Hexbound (25 page)

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Authors: Chloe Neill

BOOK: Hexbound
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We followed Scout through the main administrative hallway and into a narrower corridor that led from it. The offices looked dark . . .
“Students,” a voice said suddenly behind us.
We froze, then turned around. Foley stood in her open doorway, a candle in one of those old-fashioned brass holders in her hand.
“I believe it’s past curfew.” She slid her gaze to Daniel. “Mr. Sterling.” It took me a moment to remember Foley knew Daniel because he was our studio TA.
“Sorry for marching through your territory,” he apologetically said, “but we were on a bit of a mission.”
“A mission?”
“Interlopers,” Scout said. “There were Reapers at the gates, so to speak. Daniel here warded the door, and now we’re escorting him out.”
We stood in the corridor silently for a moment, Foley probably debating whether to let us go. Since she didn’t rush to call the cops about the man standing in the middle of her girls’ school in the middle of the night, I assumed she knew about Daniel’s magical tendencies.
Her voice softened. “You’re being careful?”
“As much as we can, ma’am,” Daniel said. “And—I was sorry to hear about your daughter. She was a good friend—and a good Adept.”
I snapped my gaze back to Foley and the grief in her expression. She’d had a daughter who was an Adept? And she’d lost her?
Foley actually seemed to make more sense now. But before I could say anything, her expression went bossy again. She nodded at Daniel, then turned and walked away. “Get back to bed,” we heard.
We were quiet for a moment until I looked at Scout. “Did you know?”
She shook her head. “I mean, I suspected, given the fact that she was in the community, but I didn’t know she’d had a kid—or lost her.”
We both looked at Daniel. His brow was furrowed. “I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories. Her name was Emily. She was a green thumb Adept—she could grow trees and vines that practically encapsulated buildings.” He paused. “We think it was a Reaper attack.”
“I had no idea,” Scout quietly said.
Guilt settled heavy in my stomach. “I didn’t either. And I was pretty hard on her earlier today.”
“We do the best we can with the information we have,” Daniel said. “For now, let’s focus on the things we can change. Such as getting me out of here.”
Scout nodded, then gestured down the hall. “This way,” she said. We continued the walk in silence, and didn’t speak again until Scout paused in front of an old wooden door.
She jimmied the ancient crystal knob. “There’s no light in here, but you can use flashlights when the door’s shut.”
We stepped inside, shut the door, and pulled out our flashlights. The room was big and mostly empty, and the ceiling arched above it. The floors were made up of old wooden boards, and along one side was a fireplace that took up almost the entire wall. It was made of rough, pale stones that were still stained with soot. A simple wooden chair, the kind with rails across the back, sat beside the fireplace.
I shivered. There was something creepy about this place—the empty chair in the otherwise deserted room. I could imagine Temperance living here alone, waiting for someone to conjure her up. I shivered, then wrapped my arms around my shoulders.
“What is this?” Daniel whispered.
Scout walked to a corner of the room and began feeling around on the floor. “Not sure. I think it was the original kitchen for the nuns before they built the new wing. Mostly no one comes in here anymore.”
“Except bad girls,” I pointed out.
“Except that,” Scout agreed. She lifted up a ring, then pulled open an old door that was set into the floor. “Root cellar,” she explained when we walked over. She pointed down into it. “There’s a door to the yard, and from there you can just walk out the front gate. No alarms or anything.”
Daniel headed into the cellar, disappearing into darkness. I followed him down, and Scout followed behind me.
The root cellar looked exactly how you’d expect a root cellar to look. It was dark and damp, and it smelled like wet soil and plants. The ladder into it was wooden and rickety, as was the door that led to the side lawn. Had the folks who’d changed the convent into a school with fancy classrooms failed to find the rickety door—or had Foley left a secret exit for any Adepts that needed it?
Yet another question, but I was already full up for the night.
The evening was cool, so I tucked my hands into my hoodie pockets and followed Daniel and Scout to the street.
“Thanks for the help,” he said. “I might find some Varsity kids and ask them to take a walk through the tunnels. I think you’ve already had enough close calls for the week.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Scout said. We said our final good-byes, and Daniel took off at a jog toward the street, then turned and headed out of view.
“This has been quite a week,” she said as we headed back up the ladder and into the building. “First teethy monsters, then vampires, and now Reapers.”
I stopped. “What did you say?”
Scout glanced back, then blinked. “What?”
“Just then. What did you say?”
“Oh, uh, teethy monsters, vampires, Reapers?”
“Teethy monsters,” I repeated. “You said it the other day—the rat things had fangs. And vampires have fangs, too, right?”
“Yeah, but so what?”
I frowned. “I’m not exactly sure.”I was on the edge of
something
.... I just didn’t know what.
She pointed toward the door. “Come on. You can sleep on it and let it percolate in your dreams, or something.”
“Actually, I have a better idea.”
“And that is?”
“I think we need to go visit the vampires.”
16
“You want to
what
?”
“I want to go see Nicu,” I said. “Monsters with fangs, monsters with pointy little teeth. I mean, I know it’s kind of a long shot, but my gut tells me something’s going on there. Besides, Sebastian said we needed to talk to Nicu.” I shrugged. “Maybe this is why.”
Her look wasn’t exactly friendly. “So now you’re following Sebastian’s advice?”
“I’m following the only lead we’ve got.”
She was quiet for a moment. “The vampires weren’t exactly friendly the last time we saw them.”
“And they may not be friendly this time, either. But what other choice do we have? I say we visit the coven and skip the turf war bit altogether.”
“Oh, you just want to traipse into a coven of blood-sucking fiends and beg them for help?”
I shook my head. “Not beg, but definitely ask. Do you remember what Marlena said about Nicu’s coven being weak? What if that wasn’t just talk? Sebastian said something about the ‘missing.’ What if the Reapers aren’t just targeting Adepts?”
Her expression softened. “You think they’re taking vampires, too?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But if we find the vampires, and if we offer to help them . . .”
“They might not make breakfast out of us.”
I nodded. “Exactly.”
She whistled. “That’s risky. And even if it doesn’t get us eaten, we don’t know where the coven actually is.”
“No,” I said. “We don’t. But we know who probably does.”
 
Fifteen minutes later, we were in the back of a dark green cab with GYPSY printed on the door in white cursive letters. We were heading for Buckman’s, one of those old-fashioned multilevel department stores a few blocks from St. Sophia’s. I wasn’t entirely sure why we were meeting at a department store, but when the girl with the map tells you to jump, you ask how high.
The cab ride was short, probably not even a mile. But I stared out the windows the entire time, taking in a view of Chicago I hadn’t seen before—I hadn’t yet been aboveground in the dark. We drove past soaring sky-scrapers, including two that looked like a pair of concrete corncobs, cars stuck into parking spaces right against the edge like tiny steel kernels. We crossed an iron bridge over what I assumed was the Chicago River, and then we passed the marquee of the Chicago Theater—
“Oh, my God,” I said, turning to stare as we passed it by. “Did you see that?”
“What?” Scout asked.
“In the theater sign—in the marquee. There’s a circle inside a
Y
behind the word ‘Chicago.’ ”
“Folks say that
Y
is supposed to stand for the branches of the river,” said the cabdriver, glancing up at his rearview mirror to look at me. “You see ’em all over the city, including over by the theater. Kind of a weird deal, I guess, that they’re on buildings and such, but there you are. Probably somethin’ to do with politics. It’s Chicago, after all.”
Scout and I exchanged a glance. I wondered if she wanted to speak up—to tell the driver that the symbol wasn’t just on the buildings for decoration, that it represented the places where Adepts had fought for the soul of Chicago. But if she wanted to, she didn’t say anything.
We pulled up outside a tall, squarish building, a clock extending out over the sidewalk.
“The shops are closed, ya know,” the cabbie said as Scout pulled money from her messenger bag.
“We’re just meeting our parents,” she said, passing the money over and opening the car door. “They went to see a show.”
That seemed to work for the driver, who took the money with a nod and watched in the rearview mirror as we scooted across the bench and out of the car.
We found Detroit outside beneath the clock. She was wearing a brown vest over a long-sleeved shirt, brown suspenders connecting the vest to a pair of wide-legged pants with lots of pockets. The map-making locket was around her neck, and she had an old-fashioned, silver-tipped walking stick in her hand.
“Thanks for meeting us,” I said when we reached her.
“No problem. It’s in everyone’s interest to deal with the monsters, and if vampires are the way to do it, that’s the way we do it.” She shrugged. “What exactly is the plan?”
“We’re going to talk to Nicu,” I said, offering up the explanation I’d come up with in the cab (the one that didn’t involve a Sebastian-related confession). “There’s no way the rats could move around the city without intersecting with the Pedway at some point. And if they’ve been on the Pedway, the vamps know about them.”
“So you want to talk to Nicu,” she said. “But why Nicu instead of Marlena?”
“He seemed a little friendlier,” Scout put in, after giving me a silencing glance. “So we’re trying him first.”
Apparently buying the explanation, Detroit nodded, then walked toward the building and peered inside one of the glass doors. She knocked on the glass.
“I am now officially confused,” Scout said.
“Me too. What are we doing here?”
“The Pedway runs through the basement,” Detroit explained, as a guard in a tidy blue suit and cap walked toward the door.
“Closed,” the guard mouthed, pointing at his watch.
Detroit, apparently undeterred, flashed the guard a peace sign. It took a second, but the guard nodded, then began the process of unlocking the door with a key from a giant loop.
“He supports peace?” Scout wondered.
“I made a
Y
,” Detroit explained, showing Scout the sign again. “It’s recognized by the community. And Mr. Howard here is very much a member of the community. So be nice to Mr. Howard.”
But Scout was too busy with her new trick to be mean—she’d made a peace sign and was staring down at her fingers. “Genius,” she said, eyes wide with excitement.
“You’ll have to teach that to Derek and Mrs. M,” I pointed out, and she nodded back.
Mr. Howard held open the door while we moved inside. Once in, he locked it tight again. “You on the hunt for Reapers tonight?” he asked politely.
“Not quite,” Detroit said. “But we appreciate the help, sir.”
Mr. Howard nodded, then gestured toward a set of elevators. “Basement level, if you’re headed into the Pedway.”
“Thank you,” Detroit said, and we were off again.
“Seriously, I want to go see Derek right now just to show him this. I know it’s not a big deal, but it’s like having a secret handshake. Haven’t you always wanted to have a secret handshake?”
“Not that I can recall right at this minute,” I said, as we followed Detroit through displays of makeup and perfume. “But I’m excited you’re excited.”
The main lights were off, but it was clearly a department store—floors of merchandise around an atrium in the middle. Although the
stuff
in the store was modern, the rest of it was old-school fancy. I stared up at the atrium. Fancy gold balconies ringed the floors above us like architectural bracelets, and the entire thing was capped by a pillow of frosted glass. The floor looked like marble. This place must have been really interesting in its heyday.

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