Chapter 19- Grace Agrees

Rowan

When the girl from the dorms slid into the seat next to me, she looked nauseous. I grinned. "So did you find it?" I asked, eagerly. She frowned.

"Uh. Um. Yeah," she murmured.

I looked at her excitedly. We had a way in. "Great!" I said. I turned to face the others. "Guys? She… wait, what's your name?" I asked, embarrassed. At least I wasn't the only one blushing, the girl was bright red.

"Grace." Dylan said solemnly, looking over at her with an expression I couldn't decipher.

"Oh… Well, Grace here is gonna get us into Malistaire's lair."

Everyone gave me looks of surprise, and I heard a particularly loud gasp from Keena.

"What?" they all said in unison.

Dylan stood up suddenly, walking over to Grace. "Hey Grace, can I talk to you for a moment?" he said nervously. I blinked.

She stood up, shaking slightly, and followed him over to the corner. The eyes of everyone in the group followed them. Dylan gazed down at her, talking in a firm voice, and I tried to strain my ears to hear. It was futile, though, they were just out of earshot.

Grace appeared to be extremely distressed, and I felt for her. I had absolutely no idea what was going on, but she looked miserable. I almost got up to go help her, but she pulled a ragged tan sweater thingy out of her backpack. She held it out to Dylan, and whatever frustration I thought I had seen in him crumbled away. He just looked back and forth from the sweater to Grace, and back again. He seemed to be in shock.

"What is that thing?" Keena said obnoxiously, and everyone turned to shush her.

"It's Dylan's hoodie, he was wearing it when he first got here. I dunno how Grace got a hold of it," Caleb muttered, receiving several shushes himself.

I leaned forward as Dylan whispered something to her, then drew her into his arms.

"Ewwwww…" Keena moaned. "I can't believe he's actually touching her!"

Jonathan zapped her, and she yelped. "Shut it, Keena. I think they're cute together."

Everybody turned to stare at him.

"What?" he shrugged. "They are!"

Digby sneered. "Well I dunno about that…"

Jaqueline's eyes widened.

"Shut up everybody, they're coming back!" Caleb screeched, ducking behind his plate of bacon.

Sure enough, Dylan and Grace were walking back to the table. She looked like she had been crying, and he held her hand firmly in his. He led her to sit down near the front of the table, and he turned to address the group. I couldn't help but notice Digby's eyes following their intertwined fingers. I wondered if there was some history there.

Dylan cleared his throat. "Okay. So Grace is going to get us into Malistaire's lair." I heard a faint protest from Keena, but he silenced it with one of his hard core leader glares. Everyone sat up straighter. "So here's the plan," he said, "Grace teleports into Malistaire's lair, makes sure the coast is clear," he struggled on that last part. I couldn't imagine why though, making sure the coast was clear and we all didn't fall into a trap sounded awfully nice to me. "Then she contacts me via whisper chat, and we all teleport in. After that, we split into teams of two and try to get as many clues about Malistaire's plan as we can. Keena, you're with Caleb, Jonathan with Jaqueline, and Digby, you and Rowan."

I cringed. It wasn't that I didn't like Digby, but he was Life, and I was Death. The two schools were sworn enemies.

"I'll go with Grace." He finished, and everyone glanced uneasily about the table.

"Um… Dude, I get that you're the leader and all, but are you sure about that?" Caleb questioned. "I mean, I'm sure she's nice and all, but, I mean, she's not one of us."

Grace's eyes dropped, and she frowned slightly. Dylan seemed to notice, and he frowned to. "I trust Grace," he said. She winced. "If she's gonna get us in there in the first place, then she might as well be part of the team."

"But..!" Keena protested. Digby had a strangled look on his face, and Jaqueline looked like this was her out. She fidgeted nervously with her robes.

"Ya know, guys, maybe Grace should take my place." she murmured. Jonathan's eyes widened.

"No!" he shouted, jerking out of his seat. "Uh… I mean… Ambrose! Ambrose said you were part of the team! You can't leave! Anyways, I'm sure Grace doesn't have the mark either."

"Mark?" Grace squeaked. She seemed paler, if that was even possible. Dylan's eyes narrowed.

"Anyways," Dylan continued, "We're just going to look for clues this time, got it? We'll go back and defeat Malistaire once we know what we're up against.

Grace bit the inside of her cheek, and I could tell she was uncomfortable. It just occurred to me, if Grace knew how to get into Malistaire's lair, how much did she already know about him? And why?

"How do you know how to get in anyways Grace?" I asked, suddenly perplexed. She squirmed.

"Because…" She gulped, and Dylan peered down at her, a cross between curiosity and immediate horror on his face. She glanced up at him, then back down at the table. His gaze softened slightly. "Because I've been there." She shuddered.

I gaped at her. Why had Grace, of all people been with Malistaire? She seemed too afraid and ashamed to be in league with him, but I couldn't help but wonder. Dylan's face dropped.

"That's where you were? All that time?" he gaped, and she slowly nodded, shivering. "But… Why?"

She met his eyes, "It's a long story…" she said with that I'll-tell-you-later look. He nodded and didn't press it.

"Well I wanna hear it!" Keena screeched, crossing her arms.

Digby and Jaqueline both looked like they'd had bags of bricks dropped on them. "Oh Grace…" Digby said.

"Why didn't you tell us?!" Jaqueline said, shocked.

"Why was this girl with Malistaire?!" Caleb questioned, "And how can you still trust her?"

"Grace?" Jonathan demanded, giving her and stormy glare.

"I-I-" her voice broke, and she buried her face in her gloves. I wasn't sure whether to feel sorry for her, or hate her. I knew we were all thinking the same thing: is she a victim, or an accomplice?

Dylan shook his head. "It doesn't matter." he said firmly. "Grace will lead us to Malistaire, and that's all that matters." I couldn't help but notice that he wasn't sitting quite so close to her anymore.

"Yeah," she said in a weak voice. "That's all that matters." She got up shakily, and ran away. No one went after her.

Dylan sighed, looking angrily around the table. He stood up and ran after Grace, calling out her name.