Me: Being locked in DUNGEON will do that to someone.
Perry: Stop exaggerating.
Me: When have you ever known me to exaggerate or complain?
Most of the time, Perry had to pry information out of me.
Perry: What do you expect me to do? You’re technically not in the system anymore.
Me: But you can still make visits…
I did my research.
Perry: All right, I’ll come by tomorrow afternoon, but I’m sure you’re just overreacting.
I could practically hear the sigh with that text. Though I didn’t know what he was complaining about. A visit was a much better option. After all, I was very adept at badgering someone—mainly Perry—with spam calls and texts.
Me: See you tomorrow.
We’ll see how much he thought I was overreacting when I showed him what the Adairs were hiding in their basement. In the meantime, I could waste my time in Angus’s version of school, which consisted of me meeting the teacher in the library. Meaning I had to play another round of find that room.
Yay.
I could ask for directions—I heard the twins earlier in their rooms—but that wouldn’t accomplish anything. Magnus might give me a grunt, and yesterday, when I asked Wyatt where Charmaine’s bedroom was, he told me I should stroke his compass and unzipped his pants.
The staff in this place was just as useless. Every time I tried to talk to one of them, they just stared at me. I was seriously starting to wonder if they got docked pay when they spoke.
That was okay, because I had a plan to help with my getting lost problem. If I mapped the hallways I walked down, then I could familiarize myself with that part of the house. The next day I could work on another part and so on.
That way, if Perry didn’t pull me out of here, I’d at least know my way around and maybe keep in mind a few places to avoid. Like, say, a hallway of armored men and a dungeon.
Mapping should’ve been an easy task. I had some skills. I could dance, was pretty decent at math, and I had an abnormally green thumb. Anyone could give me a dying plant, and I’d bring that son of a bitch back to life. Goldfish not so much.
Fred, the lightning swimmer, lasted about three days. Ignoring assholes used to be on my list of skills until I moved here. Though I would argue that Devlin jumped right over the asshole category and moved into fuckface territory. Map making, however… I was definitely lacking in that area.
By the time I found the library—which only took about an hour—I had a map that the greatest deciphers in the world wouldn’t be able to decode. It looked like some kind of smashed carrot sitting on Rhode Island with a mug of beer. It was safe to say the mystery of my low grades in geography was solved.
Sighing, I crumpled up the piece of paper and looked at the closed double doors in front of me. There were large glass panes stretching from the top of each door and to the middle. I thought I’d see someone standing inside waiting for me, but I didn’t.
The only thing I could see were giant shelves lined with books. They seemed endless, and when I pushed my way inside, it didn’t get any better. The silence was almost as endless as the tomes surrounding me.
While this room would be a reader’s paradise, for me, it was yet another maze I had to navigate. And an eerie one at that. My footsteps echoed so loudly that I half expected to round a corner and see the librarian from my old school tapping her foot.
Ms. Kitsch’s tightly annoyed expression haunted my nightmares. Even if I were a reader, I would’ve opted for the gangs and public library over that woman. Though the more I wandered around, the more I kind of wished she were here. Or someone who knew their way around.
It was kind of like being lost in some eerie version of a forest. Except the trees were dead, skinned, and written on. Even the vast dome roof depicting a night sky full of stars loomed down on me. Mostly because I didn’t recognize any of the constellations.
If it weren’t for the scent of old paper rolling through the air, I might’ve felt like I was trapped under another world’s sky. Wyatt and his compass of wonder suddenly didn’t seem like a bad option.
Luckily, I didn’t have to go down that road because Devlin decided to help me steer my way through the various tomes. Or his voice did. I heard his deep tone coming from the right on the other side of a row of first editions.
My so-called stepbrother wasn’t high on my list of people to see, but his face was better than being trapped in the forest of tree carcasses. Besides, I was excited to find out how hard it would be to shove a book up someone’s ass. School was all about learning, after all.
“I don’t give a shit,” Devlin growled. “This wasn’t the plan.”
I had no clue who pissed in his cornflakes, but someone should give them a medal.
The next voice was deeper than Devlin’s, with a gravelly undertone. “The plans have changed.”
