“Wes! Are you crazy?” I demanded.
He ignored me, keeping his gaze locked in place over the top of the gun. “You want to try that again, champ?”
Holden shuffled back against the stable door, as far away from Wes as possible. “You won’t shoot me,” he said, his voice quavering.
Wes advanced. Natasha, Henry, and I parted like the Red Sea, too stunned by Wes’s scare tactics to react. He sat down next to Holden, so closely that his shoulder was flush with the younger boy’s, and aimed at Holden’s left foot. “How sure of that are you, Holden?”
Holden shook with terror. “You crazy motherfucker.”
Wes’s grip tightened on the gun, and his finger came to rest on the trigger.
“Fine, fine!” yelled Holden. “There’s almost always a Raptor in the clubhouse now. Ever since Costello broke in, we’ve been on high alert. Usually, one or two Raptors stay overnight to keep watch.”
“And what about Flynn?” asked Wes.
“She’s not in the clubhouse as much as you might think,” said Holden breathily. “She still has to maintain her image for the university. And she’s been busy planning Lauren’s dad’s funeral.”
I swallowed the lump that immediately rose in my throat at this information. “Orson Lockwood is dead?”
“Yeah. Heart attack.”
“Oh, that’s bullshit. We saw the Raptors run him over in one of those massive SUVs.” I said. My heart ached for Lauren. I wonder if she knew the truth. “Where’s Lauren—?”
“We can’t worry about the Lockwoods right now,” interrupted Wes. I glared at him. His single-mindedness was starting to get on my nerves. He tapped Holden’s leg with his Glock. “How do we get in, Holden?”
“Your best bet is to cause a diversion in the library late at night,” growled Holden. He leaned away from Wes, trying to put as much distance between them as possible despite the restraints around his hands and feet. “Something that will force the Raptors out of the clubhouse. Then you can sneak in. I wouldn’t go in through the library though. It’s too obvious.”
“What other options do we have?”
“There are secret passages,” I answered for Holden. “I know of at least one.”
“There are four,” clarified Holden, keeping an eye on Wes’s gun. “One into the clubhouse’s record room, one into the dining room, one in the main hall, and one in the art room. I would recommend the one that leads into the record room since it’s the easiest one to use, but the entrance is in the basement of Lauren’s dormitory. Flynn has Lauren watched around the clock. If you even set foot near her dorm building, they’re sure to spot you.”
“And our other options?” prompted Wes.
“Either the one into the main hall or the one into the art room, though they’re the less pleasant options.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because to get to either one, you have to drop into the sewer system.”
“Ugh,” I said with a grimace. To my right, Natasha wrinkled her nose.
“That might work for us,” said Henry. His brow furrowed, and I could almost see the gears turning in his head as he contemplated strategies. “We could get underground off campus and work our way in.”
“What about the one that leads into the dining room?” asked Wes.
“Good luck with that one,” said Holden. “The entrance is in the same building as the Morrigan’s office. Research Hall.”
“Sewer system it is then,” said Wes. He stood up, his Glock hanging limply in his hand. Holden breathed an audible sigh of relief. “Don’t think you’re off the hook, buddy,” said Wes. “You’re going to help us plan this out step-by-step, and if anything goes wrong, I’m coming back here for your ass.”
“You’re making a mistake,” said Holden. “The Morrigan will kill you if she finds out what you’ve done.”
“Which is why she won’t find out until the police come for her with handcuffs,” replied Wes. He looked up at Henry. “Splitting up might be our best bet. Two and two? Nicole and I can go through one entrance. You and Natasha could go through the other. That way, if one pair gets caught, the other has a fair shot of making it through.”
“I won’t go back to Waverly University,” announced Natasha. We all turned to look at her. She shook her head. “I’m sorry. I can’t. It’s too much for me, and I probably wouldn’t do you much good anyway.”
Henry took his wife around the waist, tugging her close. “In all honesty, I never expected you to go,” he said. “I know how hard this must be for you, dredging up all these memories from the past. You stay here. Keep an eye on Mr. Hastings. Wes and I will go to campus.”
“And me,” I said. When Henry glared at me, I added, “I’m the one who knows the campus and the clubhouse best.”
Wes nodded. “We need Nicole.”
“Fine,” conceded Henry. He led Natasha from the barn, calling over his shoulder. “Let’s get going. We’re doing this tonight.”
Lauren had rarely ever taken a meeting with Catherine Flynn in the actual office that had been assigned to her aunt when Flynn had begun working as the dean of Waverly’s history department. Flynn had always been adamant about keeping society business separate from her position at Waverly, lest the less fortunate of the Waverly faculty catch wind of the Raptors’ existence. Even though Lauren had fully expected to be confronted about the details of Holden’s kidnapping, she had not expected to sit across from her aunt at the large mahogany desk as if she were a student in need of her dean’s assistance.
Outside the triptych of windows behind Flynn’s desk, night had fallen. Waverly University was dark and cold. Though Olivia and Lauren had reported Holden’s kidnapping as soon as they returned to campus, Flynn had not been available to address it until later that evening. According to the other Raptors, Flynn had spent the day planning her brother’s funeral and
