signs of dawn peeked into the sky. He would be told that a part of the grounds had been set on fire. An accident, most likely, owing to the presence of shards of a guard's broken lantern lying near the wreck. That would mean Harvey had successfully made it look like an unforeseen flaw. Byrne, out of concern but mostly attempting to fulfil his responsibilities, would ask the staff at Columbus to confirm the safety of their students and residents. The matron would find five boys missing from their dorm, and though this wasn't uncommon with the kind of ne'er-do-wells Columbus hosted, she would report it to Principal Byrne this time, seeing as one untimely event had already taken place that night. The four boys would be walking back into the quarters at Columbus, coats hung over their shoulders and slipping through empty corridors, when the matron would be leaving the main quarters, heading to the Principal's office.
"We got this far," Harvey muttered. "Would be a shame if we didn't pull it off."
"Shit," Isaac muttered, staring straight ahead.
"And he just had to jinx it," Erik muttered through gritted teeth. Their years of misdemeanour at Columbus made it quite simple for them to identify the hesitantly distinctive footsteps that echoed off the floor. Nathan turned in the opposite direction, ready to run for it when Harvey grabbed his collar.
"Coats," Harvey muttered, "Now."
"What-"
"Murphy, coats," Harvey repeated, the slight quiver in his voice barely hidden.
"If we get caught, that's it," Nathan said, still frozen in place. "We get kicked out. This is it. The end. We're going home."
"Shut it, please," Harvey jabbed the coat out of his hands. Erik and Isaac handed Harvey their coats. Ducking into an empty classroom, Harvey tossed their coats into a dust sheathed desk. He still held his own coat by his side.
"What are you doing?" Isaac whispered angrily. "Wright, this isn't the time for some stupid-"
"What do you boys think you're doing out at this hour!" the matron's piercing voice made Isaac freeze.
Nathan mumbled something indistinct, his eyes squeezed shut. Isaac pursed his lips and faced the stocky frame of the matron that loomed over them.
"Where were you!" she raised an eyebrow at Harvey.
"I can explain-" he started to say, flashing a smile that quickly faltered when he met her eyes.
"Start by telling me why you weren't in your dorm last night."
"We were," Erik said. She said nothing, but crossed her arms.
"Jonathan, Harvey, Isaac, Erik, Nathan," she counted off her fingers. "Five boys out of bed this morning."
