“Yeah, what?” I pulled out of the book, yet I couldn't stop thinking about it. Anyone who read this book would’ve tried to find it, so I wouldn’t be the first, if it’s still there.
“Bro, are you listening?” Ez snarled.
“Yeah, sort of. Ez, just go see the fucking detective and get it over and done with. Do you want me to come over to babysit the Boleyn girl?”
“Yeah, you can come over if you want. I’ll be here for a while,” he told me.
“Hang on,” a thought occurred to me. “The detective said he sent someone around to the Lud, but said you weren’t there.”
“Maybe I was on my way there or something,” he sounded vague.
“Anyway, I’ve got to go,” I told him, losing patience with this conversation. “I’ve got a fifty mil brooch to find.”
“What?”
“Nothing,” I ended the call and left the dining hall to head to the maze. I needed something to take my mind off Adina, and a little treasure-hunt project was a good distraction between classes and assignments. While she was trapped in the basement of the Lud and out of trouble, I could explore.
It was getting late, so I returned to my room, grabbed my flashlight, and stuffed my bag with essentials - a knife and a mask, then pulled my hood over my head. As I ran back down the stairs, I passed the kitchen and stopped dead at the scent of cooking food and poked my head into the room. Empty. No one to be seen. It was as if they heard me coming and fled. This was not the first time a mysterious, faceless person was cooking food in the kitchen.
Mila, on the third floor, and one other student, whom I didn’t know much about, were the only other roommates in Morgana, yet it was weird how they kept disappearing whenever I cruised by. Except this time, they seemed to have forgotten their keys before they fled. A bunch of keys attached to a silver pistol that I was familiar with, as they have two functions: a keyring and a lighter in one.
By the time I arrived at the maze, it was dusk, and the day was losing light. It took about thirty minutes to walk there, and there were moments when I felt someone was following, but there were many students still walking around, heading back to their halls before dark fell.
There was a picnic bench outside the maze entrance, lit by nightlights, and I stopped to turn back and gaze up at the rising hills, where I saw the Lud, a mini castle with the front porch light on. I thought of her, Adina Boleyn, locked underneath, and a smile stretched across my dial. As long as I knew where she was, I was happy. My best guess was that she was snooping for her gun and knife. I suspected she had a plan to take revenge on us, and if that were true, I would enjoy every second of it. Adina is a Boleyn, her father’s daughter; she won’t go down easily.
With the sweatshirt hood over my head, I scanned the entrance of the maze and spotted a security camera, so I slipped a skull mask over my face, then strode between the night lights that lit up the entrance, turned left to find lights on the ground every few feet, guiding my way.
Unfortunately, the mask restricted my peripheral vision, but that was the risk I took to ensure I wasn't identified by the security cameras. I had no interest in doing anything illegal, but if by some miracle I found treasure under the black granite, then I didn’t want anyone to see who found it. I knew it was a long shot and I knew I was dreaming, but that diamond brooch could be my ticket out of here.
I walked fast, turned a bend, and came across a dead end. Turning back, I banged into a group of girls who screamed in fright at the sight of my face. They disappeared quickly, but I could still hear them cackling, quickly growing distant as I walked in the opposite direction.
Footsteps pounded on the ground, and I couldn't see anyone, but students often come in here to smoke pot and play games, soI wasn’t too concerned. Last season, the Yorks had a Halloween scare party in here, and we snuck in and had a blast. I was in my natural state when I was wearing a freaky mask because I got off on scaring girls. Every scream and every squeal was a notch to my belt.
Another dead end, and I backtracked and chose another path and struck a couple fucking, him drilling into her, her left leg wrapped around her torso. It was getting me horny, and immediately, I thought of Adina. I hadn’t fucked her yet because the Warwicks told me not to touch her, but I noticed Ez eyeing her up when she was drugged out. He wouldn’t touch her while she was asleep, but I could tell he was thinking about it. His attraction to her was growing, which is why he moved into Morgana, making up some bullshit story about needing help watching over her. Yeah, sure, bro.
I bypassed the panting couple, as their grunts and sighs serenaded me as I walked away, wishing Adina were with me. I arrived at a dark corner where the ground light was broken and paused again when I heard footsteps and thought I could hear breathing of someone who had been running and stopped to catch their breath.
My boots paused on the grass as I gripped my knife to wait for them to appear around the bend. I flicked the flashlight off, then saw a dark figure appear around the corner of the hedge. When he saw me standing there, he froze and retreated.
Assuming he was more concerned about me than I was about him, I turned my back on him and continued on my way, pausing again along the next path to see if he would reappear. After a few moments, I flicked my flashlight back on and moved forward, assuming I was creeping closer to the center where the black granite rock was.
Another group of students appeared from around the next bend, and at first, I wondered if they were the same girls asbefore, going around in circles, unable to find a way out. “Am I going in the right direction toward the center?” I asked when they shirked and shrieked, and I remembered I was wearing a scary mask.
“Yes,” they answered, unsure as to what my objective was. Don’t worry, girls, I had no interest in you as I moved past quickly, turned the bend, halfway down was an opening, so I chose that one instead of the one down the end of the path, turned left, and found another dead end. When I turned around, that figure was there again, so I pretended I hadn’t noticed them dart back behind the hedge, took another turn, and waited for him to show. Once he appeared, I went after him, tackling him to the ground, holding my knife to his throat as he gasped in fright. “The fuck are you following me for?”
“I’m not,’ he answered, petrified. “We’re just going the same way, and I kept my distance, so you didn’t think I was following you, man. I’m sorry, alright.”
“Why are you here alone?” I questioned him as I had to ensure he wasn’t fucking with me.
“Why are you here alone?” he shot back. Good point. “Honestly, man, I’m just here for some peace so I can smoke pot. I saw you walking in wearing a mask, so I kept my distance because you seem, you know…”
“I seem like what?” I pressed as I could hear the giggles of students nearing. “Finish your sentence.”
“Insane,” he finally answered after hesitating. “Or maybe you were playing a game with someone. Either way, I didn’t want to get involved in whatever you were doing.”
“True,” I resigned to agreeing. “I am insane.” I let him go, and he got to his feet, brushed his clothes down, threw his red bag over his shoulder, and walked off.
“Hey,” I said as soon as I noticed he’d dropped his keys and the silver pistol attached, “You forgot your keys.”
“Oh,” he grunted, stepping back to quickly pick them up, shoving them into his pocket, and vanishing in the dying light before I had the chance to ask him if he was a resident at Morgana and why the fuck did he keep hiding from everyone. Also, Morgana was supposed to be kept mostly empty, excluding the Mila chick and, of course, Adina, so how did he slip in without our knowledge?
Brushing that mystery aside, I continued on my brain-rot journey, and after walking around several bends and finding many dead ends, I finally found the center and was disappointed that there were several students drinking and hanging out.
I didn’t want to stay long, nor did I want to draw attention to what I was doing, but as soon as I spotted the large slab of black granite, plonked in the middle of a garden of white roses in bloom, glowing from several nightlights on the ground. Unfortunately, two students were sitting on the granite rock smoking cigarettes.
So, I made abeelinefor the rock, ignoring the students whonoticedmy attention focused on the granite. Icroucheddown by the smokers, who were looking down at me to see what I was searching for. When one student offered me a cigarette, I took it without a word andshovedit into my pocket for later.
This wasn’t quite what I imagined, but life had a habit of pissing me off. I didn’t stay long, checked the rock under a gaggle of voices asking me what I was doing. Again, I remained quiet, and once I was satisfied that nothing was hidden there, I then scarpered, feeling like a fucking idiot for falling for a stupid mystery in a random book.
