Everett: Revised edition

Chapter 9 Part 2

"We have to do something," I whispered. I sat up and gazed up at the bright stars, my legs still cocooned in the sleeping bag.

"Shhhh". Someone hushed in the darkness. A sleeping bag rustled as someone turned over to readjust.

The Admins had gotten the smoke to quickly recede, but the smell was still lingering. My gut twisted. My stomach felt like a fist clenching all of my other organs in its grip.

We're going to die if we don't go, I thought. We're going to be made examples of.

I needed to find Noah quickly. He would be the only one who could get me out of the gates, but I hadn't seen him since the fire started. Actually, I hadn't seen him since the graduation.

I can't sit here anymore.

I threw off my sleeping bag and left the other boys behind.

I looked around to see if the guards were still around; no one was in sight. I was sure they were still watching us though through the security cameras. I walked back around the [West/ East] wing that had been smoldering just hours before. My heart jumped every few steps. My brain, inflamed with the possibility of someone coming out of nowhere, someone either hurt or someone here to hurt me.

I swung my arms and took long strides as I marched towards the front of the SchoolYard. The night sky was velvety blue above. As I turned the corner, I saw, in a dull light, two guards at the front entrance. I stopped dead in my tracks, with my arms in mid swing. The final rustle of the grass beneath my feet seemed to carry across the wind. The guards' heads turned. They elevated their weapons, poised to aim. And one began his long walk in my direction. The guard switched on a light that lit the bottom of his gun and it glowed like a candle in a lantern. The light cast a soft glow in a dome around the guard and into the SchoolYard. The glow crawled across me and invited me into the dome.

"Boy! What are you doing out here?" The guard barked.

"The Admin put us around back. Our rooms were burnt down," I said. My voice betraying me and reversing to its prior meekness.

"So, what are you up here for?" He prompted.

"I have to use the restroom," I said as I kept my head down and my voice low.

The guard turned and led me silently to the front door.

Once at the door, the guards contacted the security room. The man's voice that crackled through the device was not Noah's. He would not be there as an extra layer of protection for the escape I was about to make. I opened the front doors. The metal clank of the hinges and locking mechanism echoed through the halls. Still, the feeling of being watched tightened my muscles like springs that would uncoil and fling me to safety as quickly as a jackrabbit.

The light of the gun, the moon, and the security cameras were the only guides to light our way down the long hall. Our footsteps fell loudly in the echoing darkness. I had to slow my footsteps so that they wouldn't match my heart as it beat against my chest like it was trying to break out of my ribcage. We reached the end of the hall and I reached for the bathroom door. The handle to the bathroom was cold as ice. The faint glint of moon and starlight coming in through the hall door windows reflected silver on the metal. They couldn't stop me from going to the bathroom.

I opened the third stall door; I softly scraped a tune in the grout wall and the door opened. The Shadow Council members used these passageways to get to their lair underneath the school. I walked the lonely tunnel in hopes that I would find Noah at the bottom.

The tunnel got darker as I descended. Any light from above ceased and the tunnel became pitch black. Stumbling a few times, I caught my footing and glided my hands along the walls as I walked sideways and shuffled my feet. Finally, a light appeared in the basement. The orange glow cut a crescent into the curve of the tunnel. As I rounded the curve, the light became clearer, although not necessarily brighter. Someone was down there. I could see now. There were rocks tumbling from the ceiling and rolling at my feet. Many of which I must have tripped on earlier in the tunnel.

I knew I should have been scared to go further, but the fear was no longer with me. At the time, going down to that cellar was safer than staying above ground at the camping site in the shadows of the ruins of the West Wing.

Finally seeing the full glow of a large lamp, I saw a figure with long hair flowing down her back move out of the cavern and through another tunnel. The tunnels and caverns under the school were small and tight. Not many members could fit down there at once, and many of the taller students had to hunch over so they didn't hit their heads. Some cavernous rooms were larger, and those were where most of the meetings over the past months were held. Each member had to learn quickly which tunnels lead to which exit since few markings or signs were present and they could become lost.

I followed the girl. She didn't look familiar, but with the secrecy of the council, many members remained anonymous to each other for the benefit of the whole.

"Miss?" I said once I realized she was far swifter than I was. "Please stop." Without looking back, she kept moving. I would soon lose her if her shadow left my sight. I began to sprint. I couldn't lose her. I would be lost to the Admin.

The tunnel faded back into pitch black, and a sharp pain shot up my nose. I flung out my arms and grabbed on to the first thing I touched. She yelped. Then she slugged me again.

"I need your help," I managed to gasp out. "I'm looking for someone. I was hoping he was here. He may be my only hope to survive."

"You are a complete fool to trust someone you can't see."

"We trust the Shadow Council and that which can't be seen," I said.

Suddenly a lamp was lit. In the fiery glow, she glared at me, and her lips jutted into a pout. She looked so young.

"Let's go to the Lair," she suggested.

We hurried down the tunnels with only the glow of her lamp. An orange bubble of light surrounded us. She ran as a black shadow in front of me.

The Lair had a door into it. The room was tall enough to stand in, had candle holders on the walls, and had leather chairs for members to sit. We reached the Lair's wooden door. The mystery shadow girl knocked; nobody answered. There was always a top Council member in the Lair to open the doors, but not tonight.

"Trace, let us in." The girl said to the door then knocked a rhythm. The door opened and we stepped inside. The lair had the dim glow from candles that it always had. Trace and the girl had a quick conversation. "This lad is looking for someone."

"I'm looking for...." I paused. How did I know I could trust him? "I don't see him here."