I took over from Trey for a bit, driving in the chisel with the hammer, sending chunks of brick and mortar raining down on the floor of the cave. I had to work in pitch black because I couldn’t control the fire at the same time. When I couldn’t lift my arms any more, Trey took over again, peeling off his shirt to reveal strong muscles that flexed as he attacked the wall with everything he had. His torso soon glowed with a covering of red brick dust.
My throat tightened. We ran outside again. This time, the moon was higher in the sky. Back outside, Trey mopped crimson sweat from his brow with his ruined shirt. “I’ve never had to work this hard in my life. Even chiseling out that sigil wasn’t this difficult.”
I squeezed his biceps. “How’d you get these?”
“Lacrosse. Rowing team. Pure genetic good luck.” He dared a half-smile. “My dad did give me something useful, after all.”
“Remind me to thank him.” At the mention of his dad, my veins boiled. Our light flared up, flames licking around the sides of the tunnel. Trey slammed his shirt against the rock, smothering the flame.
“Maybe you’d better keep hold of this one,” he muttered as I summoned another flame, his shoulders heaving with silent panic.
Slowly but surely, we chipped out the mortar around one of the bricks. Trey whooped with delight as he wiggled the brick free and tossed it toward the cave entrance. A faint rush of cool air blew through the gap. More bricks followed soon after, and a short time later we had a hole big enough to crawl through.
I went first, sending my flame floating through the hole in front of me before getting down on my hands and knees and climbing through. Cold brick dug into my thighs as I twisted to fit through. I rolled on the tunnel floor and pulled myself to my feet. “Your turn, Bloomberg.”
It took Trey some time to fit his broad shoulders through the gap. He had to back out and remove two more bricks in order to make enough room. Finally, he was through, too. We slung along the tunnel, arriving at the short, narrow stairs leading down to the mirror that served as the tunnel’s secret entrance.
To my relief when I pushed on the mirror, it swung open unhindered. They must’ve figured the bricks were enough to deter anyone using the tunnel. I climbed down into the storage room, Trey on my heels. I snuffed out the flame, plunging us into darkness as we crept through the boxes and junk piled around the room. My hand grazed the door handle.
I poked my head into the hall, my breath caught in my throat. Cold, oppressive silence greeted me, broken only by a thump in one of the hot water pipes that stretched along the low ceiling.
I dragged Trey into the hall. It was only ten feet to reach Greg and Andre’s room. My gaze fell on the door opposite theirs – the door that had been mine, that I’d shared with Loretta until she’d been taken by the creature and reborn with popularity. So much had happened in that room – stilted conversations with Loretta, midnight schemes to get even with the Kings, Courtney and the monarchs assaulting me, Ayaz telling me I was beautiful…
I turned away from things that were too painful to consider, raised my fist, and rapped lightly on the other door. The sound ricocheted like gunshots down the hollow hall. “Greg, Andre,” I whispered. “It’s me. Let us in.”
The door flew open. Andre’s dark skin was barely discernible from the night that crept around him. His eyebrows shot up as he recognized me. Wordlessly, he ushered us inside, closing and locking the door behind him.
As soon as he’d pushed the bolt across, I grabbed him and held him close. He felt just like the Andre I loved – the kind, silent giant with the gardenia and coconut scent. His hands on my back felt like shields against the world.
I pulled away, casting my eyes around the dim room, resting on the two beds – one rumpled, one empty and perfectly made. “Where’s Greg?”
Andre flicked on the light beside his bed and scrambled for his pad and paper. He dashed off a note and handed it to me. His usually neat handwriting was a messy scrawl.
“Three days ago Ms. West took Greg out of class. She said it was for an extracurricular project. I haven’t seen him since.”
Chapter Sixteen
Andre pulled me down to sit beside him. The bedsprings creaked under our combined weight. Trey sank into the hard wooden desk chair, his long legs hanging over the side as he clicked on the desk lamp and started riffling through the papers. “What happened?” I demanded. “Tell me everything from the time you last saw me.”
Andre reached across the bed and swiped a paper out of Trey’s hand. He gestured for Trey to get out of the chair. Trey leaped up and flattened himself against the wall. He still wasn’t used to being around Andre. In Trey’s world, people like Andre only existed to be ridiculed.
Well, too bad. Andre’s awesome and Trey will have to get used to him. He’s my friend and he’s not going anywhere.I wasn’t going to force Andre to act differently just to make Trey comfortable.
Andre slid into the chair and pulled his pad toward him, scribbling frantically. Trey bent over his shoulder, trying to read the words.
“Don’t interrupt him.” I shoved Trey onto Greg’s empty bed, crowding him down the far end. Trey’s gaze settling on the ceiling, where the rats circled frantically above our heads.Scritch-scritch-scritch. Trey’s fingers gripped my knee so hard pins and needles shot down my leg.
He’s scared.
“They’re just rats,” I said, prying his fingers off my knee.
“You say that like it’s a good thing,” Trey muttered. “I’ve never heard anything like it before. It sounds as though the ceiling is about to cave in.”
“That’s because you have a room on the top floor.”
“If you say so,” Trey said cryptically. Andre tore off a paper with a flourish and handed it to me. He bent his head to continue writing. I angled his lamp over the paper, my eyes scanning his neat, looped handwriting.
“You didn’t show up for exams. We knew something was wrong. None of the teachers would tell us what happened to you. They cleared all your stuff out of your room. I asked Sadie to see if she could find out anything downstairs. She said the groundskeepers saw orderlies placing something wrapped in white into a van. There was a doctor too. They recognized him from Dunwich Institute. A couple of days later, Sadie delivered coffee to Ms. West and overheard her on the phone, discussing your ‘treatment.’ Greg was convinced that whatever happened to Loretta was about to happen to you.”
