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Cady pivots toward the building, her face even redder.
<span class="mu-i">
I can't look in that direction right now!
</span>
"Um..." Cady can't help glancing at him and immediately regrets it. She turns her back and coughs. "Can we go somewhere private and talk?"
"Private?" She hears his robe rustle and his presence looming behind her makes her knees bump together.
<span class="mu-i">
Aaaah! His voice is so deep my muscles are getting a massage!
</span>
She repositions her feet and freezes as her hood brushes against something. "Then you can accompany me to the dungeon."
"D-d-d-"
"It's what we call the storeroom."
<span class="mu-i">
Bait and switch!
</span>
"This way." Harn walks past as Cady furtively sniffs the air in his wake.
<span class="mu-i">
Is this what cavewomen got to have every day?!
</span>
Harn stops and tilts his head and Cady stumbles back as they lock eyes and she stammers "Right behind you!" His gaze lingers long enough to force Cady's own gaze down onto the grass. When he takes a step forward she follows without looking up until they're back inside the main hallway.
Past the door to the commissary Harn unexpectedly turns toward the wall. There's an alcove Cady didn't notice before, and once inside she can see a narrow stairwell leading down into darkness. "Go ahead," Harn rumbles behind her.
Cady lobs a hesitant glance backward but he's blocking the alcove mouth so she looks down into the dark and takes a step. After twenty-odd steps she reaches a carved cavern room. An ancient and corroded light array on the far wall flickers steadily.
"Those need to be moved upstairs." Harn stoops his head to fit through the doorway and Cady turns her head to follow his nod and sees a pile of crates shadowed in the corner.
(She's glad there's a small crate on top.)
Cady reaches for the crate when a thick arm slams past her and she jolts upright and spins around to face Harn, bumping her back against the rough stone wall as he leans forward toward her. "Now that we're alone..."
<span class="mu-i">
Oh God, he's going to kiss me!
</span>
His eyes narrow and she can see a glint of teeth. "Why don't you tell me what you're really thinking?"
Cady licks her lips and glances down. "Um... I thought first we could-"
"You have something to do with that intruder, don't you? Are there more of you?"
<span class="mu-i">
What.
</span>
"On the same day you arrive, someone is able to evade all the academy's defenses, then you both leave together? It doesn't take much to piece that together."
<span class="mu-i">
Oh God, he's going to kill me! He has the completely wrong idea about everything!
</span>
Cady blurts out "I know the intruder's name!" For a second she feels like the storm has passed but then Harn's mouth twists down and he leans in with his other side until his forearm is pressing against the wall alongside Cady and his face is so close their foreheads are almost touching. "It's Jean... Jorts... George-" Her eyes are squeezed tightly closed. Her heart is pounding. An involuntary gasp gives her lungs the air to belt out two more sounds.
"Jorma Gon!"
