The Good-For-Nothing Society | Completed

Chapter Eighteen

At 10:30pm, when it's lights out, they do a grounds sweep. I know because I've been watching the groundskeeper, who I strongly suspect isn't a just groundskeeper, all week. When he does the sweep, he goes out of a side door in the kitchen, walks towards the wall and does a perimeter check. Then at the very far back of the wall, near the sports centre, he goes through a tiny, secluded gate and does an outside perimeter sweep.

I don't know what other security measures they take, but I know if I follow after him, and go through the gate when he does; I'll break free, undetected until the morning.

At 10:15pm, I mutter, "God, I need to pee." just in case Grace or Tessa aren't asleep. Then I throw my duvet back in a pretend huff, and make my way for the bathroom. I've stashed my bag in one of the bathtub cubicles, because no one ever uses them. I quickly get changed into all black and tie my hair back.

Then I creep along the corridor, making no sound. I head to the marble stairs effortlessly, no one wonders around at this time of night. I slither down them, then turn into the grand hall, making my way to the kitchen at the back. It's weird, seeing it so dark and empty, like I've transported to a different school.

I reach the kitchen and hide around a nook, waiting for the Groundskeeper to walk past. I only have to wait three minutes until he's here. Then I'm going it alone... well, at least I thought so anyway. But there is Elijah, in the nook directly opposite me, grinning like he's just won the lottery.

"What," I hiss, "Are you doing here?"

"You're not as smart as you think," He hisses back, holding up my journal.

Dad said it was a good idea, to write things down. Not everything. But things. It helps make sense of your thoughts, he'd taught me. I'm the idiot who wrote down the groundskeepers schedule. It wouldn't take an idiot, much less a spy, to figure out where I'd be. Which is worrying, given the line of work I've been trained for. Given the mission I'm about to embark on.

"You had no right to read that," I whisper, my body being covered in cobwebs and dust.

"You kissed me," He said, as if that answers everything. Let me tell you, it does not.

Panic has started rising within me. My first mission and I'm failing spectacularly. "You're not coming with me."

"Like hell I'm not," He snaps.

Then under the cover of darkness his scrambles across the floor and shoves himself into my hiding spot. There isn't enough room for the both of us. It's cramped and I can't think straight when every inch of him is touching me.

"Elijah, you cannot come with me."

"You're not going alone!"

The kitchen door opens and we both clamp our mouths shut. I watch as the groundskeeper walks past us, not noticing the two kids shoved into a nook.

He looks around once, then he opens the kitchen door that leads us outside. He exits, and it begins to swing shut, I sprint and skid to a halt, sticking my hand out and wedging it in the gap before it was going to click closed.

Elijah comes up behind me, a seriously unimpressed look on his face.

"I'm not letting you do this," He snarls.

"Try and stop me," I hiss back, readying myself to fight him. This time I won't hold back, if only the exam committee were here for this.

But we don't get to come to blows, because suddenly a siren pierces the air. A mechanical voice screams, "ALERT. INTRUDER. ALERT. INTRUDER. ALERT. INTRUDER. ALERT. INTRUDER." It's deafening, and makes me want to slam my hands against my ears. Then the emergency lights come on, red and spinning, illuminating the room in a blood-red glow.