Chapter Five                     

Tim

SHE LOOKED from him to the untouched food on his plate.

"Paperwork comes before food," he said.

He stood up and offered her his hand. He'd done it to be playful, but as soon as she touched him, he felt goosebumps all along his arm. He'd felt it when they shook hands when Vy introduced them. Curioser and curioser. He reluctantly let go of her hand and they walked out of the dining room.

"Am I allowed in your Room now?" she asked.

There was an almost palpable amusement in her tone, inviting him to relax. How did he ever get annoyed with this mousey creature? She was a funny little thing. Best friend material, just like Vy.

"You didn't forget about that, huh?"

"Not easy to forget meeting your idol and annoying him at first sight."

Her admission that he was her idol tickled him. He had to confess that he had recognized her.

"It wasn't at first sight," he said.

"But I did annoy you? Pardon me for breathing, I'm sure."

He let out an unexpected chuckle, and relaxed even more. When he opened the music room door the sudden gust of air pushed the envelope off the windowsill before he closed it behind them.

"Don't tell me," she said, and rushed to the window.

"Yes, those were the documents," he confirmed hurrying to catch up with her.

"Oh, there it is."

She leaned out the window trying to reach the envelope precariously perched on top of the high hedge. With ninja-like reflexes he didn't know he possessed, he managed to sneak an arm under her belly. He pulled her back and kept her pressed to him with his arm wrapped tightly around her waist.

"They'll give me another set," he said breathing faster than simple exertion warranted. "King would kill me if anything happens to you."

She shrugged out of his embrace.

"Don't be dramatic. I could totally reach them."

"Between the two of you, I thought Vy was the foolhardy one."

Alice looked him straight in the eye for a moment. She looked back to the open window before speaking.

"Vy takes risks without calculating them."

That was an odd thing to say. She was referring to Vy as if she was a child, but they were the same age.

"And how did you calculate not falling to your death?"

"They're so close," she said, ignoring his question, still staring down toward the envelope. "I'm sure I can get to them."

He came next to her and saw that the damn things were in reach.

"I'll get them," he said.

He started to lean out the window when he felt her clammy palm on his forearm.

"Umm... If you say they can get you another set... maybe you shouldn't risk it."

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"You have so little faith in my athletic abilities?"

Instinctively she tried to jerk her hand away but he placed his palm over hers, pressing it to his skin. He turned the gesture into a friendly pat before it got awkward.

"I'll hold on to you while I try, ok?" he said.

"Aren't you worried that I might drop you on purpose? You are the enemy, after all."

He smirked his most annoying smirk. She was trying to manipulate him. The mouse had some ego on her.

"Reverse psychology doesn't work on me, Miss Lewis," he said. "King doesn't want to win this thing badly enough to tempt you to murder me."

"You might be right about Andrew, but you don't know how competitive I am."

Very good point. He should step up his game this year. He could mess with King's head any day of the week, but Alice Lewis was an unknown quantity.

"Thank you for the warning. I'll repay you in kind. If you try to push me, I'll make sure I take you down with me. Fair enough?"

"A pact of mutually assured destruction. If this worked in the Cold War, I can't see why it wouldn't work here."

That was a surprise comment. Most people Vy and Alice's age placed the Cold War in a mythical, long gone past. Younger Illyrians had known nothing other than peace and prosperity.

"What do you know about the Cold War?" he asked.

"I'm a history nerd, on top of all my other sins."

Another unexpected turn of phrase. Sins. The word had strange harmonics from this prim and proper young lady. What other sins could she have?

"Sins," he repeated her word, looking at her more closely. "I like that."

She flustered under his scrutiny, not meeting his eyes.

"You have me, right?" he asked, taking her hand.

She nodded and her grip tightened, squeezing his hand to the point of pain. He leaned out the window and it didn't take him long to grip the folder securely between index and middle finger. He pretended to lean further out and Alice pulled him back more forcefully than he expected.

She let go of his hand as soon as he was standing up, with the manila envelope in his hand. She wiped her sweaty palm on her jeans, and he did the same.

"You worry too much," he said.

She blushed and put her right hand palm up, demanding their catch.

"Give me that. I'll write down the answers to the common questions, and ask you what I don't know."

"I don't have a pen," he said, handing her the folder, without letting go of it.

She snatched it from him and took a pen from the inside of her jacket. He watched her head for the small table in the corner. He had the feeling that if he didn't focus on her, he wouldn't even see her. She was the only other person in the room, but she could almost make herself invisible. That was a dangerous skill for an opponent.

He let her get started on the form to lower her concentration before he started prying.

"History?"

She didn't raise her head from what she was writing.

"Mmm?"

It was working. Her mind was on the papers, so she wouldn't focus on lying to him. It was as good as truth serum.

"Cold War tactics," he elaborated. "I was wondering if you're a history major."

She still didn't look up when she answered.

"No. I just like history. My parents are archaeologists, my grandparents fought in the wars. I couldn't escape it if I wanted to. Fortunately, I quite like it."

The penny dropped. Archaeologists! Lewis. Gregory and Lara Lewis. He'd been devouring Gregory Lewis's articles for years.

"I bet. Professor Lewis has some very interesting theories about military warfare in the ancient world."

She did look up at that.

"You read my father's books?"

"Not just a pretty face," he said.

She flustered again. Unnecessarily, in his opinion. Professor Lewis was little known outside scholarly circles due to his heavy writing style. The Lewis papers were some of the nastiest, most convoluted books he ever read, but the information in them was priceless.

"I didn't mean..." Her voice trailed off. "His books aren't exactly easy to read. I lost track of how many of his students I had to help understand them."

That was good to know. She knew about history and she had the habit of helping people. Maybe he wasn't a special case. It was just a thing she did, and he could use it against her if needed.

"You help people a lot."

She shrugged off the compliment.

"I was with my parents when made many of those discoveries. I heard them develop those theories. If I had to read them straight out of the books..."

"You were on expedition with them in Africa?" he exclaimed, taken aback. "Didn't they get captured by rebels?"

"How much of a history nerd are you?"

The vague trace of a smile played on her lips and twinkled in her voice. He sat down across the small table from her. He hadn't found anyone in his life to share this interest with, and he found an irresistible urge to open up to her.

"It's a secret."

Her lips did something complicated that wasn't quite a smile. If he hadn't seen her smile only a few minutes earlier when she was looking at King, he'd think there was something wrong with her mouth.

She lowered her head and went back to her task.

"It clashes with the whole rockstar image, huh?"

The comment didn't annoy him as it should have. Her soft tone had a spoonful of honey along with pinch of spice.

"What are you reading now?" she asked.

He felt an inordinate need to impress her. To make her look at him with that bright admiration he saw when she was around King.

"I'm re-reading Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire."

When she looked up from the papers again, she seemed genuinely impressed. It thrilled him to the core. He heard a small voice in his head warning him that he didn't even know this girl.

"Re-reading? Are you serious? It has six freaking humongous volumes!"

Just a few seconds ago he wanted to impress her, now he felt the need to be humble. He wasn't actually going through every page again.

"I'm going over my personal highlights," he said.

"When I tried to read it," she said, glancing at the papers again, "because I must confess, I didn't manage to get through every bit of it, I was reading Churchill in parallel."

She couldn't possibly find the documents more interesting than their conversation. When Vy had introduced them, she mentioned that Alice was his fan. Until that moment, he hadn't quite believed it. But he couldn't stop to analyze that. He had to find out more about her. Time to open up more to draw her out more.

"A History of the English-Speaking Peoples by any chance?"

"How do you know?" she asked.

Amazing. What were the odds of her reading Churchill along with Gibbon? Quite big, if he had to be honest. He'd found the suggestion in one of her father's books, but he never expected to find someone in his world who had noticed that suggestion, let alone follow it.

He took out his phone and swiped his fingers over it to find the eboook reader. He showed her the screen with Churchill's book open. She looked from the screen up to him.

"Wow!"

"What are you reading now?" he asked.

Alice sighed, and put down the pen.

"Marcus Aurelius. The curriculum this year will be heavy on Latin and I'm slogging through his Meditations while we're still on summer holiday to prepare, in case Andrew wants me here after school starts in October."

If Andrew wanted her there… How the hell did that guy manage to fool the smartest women about his real nature? Christine. Vy. Alice. Christine had finally left King after many years of marriage. He wondered what had finally opened her eyes. At least he had managed to snatch Vy from him in time. Maybe he could lure away Alice, too.

"Your major is history or archaeology?"

"History. I'm not very outdoorsy and I have this... knack for dead languages. Maybe that's why I'm so good when it comes to legalese," she said sheepishly and went back to writing.

"A woman of many talents."

He used more than a spoonful of honey when he said it. She started at his words, and the pen left an ugly smudge on the paper.

"History, languages, and, of course, music," he went on. "King wouldn't bring someone on his team if he didn't think they were excellent musicians."

She didn't rise to the bait. She didn't get angry or defensive. Her tone was mildly amused, but partly understanding.

"You don't like Andrew," she said. "Let's not talk about him."

"Don't you want to know why I don't like him?" he asked, wondering how much of King's unsavory past he should tell her to get a more intense reaction.

"Do you want to know why I like him?" she asked.

He had to accept defeat in this skirmish. He did not want to hear her paint a rosy tinted portrait of his rival. But the war had just started. Ans he liked winning.

"You're right. Better not talk about him."