“…in the playhouse…”
The call dropped. I turned to Nova.
“I think he said she went in the playhouse.”
“You told him what happened?” Nova looked aghast.
“No, I only told him that Bea had run off. He had just seen her and offered to help me look.”
“But he’s not supposed to know about?—”
“Nova, there was no one else!” I shouted. “Everyone who can help us is enchanted!”
Nova bit her lip and then said, “Screw it. Let’s go. If Xiomara has to whip up something to make him forget some shit, so be it.”
I nodded, and turned to start running again, but Nova caught my sleeve. “Wren, it’s like two miles to the playhouse. Let’s take the car.”
I hesitated. “Are you allowed to?—?”
“No, of course not, but I’m already grounded, so who the hell cares?!” Nova snapped, starting to sound like herself again. I didn’t bother arguing, and just took off after her in the direction of her driveway.
Within moments, we were speeding along Harbor Street entirely too fast. Nova’s knuckles were white on the steering wheel as we screeched around the curves. I was too terrified for Bea to have any room left for fear over our speed. All I could think was that it was still taking too long, that anything could have happened to Bea by now.
At last, the playhouse came into view around the curve of the road. Nova swung the car across two parking spaces, and had barely shifted it into park before I threw my door open, and started pelting toward the playhouse’s main entrance. Nova caught up with me just as I tried the door handles.
“It’s locked,” I said.
“Where’s Luca?” Nova asked.
“I don’t know,” I grunted, still tugging fruitlessly at the door handles.
“There’s another door around this side,” Nova said. “It’s where they load in the sets and stuff. Come on.” She grabbed my hand, and pulled me away from the doors, and through the grass to the side of the building. The outdoor security lights were on where the huge double doors stood at the base of a longdriveway. I felt my pulse quicken at the sight of the lights. If they were motion-activated, that meant someone had come this way. We skidded to a halt in front of the doors, and Nova put a restraining hand on my arm. She put her finger to her lips. I nodded.
I tried the handle, and it turned easily in my hand. I pushed it slowly, cringing as the hinges gave a prolonged squeal; but though we stood for several seconds, listening, we were met with only silence. Nova pulled out her cell phone, and turned on the flashlight as we crept into the darkened hallway.
Could Bea really have ventured through this dark, creepy hallway? Not by her own volition, I decided, with a quickening pulse. The thought of how scared she must be spurred me further into the building. Amorphous shapes lined the walls, and though I knew they were likely just random set pieces and props being loaded in for the next production, I couldn’t help but cringe away from them. I wished I knew this place the way I knew the theater back in Portland, where I’d memorized every nook and cranny, every pulley and rope and ladder. I’d have felt so much more confident maneuvering around in the dark. Where the hell was Luca? He knew this place inside and out. He’d know where to look. Maybe he was already in here somewhere. Did I dare try to call him? What if the sound of the phone alerted the Gray Man to my presence? But before I could make a decision on whether we should try to stay hidden, Nova decided for me.
“Bea?” she called out. “Bea, are you here?”
Her voice expanded like an explosion through the building, echoing and re-echoing in the cavernous spaces that lined both sides of the hallway. We shone our light into each doorway, revealing a woodshop, a prop shop, and a half dozen storage and rehearsal rooms. Each appeared to be completely empty, and though Nova continued to call her name, Bea didn’t appear.Finally, we reached the end of the hallway, a dead end. To the left, a staircase led up to the main level of the building, where the stage and lobby were located. To the right was another door, this one marked “custodial supplies,” which was partially open. Nova walked over and pulled the door wide, flashing her light around inside.
“Empty,” she replied. “Now what?”
“Upstairs, I guess?” I whispered, biting at my lip. “Maybe she’s not here at all. I couldn’t really hear what Luca was saying. He mentioned the playhouse, but?—”
We both froze as a voice called my name. It was distant—if we hadn’t been whispering, I was sure we wouldn’t have heard it at all.
“Was that… that wasn’t Bea,” Nova mouthed, barely making a sound.
I shook my head. It hadn’t been a child’s voice; I was sure of that.
“Wren!”
Nova and I both jumped, and Nova’s hand shot out to grab my wrist. We both looked toward the closet she had just searched.
“Did that just come from…”
Nova swallowed hard. “I think so.”
