Olivia ushered her along from behind, keeping close to the wall of Research Hall. “Move, move, move. Oh, this is bad. This was not part of the plan.”
“What plan? Oh, my God.”
They had rounded the corner of Research Hall where the Waverly library came into full view. It was catastrophic. The building was already in ruins, blackened by the fire that raged on at its center. The air was rent with the worry and panic of students and faculty alike. A few more people emerged from the mouth of the burning library, coughing and sputtering as they ran into the arms of nearby friends and collapsed with relief. In the distance, the haunting dissonance of several emergency vehicle sirens began, growing louder with every passing second.
Lauren stopped dead in her tracks at the sight, staring open-mouthed at the wreckage.
Olivia nudged her from behind. “We have to keep moving,” she said. It sounded like an order, despite the gentle way Olivia slipped her hand into Lauren’s in order to tug her along.
Hesitantly, Lauren resumed her pace and let Olivia lead her around the edge of the quadrangle to the next building over. They kept to the shadows, avoiding the bright lamps that kept Waverly lit at night, but there was no way to evade the broiling glow of the library. The heat of it warmed Lauren even in the frigid night, so much so that she could feel sweat beading on her forehead. She dislodged her damp hand from Olivia’s, wiping it on her jeans, but Olivia moved closer, keeping Lauren between her own body and the wall of the classroom building. Lauren’s shoulder rasped against the rough bricks.
“Okay, Ollie? I know you’re taking my aunt’s orders to keep watch over me pretty seriously, but don’t you think this is a little much?” asked Lauren. Despite being pressed to a building, she was unable to rip her gaze away from the chaos of the library.
“My job is to protect you, Lauren,” answered Olivia. She glanced left and right, methodically scanning the area before maneuvering Lauren between the buildings. “Right now, we need to get you back to your dorm room. If any of the Raptors see us, we could screw up the entire plan.”
“What plan?” repeated Lauren. She took hold of Olivia’s jacket, keeping her from slipping away.
“We don’t have time for an explanation.”
“I’m not moving until you tell me what’s going on,” declared Lauren. Her grip tightened on the other girl’s jacket. “Did someone blow up the library on purpose?”
Olivia’s face hardened, and she turned away from Lauren to hide her expression.
“Oh, my God,” said Lauren. She released Olivia’s jacket, stunned by a sudden realization. “It was you, wasn’t it?”
“What?”
“Did you blow up the library?”
“No!” said Olivia quickly. “God, Lauren. I wouldn’t do that, especially if there were still people inside.”
“Then what the hell, Ollie?” demanded Lauren. “You were the first one to report the alarm to Flynn. Not to mention, how do you explain looking like you’d just run a damn marathon if you weren’t sprinting to the library and back?”
Olivia gave an exasperated sigh. She glanced nervously around before she made eye contact with Lauren again. For a moment, she seemed to be considering if she could bodily remove Lauren from the premises, but Lauren crossed her arms and fixed Olivia with a penetrating stare.
“Look, I did pull the fire alarm, okay?” admitted Olivia, tossing her arms up in defeat. “But I had nothing to do with the explosion.”
“Why would you pull the alarm in the first place? Why would you need a distraction like that? Who bombed the library, Ollie?”
“I don’t know!” shouted Olivia. Once more, she checked her surroundings, but in light of the emergency, no one paid them any mind. Olivia lowered her voice. “Like I said, the explosion wasn’t part of the plan.”
“What—”
“What plan?” finished Olivia. She took Lauren by the arm. This time, Lauren allowed her to steer her onward. “Yeah, I heard you the first few times. But here’s the thing. You’re not supposed to know about this. Any of this. In fact, when I first met you, I guessed that, out of all the Raptors, you were the one most likely to figure it out. You’re too inquisitive for your own good.”
“Clearly I’m not, because I have no idea what you’re prattling on about.”
They cleared the quad, the noise at the library finally starting to fade as Olivia chaperoned Lauren across the vast lawn between the classroom buildings and the dormitories. Before Olivia could continue her explanation, her phone let out two short beeps. She glanced at the screen and stopped short.
“Shit. Shit.”
“What is it?” asked Lauren, peeking over Olivia’s shoulder in an attempt to get a look at the text message.
“We have to get back to Research Hall,” said Olivia. She executed an abrupt about-face turn, broke into a run, and headed back in the direction they had come from.
For a moment, Lauren considered letting Olivia go. She was alone and unsupervised. The Raptors would have a hard time figuring out what happened to her what with the on-campus calamity. It would be easy to disappear into the night. She hesitated, glancing over her shoulder toward the city lights beyond the Waverly campus. Then she looked back at Olivia’s receding figure. Olivia was right. Lauren was too inquisitive, and just as it always had, her curiosity got the best of her. With a wistful sigh, she sprinted after Olivia.
When Lauren caught up to the other girl, Olivia handed her phone to Lauren. “You wanted to know why I pulled the fire alarm,” she said. It was a testament to her athleticism that her voice remained smooth, even as the pair sprinted across the university grounds. “That’s why.”
Lauren looked at the phone screen. It displayed a text from an unknown number:
Stuck in headquarters. SOS.
“Who is this?” asked Lauren. She returned to the phone’s home screen, only to discover that there were no personal details to identify it as Olivia’s.
