“Hello?”
“You’re not asleep, good,” Grace sighs. “Put your shoes on and come outside.”
“Outside, where?” I whisper.
“Outside your dorm.”
“It’s late,” I whisper-yell. “What do you want?”
“Just come outside before you wake Avalon up.”
Grace doesn’t wait for my response and hangs up as soon as she finishes her sentence. With a sigh, I silently push my feet off the bed, slide into my home slippers, and throw on my robe. I tie it around my waist, tiptoe towards the door, and silently exit the dorm.
Grace is leaning against the wall, in her pitch-black, silk pajamas. Her hair is messy, but what’s in her hands makes me pause. The door closes softly behind me, and I step fully into the hallway, feeling slight chills running down my body.
“So? What is it?”
Grace grins widely, dangling the keys in front of my face. It’s one massive chain with at least fifty keys on it. My eyes flick up from the chain to her face, lifting a curious brow.
“What’s that?”
“Master keys to all the dorms,” she explains, her voice filled with excitement. “Astrid hasn’t checked into the dorms tonight. So, I’m guessing it’s empty.”
“Do I want to know how you even got these?” I ask, taking it from her hand and inspecting it thoroughly. “And even if she’s not in her dorm, she has a roommate. We’ll get caught.”
“Nope,” she beams. “She requested a single dorm after coming back. I’m guessing Mrs. Sloane wants all the privacy now.”
A frown etches on my face.
It’s possible to request a single-bed dorm, but no one does it willingly. It’s a very small room, with barely the bed, dresser, and a single desk fitting inside. It’s the only kind of dorm that doesn’t have a bathroom attached to it, so it’s beyond my understanding why anyone would demote from a private bathroom to one that anyone could use.
“Where is it?”
Grace motions with her head down the hall, and I silently start following behind her. The hallways are poorly lit, with only a couple of lamps on the walls. All other lights go out past ten in the evening, but something’s still gleaning at me.
The security cameras.
“What if we’re caught?”
Grace scoffs. “Don’t forget, this was all your idea. I just helped you bring it to reality.”
“Uh-huh,” I roll my eyes. “Doesn’t matter, I can’t be worried about the consequences.”
Grace waves off my worries with a dismissal of her hand. “You’re worrying too much.”
She stops in front of a door, then finds the key that matches. Luckily, it’s very organized, and each key has a dorm room number written on it. Astrid’s dorm is number 11, and since it’s also categorized in order, Grace finds the key with ease. She glances around, making sure no one is around, unlocks the door, and steps inside.
I follow suit, closing the door behind me, and patting the wall until I feel a switch under my fingers. The lights turn on, and for a moment, I’m absolutely freaked out.
“This is fucking creepy,” Grace says, voice laced with disbelief.
The entirety of this room is a copy of mine. From the sheets, duvet, and the kind of pillow I’m using, to the curtains, same photo frames, and even the perfume collection on the small dresser.
“Fucking hell,” I mutter, taking a step further into the room. The first thing I start looking for is hidden cameras, just in case. If Astrid has anything incriminating in the dorm, she’ll want to know if someone’s snooping around.
There’s a mask on the dresser, resembling a doll’s face. It’s plastic, with detailed drawings all around. If it weren’t so creepy, it’d be a cute Halloween costume.
“Where do we start?” Grace asks.
