Hexbound (24 page)

Read Hexbound Online

Authors: Chloe Neill

BOOK: Hexbound
7.72Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
We both looked up. Lesley stood at the end of the hallway, arms crossed over her chest.
Scout gave her a look of disapproval. “We told you to wait upstairs.”
Lesley lifted her nose, and with a voice I’d never heard her use before, gave that attitude right back to Scout. “I am not a child, so don’t talk to me like that.”
It took Scout a moment, but she backed off. “You’re right,” Scout said. “I’m sorry—but that doesn’t mean—”
Lesley cut her off with a hand. “I told you I’d help you,” she said. “And I’m not going to leave just because things get slimy. Literally.”
It took Scout a moment to respond. I understood why—even after I’d taken firespell, she hesitated to bring me into the fold. She’d worried about my safety; after all, if a Reaper thought I had information about Adepts, they might use me to get to them. It was probably the same fear she had for Mrs. M and for her friend Derek, who worked at a bodega near the school.
“It’s dangerous,” Scout finally said, “to know too much.”
Lesley took a step forward. “I know what people think about me. That I’m weird. That I study or practice my cello, but can’t do anything else.” She shook her head. “Just because I’m not a social butterfly doesn’t mean I’m not smart or capable. I
am
,” she insisted. “And I’m loyal. I just want a chance to be something more than the weird girl, even if you two are the only ones who know it.”
We stood quietly for a minute. I’m not sure what Scout was thinking, but I was impressed. How many friends did you have who offered themselves up—to danger, to the unknown—because they wanted to help? Not because they wanted anything in return, or because they’d get credentials or fame out of it, but because it was the right thing to do?
“And the danger?” Scout asked.
Lesley rolled her eyes. “Take a step back.”
“What?”
“Take a step back.”
We did as she asked, and just in time. Without any more warning, Lesley twisted on one heel and kicked so high she would have knocked the ring out of Scout’s nose if she’d been standing any closer.
Scout’s jaw dropped; mine did, too.
“How—where?”
“I’m a black belt.”
Scout extended a hand. “You are
so
in. Welcome to the community.”
Lesley waved her off. “First things first. What do we do about this—stuff?”
“The trail ends at the corridor,” I pointed out, “so it looks like they didn’t get any farther than that. Maybe they peeked in, didn’t find what they wanted, and left again.”
“That’s something,” Scout said. “First of all, let’s get some help.” She pulled out her phone. “I’m going to tell Daniel what’s up. He’ll have to come through and reward the doors since they found a way to break through our spell. And we’re probably going to have to clean up the slime.”
Lesley raised her hand. “Could we lead the brat pack down here first?”
Scout gave her a pat on the back. “You’re good people, Barnaby.”
 
Things I didn’t sign up for when I hopped the plane to O’Hare to attend St. Sophia’s School for Girls: firespell; werewolves (but still lucked out there); brat packers; Reapers; snarky Varsity Adepts.
And slime. Lots of slime that had to be mopped up by Lesley, Scout, and me. ’Cause what else would a sixteen-year-old girl rather be doing than mopping goo off a basement floor?
But we had to erase the evidence. Someone else finding the trail would only lead to questions Scout didn’t want to answer. Besides—if we had to come back down to battle anyone, it was a safety hazard. The stuff was really slippery.
We’d found a rolling bucket and mop in a janitor’s closet a few corridors away and pushed it down to the slimy corridor. Scout and I swabbed down the slime, and Lesley used an old towel to dry down the floor.
It took twenty minutes to clean it all up, but when we were done you could hardly tell it had been the sight of paranormal activity.
Scout put her hands on her hips and surveyed our work. “Well, I think it looks pretty fabulous.”
“At least it doesn’t look like the room got slimed. What’s next?”
Scout looked at Lesley. “Can you head back upstairs?” Before Lesley could protest at the slight, Scout held up a hand. “I don’t mean back to the suite. I mean stand guard upstairs. It’s unlikely anyone would find their way down here, but stranger things have happened.” When she gave me a pointed look, I stuck my tongue out at her. Not that she was wrong.
“Can you keep an eye on the basement door and make sure we have time to get it closed down again?”
With a salute, but without a word, Lesley headed down the corridor.
Scout watched her walk away. “Okay, is it wrong that I really like the fact that she saluted me?”
“It probably means that you’re destined to be Varsity so you can have JV Adepts at your beck and call.”
“Do you really think I’d have them at my beck and call?”
Scout had once told me that she wanted to run for office one day. Given the sound of her voice, I had a sense she wanted to head up Enclave Three one day, as well.
“Well, as much as you’re at Katie’s and Smith’s beck and call.”
“I’m not at Katie’s and Smith’s anything. Wait—what is a beck and call exactly?”
“I think that’s when you do their bidding whenever they want.”
She grimaced. “I guess I am that, then. All for one and one for all, and all that.” Her phone beeped, and Scout pulled it out of her bag again.
“Daniel’s on his way. Should be here in fifteen.”
“So we’re camping out in the basement again?”
She blew out a breath, then crossed her legs and sat down on the stone floor. “I don’t suppose you brought any cards?”
Daniel’s estimate had been a little low. It actually took him twenty minutes to get to us. He came in through the vault door, huffing like he’d run all the way through the tunnels.
“Sorry. Got here as fast as I could.” He put his hands on his hips. He wore jeans and a smoky orange T-shirt beneath a thin jacket. He glanced through the corridor. “You got the mess cleaned up.”
“Indeedy-o.”
“How much? I mean, how far into the building did they go?”
Scout showed him where the trail had led. “They didn’t get far,” she concluded. “Although I’m not entirely sure why.”
Daniel frowned, then paced to the end of the corridor and back again. “First the girls, now the rats and maybe the girls,” he said. “They keep returning to St. Sophia’s. But why?”
“Same reason they pinched Scout?” I offered. “They want her
Grimoire
?”
He seemed to think about that for a minute, then nodded. “That’s the best theory we have right now. Let’s assume that’s true and build our defenses accordingly.” He walked back to the door, then began looking it over. “The wards didn’t hold, huh?”
Scout shook her head. “Not even. Can you work it so they’re permanent? Like, they’d let Lily and me get through, but not anyone or anything else?”
Daniel pressed a hand to the door and closed his eyes in concentration. “Yeah, I could probably work that.”
It looked like he was getting started, but I still had a question. “Aren’t we going to go after them, or at least see how far they got? I mean, we can’t just let the rats run loose in the tunnels.”
He glanced back, only one eye open. “All the Adepts are accounted for, tucked safe and sound into their beds, with the exception of you two.” He didn’t say “trouble-makers,” but I could hear it in his voice. “So there’s no immediate risk. Not enough that would justify sending you out on a hunting mission.”
I couldn’t argue with that logic.
While Daniel prepared to fire up his ward, Scout sent a message to Lesley to let her know that her work was done for the night, and that we’d be up as soon as Daniel was done.
His method of magic was quite a bit different from Scout’s . . . or anything else that I’d seen. She’d said he was a protector. Maybe they had their own special brand of mojo. After he’d communed with the door, he pulled a short, cork-stoppered clear bottle from his jacket pocket and held it up to the light, checking it out. A white cloud swirled inside it, like he’d bottled a tiny tornado.
Daniel sat cross-legged on the floor, facing the door. He pressed his lips to the bottle’s cork, then pulled out the stopper. The mist rushed out. Daniel closed his eyes, smiling happily as it expanded and circled him, swirling around like a magical version of Saturn’s rings.
“What is that?” I whispered to Scout.
She shook her head. “I’m not sure.”
The rings still circling and his eyes still closed, Daniel put hands on his knees and offered his incantation. “Solitude, sacrifice in blackness of night. Visitor—enemy of goodness and light. Hear the plea of this supplicant, protector of right, and quiet the halls of this reverent site.”
For a second, there was nothing, and then the door flashed with a brilliant, white light that put huge dots in my vision. It took me a few seconds to see through the afterimages. By the time I could focus again, the mist was gone and Daniel had recorked the bottle.
Scout squeezed her eyes closed. “Little warning about the flash next time, Daniel?”
He stood up and put the bottle back into his pocket. The door’s glow faded back to normalcy. No buzzing, no pulsing, no vibrating rivets.
“That should hold,” he said, “at least until they find a work-around. As Adepts, you’ll be able to come and go at will. It’ll only keep out Reapers—and whatever else they try to drag in here.” He pointed toward the other end of the corridor. “That the way back to St. Sophia’s?”
Scout nodded, and we all headed off in that direction.
“What was in the bottle?” she asked as we took the stairs to the second floor.
Daniel slid her a glance. “You’ve never seen sylphs before?”
Scout pointed at his jacket. “That was a sylph?”
Surprisingly, I actually knew what a sylph was—or what it was supposed to be. My parents had given me a book of fairy tales when I was younger. There was a fable about three sylphs—winged fairies—who’d tricked proud villagers into giving the sylphs all of their youth and beauty. I think “Vanity gets you in trouble” was supposed to be the moral of the story. I always got the sense they looked basically like smallish people—not clouds of mist.
As if in answer to Scout’s question, Daniel’s pocket vibrated a little. “That was
many
sylphs,” he said, “and since I can still feel them rattling around, I think you offended them.”
They must have been snowflake-small to fit into that tiny bottle, I thought, wondering what else the underground had in store. What other creatures were hiding in plain sight, living among Chicagoans even though they had no idea?
“Sorry, sylphs,” Scout half shouted. “I didn’t mean to offend you.”
“You probably don’t need to yell.”
“Yeah, well, you’re not the one who offended the sylphs, are you? One can never be too careful.”
“I’d agree with that if I didn’t think you were being crazy sarcastic. I’m assuming you’re actually leading me out of this building?”
“Of course,” Scout said. “We’re taking the bad-girl exit.”
Daniel lifted his eyebrows. “The ‘bad-girl exit’?”
“Walk and talk, people. Walk and talk.”
Lesley was gone when we emerged upstairs, and the main building was quiet. Scout silenced Daniel with a finger to her mouth, and we tiptoed across to the administrative wing where the offices—including Foley’s—were located. “We’re taking the secret exit without the alarm. This is how some of St. Sophia’s
busier
girls, if you know what I mean, sneak in and out at night.”
“No way,” Daniel said.
Scout nodded. “Welcome to the glamorous world of boarding school. Where the things that go bump in the night are either horrific creatures—”
“Or equally horrific teenagers,” I finished.

Other books

Un asunto de honor by Arturo Pérez-Reverte
ONE WEEK 1 by Kristina Weaver
Full House [Quick Read] by Binchy, Maeve
Front Page Affair by Radha Vatsal
Silver Wings by Grace Livingston Hill
SVH09-Racing Hearts by Francine Pascal