I fling it open, see the circular staircase, and sprint up it so fast, I stumble in my high heels and almost fall. Grabbing the banister, I pull myself up. I look behind me nervously, but he is not chasing me. My heart is racing. I don’t know what happened to me down there, but I feel as if I went down those steps without a care in the world, as an innocent, and came back up somehow irrevocably tainted and corrupted.
When I reach the large room where the party is being held I stop at the entrance, my eyes wildly searching for Rocco. I immediately spot him. Even with the horrid mask he shines like a god or some supernatural being of great beauty. A man is talking earnestly to him, but as if he has felt me arrive in the room, he turns his head in my direction. For across the room our eyes meet. The rest of the world falls away.
I am breathing hard. I open my mouth and close it. I feel so lost.
The man is still saying something to Rocco, but he turns away from the man, and starts walking towards me. His eyes never leave mine.
“What’s wrong? Has something happened?” he asks urgently.
I look up at him and see his eyes flash and glitter through the mask holes. Something about them reminds me of his sister’s. It sends a shiver through my body. Who to trust? Who to trust? I shake my head. “Nothing is wrong. Can we leave now, please?”
He puts a hand protectively on the small of my back. “Of course.”
In my head, Zelena is saying. “Him. You can trust him.”
Chapter 40
Autumn
Outside the room Rocco takes off his mask and discards it on the long table. With a shudder I rip my mine off as if it is contaminated and throw it on the table. We say nothing in the elevator. When we arrive at the room where Sam is I find her exactly where she was before we left. Nothing has changed, and yet everything has.
I look up at Rocco. “Can you wait a moment here for me, please? I won’t be long.”
He nods.
“Thank you,” I say, and quickly walk up to Sam.
I call her name and she turns to look at me, her hand rises to cover her mouth in dismay. “Oh my God, Autumn, I’m so sorry. I’ve been completely ignoring you. Give me a minute, I’ll just say goodbye to Professor Chernyshevsky and come with you.”
I make a stop sign with my hand. “No, no, don’t do that. He’s the reason you were so excited about winning this prize in the first place.” My voice sounds hollow. I know now that it is all fake. All of it.
“Don’t be such a silly Billy, of course, I’ll come with you. This weekend is about us, not just me.”
I touch her hand reassuringly. “It’s okay, babe. Stay and talk to him as much as you want. Rocco is here.”
Her eyes widen. “What?”
I point to the man standing very still at the edge of the room. “That’s him, there.”
Her eyes widen further. “Holy cow, that’s him? He’s freaking gorgeous.”
I glance back at him and see him watching us. She waves at him and he nods in acknowledgment.
She turns to me and frowns. “What’s wrong with you? You seem strange.”
I shake my head. “Nothing’s wrong. Look, I'm going to go with him for a bit. I need to talk to him without all this noise and people, but I’ll be back in about an hour. Is that okay with you?”
Her eyes sparkle with mischief. “Talk? That’s what we’re calling it now? An hour? Don’t you dare. You stay the night with him and have a brilliant time. If I was going back with him I certainly wouldn’t be coming back in an hour!”
She doesn’t understand, and I can’t explain any of it now, but I’ll tell her everything once he explains the mystery that it would appear everyone in this room knows except me, Sam, and the staff. “If I am later than an hour how will you get back?”
“I’ll hang around here for another couple of hours then the limo will pick me up and take me to the hotel.”
“Are you sure about this?”
“One hundred percent. Go and have a great time. Trust me there is nothing I’d rather do than be here listening to Professor Chernyshevsky.”
Now I have witnessed the terrible corruption in that room, I appreciate her clear honesty and innocence even more. I lean forward and kiss her cheek. “I love you, Sam.”
“Are you practicing on me?” she teases.
I shake my head. “I’m not in love with him.”
“You better not be. You just met him. You’ll scare the poor guy off.” She frowns. “Hang on. You don’t have any condoms, do you?”