Chapter 401
The next morning, I was allowed to accompany Lucy to training because my sister spoke to my mother on my behalf and said it was good for the other new recruits to have me there. It seemed ironic that I’d been fighting tooth and nail to get out of practice only for practice to be the one place I was allowed to go. I was also allowed to go to the gym in the evenings so long as either Cadence, Aurora, or Ashley, the “grown up” Hunters, were with me, but that was it. No going to my friends’ apartments. No hanging out with Brandon. It was the stupidest thing ever—except for the fact that it gave me an opportunity.
Lucy and I were walking back into the apartment building when I noticed Juan across the way again, and I decided it was now or never. “I need to talk to Juan Diego,” I said to Lucy who had been relatively quiet, likely matching my somber mood. “Just go along with it, okay?”
She scrunched her forehead up at me like she had a million questions but didn’t even bother to use the IAC to ask me what I was talking about, and we shot across the lobby to tell him hello. After a greeting in broken Spanish on my part, I said, “Great news! I’m going to go ahead and move into that open apartment on five!”
“That is wonderful, Cassidy!” Juan Diego gushed as I felt Lucy’s eyes boring into the side of my face. “I haven’t seen any orders come through yet, but when they do, I can repaint it if you like. I will reset the lock on the door and get the furniture in there, too.”
“Oh, I’m sure there’s no need to paint it,” I said, trying to keep him as uninvolved as possible. “But it would be great if I could go up there and look around, just sort of get the layout down.”
“Good idea. You can check the paint colors while you’re there.”
“Awesome. Could you tell me the door code? It’s the one on the end, right? On the left? That’s what I was told.” I sort of giggled, trying to make sure he wasn’t suspicious, but I’d actually already determined that had to be the right apartment because I knew who lived in all of the others.
“Oh, uh, I’m not supposed to just tell people the temporary code, Miss Cassidy. Aaron likes to have those changed when someone enters the apartment for the first time as a resident so they can change it however they like.”
I wasn’t quite sure I was following his explanation. But I had another idea. “That’s okay. Do you think you could run me up really quickly? Show me around for a minute?” It couldn’t be long. If I was more than a few minutes later than what my mom expected, I’d be in huge trouble. Luckily, we had walked sort of fast since we didn’t have much to say.
I could see Juan thinking about it for a moment before he finally said, “Okay. Let’s go.”
Hiding my smile, I followed him to the elevator, and Lucy bumped me hard in the arm. “What’s going on?” she asked through the IAC.
Answering her wasn’t really an option since I hadn’t quite figured it all out myself yet. I just knew that the first step was learning the combination to the door. We took the elevator up to five, and I tried to remain as innocent as possible while we listened to Muzak, and Juan Diego hummed along. The elevator opened, and he walked us all the way down to the very end, just like I thought.
“Okay,” he said, hunkering over the manual lock a bit as he punched in a four digit code. It would be something I could do with my IAC, but since he didn’t have one, that wasn’t an option. At least it didn’t have an actual key. While he was punching in the numbers I was looking away, but it didn’t matter. I still knew exactly what the code was because I can read minds. I’m not sure my custodial friend knows about this. “Here you go.”
He opened the door and the scent of fresh paint hit my lungs. It stung a little, but it was also the sweet smell of freedom, so I didn’t mind. The apartment was lovely. Though it was basically the same set up as most of the other apartments on five—a living room in front of a kitchen with a passthrough, an office space on one side and a bedroom with a bath in the back, along with a small pantry with a washer and dryer—it looked like a luxurious penthouse suite to me, one that could rival my sister’s. And since it was an end unit, it had more windows. One in the kitchen and one in the living room, and an extra one in the bedroom besides the one the rest of the units had. It looked like heaven to me.
“What you think?” Juan asked, standing with his hands on his hips in the living room, admiring his work.
“I think it’s amazing,” I said with a nod. The walls were a neutral gray color in the living room and office. The kitchen was a yellowish color, but not that annoying cheery, blinding color, and as I wandered down the hallway, I noticed the gray continued until the bedroom, which was more of a steel gray color. “I love it!”
“Great. Well, as soon as I get orders, I will get you some furniture. You need help moving you tings?”
“Oh, no, I can do it,” I said, thinking I didn’t really have too many tings—things. Cosas. Besides, I’d probably start moving them out a little at a time....
“Okay,” Juan said again, looking around. “You need anything else, you let me know.”
“Thank you!” I smiled at him, like this was a done deal, and then followed him back to the door. Giving the apartment one more look, I headed out toward the elevator, but we didn’t get on with Juan Diego. I pretended like I was going to Lucy’s—which was forbidden—and we paused in the hall after the doors closed.
“What are you doing?” my best friend demanded.
I wasn’t even sure how to explain it. “I think... maybe... I can bluff my way into that apartment.”
“Are you nuts? How in the world? Your mom treats you like a rabid pit bull at a dog park. Your leash is, like, four feet long.”
“I know, I know. I’m working on it. At least I know the code now.”
“How?” Lucy blurted. “He was standing in front of the door when he punched it in.”
I practically rolled my eyes at her. “I read his mind, silly.”
“Oh, right. Well, why didn’t you just read it instead of making him come up here. Surely, he knows the code, right?”
“Yeah, but it’s easier to find stuff when it’s right in front of your face than digging around in someone’s head. Besides, I’m hoping I can figure out a way to get him to furnish it without Aaron noticing.”
“Are you kidding?” Lucy sounded exasperated. “You’re talking about the most observant person on the entire planet, Cassidy. There’s no way....”
“You never know.” I called the elevator and was happy when the door opened almost instantaneously. I stepped in. “I have to try!”
Lucy held the door open. “I’ll come and visit you when they lock you in the cell where they kept Sam!” She let the door close before I could argue, and I realized she was probably right. But I’d already pulled off two impossible schemes—the third time’s the charm, right?
