to the door to make sure no one was listening. Even though no one was there, he lowered his voice. “I don’t think we can do it.”
“Why not?”
“They’ll be watching you more carefully now. I would have to get you permission to leave the castle, which I can’t imagine they’d allow after yesterday’s display, and then I would have to get some guard who can keep a secret.”
“Marcellus!”
“I don’t know,” he replied, shaking his head. He paced the room as if chasing the answer. “You’d have to tell him why, and if he says no, we’re screwed.”
“I’m willing to try.” I was determined. If I had to do it without Horatio’s help, I would. If I had to hit that damned guard by the elevator with my brother’s chess-club trophy, I would. I didn’t care. I wasn’t staying.
Horatio and I talked it out all afternoon and finally came up with a plan we thought might work.
Horatio called for Marcellus. When he arrived, Horatio asked if the guard at the elevator could leave, which he did. Marcellus was studying me from the moment he walked in. “You’re looking pretty together there, Ophelia. What was that all about yesterday?” he asked, his head cocked.
“She wasn’t feeling well,” Horatio said.
Marcellus stared at Horatio, then at me. Folding his arms across his uniform, he asked, “What can I do for you two?”
I told him, and while I spoke he did not move except to breathe. His eye twitched involuntarily every so often, but he kept his breath regular. I was impressed by how unreadable he was, but I was simultaneously afraid that his next move would be to speak into the microphone perched on his shoulder and turn us in. He didn’t.
“Ophelia, I gotta tell you I’m surprised it’s taken you this long to ask for help.” He lowered himself slowly onto the overstuffed chair and said, “I’ve been watching how they’ve all been treating you, and it’s a damned disgrace.” He looked at Horatio, who nodded. “I’ve been starting to wonder how long you’ll be safe.”
“What does that mean?” Horatio asked, his voice rising.
“I get the feeling they’re making plans to get rid of Ophelia.”
Horatio grabbed my leg, and I sat frozen.
“That said,” Marcellus continued, jangling keys on his overcrowded ring, “I’m not sure we can get this job done.”
Tears sprang into my eyes, and I felt my face crinkling up, so much so that I could no longer see Marcellus or anything in the room.
He reached over and patted my leg. “I didn’t say we won’t try. I just don’t know if it’ll work.”
I clutched his arm and said, “I want to get out of here.”
Barnardo: Marcellus and Horatio helped you disappear.
Ophelia: Yes.
Barnardo: Out of the goodness of their hearts, they put their futures and safety at risk?
Ophelia: Yes.
Barnardo: I don’t believe it.
Ophelia: Fine. It won’t change what happened.
Francisco: What did you offer Marcellus to help get you out?
Ophelia: Nothing. I just asked.
Barnardo: Oh, come on. You must have given him something.
Ophelia: You’re disgusting.
Francisco: Then why would he put himself in jeopardy to help you?
Ophelia: Ask him yourself.
Barnardo: We did.
Francisco: He’s under arrest.
Ophelia: What?
Francisco: Aiding a fugitive.
Ophelia: I wasn’t a fugitive.
Francisco: Then for helping to create a situation that cost the kingdom an extraordinary amount of time and money. Do you have any idea how many officers were pressed into duty to look for you?
Ophelia: Where was their help when I was locked up?
Barnardo: That’s not the point.
Ophelia: It is to me!
22
In her lowest, most commanding voice, Zara asks, “Why did Horatio help you escape?”
“He’s my friend.”
Zara leans in, her mouth slithering into a coy smile. “You had other friends, but you turned to Horatio. Is that all he is to you?”
Ophelia flushes. “Yes.”
Zara takes her time sipping her water. “Why is that? Why nothing more?”
Ophelia shrugs. “Just one of those things. We never felt that way about each other. And if we had, well, it sure would have complicated things.”
“Did your relationship with Hamlet ever complicate your friendship with Horatio?”
Ophelia puffs out a mouthful of air. “Well, it got real complicated for him in the end.”
The next day, our plan was rolling. Marcellus went to speak to Gertrude and Claudius, and they agreed to let me go out for a while. Gertrude asked if I was still distressed, and when Marcellus said I was, she told Claudius that it would be good for the public to see me that way, that it would help them “explain things when the time came.”