firsthand experience with the Middle Realms. . ”
She added that bit to pander to his ego. She didn’t really count getting
“Amanda has studied harder than anyone in the entire class,” Fiona continued. “She knows something about
Amanda looked down, blushing.
Fiona paused to glance over at Jezebel, who had her head turned away (but was obviously paying attention).
“So you’re saying we’re smarter together,” Robert said.
“Exactly,” Fiona replied. “We can help one another and, yeah, we’ll shift the grade curve. . but because we’re
Sarah tapped her lips thoughtfully. “As long as the others don’t chance upon this bit of trickery,” she whispered, “it might work.”
“Isn’t it cheating, though?” Amanda squeaked.
Jezebel finally joined them. “It is not,” she answered. “Miss Westin said we would be
“Geez,” Robert noticed Jezebel’s injuries. “What happened to you?
Jezebel shot him a withering glare. “Nothing that concerns you, mortal.”
Mitch cleared his throat. “Okay, sure she didn’t specifically say we
“They’re such sticklers for following the rules at Paxington, it’ll work,” Fiona countered. “Trust me.”
“I guess,” Mitch admitted, sounding entirely not convinced.
“Then we’re agreed,” Fiona said. “We work together on this?” She made eye contact with each of them, trying to look and feel as confident as she could.
They nodded.
“Team Scarab,” Miss Westin said and made a note of the time in her book. “Enter the Midterm Maze- now.”
They scrambled through the open Picasso Arch and into the dark passage. . twisting around, descending.
Fiona and the others ran down the spiral passage and found themselves in a large cavern. The ceiling had dripping, teethlike stalactites. Pools of water on the cobblestone floor reflected the wavering light from torches on the walls. Between the flickering flames were arches with closed portcullis.
They spread out.
“Over here.” Robert said. “There’s a brass plaque by this gate. It’s got a question on it.”
“Here, too,” Mitch called out. He started reading it. “Seems easy enough.” He reached to touch it.
“Hang on,” Fiona told him. “Miss Westin called this the ‘Midterm Maze.’ We shouldn’t just pick one at random. We could get lost.”
“How does that work, then?” Sarah asked. “Is it best to find the longest path and answer the most questions? Will that get the highest score? Or are we supposed to find the shortest path?”
“Or maybe,” Amanda whispered, “we’re supposed to go until we chicken out and say were done.”
Yells echoed from the distant passages. . someone far away screamed. Then it was quiet.
“Was that a wrong answer?” Jeremy whispered with a nervous laugh.
Fiona wondered what nasty surprises Miss Westin had engineered for them. “There has to be a clue to the
“Or we just pick one at random,” Jeremy said, and strode toward that farthest gate.
“Wait.” Eliot withdrew Lady Dawn from his pack. “There
Jeremy looked at Eliot with obvious jealousy. “I don’t think now be the time to break into song.”
Jezebel moved to Jeremy and held up one finger, commanding his silence. With a flick of her hand, she indicted that Eliot continue.
Eliot nodded to her and set his violin to his shoulder.
Fiona wondered what was going on between her brother and the Infernal. It was hard to tell if Jezebel liked or hated him half the time. All the glares and warnings for him to stay away. . and then she did stuff like this. Maybe she was just being practical.
Or maybe it really was part of some Infernal plot to draw him closer to that side of their family. Fiona would have to keep a careful eye on this situation-especially with Eliot getting deeper into trouble.
Eliot set his bow on Lady Dawn’s strings and the air stilled.
The song was slow and steady and classically styled.
Fiona smelled chalk dust and the pages of old books and that weird pine antiseptic odor that permeated the Hall of Wisdom. She blinked, understanding that Eliot’s song was about class and them studying.
He turned, facing one arch, then another, frowning at each. His music shifted, even slower notes, sad too, and then an unexpected pizzicato phrase that sent Fiona’s heart skipping.
She felt a rush of shock and disappointment. . exactly what she had felt when she saw that C on her placement exam.
Eliot quickly turned to the remaining arches. He then halted and wavered between the last two. He changed his music again: Faster, notes light and springy.
In her mind, she imagined that she’d gotten an A+ on that placement test. Fiona couldn’t help but grin.
She glanced at the others and they smiled, too.
Except Jezebel, whose gaze was firmly locked on Eliot. Jezebel looked softer, almost human as she watched him.
Jezebel then noticed Fiona staring, and her features hardened to alabaster.
Eliot halted.
The rest of the team snapped out of their trance.
“That one.” Eliot pointed to the farthest arch. “That’s the path that leads to the best grade. At least potentially.”
“That was my guess originally,” Jeremy muttered. He strode toward it.
They crowded about the brass plaque on the wall and read:
This was followed by a blank space on the plaque. “Kaleb,” Amanda and Sarah said together.[35] Amanda took a step back, blushing. Sarah touched the name.
The raised brass letters of “Kaleb” sank through the other letters, and settled to the top of the blank space. Sarah then pursed her lips, concentrating, and twined a lock of her red hair as she considered the other names.
“Oh, get on with it,” Jeremy hissed. “It’s Kaleb, Isla Blue, Van Wyck, Scalagari, De Marco, Covington, and then Janis.”
Sarah took a deep breath and held it, as if to keep the words she wanted to say to her older cousin contained. She quickly touched the names in the order Jeremy suggested. They sank and arranged themselves in a list.
As the last one fell into place, there was a
The portcullis noisily ratcheted up.
“Now what?” Robert asked.
“I believe I go through,” Sarah replied.
She sashayed through the arch, but as soon as she crossed the portcullis, it slammed down behind her.
They all jumped.
“Remember Miss Westin said we’d be graded individually?” Mitch whispered. “I think we each have to answer
