I glanced up at the ceiling. The rats circled above my head, and my mind circled with them.
It’s ridiculous. They’re just rats.
But they led me to the book. They knew what I wanted, and they knew where it was located.
I thought of all the times I’d heard the rats, about how their feet seemed to respond to my moods and save me from bad decisions. How they could have attacked me when I was in the various secret tunnels and passages around the school, but they stayed away. How the scritching of their feet in the walls had become almost a comfort to me.
How they were doing that same frantic circling now that they’d used to lead me to the book. They knew where something was I wanted to find.
The rats know. They know where we can find Greg!
I stood up, slamming the book shut. “I need to get into the walls.”
“What? Why? Yesterday you only just made it out of Ayaz’s dorm without being reported. We can’t do anything else that will risk—”
“Because the rats know where Ms. West is keeping Greg, which means we’d have the location of her current lab. They’ve been trying to tell us this whole time. I’m going to follow them.”
Trey rolled his eyes at the ceiling. “You get that’s insane, right?”
“Oh sure, there’s a cosmic deity trapped in a prison of darkness under the gymnasium and that’s just business-as-usual, but super-intelligent rats are a stretch.”
“You just read that rats are ruled by a powerful magician,” Trey shot back. “Have you asked yourself who’s controlling these rats?”
“Someone who is trying to help me, which is more than you’re doing right now.” I waved a finger at Trey. “Before you pull your macho bullshit and say I can’t go, I’m going. Don’t try and stop me, but you can come with me if you want to.”
“I’ll go.” Quinn stood up, shoving the book toward Trey and grabbing his cloak. “I’m helpful like that. You stay here, keep reading through this. See what you can find.”
Trey looked set to argue, but honestly, Quinn had a point. Trey was book smart, but Quinn could weasel his way out of any disaster, and that was exactly the kind of person I needed if we were going hunting for Greg, for answers.
Quinn and I donned our black cloaks again and stepped out the door. The rats scritched along the ceiling, leading us toward the staircase that went up into the dorms. We followed, crouching low. Quinn poked his head up to see if the coast is clear.
“The teachers are checking the rooms again,” he said. “They’re all dressed in their robes. I bet they’re going to the gym.”
The rats scrambled up the wall, following the teachers as they made their way through the dorm. They wanted us to follow them.
Quinn and I pulled our hoods low over our eyes and crept up the stairs, hiding behind the corner of the hall near Courtney’s and Loretta’s rooms. As soon as the teachers went past, we ducked out and joined the back of their line as they exited the dormitories and made their way across the bridge into the classroom wing.
I kept my head down as I fell into step behind them. If anyone noticed us, we’d be in trouble, but no one turned around. Down, down, down, we traveled – past the locked classrooms and deserted lockers, down the darkened staircase to the gymnasium. The rotten stench grabbed my stomach and squeezed. Now I knew what caused the smell – the bodies of sacrifices prior to the fire – it was even more horrible. I choked back a sob as I fought for breath. Even Quinn, whose revenant body had a diminished sense of smell, also struggled not to vomit.
None of the other teachers seemed fazed by the smell. They must’ve been used to it by now. I gulped as we entered the low, black hallway. We needed to keep our cover, which meant I had to pretend things were perfectly normal even as my lungs begged for air.
At the front of the crowd, Ms. West handed off her torch to Dr. Atwood and rolled back the door. Teachers staggered back as a fresh wave of the foul smell rolled into the hall. That was too much even for them. Dr. Halsey broke down in a coughing fit, and Mr. Dexter made a strangled sound.
“Silence!” Ms. West snapped, ushering them inside. I squeezed Quinn’s hand as we filed in after them. As soon as we’d all entered, Ms. West slammed the doors shut, sliding the inside bolts shut so no student could enter.
The gym looked exactly as I remembered it, aka terrifying. Empty bleachers sagging with damp and age lined three walls. Everything was coated in a layer of dust and soot. A single shaft of moonlight illuminated a square of the court. Shadows lurked in every corner, their presence dripping with balefulness.
These weren’t ordinary shadows. I had to remind myself they were on my side.
Forty-two teachers filed into the lower bleachers, huddling in small groups. Quinn and I took seats in the third row, far enough away from the others so we could whisper without them hearing us. I sat on my hands so no one noticed them trembling. My heart knocked against my ribcage.
This was by far the most insane thing we’ve done.
But it wasn’t the most insane thing Iplannedto do.
Ms. West stepped onto the court, standing under the moonlight. She shrugged off her hood, allowing the pale shaft to cast her face in eerie shadow. The stark light made her cheekbones appear shrunken – as if her skin ate away at her face. “Thank you for coming to this meeting. I’ve called you here because our situation has become dire,” she said.
“Why aren’t we meeting in the faculty lounge?” Dr. Halsey called out.
