"What are talking about?" Ophelia crossed her legs and levitated down next to Amry.
"I was closing my eyes and trying to block out the sound to remember what it was like to sleep." Amry turned to Ophelia with one open eye.
"Why would you do such a thing?" Ophelia's widened her eyes.
"I don't know. I guess I wanted to feel more human. But it's not working, so let's forget about it."
"But..." Ophelia paused.
"Really, it's okay. I was thinking about our conversation earlier, and John, that's all. It was stupid. How was Science?"
"Boring." Kyle took a seat between the girls.
"What happened?" Amry sat up.
"Leon Brickman. Oh, and Ophelia had another episode." Kyle studied the crowd of students drifting by. “Amry have you seen, Bethany?"
"No. Wait. Lia, what episode?" Amry tugged Ophelia's sleeve.
"That's weird." Kyle stood up.
"I will tell you later." Ophelia grinned at Amry.
"What's weird?" Amry looked up at Kyle.
"I haven't seen Bethany since last night." He ran his hand through his hair and stopped. "I'm gonna go look for her."
"We'll help you." The girls shot up toward the clouds with the precision of skilled pilots.
Hovering above the Academy, they scoured the area for Bethany while Kyle decided to check the dorm. There was no sign of her, so they floated to the cafeteria, it was empty. The library and science lab turned up nothing as well.
"Now I'm starting to get worried." Ophelia twirled to look behind her.
"Don't worry, Lia. She's probably in the bleachers, watching the new arrivals. Bethany loves to check out the new souls, you know that." Amry smiled.
"I don't know. I have this weird fluttering in my belly. I think something is wrong."
Amry sighed, "Let's go check the dorm, maybe Kyle found her."
They bumped into Kyle on the way over, he hadn't found her.
"I don't get it. Where is she?" Kyle rolled his eyes.
"When was the last time you saw her?" Amry questioned.
"I told you, last night."
“Yes, but where were you?”
"At the library. She had that English paper due tomorrow and she needed to get some information out of one of the classic books."
"Which one?" Amry narrowed her eyes.
"Oh man, what does that have to do with anything?” Kyle snapped.
"Because we can go to the library and see if the book is there. If it isn't, we can see what time she checked it out and go from there. Maybe trace her steps."
"Good idea." Kyle slapped Amry on the back.
"Yeah, I get them from time to time." Amry smirked.
"Wait, what do we do if the book is there?" Ophelia pushed her hair back.
"Then we're screwed, and we'll have to go to the Headmaster." Kyle shook his head.
"One thing at a time. Let's see if the book is there." Amry swished up toward the roof of the dorms and darted toward the library.
Not bothering with formalities, the three teens passed through the large oak door.
"Which one was it, Kyle?" Ophelia chimed.
"Of Mice and Men."
Tracing their imprints on the books as they glided down each row, they stopped when they came to the resting place of John Steinbeck's masterpiece. Ophelia stood behind Amry, who was thoroughly checking the shelves above and below where the book should be.
"It's not here. Let's go to the information desk and check the log."
In the Academy of Souls, students were left on their honor to check out a book and then return it in a timely manner. Occasionally, someone did forget to bring one back. The librarian created the ledger for logging the time and date a book was removed.
"According to this, Bethany checked the book out at ten fifty-five last night." Amry pointed to the entry.
"That's only about fifteen minutes after I left her," Kyle stammered.
"This is interesting." Amry pointed to a name on the page.
"What's that?" Kyle rolled his eyes.
"There's a time stamped just a minute before Bethany's for The Catcher in the Rye."
"And? What's so odd about that?" Kyle huffed.
"It was checked out by Roger Mooring." Amry raised a brow.
"Oh no," murmured Ophelia.
"What do you mean? How does any of this have anything to do with Bethany?" Kyle barked.
"Don't you get it? Roger Mooring doesn't read, let alone a classic. He and Leon probably haven't picked up a book in years. Something’s wrong." Amry bit the inside of her cheek.
"Leon was in class but has anyone seen Roger?" They all shook their heads negatively.
"We need to find that son of bitch. If he's hurt her..." Kyle swooped out of the building.
"Kyle, wait! He's not listening. Jeez, we don't even know where to start looking." Amry turned to Ophelia.
"We need to catch up with him. I think we should stay together." Ophelia levitated.
"Agreed." Amry followed.
They caught up with Kyle halfway between crazed and over the edge. He was hovering above the trees in the courtyard, scouring for signs of either Roger or Leon.
"We need to think about this." Ophelia spun around before nestling on a low cloud.
"Lia's right. Let's be smart because lord knows neither one of them are. Given that they aren't masterminds and just street thugs, where would their feeble minds bring her?" Amry closed her eyes.
"What are you doing? We're not even sure Roger's got her," Kyle's voice cracked.
"It sure looked like you made up your mind a few minutes ago, when you launched out of the library like a rocket. And, I'm picturing the campus of the Academy. I'm trying to see where a secluded spot might be."
""What about the showers?" Ophelia interjected.
"That is a great spot, Lia. You don't even go there." Amry's eyes sparkled.
"No. I prefer the privacy of our bathroom," Ophelia quipped.
"This isn't important. Let's try the showers, I gotta do something," Kyle snapped.
"Wait. Should we tell, Dictator Dick? He's head of security, maybe he can help. Or how about Mr. Coal and Mr. Rain, it couldn't hurt," Ophelia queried.
"No. No goons," Kyle retorted.
The three of them cut across the tower of the main building, keeping their airborne travel at considerable height with maximum visibility. The gym was on the other side of the Academy's grounds. Cradled between the theater and the Headmaster's quarter's, the showers adjacent to the gym reflected a world they left behind. Gingerly landing on the rooftop of the building, they walked to the edge and peered down. The two large steel doors that hung in the entryway of the gym, were closed.
"That's definitely odd," Ophelia stated.
"What's that?" Kyle asked.
"The doors. They're always open. You know the privacy rule the Headmaster has. No walking through doors just because we can. Well, he leaves the gym open. It doesn't belong to anyone person like a dorm room, but it keeps kids from forgetting the rules and passing through. If they do it enough, they'll forget and apply it everywhere. So open door policy for the gym." Ophelia smiled.
"I guess that makes sense. I never noticed them before. Probably because I never come here. What about the library? That's a public space and the doors are always shut?" Kyle furrowed his brow.
"It's a quiet place. Opening the door reminds you of that." Ophelia crossed her arms.
"Wow. You're like a brochure for The Academy of Souls. Anything else you'd like to add?" Kyle said sarcastically.
"Yup."
"What's that?"
"The doors just opened, and Leon left." Ophelia smirked.
"Crap. Let's go."
They floated down the east side of the building and instead of obeying etiquette, transported through the front doors, opting to leave them shut so it wouldn't attract any unwanted attention. They had no idea what they were walking into, and at least if they could hold on to the element of
surprise, they might gain the upper hand.
The electric blue bleachers with layers of undisturbed dust, had not seen a team since the beginning of the Academy. Mostly jocks with unresolved hero issues came in from time to time, to relive their moments of glory. A concept that Ophelia found to be ridiculous. The room was dark, lit only by the natural stream of light reaching through the ten square windows. Five on each side, close to the ceiling. Each one no more than a foot long by a foot wide.
Drifting toward the back of the building, they passed through a graveyard of empty lockers. Only Ophelia could appreciate the curtain of damp air brushing across her face as they floated to their destination. The walls, comprised of large gray stones, added to the eerie shivers running along the back of her celestial spine. She hovered for a moment, taking a whiff of the mildew laced cracks in the stone. A memory of the garden wall her dad had built, when they first moved into their Victorian dream house, tightened its grip in the center of her chest.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a faint pounding traveled through the hollow of the walls, resting in Ophelia's inner ear, beating along the stem of the back of her neck. She winced. The tips of her ears stung with heat the closer they floated to showers.
"Something's really wrong." Ophelia stopped and touched the ground with her feet.
"What is it, Lia?" Amry settled beside her.
"I'm getting a weird feeling. My ears are hot." She reached up and massaged the tips.
Amry leaned in to get a better look.
"They're glowing red. Kyle, let's walk."
"Why?" He hovered above them.
"Because. I don't know why, but it seems like we should." Amry reached up and pulled on his arm.
"Okay. I'm coming. The two of you are killing me. Oh wait—too late. Seriously though, how does it help Bethany if we enter on foot?"
"We won't create any wind, so we can be stealthier." Amry narrowed her eyes. "Good?"
"Gooood." Kyle slid down between the girls.
The closer Ophelia got, the worse the burning engulfed her ears. It spread to the top of head, and down the sides of her throat. Beads of sweat drizzled down from her forehead, stinging her eyes.
"What is wrong with me?" Ophelia wiped her face with her sleeve.
"Lia, is that—sweat?" Amry leaned in.
"Damn. It is." Kyle stepped back a couple of feet.
"What, you afraid it's contagious, Kyle?" Ophelia hissed.
"No, sorry. It just surprised me." Kyle looked down at his feet.
"It's that god-awful pounding. It's doing something to me."
"What pounding?" Both Kyle and Amry asked at the same time.
"You don't hear it?"
They both shook their heads in disagreement.
"The closer we get, the louder it gets and the worse I feel." Ophelia held her head.
"Well, we're here. So, let's go in and figure out what this is." Amry rubbed Ophelia's arm.
The door to the showers had a small round window, about eye level. Ophelia pressed her forehead to the glass and swiveled her head.
"I don't see anything." She closed her eyes and heaved in a heavy breath. "Let's go in." She pushed through the door.
She took one step through the doorway, and Ophelia collapsed to the ground.
"It's so loud," she shouted.
"Lia, can you figure out where it's coming from?"
Ophelia struggled to focus as the sound shredded her ears. Folding her knees to her chest, she wrapped her arms around her legs. Rocking back and forth, she was unable to pinpoint the origin of the painful noise.
"We gotta do something, this is torturing her," Amry pleaded with Kyle.
"You check the right set of showers; I'll check the left." Kyle pointed.
Amry nodded and sped to the right. At the end of the last stall, was a small door no more than four feet tall.
"Kyle, come here."
He was beside her in a blink.
"Check this out. It's a little door. Can you go get Lia and bring her here? Let's see if this is where it's coming from."
Kyle carried Ophelia in his arms and set her down next to the door. She screamed.
"That's it, I'm going in." Amry gripped the knob.
"No. I have to go. I'm the only one who hears it." Ophelia placed her hand over Amry's.
"We'll both go." Amry opened the door.
"We'll all go." Kyle wrapped his arms around Ophelia and slid her through, "What is this?" Kyle stood up.
"It looks like a tunnel. A very dark, creepy tunnel." Amry backed up to Kyle.
"It stopped. When you pulled me through, the banging went away." Ophelia struggled to stand.
"Here, let me help you." Kyle lifted her from under her arm.
"I guess we're in the right place. But the question is, where?" Amry intertwined her fingers with Ophelia's.
"Yeah. And who wants us here?" Ophelia whispered.
"And where the hell is Bethany?" Kyle demanded.
"Let's follow this tunnel and see where it leads. I don't think we have a choice." Amry squeezed Ophelia's hand. "You okay?"
"Yes. I'm fine."
The ground beneath their feet chipped away with centuries of neglect. Water trickled from the cracks in the stacked stones, cascading its way down to the bottom surface. A thin layer polished the path, making it slick to the touch.
To move about quietly, the three friends hovered a couple of inches above the surface. Gliding felt good to Ophelia, who minutes ago was in a sound stage for hell. The cool, damp air gently whispered to her, as she allowed the breeze to sooth the remnants of stinging mock flesh.
The deeper they went, the less light they had. At least a mile away from any windows to aid them, the blackness that crept over the walls of the tunnel, draped a veil of darkness over their vision. Ophelia put her hand up to her face, nothing. Complete blindness had taken over.
"Hold hands and don't let go. Kyle grab one of us." Amry reached out.
"I'm here," Kyle confirmed.
"I have him," Ophelia replied.
"Move very slow. This is wickedly treacherous. I can't tell where the walls are."
"Spread out. This tunnel isn't that wide. We should be able to touch either side of the walls, and stay together," Kyle stated.
Kyle held a firm grip on Ophelia and reached out with his free hand. His fingertips brushed along the uneven stones.
"I've got my side. What about you, Amry?" Kyle asked.
"Me too," replied Amry.
"Great. Now don't let go and keep moving forward."
"Poor Lia. You're like a rag doll being pulled apart."
"I will be all right as long as neither one of you decides to speed up without the other," Ophelia whispered.
"Why are you whispering?" Amry questioned.
"I'm not sure. I feel like I have to."
"Hey. You girls see that?"
"No. What?" The girls replied.
"A flash of light. I swear—there. See it?" Kyle exclaimed.
"I did."
"Me too." Ophelia widened her eyes.
Slowly inching toward the scintillating gleam of ghoulish green light, Ophelia gulped. They abruptly froze when the low rumble of voices echoed through the passage.
"Did you hear that?" whispered Kyle.
"Yeah. It sounds like more than one voice." Amry turned her head sideways.
"Wait. What is that?" Ophelia let go of her friends.
"It's sounds like a whistle." Amry crept a few inches.
"That's not a whistle, it's wind howling." Ophelia reached out for Amry.
"Why would wind be howling like that down here?" Kyle scoffed.
"A portal," Ophelia mumbled.
"Jeez. Like the one in science class?" Kyle's voice rose.
"Shh. Right now, whoever that is, they don’t know we're here. Let's keep it that way." Amry squinted to see Kyle's silhouette. She gripped his arm
The glow intensified, illuminating the tunnel in front of them.
/> "At least we can see now," Ophelia muffled her voice.
"Yeah. But is that a good thing or a bad thing? Do we want to see what's down there?" Amry questioned.
"Sarcasm?" Ophelia clutched the back of her friends’ blouse.
"Sarcasm," Amry retorted.
In a line like lambs to slaughter, they followed the ominous green, yellow glow. The closer they got, the louder and more pronounced the voices became. Roger Moorings sharp tone snapped like a whip, peeling back the layers of Ophelia's would be flesh with every strike. The agonizing pleas belonged to Bethany.
Ophelia gasped just as Kyle recognized the voice of his love. Flaring nostrils, tight jaw, and a rigid cold glare, masked over his usual boyish good looks. Anticipating his next move, she pierced through his celestial wave and stood in front of him.
"Stop. You cannot go charging in there. We don't know what kind of danger Bethany's in. If you recklessly barrel in without a plan, then we could cause more harm." Ophelia stood straight, fists clenched.
"We don't know what he's doing to her!" Kyle took a step.
"That's exactly Lia's point. We need to be smart about this." Amry clenched his hand.
"Listen, Kyle. We both know you want to send Roger to Hades and you're worried about Bethany. We are too. So, let's do this the right way and get her back safe." Ophelia touched his forehead with hers. "We are in this together, right?"
"Right." Kyle pulled back. "What's the plan?"
"I think one of us should go in first and distract him. The other two can follow shortly after, hopefully surprising Roger enough to gain control and grab Bethany. Then the four of us get out of this nasty place..." Ophelia put her hands on her hips.
"Look at you go, Wonder Woman." Amry winked.
"Wonder...? Never mind. I'll go first." Ophelia gravitated toward the light.
"Careful, Lia. We have no idea what that light is. Look, it's gone from glowing green to fiery red." Amry pointed.
Ophelia whipped her head back to the opening at the end of the tunnel. Amry was right. The light radiated with the intensity of one’s image of the inferno in hell. Blinding her eyes, the closer she got, she moved her hand in front of her face and cocked her head to the side. A skewed view enabled her to go forward. Roger's voice was clear now and so was Bethany's.
"Please, Roger. Don't do this. You’ll condemn my soul for eternity," Bethany's voice quivered.
Alex McKenna & the Academy of Souls Page 7
