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CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Coach Maunekey lives about another half hour from Five Café. For some reason I thought he lived on campus, but as Sandra informs me as she drives us to the White Coach’s house, only students live on campus. Apparently, there are facilities for professors to spend the night when they choose to, but they all have permanent residences elsewhere.
She parks the car at the bottom of a steep incline, right outside a big iron gate framed by tall stone columns. Jerry pulls up right behind us in as I get out of the car after Myra and James. The ride here and Evan’s fingers around mine have helped calm me down, but I still feel a spasm in my chest as I consider what it must be like for Jerry to have to drive his missing friend’s car.
We all gather near the gates. I pull my thin jacket closer around me and suppress a shiver against the cold night. It is too dark to see much beyond the old-fashioned metal bars, but the whole place reeks of old money and power. That much is clear. Huge trees and thick bushes, taller than Evan even, frame the stone and iron perimeter, making it hard to discern where the estate ends. The whole place has an air of majestic weight, a feel of wealth and power which seems to roll across your shoulders and down your neck.
We wait in silence as Keene rings the doorbell on the left side of the gate. Only a few faint lights shine atop the stone columns, as we wait for someone to answer. I share a look with Myra; it’s the middle of the night and Maunekey is probably asleep, but it’s not like we’re trick-or-treating. We need his help.
“Try again,” Sandra says in a soft voice. Keene presses the button again, longer this time. A minute later, a voice comes on the intercom.
“Yes?” a formal-sounding man says. “Who is it?”
“My name’s Keene Davis. I’m Coach Maunekey’s student, and I need to talk to him. It’s an emergency.”
“Very well, sir. Just a moment.”
The line clicks off and a moment later Coach Maunekey’s voice comes on, sounding alert enough. “Mr. Davis, is that you?”
“Hi, Coach.” Keene sounds somewhat nervous, but very, very serious. “Sorry to bother you so late but it’s an emergency. I’m here with some friends from class, and we need your help. Can we come in?”
A pause on the other end. Then, “Of course, my boy.” A buzzing sound is heard by the gate, and Keene pushes it open. “Come on in.”
We pass through the gates and find ourselves at the bottom of a small hill, atop which rests a huge house. It is mansion-like really, like something from an old movie. Little lights come on automatically near our feet as we trudge up the gravel pathway, and I can see the lawn surrounding the house, broken only by a few tall trees growing here and there.
None of us feels like talking as we near the wide steps leading to Coach Maunekey’s porch. There are two wicker chairs and a table off to one side, and the whole place has a feel of old money—nothing new or really flashy; only old, solid, good quality structure and designing.
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Color-Gifted (Color-Gifted, #1)
Teen FictionSeventeen-year-old Megan Cole has never felt like she belongs. Growing up without friends or siblings, and an absent father, she has always felt alone. An outsider. All that is about to change. In the summer of her graduation, a stranger proves to h...
