We sat in silence for a moment. I kept nodding, the tears in my eyes, thankful that she wasn’t pregnant.
Joby checked her watch. I touched my fingers to the top of Arden’s hand. “Remember when we used to play by the apple tree in the yard?” I asked, knowing that Arden would remember no such thing. We’d hated each other when we were here together, had made a point of avoiding one another those last few years. But the first nights we’d been in the dugout I’d told her how Teacher Florence had helped me, how I’d gone through a secret door. I wondered if she remembered, or if she’d been too sick to process the details. “We used to play right there, beside the wall. I loved when they let us out on the lawn.”
Arden smiled, a faint laugh escaping her lips. She looked down at our hands, acknowledging the key beneath them. “Yeah, I remember that,” she said.
I looked into her eyes, searching for recognition. She nodded. “I don’t know when my next visit will be,” I added, not looking away. “I have a lot of obligations in the Palace, duties to the King. I wanted to come now, because I might not be back for some time.” My voice trembled as I spoke. “I wanted you to look after Ruby and Pip for me.”
“I understand.” Arden’s eyes were red and wet. She covered my hand with hers, the stone table hot on our skin. “It’s just really good to see you,” she said, nodding. “I didn’t know if I ever would again.” She wiped her face with her gown.
We sat like that for a minute. Above us a flock of birds wheeled in the sky, their tiny bodies scattering, then coming back together, then scattering again. “I’ve missed you,” I said. Arden would be able to get out, I kept telling myself. She’d gotten beyond the School walls once before. She had made it to Califia. If anyone would be able to get out of that brick building, if anyone could help Ruby and Pip escape, she could.
Joby stepped forward, gesturing for Arden to stand. “I’ll bring the others,” she said.
Arden hugged me. Her body felt much smaller beneath mine. With her back turned to Joby she brought her fingers to her mouth and slipped the key inside, like she was popping a sucking candy. Then she smiled, squeezing my hand before she walked away.
I stood there, watching her return to that building, her hands behind her back so Joby could see them. I thought of her subtle smirk as she flattened the key under her palm, as she listened to me speak of the apple tree and the wall beside it. She had understood. I knew she had. But looking around the fenced-in yard, at the guard’s rifles, I wondered how long it would be before she escaped, if the days would pass too quickly. If, soon, she’d be stuck here indefinitely.
The door swung open, the rusty hinges letting out a terrible, screeching sound. Ruby appeared first. Her steps were even, her long black hair secured in a ponytail. “You came back,” she said. She squeezed the breath from my body. Her stomach pressed against mine, the small lump not yet noticeable under her loose green gown. When she pulled back, her eyes were a little sad. “I knew you were still alive. I knew you hadn’t disappeared. I had this memory of you. You were standing right over there, by the gate.” She pointed to the place I’d last seen her, where she’d held onto the fence, staring vacantly beyond me.
“I did,” I said, squeezing Ruby’s arm. Whatever pills they’d given her then no longer had a hold on her. “I saw you that day. It was the day they brought Arden here.”
“I kept telling Pip that I’d seen you.” Ruby nodded. “I kept telling her but she didn’t believe me.”
Pip was walking out of the building, her head down. She kept her hands behind her back. The door banged shut, the sound loud enough that I flinched. She played with the ends of her curly red hair, which had grown so much longer in the months that had passed.
“Pip, I’m here,” I said. She didn’t respond. “I came to see you.” She inched closer. I hugged her, but her body felt like stone. Instead she pulled back, freeing herself from my grip.
She rubbed her arm where I’d touched her. “That hurt,” she said softly.