TWELVE
RUELLA
“Maybe this isn’t such a good idea,” Deena’s voice whispers as we make our way down the stairs in the main building. We are covered in darkness but every now and then a shimmer of light from a lamp lights the path. The walls down here are slightly lower than the grandeur of the upstairs, yet the same feel is throughout. Hardwood floors, dark wooden walls with intricate detailing, antique side tables and lamps with green glass atop, line the corridors.
Patterned blood red rugs run from one end to the next, wooden doors leading to offices and cupboards sit opposite each other. All apart from the one at the very end.
The records room.
The door is the same dark mahogany as the other, yet this one is sealed with a scanner.
“It’s too late to turn back now,” Corden replies grabbing his small tablet from his bag as Deena shifts nervously.
“No, it’s not. We haven’t done anything illegal yet,” Deena’s words have Corden pausing.
“True,” He smiles. “But you said it yourself. There is something in there that you want to see. Plus, Rue and I are still going to go throughwith it, and if we get caught, we will still give them your name as an accomplice, so you might as well come,”
Deena’s face drops while I slap Corden on the shoulder.
“No, we won’t!”
“Okay.Wewon’t. But I will,” he grins showing teeth with a twinkle in his eye. I know he is only joking but his words have Deena changing her mind.
“Fine!” She grits out.
“Now stop chatting and get the cameras turned off,” My words have Corden raising an eyebrow at me.
“Please,” I add.
“That’s better,” He smirks. “You two are in moods tonight. After this were having a drink in the homeroom,”
I shake my head. He is never serious, and I don’t know if that’s annoying or charming. Even when we are breaking into a school office, he acts like it’s a bonding experience.
“Done,” He stands from where we are hiding behind a turn in the hallway. Corden’s device needs to be in range of the camera before he can access it, but thankfully, that was the last one we need to deactivate before he gets to work on the scanner.
“Here, hold this,” He hands me the tablet as he grabs other tools out of his bag. It all looks too complicated to me, and it has me wondering how Corden got into all of this.
“How come you know what to do?” I ask.
“Did the computer science and programming degree not give it away?” He asks as he pulls the cover off the scanner on the wall.
“I doubt the others in that class could do this?”
He fiddles on with wires and connects one from it to the device in my hand.
“You would be surprised at how many hackers and geniuses are in this academy. I know we are surrounded by pompous pricks who don’t really need to work, but if you search in the right places there are some good ones who, like me, enjoy what they do and work hard,”
“Noted,” I nod. “But how did you get into this?”
He takes the device from my hand and starts to type away, the letters and numbers on the screen making gobbledygook to me.
“My older brother,” he says as the scanner flashes green and the lock clicks to suggest its open. He takes all the wires off the scanner and snaps the cover in place before standing. “He runs one of the UK’s biggest security companies. He taught me everything I know and when I graduate, I get to go work with him,” He smiles, and it is so genuine and excited for the future that I find myself smiling along with him.
“You first,” he nudges me, and I take a deep breath.
Here we go, there’s no going back now.
I push the door slightly and it creaks sending an echo through the otherwise silent building around us. It sounds straight out of a horror movie. I’m not usually a jumpy person, in fact I love scary movies and Halloween attractions made to terrify you. But there is something about Marrowton Academy that has my senses tingling and I find myself walking the corridors scanning the darkest corners, waiting to see something unnatural. I usually shake it off and remind myself that it is just the décor and how old the buildings are, other than a few modern luxuries, Marrowton academy seems to be untouched by time and sits like a relic amidst the foggy forest estate.
