In the dark, trees all around me, the scope of our camp was overwhelming. Well disguised platforms formed bridges from one tree to the next, connecting a series of small blinds hidden by branches in which everyone was sleeping.
I looked at the fire I sat in front of―a stealthy little thing that emitted no smoke that I never would have imagined was possible. If it weren't for the Hewlett twins' weird obsession with survivalist Bear Grylls, we never would have known how to make them. By digging pits for the fires and feeding them slowly with only small twigs, we avoided announcing where we were with plumes of smoke.
The weight of the day settled on me, as I dropped a twig or two into a couple of the fires and then sat again. We weren't close to done yet, and we still had to implement the second part of our plan, but we'd accomplished so much and worked so hard. It was tough. It was hard on every single one of us, and despite this, we pushed ourselves to do more than even we thought ourselves capable of.
We were doing this! But my pride dwindled when I remembered we were doing this with one less person than I intended.
With a sigh, I pulled Eddie's letter from the inner pocket of my jacket. I stared at it for some time and resisted the terrible urge to throw it into the fire in anger. One, I'd regret it instantly, I knew that much and, two, it would make smoke. Instead I tossed in another twig and carefully refolded it as a plan formed in my mind. It was dark, it was almost eleven, everyone was asleep, and my pack was laying in the dirt beside me. I wondered if I could get there and back by morning; I still had my maps folded into the font pocket
"Feeling better?"
I jumped with a start and looked up at Kellen. We'd avoided each other after my meltdown and the stupid hijINKs update that had people watching us closely.
"Yeah." I hoped I didn't look like I'd been caught red handed. Which I might have been if he'd come down after I got up to leave.
"You sure?" He indicated the note I was stuffing back into my pocket.
"Yeah. I don't know what happened earlier..."
"It's called crying, Cole." He sat beside me, a small teasing smirk on his face. "Have you never done it before?"
With a sardonic chuckle, I decided to play along, even if it was for just a moment. "I think once when I was five."
"So you couldn't sleep, hmm?" He nudged my shoulder.
I didn't really need to answer. After our ordeal the day before, Kellen and I seemed to have developed some kind of innate ability to know what the other was thinking. Like Jess and I, or he and Jackson did; somehow Kellen and I had become kind of like friends that didn't need to talk. I found it wholly strange.
"You don't need to worry, Babe," he whispered, leaning across me to grab some twigs. I watched as he fed the fire slowly, careful not to give it too much so as to cause smoke. I was thankful he hadn't said that awkwardly weird endearment where others could hear him.
"But I do worry, Kels. For us and for him." I got up to feed a couple of the other fires and joined him back on the stump.
"He'll be fine. He's doing what he can to try and get us out of here, Cole. And when he does, I'll stop calling you Hero, like you want me to."
It seemed so like him to try and cheer me up while simultaneously discussing something that had the potential to make me cry. I didn't have the heart to tell him that Hero wasn't the name I wanted him to stop anymore.
We sat in comfortable silence till the next fire-tender showed up to take over, and then we made our way into the trees armed with a bag of heated rocks each. We climbed the rope ladder that had been left hanging down for us, struggling with the load of our bags. Carefully, we balanced across the planks made from doors from the old Waterbridge mansion, dropping off rocks at blinds we passed to provide some needed warmth.
Finally, I found the blind that was meant to be mine. Or ours. It had a gap in the roof that served as a skylight, and the next morning they would put a partition through the middle; one half was for Jackson and Kellen, the other for me.
As I pushed through the flap, I realized with annoyance that Jackson was sleeping elsewhere, as we'd discussed. I hoped Kellen slept elsewhere, like he was supposed to till the partition went up, for two reasons. One, I could just imagine the hijINKs update in the morning. Extra, extra, read all about it: Kellen and Nicole slept *together* last night! Ugh! The looks I'd get then! Two, some part of me was still considering making a run back to the academy for Eddie, and Kellen had already made his stance on that known.
Unrolling my sleeping bag, I set the last two heated rocks down into the base of it. I was just shimmying into the bag when the flap opened and Kellen's head poked in, eyes closed.
"You decent?"
"In what world am I taking off clothes in this temperature?"
"Right."
"Doof!" I chuckled softly and closed my eyes.
"Can I come in?"
"Whatever," I murmured, trying to sound tired enough for him to change his mind about bothering me and leave for his sleeping quarters. Or else I'd never get out of camp tonight. But Kellen shuffled about for some time, and I wondered what he wanted. Opening one eye, I looked to see him crawling into his sleeping bag on the floor beside mine.
"Wha're you doin'?" Exhaustion slurred my words, despite the crazy thought spinning in my mind.
"Sleeping, Cole."
"Ya bu', why 'ere?"
"Goodnight, Cole."
"Nigh, Keh."
By 11:30pm Kellen was making a gentle sound that echoed a piece of paper stuck in a fan. I sat up slowly and peered closely at his face. His hat was only half on, his black hair spilling over his eyes, but they appeared to be closed. Dammit, Nicole get moving, he'll still be cute tomorrow! I tested if he was asleep by carefully picking a couple pine needles out of his hair. When he didn't move, I slid out of my sleeping bag and crept out of the blind.
-.-
I was in the tunnels under the academy and residence, before fear hit me. Over the past two days, I'd done this run back to the school at least five times, but each time I'd had either Kellen or Jackson with me. Without them there, and the knowledge that I'd be meeting a group of students at the end of the tunnels, I wondered if I could actually pull off a rescue on my own. That, and traveling alone through the dark musty clay dirt tunnels with old wood framing made me wish I had a hand to hold.
But I shoved my fear down, reminded myself that Eddie was still in there and broke my mission down into steps.
Step one: get to the end of the tunnel under the basement of the residence building. Easily achievable since we'd made a map for all the runners to be able to do this exact thing without getting lost.
Step two: climb up into the boiler room through the wrought iron grate that was hidden behind the maintenance shelves. Not as easily done, I realised as I reached the dead end tunnel and looked up at the manhole sized opening above me.
Dammit times three! I should have thought this through better. How the hell was I supposed to get up there? The last few times I'd done this I'd had someone else to push or pull me up. I eyed the rusty dilapidated bits of metal protruding from the wall that used to at some point be rungs of a ladder. Would they hold me?
They didn't, not well enough to stop me from falling. Grunting as I hit the dirt a second time, after another piece of metal snapped off under my foot, I gritted my teeth to try again. I'd made it higher that time; maybe there was something to that saying third time's a charm? Carefully, I climbed up again feeling my excitement rise as I got close enough to almost reach the hole. I reached a hand up, hoping I'd make contact with the edge. It was a stretch, but I finally caught hold of the floor on the other side.
Careful not to make much noise, I grappled my way up, earning myself a few scrapes on the way. I laid on the floor for a moment to catch my breath, then stood as I pushed my sweat drenched hair from my face.
Shit.
A warden grinned at me. "Looks like Tannen was right, one of the idiots came back," he spoke to someone behind me before grabbing my arm and tugging me forward. "Let's go, Princess."
No no no no no NO! This is not what was supposed to happen. How the hell was I going to get Eddie out of here now? And even though I'd come here for Eddie, all I could picture was Kellen's disappointed I-told-you-so face. His stupid stupid cute face, that I'd probably never see again.
I stumbled along between the wardens, knowing there was no point in fighting. Even if I broke free and got away, going back to camp would put everyone else in danger. I dragged my feet, having no desire to reach wherever they were taking me. To Tannen? To the detention hall?
Either way, it would end with me becoming one of Tannen's test subjects. My hands shook at the thought. As the wardens laughed at my stupidity and directed me across the basement, I tried to make my brain work. The laundry. The hallway that ran under the kitchen. The square on the floor where I'd very nearly had my head smashed in. The stairs! Could I make an escape on the stairs? One warden moved up ahead of me because the stairs weren't wide enough. If I kicked the legs of the warden holding my arm out from under him in just the right way, he would take his partner down with him. I'd be free to run.
But where? Back to the tunnels! I knew the tunnels well enough. I could lose them. Hide somewhere. The abandoned gym lockers, where the Hellhounds had hidden the Trifecta! It would be a good place to lay low. Or trap these two wardens so I could get away and get Eddie.
But I distractedly missed another step and the warden lifted me off the ground like I weighed about as much as a bag of apples, then carried me the rest of the way up. So much for that plan. He put me down in the common room, and I couldn't help looking around at it. It had an eerie kind of horror movie emptiness. The quad was no better, as I crossed it quietly walking between the wardens. Funny, I thought, I'd seen both empty countless times, and they'd never scared me before.