ATARAXIA • BELLAMY BLAKE

[ 4 5 ]

"There are three hundred and eighty-two people inside this mountain. If any of them realize you guys are not one of us, you're dead," Maya says, pausing to take a cautious look around a corner before continuing to lead the way.

We stop at an elevator, and Maya swipes her keycard and presses a button. "We're on level two, the dorm's on five." The doors ping open. "There's a camera in the upper right-hand corner. Keep your heads down."

We walk inside, and I'm careful to angle my face away from the camera in the corner while Maya presses the button for the fifth level. But then as the doors are about to slide closed, someone sticks a hand through to stop them. "Hold the elevator."

A man wearing a what looks like a hundred year old suit walks in with a polite smile on his face. "Hey, Maya," he says, pressing the button for the sixth level. "You know, I missed you in my expressionist class."

I subtly turn my face away from him, Bellamy doing the same. When Maya starts to distract her teacher about school, I catch glimpse of something on Bellamy's button-up. Making sure that the others are talking over me, I very lowly whisper to him, "There's blood on your collar."

It's right next to where I'd stabbed the Mountain Man with the scalpel earlier, blood having seeped into the fabric just by the back of his lower neck. Without another word, Bellamy adjusts his stance yet again so that the stain isn't pointed straight at where Maya's teacher is standing, still chatting happily away.

The elevator halts, and I briefly think that this is his stop, but then another man and a woman step inside, forcing the rest of us to stand further back. Maya and her teacher's conversation finds its natural end, and we're left in silence as the elevator continues to take us down. I just about notice Bellamy's hand slowly inch towards the gun in his belt and subtly shake my head at him.

The next time the elevator pings, it stops on level five and Maya nods for us to get out after the other two who'd just gotten on before.

"Hey, you're bleeding." Maya's teacher suddenly says as we walk out. We all stop. "Are you okay?"

"You're exposed," Maya thinks fast and jumps in, snatching the handkerchief in her teacher's chest pocket and pressing it against Bellamy's neck. "We need to retrace your steps and find the breach."

She backs into the elevator again with Bellamy, telling her teacher that he'd better go. I stay outside of it for now, worried it would look suspicious for me to go back in as well.

"What about you?" he asks as he nervously gets out despite having needed to continue down to the sixth level.

"This is my job," she says. "I'll be fine."

"Keep the handkerchief," he says as he hurriedly walks off, briefly glancing my way when he passes by.

The elevator doors are closing, but Maya presses a button inside that reopens them multiple times, to keep them on the right level.

"Clear," I say once the teacher is out of my sight, and the two step outside of the elevator, allowing it to continue down to the sixth floor on its own.

We haven't really run into people on our way here other than in the elevator, but I'm getting the feeling that it's the middle of the day, which would mean most people are at work and school.