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The eclipse is within the hour. I spent the entire time to the boys' changing room, where we would hang the stuffed bird with a net, staring at it warily in Fabian's arms, remarking more than once how creeped out I was. Fabian just told me to be quiet and not to draw any attention to ourselves.
Like two teenagers who should be in school carrying something with a red cloth over it to the boys' changing room isn't gonna draw any attention.
But we get to the spot without a problem, which is when I take out the bird's net from my bag as Fabian uncovers Corbierre. I hold the net open so Fabian can put Corbierre in the net and hang him up. "Now all we have to do is wait for Victor," Fabian comments, but I can't tell if he's talking to me or to the bird. 'Cause he's looking at the bird. "He's not going to be attending this little ceremony, and neither are Mr. Sweet or Ms. Denby."
"Are you talking to Corbierre?" I question.
Fabian glances at me briefly. "Shut up."
I shake my head, setting our second note on top of Corbierre's head. It's fifteen minutes 'til 11:30, which is the time we left on the ransom note we left on Victor's desk. I wonder if he's found it yet, but either way, all we can do now is wait.
Fabian and I leave the changing room, rushing across the hall to a supply closet, leaving the door ajar so we can see when Victor comes to save his beloved stuffed bird. I lean against the wall next to the door, looking out, sighing lightly as I mess with the objects around my neck. My charm, Lily's engagement ring, and Nina's locket. I've been wearing the locket since we got it from my room last night to go down to the antechamber and I haven't taken it off.
"A lot's changed, hasn't it?" Fabian remarks quietly. I glance over at him. "You're messing with Nina's locket."
I shrug, adjusting my footing. "Things were simpler the first year. Which is something I can't believe I'm saying. Remember our official Sibuna induction? Amber took something important to each of us so we could sacrifice it in a fire. She took my best pen. I'm pretty sure I replaced it with a trick pen Alfie gave to me."
He chuckles. "You did, I remember. Amber took my signed copy of The Solar System is Your Friend." That, I definitely remember thinking was weird he had that. "And she had a photograph of herself to sacrifice."
"What was that stuffed animal's name she took from Nina? Marian or something?"
"Murrell," Fabian corrects. "It was Murrell. She didn't want to give it up so she took her lucky keychain and burned it instead."
"Right, Murrell," I say. "Oh, remember when Amber planted one on Alfie to make Mick jealous? Not Sibuna, but that was, like, the first shocking thing that happened that year."
"It's strange having Sibuna without Nina or Amber."
"Even stranger that now Eddie and I are co-leaders, isn't it?" I ask, and he laughs. It still feels weird to me, co-leading Sibuna. Nina was always our captain. I clear my throat, deciding to change the subject while we wait. I glance at his watch. Ten minutes 'til. "So, uh... you know Alfie has a crush on Willow?" Fabian looks over at me with wide eyes and raised eyebrows. "Yeah. And Mara thinks Willow likes him back and actually that they're secretly dating."
"That's ridiculous," Fabian says. "Them dating, not Alfie having a crush on her. Honestly, it—it makes sense when you think about it. Why does Mara think they're dating?"
"She heard Willow talking about having a secret boyfriend to Trudy last night. Somehow she made the leap to Alfie. For someone who's as smart as she is... there's a lot of stuff she doesn't know."
Five minutes count down. Then four, three, two, one, and our conversations cease, waiting for the door to open. Five minutes after the time, the door opens and I quickly move away from the door, still peeking out to watch Victor open the door to the changing room.
"Corbierre," Victor laments, "who has done this to you?" I move to open the door and let Fabian out first so he can sneak over and lock Victor in. I see Victor open our note: GOTCHA. Fabian closes the door and locks it with a broom I hand to him, putting it in the handle. Adams and Rutter's part of the plan? Complete.
I high-five Fabian as we run out of the changing rooms and into the hallway. I act inconspicuous outside the boys' changing rooms, leaning against the wall with my phone out, pretending to type out a message as someone walks by. Fabian checks his watch, telling me, "They were supposed to be here by now."
"KT will be," I assure him. Her task was probably easier than Eddie's, who was supposed to fake an intense stomachache in Sweet's office. KT's supposed to get Denby to Anubis House to lock her in the cellar. Maybe I should see if Alfie answers a text. "Eddie'll take a little longer. I wouldn't be surprised if Sweetie called an ambulance."
"Who are you texting?"
"I'm thinking about trying one of the descended," I answer as my phone begins to ring. Fabian perks up and ask if it's one of them, but I don't recognize the number. Wary, I hit the answer button and put the phone to my ear. "Hello?" The voice on the other end is Atticus, who calls me by Amber's name and asks where Jamie (Joy) is because he accidentally sent her an e-mail with the wrong file and he needed to make sure she didn't do anything with it because it was private. I roll my eyes. "No, Atticus, I can't help you with—how did you even get my number? What do you mean Willow gave it to you?" Fabian's eyebrows raise. "Look, just delete my number from your phone—and my name is Ashley, not Amber!"
"Mara's boyfriend calls you now?" Fabian asks.
"Hopefully never again," I say. "He's looking for Joy. He accidentally sent her something through e-mail and he wants to make sure she doesn't do anything with it. He said Willow gave him my number."
"Why would Willow—"
"No idea, don't want to know. But I do hope that whatever he sent Joy is blackmail-worthy. Maybe he sent a video of him looting a grocery."
Fabian checks his watch again. "They're ten minutes late. We have to go find them."
—
There's an ambulance outside the school's entrance and Eddie's being put up into it. I grab Fabian's arm and pull him behind the wall as Sweet stays outside the ambulance instead of getting in with him. What kind of father...?! He says something once the ambulance is gone neither of us can hear, but he reaches into his bag and pulls out some kind of fabric.
"Robes," Fabian tells me. Sweet begins to go inside. If Sweet's still available for the eclipse... "No—what do we do now?"
I turn back toward the school. "Sweet wasn't fooled. What if Victor got out?"
"You think—"
"I think he's almost a hundred years old and people learn a lot in the span of a century—"
"Then what are we waiting for?!"
When we get back to the changing rooms in the school, Fabian looks through the lock and informs me that Corbierre is free. Victor did manage to get out, which has me cursing in my mind as we argue about what to do next. We obviously can't go rescue Eddie from hospital. We can't trap Sweet somewhere, since Victor found his way out. I only hope KT got Denby locked in the cellar.
"Gatehouse," I tell Fabian sharply. "We have to get inside—we have to stop it any way we know how. Like, I mean, we throw rocks through the windows, we propel in on a vine like Tarzan, we hit them with pans!"
"Oh, do you have a pan?"
"Uh, no, I have the resilience of a Frobisher, a Henry, and an Adams. I'm the pan."
"You make no sense!"
"None of this makes sense, Fabian! Let's just go to the gatehouse, now!"