In the silence, I caught the sound she’d heard – a faint scratching. A tingle of anticipation ran down my arms. Ms. West leaned forward, attempting to divine the source of the scritches and scratches that grew louder and more urgent.
Something wicked this way comes.
“What is that?” cried Dr. Atwood, throwing off his hood as he leaped to his feet. The wooden bleachers groaned and trembled as some force landed on them, shaking the rotting planks at it rolled down toward us.
The sound grew louder – thunder clapped in the enclosed gym. The walls bounced it back so it came from everywhere at once, surrounding us, closing in.
Scritch-scritch. Scritch-scritch. ScritchscritchscritchscritchscritchSCRITCH.
Dr. Halsey shrieked. “It sounds like… rats!”
The scritching circled beneath me. I lifted my feet just in time – a stampede of large, furry bodies skittered across the bleachers, tiny tails flickering through the air like whips as they descended upon Ms. West and the faculty.
Teachers leaped off their seats and barreled for the exit. Rats poured from the bleachers, spilling on the court in a waterfall of grey fur and sharp things – a thousand tiny teeth gnawing and gnashing in anticipation of a meal.
Where the rats led, other things followed. Tiny dark shadows chased them across the court, snarling and snapping from the gloom. My chest tightened as they leaped onto the bleachers and hurtled toward us. Quinn grabbed my hand and dragged me to my feet, so we stood together above the tide while the servants of the god rained down upon us.
Dr. Halsey flung her cape away as a rat clung tenaciously to the hem. Professor Atwood spun his arms like windmills as rodents leaped onto his bell sleeves, using them as funnels to burrow inside. Ms. West’s haughty expression crumpled into confusion and then fear as she caught sight of the rodent army descending upon her.
“Run!” Ms. West yelled, propelling herself toward the doors.
She didn’t have to tell anyone twice. Teachers shoved each other in their haste to escape. Dr. Atwood threw open the heavy door and tumbled into the hall. The rats followed him, crawling over his body and up the legs of his slacks. He screamed, the sound wild and inhuman. The other teachers backed away as he thrashed wildly, trying to extract rodents from inside his robes.
More and more rats poured under my feet. At any moment they could swarm up the bleachers and crawl over me and Quinn, but for now, they seemed preoccupied with the teachers. Quinn grabbed my hand and dragged me up. We stood together on the bench seat, watching the avalanche of rodents descend and the shadows creeping after them, cold and menacing.
“We should make a run for the door on the other side.” Quinn leaped onto the next bench, holding out his hand to help me across. We hopped down to the floor. My shoulders shuddered as the door slammed. Ms. West had shut us in.
Rats swarmed along the edge of the court, flinging their bodies against the locked door, clawing at the old wood, scraping away soot and paint in their hunger to devour the teachers. I could just make out the faint outline of the doors on the other side – the ones Quinn carried me through when he saved me from the shadows. The rats were so focused on the teachers we had a mostly clear path if we wentright now.
We have to run for it.
“Three, two, one…” Quinn counted down. We leaped as far as we could over the rats, our feet slapping against the court. My heel caught the tail of a rat. It twisted and struggled, screeching at the top of its lungs. I lifted my foot. It scurried away before I could kick.
Quinn dragged me across the court toward the other side. My heart burned as I poured on speed to keep up with him.ScritchscritchscritchscritchscritchSCRITCHSCRITCH.Rodents snapped and scratched at my heels, the avalanche rolling behind us as they sensed fresh meat.
The doors led to a short hallway and a staircase up to a steel door that entered the library. If we could get there, the steel would keep the rats at bay. For now.
If we can get there in one piece…
Rats streamed toward us, bringing with them that sickly sweet smell of decay and the dark presence of the shadows that lurked behind them. Quinn pressed himself against me, burying his head in my shoulder as he urged us onward. My lungs burned, and the burn Courtney gave me on my leg tugged and twinged, but I didn’t stop running.
Claws scraped across the court as the rats overtook us. Hundreds of grey bodies streamed beside us, rolling around to surround us and block our exit.
Quinn’s breath shuddered as he skidded to a stop, throwing his arms around me. Even through the warmth of his touch, I could sense the approaching ice of the shadows. Cold pressed against my throat, silencing my screams as rats circled my ankles and their wild cacophony filled my head.
I closed my eyes, waiting for the first sting of teeth sinking into my flesh.
Chapter Twenty-Six
I’m sorry, Quinn. I’m sorry it ends like this. I wanted so much to save you.
I squeezed Quinn’s hard body, forcing my eyes shut. I might die being eaten alive by rats, but I didn’t have to watch it happen. My mother’s face flashed before my eyes. Wreathed in light and smiling her beautiful smile, she reached out of the darkness for me.I won’t see you soon, because you’re an angel and I’m going to a very different place. But I love you, Mom. I’m sorry. I—
I waited for the first bite. I waited for the shadows to take me.
But it didn’t come.
I cracked open one eye, daring a look. The rats still surged down from the bleachers, filling their court with their ranks. But instead of swarming over us they flowed around us, leaving a five-foot circle at our feet. We stood in the center of the court, where the glowing five-pointed star I’d seen last time now lit up our feet.
