The last door I went to was on the first floor of the girls’ dorm. It was my last resort, and I lingered in front of it for a moment before building up the gumption to knock. But just as I raised my fist, the door swung open. I gasped and jumped back.
Mrs. Lynch’s squat figure greeted me, her short hair making her look more like a man than a dorm mother. She looked me up and down. I checked my outfit, making sure all of my buttons were buttoned and buckles snapped, worried she was going to reprimand me for being out of dress code.
“Yes?” she said, eyeing me with a quiet distaste.
In a low murmur, I informed her of Eleanor’s disappearance.
“What do you mean she’s missing?” she said sharply when I was finished.
“She wasn’t here last night or this morning.”
Upon hearing this news, Mrs. Lynch threw on a scarf and coat. “Why didn’t you report it sooner?”
“I... I thought she was at the library.” Which was the truth.
Mrs. Lynch slammed the door. “Come,” she said, already four steps ahead of me.
I trailed behind her as she walked to Archebald Hall, asking me questions the entire way. When was she last seen? Did she have any reason to run away?
I didn’t know. Maybe yesterday? And as for running away, she hadn’t packed up any of her things, and even if she had tried to leave, there was nothing beyond Attica Falls for miles.
Our destination was the headmistress’s office, but she was exiting the building just as we were entering. The headmistress was dressed in a long luxurious coat, plush and blue with a deep hood. Her snowy hair fluttered in the wind, making her look like an aged nymph. “Headmistress Von Laark,” Mrs. Lynch called out. “This young lady has something to tell you.”
After I finished, the headmistress addressed Mrs. Lynch. “Inform her parents immediately, and make a call to the ranger’s office. In the meantime, I’ll dispatch a search party.”
The headmistress then inspected me, her blue eyes icy and unreadable.
“I can help,” I said, verging on pleading. I couldn’t shake the feeling that Eleanor’s disappearance was somehow my fault. If I hadn’t stayed with Dante, if I had gone home that night or reported her missing earlier, maybe it would have been different. “I want to join the search.”
“Certainly not. You are to go to class and focus on your studies.”
“But she’s my roomma—” I tried to protest before the headmistress cut me off.
“You are dismissed.”
“Where were you?” said Dante, appearing out of nowhere in the hallway and pulling me beneath the stairwell. “I waited.”
“I tried calling but you didn’t pick up,” I said softly. “The basement in the girls’ dorm is flooded. There’s no other way out after curfew.”
Dante frowned. “I was worried something had happened. When you didn’t show up I waited outside the dorm trying to find your window, but they were all dark. By the time I got back to my room, it was so late that I didn’t want to call, in case Mrs. Lynch heard.”
I meant to apologize to him, to explain how I had tried to meet him last night, but instead I blurted out, “Eleanor’s gone.”
“What do you mean?” Dante asked, leaning over me against the brick, his brow furrowed in confusion.
“She never came back last night. I don’t think she was there the night before, either. I... I don’t know if she ran away or if she was kidnapped, or I don’t know what. I mean, where could she go?”
“You’d be surprised. There are a lot of places to go in this school if you don’t want to be found.”
“But what if she does want to be found?” The thought made me feel sick.
“Then she’ll be found,” he said pensively, though his mind was clearly somewhere else. “When was the last time you saw her?”
“Just before Grub Day. She said she was going to skip it and go to the library to study.”
Dante raised his eyes to mine as he pulled his bag over his shoulder. “I have to go.”
“What? Where? Do you know something? Do you know where she is?”
Dante shook his head. “If I did, I would find her for you.”
“I know,” I said softly.
“When can I see you again?”
“We have class together in three periods,” I said, confused.
“Alone, I mean.”
I bit my lip. “With the basement off-limits, meeting after curfew is basically impossible. Maybe during study hall? I can meet you outside the Megaron after dinner.” His tie dangled in front of me, and I twirled it around my fingers.
The bell rang, signaling the start of class, and the sound of footsteps pounded on the stairway above us. “I’ll be waiting,” Dante said, and smiled.
During lunch, Mrs. Lynch and Professor Lumbar searched our room. When they found nothing, they searched it again. It felt odd watching them going through my underwear drawer, tossing around Eleanor’s things. They even confiscated Eleanor’s notebooks, though after reading them they found nothing of interest except illegible scribbles and pages and pages of love notes written to Professor Bliss.
Mrs. Lynch confronted him about it just before fourth period. I was walking down the hall when I saw them in his classroom through the window in the door. I crouched outside and watched as Mrs. Lynch handed him Eleanor’s History notebook and crossed her arms.
Mr. B. flipped through it, reading the notes slowly. Suddenly he dropped the notebook and stood up, gesticulating wildly with his hands. They got into an argument. I pressed my ear against the door and listened.
“If you have an explanation, now’s the time,” Mrs. Lynch threatened.
Professor Bliss claimed he had no idea the love notes existed. “Eleanor was my student. Nothing more. It isn’t abnormal for a teenage girl to have a crush on her teacher. These things happen all the time. It doesn’t mean I abducted her.”
Unexpectedly, the knob on the door turned and the door swung open. I threw myself out of the way just before Mrs. Lynch stormed into the hallway with so much force that she didn’t even notice me pressed against the wall behind her.
I met up with Nathaniel and told him about Eleanor and what I saw as we walked to Philosophy.
“So the last time you saw her was after Grub Day?” he asked.