Chapter 8
How long had it been since she had visited the entrance of the Tunnels? thought Ms Halford. So many of her students over the years had eventually decided, against her advice, to go down to that place; many without even first trying to remain among the living. Every time another student of hers took this path, she considered it to be partly as a result of a failing on her own part to sufficiently make it clear that even if there may have been no hope out in the world, the meagre existence that could be pieced together out there was a damn sight better than what waited for them under the earth. It was also always apparent to her that most who came to the school would rarely come into contact with anyone with any true experience of the Tunnels; except that is, for her. This meant that her almost unique position - as not only someone who had seen that dreaded place with her own eyes, but also as a teacher with a duty of care - placed an even greater duty on her to persuade those she could to avoid burying themselves away from the rest of the world. All of this meant that as the years passed by, she found it more and more difficult to watch as student after student made their way into the inconsequential looking farmhouse not far from the school that happened to be an entrance to the underground network. Indeed, due to the forlorn shadows of former students that seemed to rise up before her - each a testament to all that she had done wrong in her life since returning to the school - it took all of her will, the sufferance of much pain and the insistence of Adam to enable her to be there. But she was at the site once more, and why else but to see one more student make the journey down below, most likely never to return.
She felt the presence of Adam’s hand reaching through her own. Usually, she would consider such an action to be quite improper, not least because it was an invasion of her space that she could do nothing to defend herself against. But not on this occasion. Since Brenden had run away, their relationship had changed. Adam too had gone through a transformation. While it was not the case that he had given up on his conviction that it was best for the undead to make a world for themselves away from the living, something had shifted in the way he attempted to convince others that this was the right path. Perhaps through the guilt she had suffered that night, he had come to see the power of his influence and his own culpability. Perhaps it was something else, all she knew was that the fervour Adam had possessed to convince his students to leave for the Tunnels had been diluted with a measure of caution. She knew all this as well because Adam now occasionally sent students to her to discuss the benefits of staying in the world. This change, and the way in which she felt Adam had comforted her, had helped reassure her that she was not the one who had driven the boy to run away; had enabled her to feel that she could stay on at the school and, perhaps, what was more important, made her feel as if she now had a friend.
“Is he already here?” she asked Adam, who had arrived at the farm long before her. Indeed, she had only been dropped off by Freddie some twenty minutes before.
“I believe that deputy Chester will be bringing him along in a little while.”
“The boy’s only been at the school a year. Is there no chance…” Ms Halford stopped herself. Since she had formed a closer bond with her fellow teacher, Ms Halford had hardly discussed the issue that used to keep her at odds with Adam. Though the question of whether their students should return to the outside world or retreat to the Tunnels frequently threatened to force its way into their conversations, both teachers did their best to avoid addressing the topic in each other’s company; they already knew where they stood on the issue.
“The deputy informed me he could not be swayed,” said Adam. “Indeed, our boy had wanted to go down along with the O’Hares 12 months ago. Brenden took some persuading just to stay on at the school this long.”
“He’s still just a boy, how can he really choose?”
The two teachers continued to stand alongside each other in silence as the twilight of the evening gradually started to fade. Just as the final natural light of the day melted away, it was replaced by illumination emanating from a pair of car headlights, which suggested that someone was approaching on the pothole-covered, unsurfaced road that wound its way up to the farm. When the vehicle finally came to a stop a little distance away from the two teachers, Adam and Ms Halford were a little surprised to see that it was not the school’s mini-bus, but something much smaller. The noise of the engine died at the same time as the car’s lights and it was only when the mystery driver turned on the LED of her phone that the two realised who was standing before them.
“Amanda?” said Adam with evident surprise in his voice.
The young vampire left her car behind and warmly greeted the two waiting teachers who she had not seen since the sentencing of the O’Hare’s a year before.
“Has Brenden already left?”
“No, he should be along with the deputy presently,” replied Ms Halford. “Well, this is a pleasant surprise. Have you come to see the boy off?”
“Yes, I thought it’d be only right to say goodbye. If it wasn’t for him, I think
