Kara swiftly headed away.
Soft sobs came from the other side of the trees. I felt a wave of guilt at being here, listening.
Someone else came. Shoes crunching on the pebbles.
“Are you all right, Cormack?” It was Brother Sage’s voice. “I saw Kara running from here. She looked a little upset. And you do, too.”
“Yeah, I’m okay.” But Cormack didn’t sound okay.
“Young love troubles?”
“We were talking and laughing and getting along. But then as soon as I mention seeing her outside of here, she gets all defensive.”
“You’ll have to accept that. Perhaps she’s fighting a battle you don’t know about. I’ll have a chat with her sometime later today and see how she’s doing.”
“Sounds good. I know I shouldn’t push. It’s not like me to push. Girls are the one thing in life that have come pretty easily to me. Hope that doesn’t sound big headed.”
“Not at all.” The conversation lapsed for a moment before Brother Sage spoke again. “Cormack, I’ve noticed you shaking a little the last couple of days. If you need any medication—”
“No. I’ll be fine. I’ll beat this down. You lot were kind enough to send me to rehab before I came here, and I’m almost clean.”
“Good, good. Glad to hear it. Well, if you change your mind or you need to talk, you know where to find us.”
Brother Sage walked away again.
After a minute, Cormack left, too. I hoped he wasn’t trying to find Kara. I wished again that I knew what was troubling her. I wanted to help her, but I didn’t know how. She wasn’t letting anyone in. Maybe she’d relent and talk with Brother Sage.
Richard poked his head through at me from between two mandarin trees. “Hey, you. Thought I saw you head this way earlier.”
“Hey.” I smiled.
He looked behind him before he stepped through to stand before me, as if checking to see if anyone else was close by. “I got a bit worried before when I saw Ruth come back through the gates, knowing that you hadn’t come back yet. I was starting to think maybe she did push you off a cliff.” He winked. “Easy for the imagination to run wild in a place like this.”
“I can handle Ruth.”
“Are you sure? Those button eyes of hers give me the creeps . . .”
“I think she just goes out of her way to look fierce. Speaking of imagination, after seeing the first three challenges, I can’t even begin to imagine what challenge four will be.”
Richard sucked in a huge breath, blowing it out hard as he swung around on a branch and came to sit beside me. “I’d kill to find out what it is.”
I winced. “Bad choice of words, considering . . . ?”
“Yeah. Sorry. I have a pretty black sense of humour at the best of times.” His expression became serious. “I, uh, I’ve been hearing those noises you’ve been hearing, too.”
“You have?”
“Yup. You said you saw eyes in the walls, too?”
It sounded so stupid when someone else said it. I plucked a leaf from the mandarin tree above and crushed it between my fingers. It smelled tart. “Just the first morning.”
“Where?”
“The women’s dorm. On the wall opposite the window.”
“The men’s dorm is on the other side of that.” He paused to flash a grin. “Are you accusing us of being Peeping Toms?”
I laughed. “If the shoe fits.”
“The shoe certainly doesn’t fit my foot.” He sobered. “But something else isn’t fitting. This whole place. I calculated the area of the monastery—all the rooms and hallways. There’s a lot of space that’s unaccounted for. Just . . . empty space.”
“It’s the walls,” I said, nodding. “They’re either super thick or hollow. They have to be. I thought the same thing.”
“You have to wonder if the police were told about that. And do the mentors know?”
“That’s a good question. Should we talk to them about this?”
Richard lowered his voice, looking around again. “I don’t think so. They seem to leave everything to the monks. Brother Sage just brushed you off when you mentioned it.”
“True.”
“Look.” He dug down inside his shirt and pulled out a rolled-up piece of paper. “I’ve been busy. I stole some pencils and paper from the scriptorium early this morning. And I made the best damned map I could of the monastery.”