by Sean Rodman
Jake was waiting halfway down the alley. He stayed in the shadows as we got closer. He was dressed like us—black hoodie, black jeans, work boots, backpack. Jake could never really pull off the urban ninja look though. With his baby face, he looked a lot younger than seventeen. Especially when he smiled.
“Glad you two made it. I thought you might head to a real movie theater and leave me in the rain,” he said.
“And let you to be the first one to crack the Orpheus? Dude. Bex might be my boyfriend, but he’s not worth missing this for,” Asha said. Jake laughed. I pulled a crowbar from my backpack and made a face at her.
Jake and I looked at the big manhole in the middle of the alley. “You sure this is it?” he asked. I nodded. I was pretty certain that this was our ticket inside. There was a network of old tunnels underneath these streets that led into the theater. I’d read that when the Orpheus was built back in the 1920s, it was too hot inside during the summer. So the theater owners built tunnels to bring in air from the outside. Sometimes they actually put ice in the tunnels to cool down the air. I’d spent a few afternoons looking at blueprints in the city archives. I figured that the tunnels were probably still there but sealed off. Like I said, I’m all about research and planning. It’s my secret power.
It took us a few minutes, but we got the manhole cover off. We even did it without a lot of noise. Asha was on lookout, but nobody was out in the rain.
Jake was first into the manhole. He flicked his headlamp on just before he disappeared. Asha was next, then me.
The tunnel was lined with crumbling old brick. It was drier than I would have expected in this weather. We tried to move quickly but had to duck. The ceiling was just a little too short for us to stand up in. The light from our headlamps bobbed around the tunnel.
After a few minutes, Asha turned to me. “Are you sure you know where we’re going? It seems like we’ve gone too far,” she whispered.
“It’s all good. This is totally to plan,” I lied. I was pretty sure we should have found a ladder going up by now. “We better catch up to Jake.”
A couple of minutes later, Jake pointed his lamp at the ceiling. Sure enough, there was a rusted ladder rising into the darkness.
“Bex, you get the honor,” said Jake. “This was your idea.” He bowed a little and gestured up the ladder. I returned the bow and started climbing. The ladder felt a little funny with my weight on it. I hoped it would last long enough for all of us to get up.
Reaching the top, I hooked one arm through a rung. I pulled the crowbar from my backpack again. The top of the ladder ended against a bunch of wooden planks. It looked like I’d have to pry up some of them to get through. I kept my head turned away as the wood splintered apart. Then the ladder let loose a small metal squeal and I stopped. I looked down. It was a good fifteen-foot drop to where Jake and Asha were. I wouldn’t die, but I might break something. The ladder groaned again. I needed to either get down or get through the planks, fast.
I decided to go through. I squeezed the crowbar deep in between two planks and shoved it with all my strength. The plank cracked upward just as the ladder popped away from the wall. I scrambled and got both arms through the new hole above me. That left my legs dangling in the air, tangled in the now-useless ladder. Sweat stung my eyes. I could feel my arms start to shake as they held my full weight. Asha called my name from down below. I heard Jake tell her to stay quiet.
Slowly, I inched up through the hole that I had made. Wiggling my legs, I got away from the ladder. Finally, I gave one big heave and yanked myself out of the tunnel. I rolled onto my back, breathing heavily. My headlamp barely illuminated the ceiling. It looked like it was maybe forty feet up. What I saw up there made me hold my breath. Then I scrambled back to the hole. I called down to Asha and Jake.
“You’re not going to believe this,” I said. “We get pictures of this online, and we’ll be freaking famous.”
