romantically-but she couldn't forget what had happened in the darkroom. Every time she looked at Zach, she remembered seeing those gray eyes black with passion.
I'll forget eventually, she told herself. It'll wear off. Just as long as he never finds out.
Aloud she said, "We've got to find the others. Dee and Audrey and Mike are all wandering around here somewhere. I guess"-she hesitated-"I guess we should separate. But I'm afraid we might not be able to find our way back to each other. I know it seems as if the hall only goes two ways, but you can't trust anything here."
"Wait a minute." Zach pulled two crayons out of the pocket of his flannel shirt. "I took them because I thought the colors might work in a photo. Take your pick, cadet blue or Indian red. We can mark a trail."
Jenny chose cadet blue and made a pale, waxy streak on the nearest mirror. "Brilliant," she said. "I'll go this way, you go that way. Whoever finds them can bring them back here."
"Where the two crayons meet," Zach said and began a line of his own. Still drawing, he walked away. The first zigzag of the hall took him out of sight.
No thank-you, no goodbye. Well, that should help her forget the darkroom scene. Zach was himself again, all right.
She went her own way, leaving a crayon trail behind her.
The mirrored hallway seemed infinite-and completely deserted. It went on and on with no variations.
Until, to her astonishment, she came to the end.
It was a blank wall, gray as concrete. No mirror, no blue light, no red button.
It scared her.
On the ground in front of it was a white slip of paper.
Jenny approached the paper slowly. It scared her, too. Dee, Audrey, Mike, Summer, and Zach had had their nightmares. And Julian had said Tom was at the top of the house.
Nobody's nightmare left on this floor but hers.
She picked the paper up, turned it over. She recognized the formless doodle around the edges. The middle of the paper was exactly as she'd left it-blank.
Jenny looked up at the blank wall.
"Need any help?" Julian asked from behind her.
The paper crumpled in Jenny's clenched fist as she turned.
He was leaning against a mirror, wearing the sleek black body armor. No helmet, though. Instead, there was a splash of purple in the shock of white hair falling over his forehead and a triangular blue design on his cheekbone. It looked almost like silk-screening. More cyberpunk, Jenny thought. High-tech body art. Zach would love it-or maybe not.
Jenny looked straight into the strange cat-tilted blue eyes. Things had changed since Julian had set the bees on her. She had a new confidence at her core. Whatever he did to her, even if he killed her, he couldn't break her.
"So it was you shooting at us," she said.
"Personally, I think it was Zach's father. I think he has a little complex there. Rugged, old-fashioned dad; artistic, newfangled son, you know. On the other hand, I am a hunter." He pushed the lock of purple hair out of his eyes, smiling.
"Why don't you just go away?" Jenny said. "I'm trying to figure something out."
"I'm glad to help. I know a lot about you. I've watched you for so many years now. Hour after hour, day after day."
Jenny froze. He'd said similar things before, and she hadn't really listened. Or she hadn't taken it literally. But now, looking at him, she knew he meant it.
It was the most terrible thing she'd ever heard.
He'd watched her for hours on end? How many times in her life, when she'd thought she was alone, had he been there?
It was an appalling intimacy, and one Jenny didn't want.
"I'm in love with you," he said simply. "I think everything you do is marvelous."
"You-"
"There's no need to be embarrassed. I don't think the same way you do. Whether your hair's brushed -whether your makeup is on-I don't care. Besides"-he smiled at her-"didn't you know that I was there?"
"Of course not." But she had, Jenny realized. Somewhere deep inside herself she'd known she was being watched. She'd just thought everybody had that feeling.
Those times in the night when she woke up, certain that a tall shape was standing over her in the darkness. Usually when it happened she couldn't move, could hardly breathe. Sometimes she would actually see the shape, the outline black against lighter blackness, and she stared until her eyes ached.
If she kicked at it or turned on the light, it would disappear.