The floor was much harder than grass. I winced as Lucas yanked on my cloak to encourage me to my feet. Maddy was frowning as we scuttled between the sleeping Centaurs to hug the wall between two banks of shelves.
We waited to see if the guards had noticed the light or sensed anything. But the glass doors, as well as the ones to the inner hall, remained closed.
“Is there someone there?” the words, uttered in a harsh whisper, came from one supposedly sleeping form, two over from where we huddled.
“Let him see me,” I told Maddy, before I picked my way over to where the young Centaur pushed his torso upright.
“Stay low,” I whispered to him.
His eyes went wide. “You visited Aunt Triss at the school.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. It was Trey. “Yes. I am here to take you home.”
He started to roll to his feet, but then froze when I held up a hand. “I am a Jumper. But I can only take about six of you at a time, so I have to make multiple Jumps. I will need your help to keep things quiet while I do so. Can you help me organize the kids into groups?”
He nodded vigorously. On the other side of him, Tuli straightened. “Are we going home?” she whispered.
“Yeppers. But you have to be very quiet, and listen to what I need you to do. Can you do that?”
She nodded. The Centaur on my other side yawned. They were waking up, and if one said something out loud—
Lucas began to strip. I couldn’t help but stare—it wasn’t my usual go-to for facing a tense situation. He whispered to Trey, “Do any of you ever talk to the guards?”
Trey rolled his eyes. “Tuli gabs to them every time she takes a piss.”
“I do not!” Her protest was a little loud, and I hushed her.
“Where do you go to pee?” Lucas asked, and then pointed to the garden. “Out there?”
Trey nodded. “We are using the garden. We can’t use the little rooms the Bellatis do.”
I guessed that good gardening practices weren’t high on either Isobel’s or Brock’s lists. Lucas was now stark naked, and I was trying very hard not to look. He was a very good-looking young man, and Maddy glanced over to me, before complaining to him, “You’re messing with my concentration.”
“Sorry.” But he didn’t sound particularly sorry as he moved gracefully over to where Tuli lay. “I’m a Morph,” he said. “I need to borrow your body.”
Her mouth opened and closed.
“He needs to touch you, silly,” Trey whispered urgently.
“Oh.” Tuli reached out a hand, and Lucas took it.
A moment later he straightened, and we all watched in amazement as his body contorted and writhed its way to that of a young Centaur.
I wasn’t the only one with my mouth hanging open. A youngfemaleCentaur.
“All right,” Lucas said. He even sounded like Tuli. “I’m going outside for a pee, and I’ll start chatting up the guards. Maddy, hide yourself against the wall—you’ll need to Block what Riley is up to. Trey and Tuli—you guys will need to wake up your friends in groups of six, so that Riley can Jump them home. Tuli, go with the first group, so that there aren’t two of you here. Keep it quiet, or we’ll attract the guards—there’s sure to be some in the hall, too. Everyone got that?”
We all nodded obediently, and he minced his way past us, moving a little oddly as he adjusted to having four long legs.
“Do I really look like that?” Tuli asked in amazement.
“Don’t let it go to your head,” her twin muttered.
Lucas opened the glass doors, and closed them behind him. A few moments later, his faux Tuli voice was in conversation with the two Bellatis.
Trey looked at me. “You need six of us?”
“Yes.”
