“Let’s go,” Gabriel said.
They hurried to a door marked “staff only,” which led to a staircase. The lights flickered there, too, eerie and frightening.
“The breaker room is downstairs in the basement,” Gabriel whispered. “Let’s be quiet. If there’s someone down here, we don’t want them to hear us.”
He gripped Drew’s hand. He wasn’t scared of the supernatural, but if there was something malicious going on at camp, he knew he needed to be cautious. And he didn’t want Drew to get hurt. He felt protective of Drew, even though Drew was older. Gabriel had more experience with the supernatural and the spiritual, and he wanted to shield Drew from anything that could hurt him. He decided then that if something bad happened, he would put himself between Drew and any harm.
They reached the basement, which was mostly used for storage. The lights still flickered. The electrical room was beyond a back closet. They would have to navigate around boxes and old furniture to get there.
“Be careful,” Gabriel whispered into Drew’s ear, “and follow my lead.”
“Are you sure about this?” Drew whispered back, holding Gabriel close. “Should we have a weapon or something?”
Gabriel looked around and saw some old hockey sticks. In the blinking lights, he carefully grabbed two and handed one to Drew. “This’ll have to work,” he said.
They advanced through the basement, their steps completely silent. They were halfway to the electrical closet when the lights shut off and stayed off. Gabriel froze, and Drew bumped into him.
“Sorry,” Drew whispered.
Gabriel squeezed his hand. “It’s okay. Let’s be still and listen for a second.”
They didn’t move, and Gabriel strained his ears to hear if there was any sound. If there was someone in the basement with them, or someone in the electrical closet, they would have to go past Gabriel and Drew to get out. He was suddenly seized by cold fear at the thought of it, and clung to Drew.
Drew wrapped an arm around Gabriel’s shoulders. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” Gabriel said, shivering, and glad for Drew’s warmth and solidity. “Just got scared for a second.”
They waited several more seconds and didn’t hear anyone or anything. “Let’s go,” Gabriel said, swallowing his fear.
They crossed the rest of the basement and reached the electrical closet. Gabriel took a deep breath, counted to three, and then yanked the door open.
He turned on his phone’s flashlight and shined it inside, half expecting a poltergeist to jump out at him.
The closet was empty.
He let out a breath and swore quietly. “Nothing here.”
“Look at the breakers,” Drew said. “None of them are flipped.”
“And the lights are still off.”
“Who’s down there?” Another voice shouted, and Gabriel and Drew both jumped. Drew shoved Gabriel behind him and raised his hockey stick.
“Who is it?” Drew shouted, his voice harsher than Gabriel had ever heard it before. Gabriel peeked out from behind Drew. So much for protecting Drew.
There were heavy footsteps on the stairs, and then a flashlight beam cut through the darkness of the basement.
“If you’re messing with the lights,” a gruff voice called, “get your asses out here!”
Gabriel relaxed so quickly he felt like a popped balloon. “Hank!” he shouted. “It’s me, Gabriel. I came down from the mess hall to check on the lights. Now stop shining the damn light in my eyes!”
Hank the Crank, the maintenance manager of the camp, pointed his flashlight at the ground. “You find anything?” he said. “I came down here to see if some kids were messing with the lights.”
“That’s what we did, too,” Gabriel said, stepping out from behind Drew, who hadn’t lowered his hockey stick. “But no one is down here. And they’d have had to go past us to get out.”
Hank stalked across the basement. It was almost impossible to see him in the darkness. He reached the electrical closet, and Gabriel and Drew stepped aside to let him in.
The old man grumbled to himself while he looked at the breaker. He fiddled with something, flipped a large switch, and then the lights turned back on.
