A Charming Cure (13 page)

From
a distance, I could see Gus was already there. His cargo shorts hung low like
most the college boys were wearing them, and his t-shirt was ratty and halfway
tucked in.

I
thought about Oscar and smiled. He was always so neat. He liked his t-shirts
wrinkle free, even though he didn’t tuck them in. Oscar had a relaxed style and
it worked for him. Gus on the other hand, was sloppy. Like most of the college
boys at Hidden Hall.

“Hey,
thanks for meeting me.” Gus walked ahead is if I knew to follow him. “You know
you shouldn’t be going around asking about the newspaper thing.”

“So
now you admit to it?” I asked. He walked a few steps ahead of me and I tried to
keep up. “Slow down.”

Meowl,
meowl.
Mr. Prince Charming darted across the road to our cottage dorm. He must’ve been
sick of listening to us, and didn’t think I was in danger.

“No
can do. If anyone sees me talking to you, they are going to know.” He meandered
a little further to the right.

“Know
what?” I jutted forward. I looked around. No one seemed to pay any attention to
us.

“Know
that I’m Helena’s assistant and that I’m talking to you.” The closer I got, the
quicker he got.

“No
one knows? Why?” I questioned.

“I’m
really not in school. I’m in disguise to make sure the University runs well.”
He continued to get faster and faster. “I’m the best Teletransporter in the
spiritualist’s community.”

Wow!
If
Aunt Helena really wanted me to help, why hadn’t she clued me in on all this?
After all, she never told me that Gus wasn’t a student and that he worked for
Hidden Hall.

“The
administration knew that a Dark-Sider was trying to get the Ultimate Spell, and
UnHidden Hall came out with an issue a month ago saying that they knew who it
was and was going to expose them in this month’s issue. This month’s issue was
due out today. And it’s not out, so we can all assume that Faith really does
put out the paper.”

Ultimate
Spell?
What the hell was that? I smacked my forehead with my hand. There was still so
much I needed to learn. And why couldn’t they know it? There was only one way
to find out. . .ask.

“What’s
the Ultimate Spell?” I ran up next to him. In a flash, he was gone.

Damn
it!
I looked around to see if he Teletransported across the street or a little
further up the sidewalk. The more I stood there and thought about it, the more
I realized standing there was getting me nowhere.

A
chill ran up my spine and a cold breeze brushed my cheek.

“Who’s
here?” I jumped around. My eyes darted into the air. I was not alone.

“Are
you okay?” A girl asked as she walked by. She stood back as if I was just
released from a psychiatric ward.

I
brushed her off. “I’m fine, thanks.”

She
nodded and went on her way. I turned around and realized I was standing in
front of the admissions office.

Gus
had leaded me to the place I needed to be. Only I wanted to go back and raid
Faith’s computer to figure all of this out.

The
sign on the door read that the administration was out for their lunch break and
the office was closed.

“Ms.
Heal.” Professor Dunwoody came out of nowhere and cleared his throat. Suspicion
crossed his gaze. “Can I help you with something? The building is closed.”

I
thrust my hand in my bag and felt around for a Ding Dong. Finally, I felt the
foil and pulled it out. I made a mental note to replenish my stash when I got
back to my room at the cottage.

“I’m
just taking a look around at the beautiful campus.” I took a bite to stall for
time. “I never had the opportunity to go to college when I was younger. I love
all of this old architecture.”

“I
guess I could let you in.” He opened the front of his suit coat, and hooked on
his belt was a bunch of dangling keys on one of those pulley-type key chains
that janitors wear.

How
many keys could one man have?
I thought as I watched him open the door
with what looked like a normal key, not a skeleton key like the one Helena gave
me.

Quietly
we passed several doors with leaded glass, a nameplate on the outside of each.
Nothing sparked an interested or created a stir.

One
door that did catch my eye was the one marked Basement. I eyed the old door and
noticed the key hole didn’t match the others. That was where my key went. Not
only did my intuition tell me, but my bag glowed bright amber.

Madame
Torres was well aware that the basement was where I needed to go.

The
admissions office was just across the hall. A small wooden bench sat to the
left of the door.

“I
think I’ll wait here until they get back from lunch.” It groaned as I plopped
down.

“Fine,
suit yourself.” Professor Dunwoody ran his hands through his hair, and then
wrung them as he shuffled down the hall. Never once did he make eye contact
with me.

If
my timing was right, the staff wouldn’t be back for another forty-five minutes,
which gave me plenty of time to get to the basement. Probably not enough time
to look through the student files, but I’d worry about that once I got down
there.

I
waited for a few minutes just in case Professor Dunwoody came back, but he
didn’t. I tiptoed over to the door and slipped the key out of my pocket.

“Here
goes nothing.” The key scrapped the edges, and let out a faint cry as if it
hadn’t been opened in quite a while. The door swung open without me forcing it.
A rush of cold air swept up the dark wooden floors, causing my bangs to part in
the middle.

Something
didn’t want me to go down there, but Madame Torres remained amber. I opened my
bag to look in, hoping her glow would light up the inside of my bag and I could
get another Ding Dong. There were none.

Madame
Torres showed me a picture of Eloise hunkered over. Instantly my fear went
away. I had to do this for Eloise. She had been there for Darla and me. I was
going to find her and whoever had done this to her. As well as Faith.

Chapter Fifteen

The
bare light bulbs hung from the ceiling with old tube and knob wiring, along
with several cob webs, actually worked when I pulled the chain that hung from
them.

Careful
not to touch anything, I rubbed my owl charm that dangled off my bracelet
between my fingers.

“Make
wise decisions,” I repeated over and over, hoping it would spark a little more
courage in my gut. There was nothing telling me to turn around other than the
pure scaredy-cat that I was.

I
made it to the landing and peered down the other set of wooden steps. It was
much darker than the first half of the steps and I didn’t see any hanging bulbs.
With a series of short breaths, I gained a little more courage and bolted down
the steps.

I
ran my hand up and down the wall looking for a light switch. It was cold and
there was nothing there but dust. At the top was a stream of light, a small
stream, but a stream no less. I felt my hand around toward the light and felt
some sort of bag. I pulled the bag down, only to be covered in dust and a plume
of it created a fog. I closed my eyes waiting for it to settle.

I
squinted to see if the coast was clear and a light shone through. The bag had
been covering a window to the street. I could see the student’s feet as they
walked by.

It
was just enough light to see the many rows of filing cabinets that filled the
large basement.

I
reached in my bag and grabbed Madame Torres.

“Can
you shine a light over there?” I held her up and she did exactly what I needed
her to do. Thank God she didn’t give me any fits. From the looks of it, she was
about to take a nap. Regardless, I needed to see exactly who Faith Mortimer was
and where she came from. There were many more families I wanted to look up, but
surely there had to be something in Faith’s past to lead me to a clue as to who
she really is.

Why
would she be best friends with a Dark-Sider when Raven clearly distastes
Good-Siders? Did Raven have something against Faith in order for Faith to
befriend a Dark-Sider?

“They
are all alphabetized.” She blurted out, and shone a light on the letter M.

“You
knew exactly what I was thinking.” I carefully made my way over the cabinet.

“This
place gives me the heebie jeebies and I want to get out of here.” She focused
on the cabinet, lighting my way.

Stay
focused
,
I repeated in my head because I knew I could easily get distracted. This place
was definitely not somewhere I wanted to stay for a long period of time. Plus
my time was limited. Eloise didn’t look well.

I
ran my finger down the drawers, looking for where ‘Mortimer’ would fall into
the filing system. Luckily, it was the middle drawer. With a little extra pull,
the drawer opened. With a little more effort, the drawer squeaked and was much
too slow. I yanked harder and it opened a little quicker with just enough space
for me to thumb through the old files.

A
slight cold breeze blew at the nape of my neck, causing me to pause and look
into the darkness behind me.

Stop
it. You’re overreacting,
I told myself. Only, there was an unshakable sense
of something wrong. With one hand in the files, I used the other hand to find a
Ding Dong.

Damn!
I had forgotten
I was out. I turned my attention back to the files and quickly found a tab that
had ‘Mortimer’ printed on it.

Using
Madame Torres as a flashlight, I thumbed through the old papers briefly reading
about Faith’s family history. Flipping through, I stopped when a letter
addressed to Aunt Helena caught my eye.

Dear
Dean Helena Heal,

As
you know, my daughter, Faith Hope Mortimer, will be attending Hidden Hall A
Spiritualist University starting in the fall. We hope that our donation in the
amount of one million dollars will go toward new and exciting research that
will benefit Faith’s educational career at Hidden Hall.

As
you know, my wife and I value education as well as the internship program at
Hidden Hall. We believe that Faith has a wonderful chance at obtaining the
qualifications as the top student. As for other business we discussed on my
last visit, I’m sure you have taken the necessary precautions to help keep the
information sealed. Especially the Ultimate Spell situ…

“Especially
the Ultimate Spell what?” I turned the page, but the proceeding pages had been
ripped out of the file. It was gone. What was the other business he was talking
about and what was the Ultimate Spell?

With
the file back in place just like I found it, I slammed the old metal door shut.

“What
have I gotten myself into?” I stared deep into Madame Torres eyes searching for
answers she wasn’t able to give me. Carefully I slipped her back in my bag and
headed toward the stairs.

Chapter Sixteen

I
slipped out of the administration office unseen and ran across the street to
the cottage dorm.

First
thing was first. I had to get on Faith’s computer. Not only did I want to get
my hands on the old editions of UnHidden Hall, but I wanted to figure out this
Ultimate Spell. Why was it so secretive?

Everyone
seemed to be out of the house, so I darted up the steps, and stopped when I
heard a slight scuffle and door slam coming from the hallway. My hallway.

Hili
was gone to Whispering Falls, and Faith. . .well, we knew where Faith was. So
who was in my hallway and why?

The
lights turned on like falling dominoes in the dark hallway as I rushed toward
my room. The door was opened. I flipped on the light switch to a ransacked
room. The contents of my desk drawers were emptied. The mattress was thrown on
the floor as if I had something to hide between them, and the contents in my
suitcase had been strewn about. Everything that I had purchased at Potions,
Wands, and Beyond was gone.

“Oh
my god!” I grabbed the box of Ding Dongs that was full when I left my room, but
was now empty. “This is war. No one messes with my Ding Dongs.”

I
threw the empty box on the floor and ran into the hallway to see if I saw
anyone, but there was no one there. Someone was looking for something or trying
to send me a message. Wasn’t the note enough?

I
took the threatening note out of my back pocket and remembered that Helena had
told me that Gus found it.

I
plopped down on the jumbled up sheets on my bed where the intruder had ripped
them off to read the note for the hundredth time hoping something…anything
would pop out at me, but when I did, my heel hit something, causing that
something to roll under the bed frame.

Bending
down, I looked between my legs and saw a small bottle way under there that was
slowly coming to a stop.