Before Hazel had time to think about what was happening, she was shut away in the dark, the breath that had caught in her throat when she dropped the tray released in a faint hiccup of surprise against Ernie's chest. Because. They were. That close.
It wouldn't have mattered if she could have spoken. She wouldn't have been able to.
The voices came near enough that Hazel could distinguish that they were students, but she didn't recognize them, and their words were muffled as much by her panic as they were by the stone that separated them.