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“What are you laughing at?”
“Ahh!” I yell, dropping the controller and whipping around fast enough to get a kink in my neck.
Lev is standing there, wringing his hands together and looking curiously at the screen. “S-sorry. I’m sorry…”
“It’s okay,” I say quickly. “It’s okay, Lev. I’m sorry. You just startled me. I didn’t even hear you come in.”
His eyes veer to the screen. “Who’s that?”
I turn off the screen quickly and Liam’s avatar disappears. “No one. Just made friends with a fellow gamer, that’s all.”
Lev’s eyes go wide. “You were playing without me?”
“Er, just for a few minutes. It wasn’t as fun by myself, though.” I put the controller aside and get to my feet. “How’re you doing today?”
Lev shrugs and shuffles on his feet without saying a word.
“Do you wanna ask me how I’m doing today?” He nods and I take that as my cue. “I’m a little lonely down here. And bored. I miss fresh air. And sunlight. And picnics on the grass.”
Lev looks warily at me. “Uri said you have to be here.”
Right on cue, the door creaks open again and Polly pops her head into the basement. “What Uri doesn’t know won’t hurt him. Let’s take a field trip.”
We both glance at Lev, who’s looking very unsure. “Uri will be mad.”
“Uri could never be mad at you,” I assure him. “And anyway, we’ll keep this our little secret, shall we? Just you, me, and Polly.”
Polly moves forward gingerly. She’s always extra careful around Lev. “It’ll be fun, Lev.”
Lev ignores Polly and glances at me. “Do we have to pinky swear?”
“Sure, we can pinky swear. Why don’t you and Polly go first?”
Lev swings around towards her, but his eyes are firmly fixed on his feet. Still, he offers her his pinky with a rare surge of confidence. Polly gives me a hesitant smile and links pinkies with her brother.
He breaks away immediately after and turns to me. “Now, you and me.”
Once the all-important pinky swears are out of the way, Polly leads the way out of the basement. She and I make it into a game of hopscotch and Lev cautiously jumps on board. He even starts giggling once we’re at ground level, sneaking our way into the kitchen.
Of course, once we’re there, it only takes a couple minutes before we’re busted by Svetlana as we’re raiding the pantry.
She gasps when she sees me. “Miss Alyssa, you’re not supposed to be out of the basement.”
Polly steps right in front of me. “Alyssa’s not here, Svetlana,” she says with narrowed eyes. “She’s down in the basement where she belongs. It’s just Lev and me, getting snacks for our garden picnic. Yes?”
Svetlana’s eyes veer from me to Polly before she sighs and crumples forward. “Yes, Miss Polly.”
Polly practically jumps on Svetlana and squeezes her in a hug. “Thanks, ‘Lana. You’re the best.”
Once we’ve gathered up a whole bunch of ridiculously unhealthy snacks, we make our way to the west corner of the garden where, according to Polly, no one ever goes.
“You know your brother has security cameras everywhere, right?” I remind her. “He’s gonna find out about this little prison break at some point.”
Polly waves away my concern and spreads the picnic blanket under one of the sycamores. “Whatever. I can deal with him when the time comes.”
I watch as she puts the picnic basket down and starts pulling out Doritos and Milky Ways. It’s not until everything is unloaded that she looks up at me. “What? You’re staring at me kinda weird.”
“Why would you deal with him on my behalf?”
