We tried the front doors first. They were locked tight and we couldn’t see any lights on inside the school. That seemed a little odd. Didn’t they usually leave a couple of lights on even when no one was there? We made our way around the side of the school, trying each door as we went, and peering into windows for any signs of … I’m not sure what signs we were looking for, really. My main goal was to stay close to Johnathan.
We reached the back of the building, where there was a fenced-in area for the metal shop supplies. It looked more like a prison yard than a school, though. The chain-link fence was reinforced with barbed wire spiraling across the top; three chains with heavy-duty locks kept the large gates closed. Johnathan aimed his star-bright through the fence and gave it an extra dose of his will to make it shine further. Nothing there seemed out of place; all we saw were just the usual oxygen tanks for welding, scrap metal and sheets of metal, various tools, and half-finished projects.
Johnathan’s light fell on a couple of metal tanks hooked together with coils and wires. It resembled something from a chemistry set—on a much larger scale. There were also some glass beakers attached to one side and some sort of carvings around the base of the entire contraption, carved into the metal there. Beneath it all, stood a couple of big propane tanks hooked up to some heavy-duty burners to heat whatever was in the metal tanks.
“Wow. What is it?” I turned my head sideways to observe it from a different angle. “I’m trying to picture what experiments you would do with beakers and Brunson burners that big. Imagine the damage an overzealous freshman could do with a lab gone terribly wrong.”
“We need to get a closer look at that thing,” Johnathan whispered. “It doesn’t look like something that should be at a high school. And those carvings around the base look like runes. Did you ever master that unlocking spell?”
I looked at the locks and bit my lip. “I mastered it on the simple lock I practiced on. I’ll give it a try.”
I put my channeling rod back in my belt, placed my right hand on the first lock, and concentrated with all my might. The delicate spell involved telekinetically moving the inside locking mechanisms in the correct sequence to align them so the lock would open. It wasn’t necessary to know the inner workings of the lock—that would make it impossible, since every lock was a little different than the last. I just needed to know what it felt like to have the mechanisms align.
So, I concentrated while Johnathan stood lookout. I was surprised to find that this lock wasn’t as complicated as it’d looked. I felt the mechanisms slide into place after only a couple of minutes of intense focus, and the lock came open in my hand. One down and two to go.
The other two locks were just as simple. It was well worth my effort when Johnathan gave me a quick, celebratory hug before he pulled the chains free from the gate and pushed it open.
He knelt beside the odd contraption we’d spied from outside the fence. The carvings around the base were definitely runes of some sort. The tanks each had a large rune carved into the side that faced away from the gate. The thing had a definite feel of Dark Magic about it. And it made me nauseous.
My heart leapt into my throat when I heard the faint echo of footsteps coming from inside the building. Johnathan apparently heard them, too, because he turned to me and put his finger to his lips. He really didn’t need to; I don’t think my voice box was working at that moment anyway. The door leading out into the lot from the school creaked open, and a man’s voice drifted out. Luckily, we stood on the opposite side of the contraption and our legs were mostly hidden by the propane tanks. There was no way we could have made a run for it without being seen, as the gate was directly across from the door where the voice was coming from. So, we just stood as still as statues, barely daring to breathe, straining to hear what was being said.
“I know we don’t need the publicity, Mr. J., I’m not an idiot! We’re working on tweaking the formula again … I know, Mr. J… . We will! As far as the media knows, there’ve been seven suicides and that’s all they will ever know about. We’ll take care of the other parents, don’t worry.” The man took a couple steps toward us. Johnathan reached for my hand and slid his channeling rod back out with the other.
“Now? Are you kidding me? I really need to check on this new formula. Okay, okay! I’m on my way.” He hung up the phone and cursed before turning back into the school and slamming the door behind him.
I let out the breath I’d been holding. Johnathan squeezed my hand. We stood still for another minute just to make sure the coast was clear. After Johnathan chained and locked the gate as quietly as he could, we left the way we’d come.
The walk home was a somber one. Johnathan was lost deep in thought. He continued to hold my hand; this time he played with my fingers absently while he thought—no doubt planning our next move.
Dawn was breaking when we ducked into the abandoned stairwell that led back to our hideout. Johnathan stopped just before we reached the doorway behind which the others were most likely still sleeping. He turned to face me, then put his hands on my shoulders. His gentle grip was warm and strong. I looked up into his dark eyes, so soft and tender as he looked into mine.
“Other than almost getting caught snooping around tonight, I really enjoyed being alone with you for once. I’d like to take you on a real date someday … soon, if that’s okay with you?”
I smiled. I couldn’t help it. I was definitely in love with him. I’d been waiting to hear something like this from him since the very beginning.
“That would be wonderful, John. Say the word, and I’m there.”
When you’d waited this long for a boy to ask you out, you didn’t waste time playing hard-to-get. And, we didn’t exactly lead normal teenage lives. So something normal like a date sounded amazing.
Johnathan smiled and his eyes lit up. Wow, he is SO hot! His hands on my shoulders tightened. His smile faded slightly and he licked his lips, making me think—hope—that he was going to lean in for a kiss, but, he didn’t. He smiled again instead, and then turned to take down the wards so we could safely go inside our home-of-the-week.
I fell to my sleeping bag, exhausted, and drifted to sleep with a smile on my face.
eth reminded us that it was again time for a full moon. The supernatural world always seemed to kick it up a notch during a full moon. Thankfully, they came only once a month. Okay, twice a month, once in a while—that would be the blue moon so often talked about.
Johnathan and I slept only a few hours after our adventure to Edwards High; our three companions couldn’t seem to keep quiet after they all woke up. It was late morning/early afternoon when I dragged myself out of my sleeping bag and showered in our makeshift bathroom. Seth was great at tinkering with things like water pipes. He almost always managed to tap into a functioning water pipe in the ceiling, below the main floor of the buildings on top of us, in order for us to have some sort of running water. It was easy enough to heat the pipe with a spell for a semi-warm shower.
I dressed in my clean set of clothes and carried the dirty ones out to my corner. It was a strict rule that everyone be fully clothed when in front of the others. That meant we undressed in the confines of the designated bathroom and carried our clean clothes in with us so we could re-dress before going back out. The rule was necessary, thanks to Alec. He used to love to parade around in his boxers. Johnathan put a stop to that when he saw how uncomfortable it made me.
I joined the others in a corner of the room where we could all sit on the floor with our backs against a wall. Johnathan had already briefed them on what we’d found and overheard.
“Well, there’s something going on there for sure. What’s our next step?” Alec asked.
“I’ve been thinking about it all morning,” Johnathan said. “I think we need to go undercover for this one. Any ideas how we can get into high school without parents to sign for us?”
I thought Seth was going to choke on his own spit.
“You want us to go to s
chool? Like, students?” he asked.
“Well … yeah. That is what I was thinking. Do you have a better idea of how we can find out what’s going on there? We are teenagers, you know. We’ll fit in.”
“I know we’re teenagers, Johnathan. It’s just that … well … it’s been a while since any of us were in school. I’m having flashbacks right now of the entire computer lab going up in smoke when I tried to turn a computer on. And lights flickering out anytime I got too near. The office could never make an announcement over the intercom when I was within ten feet of it.” Seth shivered.
He was being a little dramatic, if you asked me.
“Yeah, I’ve thought about that, too,” answered Johnathan. “We’ll just have to be very careful about the classes we pick. No computer classes, obviously, or anything else that might include technology.”
I joined in the conversation. “I see a couple of obstacles to this plan. You already mentioned the parent thing. Even if we could get around that, wouldn’t we need our records from a previous school?”
“I don’t think it would be too hard to get our hands on some records,” Johnathan said. “We don’t all have to do this, although it would be best if we did. We could spread out that way and maybe find out what’s going on quicker. I’m going to spend a couple hours working on this. Alec, you come with me in case I need backup. Paige, you, Seth and Halli see if you can find us a new place for tonight. We’ve been here for a week now. It’s time to move.”
Yes, I was disappointed he didn’t ask me to be his backup. We did need a new hideout, though, and I was usually in charge of that.
With that, our meeting abruptly ended. We got our stuff ready to move, something we were very good at because, one, we had very little stuff, and, two, we moved around so often.
We left our belongings there, no sense in carrying them around with us while we looked. Johnathan and Alec headed up to the ground level street. Seth, Halli and I followed a sidewalk in a direction I hadn’t been before, deeper into the condemned area of the Underground. Most of the buildings here were dangerous-looking, with broken columns and bricks falling down. Seth crawled inside a broken doorway half-covered with debris.
“Seth! What are you doing? You’re going to get squashed in there!” I yelled.
“It’ll be fine.” He always says that. “I just want to see what’s in here.”
I saw the faint glow of the star-bright he’d conjured up in his hand through the fallen boards and bricks.
I stood there with Halli, tapping my foot in frustration.
“He’s such a pain,” Halli said, rolling her eyes.
“Yes, he is. If he gets pinned under falling debris in there, I’m just going to leave him.”
As if on cue, something crashed inside the room Seth was exploring. I bent down and peered through the small opening he’d crawled through.
“Seth? Are you okay?”
All I could see was a cloud of dust. I started to panic. I liked Seth. I would never really have left him in a pile of rubble.
“Seth! I’m coming in! Halli, stay here.”
She started to protest, but I gave her the look—I learned that from my mom—and she folded her arms and leaned against a post with a huff of annoyance.
“This is awesome!” I heard Seth exclaim, much fainter than before. He sounded a mile away.
I breathed a sigh of relief. “What in the world are you doing? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine! I just found some stairs—accidentally. They were covered with some boards and I kinda fell through them. You’ve gotta come see this, Paige!”
I looked at Halli, unsure of what to do.
“Let’s just both go see what he found,” she said. And, with that, she ducked into the crumbling doorway.
“Ugh!” I followed behind Halli.
She’d already conjured a star-bright and held her hand out in front of her with the glowing star of blue light. “Seth? Where are you?” she asked.
“Come straight back from the entrance, but be careful. Watch for the floor to disappear,” Seth answered.
We stepped carefully over broken chairs, fallen bricks, and other such garbage. Halli angled the light at the floor. She stopped abruptly and I almost ran into the back of her. I peeked over her head and saw why she’d stopped. There, in the floor, was a stairwell. I shook my head. I’d thought we were down as far as anything went in the city of Seattle without being under water. But there they were, a bunch of stairs.
Halli hesitated only a split second before starting down the stairs. I waited until she reached the bottom before following. I didn’t want to risk too much weight on the rickety steps. I conjured up my own star-bright, hoping not to fall and break my neck.
But the stairs were quite sturdy, which was surprising, given the condition of the room above. I descended to the bottom and looked around, and, well … Seth was right. It was awesome.
My guess is the enormous room surrounding us was once an illegal gambling hall hidden beneath a legitimate business. Seth had likely fallen through what was left of the secret trap door. The room was in surprisingly good shape—the best of any of the buildings I’d seen in the Underground. There were plenty of usable chairs and tables that looked fine other than a huge layer of dust and rat droppings. It wasn’t very often we found even one usable chair down there. On the far side of the room, a dirty, but probably beautiful, dark wood bar spanned at least twenty feet along one wall. The glass shelves behind the bar were all shattered, but part of a mirror was intact.
Reinforced with multiple support columns and huge ceiling beams, the building’s frame gave me confidence in its structural soundness. There were small chandeliers with dangling crystals hanging from the ceiling, covered in dust and cobwebs, but otherwise fine. This was the perfect hideout for us. I’d been looking for a place like this, somewhere the five of us could stay more permanently. The entrance upstairs was so dilapidated that no one—except Seth—would even think about entering there. Plus, we would make it look like something besides an entrance anyway, with our wards.
I couldn’t help myself. I hugged Seth. Hard.
A huge grin formed on Halli’s freckled pixie face as the realization of what I was thinking dawned on her.
“We can stay here, can’t we?” she asked.
We all acted like we didn’t mind moving around so much, but everyone wants a secure place to stay, a place to call home. I was sure we’d found that.
“I think so, Hal. We’ll have to run it by Alec and Johnathan first, but I think it’s wonderful!”
“Good. Let’s go get our stuff, then,” Seth said, smiling from ear to ear.
A few hours later, after we’d hauled our meager belongings to our new hideout, I sent Seth back to wait for Johnathan and Alec, so he could show them where we were. Halli and I set to cleaning, which was something we usually didn’t bother with when we moved. What was the point if we were just leaving in a few days? The most amazing thing was that we actually had running water! I guess an illegal gambling hall, hidden from the authorities, had just been hooked into someone else’s water line and it had never been shut off. We found scraps of cloth and set to work straightening chairs and tables and cleaning all the dust off them. The worst part was cleaning up the rat droppings—and hearing the scuttling of the vile rodents in the walls.
It wasn’t too long before we heard footsteps above. And then voices.
“Seth, what in the world could possibly be in here that you are so excited to show us?” Alec asked.
“Just wait. You won’t believe this!”
“It really doesn’t look safe,” Johnathan said, his voice wary. “I thought you said the girls were here. Where are they?”
I heard the guys stop at the opening to the stairwell.
“Ta da! They’re down there!” An image of Seth gesturing grandly down the stairs passed through my mind.
No one moved for a moment, and then Seth said, “I guess I’ll go first … sissies.”
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He clopped down the steps as only boys can do. Halli and I stood a little ways from the base. I couldn’t wait to see Johnathan’s face at the sight of this place. Johnathan stepped down into the room after Seth. He stopped, eyes widening as he took it all in. Alec pushed him out of the way so he could step off the bottom step and come all the way in.
Never one for speechlessness, Alec said, “This place is too cool! Wow! Good job, Seth.” He took off to inspect the bar.
“Well, what do you think, John?” I asked.
“It’s amazing. Do you think it’s safe?”
“It seems to be. The supports are stronger than any we’ve seen down here before. I think it was built to resist an earthquake! Oh, and the best thing, even better than having actual chairs to sit on? Wait for it … wait for it … running water!” I was unable to contain my excitement. The boys were great about rigging water pipes for our use. But, having a real sink with working pipes made it seem almost like a real home.
“Seriously?” He was awed by my proclamation.
I just smiled, grabbed his hand and led him over to the sink behind the bar where I turned the rusty faucet and, voilà! Running water!
He squeezed my hand and smiled down at me. “This is amazing. We might actually be able to stay here a while.”
“That’s what I was thinking,” I said. “It’s structurally safe, it’s well hidden, it’s huge. There’s even a gas stove and a small ice box here behind the bar. Hey, wouldn’t it be perfect if there was actually a flushing toilet, too?”
“Do you think … that’s possible? Did you look for one?”
“No, not yet. It’s been so long since I’ve had that luxury I didn’t even think to look until now. Could you imagine? No more buckets?” I said dreamily.
Halli must’ve heard our conversation because she dropped her rag and ran to look for a bathroom. Johnathan and I stayed where we were. I was really enjoying his warm hand holding mine and he must have felt the same way because he made no move to let go.
Five: Out of the Dark Page 5
