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“Okay,” I say. “See you.”
He heads off into the crowd and disappears outside.
I can’t help but wonder what he was talking about. For a second, I think I saw something inside of my brother, maybe a darkness that I didn’t know about. Henry has this infectious optimism most of the time, but maybe his work is taking a toll on him. I have to ask him about that. I don’t want him to just suffer through it in silence. If I’m going to get closer to my brother and have an actual relationship with him, I have to try to reach out.
“How’s our fearless leader doing?”
I turn around to see Ryan. “He’s good,” I say. “You know how Henry is.”
“And how are you?” he asks, coming up to stand next to me.
I lean toward him. He’s speaking a little lower than usual and the room’s pretty loud. “I’m doing okay,” I say. “Do you know anyone here?”
He shakes his head. The DJ changed songs just as he says something, but I miss it as a wash of heavy bass beats comes roaring from the speakers.
“What?” I call out.
He grins at me. “Come on,” he says, taking my hand.
“Where are we going?”
He pulls me along behind him. I catch a glimpse of Daniel watching us, a little smile on his face, but he doesn’t get up to follow.
Ryan takes me across the house and back behind the DJ booth. There’s a door I hadn’t noticed before. He pulls it open and a set of stairs leads up.
I follow him up the steps. We pass up onto the second floor, but it’s a part of the house that I’ve never seen before. He goes through another door and shuts it behind us, closing off the music a bit, though it still grinds at the floor.
“What is this?” I ask him.
“I think it’s for the help,” he says to me, shrugging. We’re in a thin hallway with multiple doors. It looks like it winds its way through the entire upstairs.
“You mean like, for cleaning people?”
“Yep,” he confirms. “Look.” I follow him down the hall and he opens a door. “My room.”
I peek in past him. It’s neat and tidy. “Wow, okay,” I say. “This is so creepy.”
He grins at me. “I know. I found this by accident on our second day here.”
“Have you just been stalking through the walls all this time?”
“Pretty much.” He laughs and shuts the door. “Come on.”
I follow him down the hall and around a corner. We stop outside of another door and he pushes it open.
I follow him into a room I’ve never seen before. There’s a couch back by one wall and a huge screen on the opposite. There are shelves of books, movies and videogames.
“This is Henry’s man cave,” he says. “I don’t think he lets anyone in here.”
I laugh, looking through his books. “Lots of fantasy in here,” I say.
“He’s a nerd.” Ryan comes up behind me, looking over my shoulder. “Are you much of a reader?”
“Yeah,” I admit. “When I get a chance, at least. What about you?”
“Not really,” he says. “I’m too busy with the show.”
“The show?”
