Escape Velocity

Chapter Sixteen

Wandering the eerie quiet of the halls at two in the morning was a bit creepy, but my whirling emotions wouldn't let me sleep. I walked by the hallway signs that went up every night as housekeeping left a little chocolate candy on our pillows: "Bonne Nuit Y'all."

I read in one of the parlors until my eyelids drooped and I still wasn't finished. The closed diary rested heavy on my stomach. My great-grandmother's words hung over me as though a fog had descended. Or it could have been the lack of sleep. Or both. I left before I fell fully asleep. Because it would be typical of my life to have Ben or Duncan find me in the morning, curled up on the sofa, drooling. I knew how the Fates worked.

Back in my room, I crashed for a while, waking up when Melisse stepped out of the bathroom. Standing at the foot of her bed, she started to speak but stopped. A worried expression settled on her before she spoke again. "You okay? What's wrong?"

I was too tired to gear up my defenses. "I'm fine."

"You don't sound fine." Melisse sat on the edge of her bed, facing me. "Does it have to do with your grandmother's diary? You've been spending more time with it lately."

"Great-grandmother." I picked up the diary and opened it at the bookmark. "I know she survived the war. But I never knew how hard her life was. No one in my family talked about it. Read these two pages."

Melisse took the diary and was silent as she read about my great-grandmother's escape. She handed it back to me and said, "Scary. But what was she doing? Was it smuggling?"

Not quite believing it myself, I shrugged. "She was. It was a da Vinci painting."

Melisse's mouth fell open. "As in Leonardo? You're kidding?"

Now that I'd said it out loud, it sounded insane. Judging by Melisse's face, she was thinking the same thing. Even more insane was the idea my great-grandmother had painted a copy and that both had disappeared into Nazi Germany.

It was like a movie.

"I know, wild, huh?" I said.

"Yeah. But not any wilder than a secret lab hidden underground at the site of a world-famous telescope or the discovery of extraterrestrial life, right? It's like we're in a movie."

I snort-laughed.

"What's so funny?" Melisse asked.

"Nothing, really. I had the same thought that it seems like a movie is all. Great minds think alike."

"I didn't think you thought that highly of me. Or of anyone else, to be honest."

"What do you mean—that I'm a snob?" I slapped the diary down on my nightstand way harder than I intended. Melisse jumped at the sound.

"I didn't mean that at all. I mean, you're tough to get to know. You're pretty defensive."

I looked away. "With good reason."

Melisse threw her hands up. "It's so frustrating to talk to you unless it's about class and our projects and even then, it's not easy. What have I ever done to you?"

It was the second time Melisse had asked me that. I put my hand on the diary, fingering the red ribbon bookmark that stuck out from the pages. My great-grandmother had been willing to trust strangers with her life, and here I was afraid to have a simple conversation with Melisse. Afraid to be her friend, anyone's friend. Doing it all on my own had been the key to my survival for so long, it unsettled me to consider the alternative. Nothing of my great-grandmother's strength had been passed down to me. Gramp was strong. And my dad, too. But not me. I was a wimp.