The Impossible Fortress(67)

“It’s important,” I said.

“Then go to the store. Or go to her house. Knock on her door like a regular person.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

Lynn was already walking away from us, and we had no choice but to follow her. She clearly knew the fastest route to the exit. In just moments she would be out and gone.

“It’s a long story,” Clark said. “Billy can’t go anywhere near her.”

Lynn glanced back at me. “Your name is Billy?”

“That’s right.”

“And Mary knows you?”

“Yes.”

She shook her head. “I don’t believe it. I talk to Mary all the time. She’s never mentioned any Billy.”

Now, right there, I should have known something was wrong. I was certain my name would have come up once or twice. Especially after I led a gang of thieves into her father’s store and destroyed the place.

“Maybe a Will?” I asked. “Did she ever mention a Will?”

“Never.”

“Never?”

“Raoul, she brags about Raoul all the time. But she’s never mentioned any Will.”

“Who the hell is Raoul?” Alf asked. He was limping along behind me, clutching my shoulder for support.

“I don’t know,” I said. It was my first moment of doubt all day. You don’t know her at all, Zelinsky had warned me. All this time she’s been fooling you right back. Maybe this was why Mary had pushed me away in the store. Maybe she was secretly in love with some asshole named Raoul.

“Please,” Clark told Lynn. “Just find Mary, and tell her Will is here. He wants to see her. She can come, or she can ignore him. But let her decide. Give her the choice, okay? That’s all we’re asking.”

It was the most Clark had spoken to a girl in years, and I don’t know where he found the courage. But in that moment I realized he was blessed with a remarkable gift. Even with his muddy hair and weird hand-me-down clothes and one hand shoved deep in his pocket, there was something about the way Clark looked or the way Clark spoke that made him impossible to refuse. In the span of just fifteen seconds, Lynn went from looking pissed off to anxious and concerned. Suddenly our mission had become her mission.

“All right,” she said, “but you won’t have much time. Lunch is almost over.”

Even Clark seemed surprised by her turnaround. “But you’ll actually get her? You’ll bring Mary here?”

“I better not get in trouble.” She pointed to a shady nook in the garden with a large statue of the Virgin Mary. “Go hide over there. Behind the statue. Keep your voices down because Sister Ellen comes here all the time, and you do not want to cross Sister Ellen.”

“Thank you,” Clark said.

“Don’t thank me. Just hide,” she said.

We all moved behind the statue and crouched down.

Clark was whispering excitedly about the way Lynn had spoken to him. “I am totally asking her out,” he said. “As soon as I get my surgery, as soon as they hack off this stupid freak show, I am totally asking her out!”

“She likes you already,” Alf said. “Why are you going to wait four years?”

“I don’t want to spook her.”

“You’ve already spooked her! By renting that stupid movie eighteen times!”

Their bickering was making me tired. Or maybe it was just the sun—directly overhead and beating down on us. I could feel parts of my skin crisping up; the rest was slathered in mud. My heart was pounding.

Clark took the Claw from his pocket and tucked it under his shirt. He looked like a portrait of Napoleon. “Is this less obvious?”

“You’re just calling attention to it,” I said.

Clark shook his head. “I wish I brought gloves.”

Alf was exasperated. “You need to get over this, Clark. The girl’s here on scholarship. She’s not stupid. You’re not fooling her.”

Clark wouldn’t relent. He kept the Claw hidden beneath his shirt. “If she sees it too soon, she’ll be repulsed. It’s better this way.”

Footsteps passed nearby, on the other side of the hedge wall, and we all stopped taking until they were gone. I was feeling anxious, and I asked if the guys would mind giving me a little privacy. “I’d like to meet with Mary one on one.”

“Sure, totally,” Alf said. He suggested that we meet by the gap in the fence, where we crawled through the creek. “If you’re not there in twenty minutes, we’ll know something’s wrong and we’ll leave. Does that sound all right?”

“That sounds great,” I said. “And thank you, guys. Thanks for helping me get this far. I owe you big-time.”

“You don’t owe us nothing,” Alf said. “Just promise you’ll make this count, all right? Tell her what you came to say. No wussing out.”

He put out his hand and we shook on it. “No wussing out.”

“Good luck, Billy,” Clark said. “I really hope it goes okay for you. And tell Lynn I said good-bye, all right?”

I promised I would, but this turned out to be unnecessary.

Alf and Clark were just standing to leave when Lynn returned to the garden. Trailing behind her was a tall, slender Asian girl with long dark hair. She cracked her gum and studied us with disapproval.