Then I realized something.
"Didn't Clara and the Nutcracker Prince leave once the Rat King was dead?" Danny blinked rapidly and looked up at me. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah, they did. So that means . . ." I looked down at the "dead" body in horror. I could hear every breath I took in my ears like a sonic boom. After what seemed like hours of motionlessness, I was finally convinced that I really had killed him - until his arm jerked. I screamed as loud as I ever had in my life, then clapped my hands over my mouth to stop myself before I woke him up even further.
"We have to get out of here before he wakes up," Danny whispered, "Or we'll never get out of this place alive." I nodded and stood up swiftly. He took my hand and led me quietly out of the cafeteria. As soon as the doors clicked shut behind us, I asked the question that had been burning in my mind like a coal that refused to die out. "What exactly is 'this place'?" He looked over his shoulder and in a low voice said, "Keep walking. I'll explain as we go." I nodded again and let him lead me by the hand around the high school.
When he was finally convinced we were well hidden, he stopped and turned. Taking my other hand in his he said, "Did you notice how there are no people here anymore, but there were before you fainted? Well, that's because the rest of the world and the two of us are on separate planes. To us, they all disappeared, and to them, we disappeared. This plane is frozen in time, in the exact second you kissed me. It won't unfreeze and fast forward until we finally kill that guy. Okay?" I blew my hair out of my eyes and said, "Sure, why not? Let's do our best to murder a total stranger." He laughed, and I noted that he tilted his head to one side when he did so. It made his ebony hair cascade over his face.
[BREAK]
Without even thinking, I freed one hand and tucked the runaway strands behind his ear. This was a difficult task, considering his superior height, but I managed. His lips stuck in a silly little smile that was so adorable, I couldn't help but giggle a little. Also subconsciously, I looked into his eyes. There was just something about the look he was giving me that made my cheeks flame red with embarrassment. But I didn't look away; The ivy color was much too captivating for that.
Suddenly, his head snapped up and stared intently at something behind me. Then, with his good arm, he pulled me behind a nearby open door. I started to ask what was going on, but he clapped his hand over my mouth. Then, I heard someone yell, "Where are you, you little Hessians?! I'll get you for hitting me with that preposterous bat! No one harms the Rat King George!" Danny tightened his grip around me and drew us back into the shadows. He waited until the man we'd nearly killed passed by to bolt out from our hiding place and, dragging me behind, run down the hallway the way we'd come. We didn't stop running until he found a taller table to hide under.
It was there that we hid, waiting and trying to control our breathing. All of the sudden, he repositioned himself so that he had his arms around my shoulders and his head on top of mine. He clamped his good hand over my mouth so I couldn't make any noise and started whispering to me, "I know we haven't known each other for a very long time. Probably not even a half an hour, but . . . I think I love you. I think I love you a lot. I never believed in love at first sight before, but as soon as you looked into my eyes that first time back when I was a nutcracker, I kind of knew that this would happen. The loving you part, I mean, not the running and hiding from someone we have to kill part.
