I whisper, “I saw a man in the café a few days ago who had a book about Pittacus, and he kept staring at me. He had this hat on and this big mustache, and I could just tell he was from Mogadore. And then last night after I opened the Chest in the north belfry, he showed up.”

“How did we escape?”

“I used my telekinesis to float us out the window and into the yard, and then I used it to get us up here.”

“We have to get out of here,” she whispers. “We have to leave Santa Teresa immediately.”

My excitement is immediate. I hug her in the dark, and to my surprise she hugs me back. Adelina crawls to the lip of the nook and I follow her with the Chest hovering behind me. When the nave appears empty, Adelina asks me to lower her to the floor. Then I carefully drop the Chest over the lip and set it silently next to Adelina’s bare feet. I’m about to levitate down when Sister Dora appears at the back of the nave and marches towards Adelina.

“Where have you been?” she barks. “You left your post all night. How could you do such a thing? And what is this luggage doing in here?”

“I had to get some fresh air, Sister Dora,” Adelina says softly. “I’m sorry I left my post.”

I can see Sister Dora’s eyes narrow. “With Marina?”

“What?”

“I had four girls wake me up in the middle of the night saying that Marina snuck out last night and that you left with her.”

Adelina starts to speak, but Ella suddenly appears behind Sister Dora and tugs on her dress.

“Sister Dora? I just saw Marina,” she lies.

“Where?”

“In the bedroom, sleeping.”

Sister Dora bends down and snatches Ella by the arm, and the terrified look on Ella’s face causes something to shift inside me. “You’re a little liar! I just came from the sleeping quarters, and no one is in there. You’re making up excuses for her.”

“Sister Dora, that’s enough,” Adelina says.

But Sister Dora begins dragging Ella away so forcefully that her feet hardly touch the ground. “We’re going up to the office, and you’re going to learn that you don’t lie here.”

Tears stream down Ella’s cheeks. From the nook’s opening, I stare at Sister Dora’s hand and pry her fingers away from Ella’s bicep. Sister Dora yells in pain, and then peers down at Ella with surprise and confusion. She grabs Ella again.

Adelina jogs over to them, and before I can send Sister Dora all the way down the main aisle on her back, Adelina grabs her wrist.

Sister Dora rips her arm away. My heart jumps into my throat with Adelina’s newfound alliance to me and my friend.