Nicole was quiet for a moment, and they all listened to the soft patterns of their hands against the tunnel floor as they moved forward. Then Nicole said, “I can’t lose him.”
“I know,” said Lauren. “Believe me, I know. But don’t panic just yet. Let’s get out of here first. Then we can go find Wes.”
They reached a quandary at the narrowest part of the tunnel, where Henry’s belly couldn’t pass through. Olivia ventured to the basement and returned with a crowbar. As she hammered at the walls, widening the gap little by little, it hit Lauren again that she had no idea who Olivia really was. Olivia, however, didn’t give her much time to ponder it. With one last blow, she obliterated enough rock for Henry to squeeze through. They were home free after that, arriving tired and sweaty in the basement of Research Hall.
Before Lauren could even stretch out her aching limbs, her cell phone chimed. Across the room, so did Olivia’s. They glanced at each other then checked their messages.
“What is it?” asked Nicole.
“We’ve been summoned,” replied Lauren, wrinkling her nose at her aunt’s familiar phone number. “The Raptors are meeting off campus in the morning. My aunt must be worried. This is the second full meeting in a week. I would assume it’s to discuss how to progress after what is sure to be considered the worst blow in Raptor history.”
“Are you going to go?” questioned Henry. He reached up, his fingers grazing the low ceiling of the basement as he stretched, then bent over and touched his toes.
“We have to,” answered Olivia. “It will be suspicious if we don’t show up.”
“Well, I’m afraid we can’t stick around to see what happens,” Nicole said. She planted her hands on her hips, looking around the basement for an exit route. “I hate to be so persistent, but there’s still a chance that Wes is buried beneath a pile of rubble. And we have to get the charter back to the farmhouse before anyone realizes it’s missing. Did you two come in through that window?”
Nicole found an empty crate, stacked it against the wall, and hopped up to the basement window. When Lauren followed her out, Nicole was halfway across a nearby parking lot, jogging steadily toward the edge of campus. Lauren sighed. As if she hadn’t run enough already for the evening.
“Where are you going?” she asked, catching up with Nicole.
“Back into the sewer, if I have to,” puffed Nicole. She had already slowed down quite a bit. Unlike Lauren and Olivia, she’d spent more of her time at Waverly in the library rather than performing on a sports team.
“I’m going with you,” declared Lauren, though she shuddered at the thought. “I owe you, Nicole.”
“You don’t owe me anything, but I’ll take all the help I can get. If Wes—”
“If I what?” called another voice.
Nicole screeched to a halt as Wes materialized from the shadows, covered head to toe in black ash but grinning from ear to ear. They ran to each other, and Wes swept Nicole up in a giant bear hug.
“Must be nice,” muttered Olivia in Lauren’s ear as they watched the heartfelt reunion. Lauren nodded in agreement.
“What happened to you?” Nicole asked Wes, wiping ash from his face with the sleeve of her shirt. “Why didn’t you answer my texts after we got separated?”
“Lost my phone.” He brushed Nicole’s hair away from her face and planted a kiss on her forehead. “There was a lot of damage on my side. I couldn’t get back to the sewers. The only way out was up.”
“Through the library?” Lauren asked incredulously.
Wes gave an exhausted nod, still holding Nicole close. “In all honesty, I wasn’t sure I was going to make it. The fire was still going strong. This definitely wasn’t an accident. Someone planted a bomb.”
“The questions is who,” pondered Henry. He massaged an eyelid with the pad of his finger, working dust away from it. “I think we can safely rule out the Raptors. Why would they destroy their own clubhouse?”
“Maybe a third party?” suggested Olivia. “BRS has pissed off quite a few people, including a few of their own kind. It wouldn’t surprise me if someone finally got sick of being taken advantage of.”
“Did you get the charter?” asked Wes.
“Sure did,” said Lauren. She shucked the backpack off her shoulders and handed it to Nicole.
The conversation reached an abrupt halt when a group of students passed by, on their way home from the accident at the library. Henry pushed Wes and Nicole into the shadow of the trees, out of sight. At the same time, Olivia pulled Lauren into a tight hug as though she were consoling her. When the students had cleared out, Henry cleared his throat.
“We need to get out of here,” he said. “Olivia, make sure you get to that meeting. I still want eyes and ears on everything the Raptors do or say. Lauren, you too. You’re in this now. Whatever the two of you do, you can’t let Flynn know that you’re working with us.”
“What are you going to do?” asked Olivia.
“I need to contact the agency,” replied Henry. “The charter should allow us to finally bag the Black Raptor Society. At the very least, we can legally investigate Catherine Flynn.”
“Is this it?” asked Lauren, looking around at the group. “Do we actually have a shot at taking down the Raptors?”
“Don’t jinx it,” muttered Nicole.
“We’ve still got a long way to go,” agreed Wes.
For a long moment, the five of them stood in resolute silence, considering their next steps. As they traded long looks with one another, a weight settled in the middle of their circle. It was an obligation to continue forward, and with five people on their team instead of just one, Lauren felt infinitely more confident about the possible outcomes.
“Let’s head out,” said Henry.
The ride back out to the farmhouse was less tense than the one
