“Okay,” I say, nodding. “Work with her tonight instead of her usual training.”
“I will,” Grace says. “Oh and Nexus wants to see us all. She’s waiting in the gym.”
“Right. Grab the others and I’ll meet you there.”
I head to the bathroom and splash water on my face. I have to stop biting the team’s heads off. They’re only looking out for me and Sailor, and I know Sunday is right when he says I have to tell Sailor what’s at stake here. I tell myself to stop being a dick to everyone, and then I leave the bathroom and head for the gym.
“Ah, nice of you to join us, Rye,” Nexus says as I enter.
It’s so bizarre seeing her in the janitor’s body. I know how much she hates taking over his body and how much she hates being in the school at all, so for her to be here, something big is coming.
“What’s up, Nexus?” I ask.
The door to the gym opens and Nexus begins to hurry away from us.
“There’s no time to explain. You guys can’t get caught here and hauled off to the principal’s office. Come on.”
We follow Nexus across the gym and through the locker rooms. She goes to the far corner and bends down. I frown as she pries up a section of the floor.
“There are tunnels running beneath the school,” she explains.
She disappears into the hatch she opened without any further explanation. I am starting to get pissed off at her secrecy, but the rest of the team seem more excited than angry and I remind myself again that I’m going to stop being a jerk and taking my frustrations over Sailor out on everyone else.
Sunday goes into the hatch next, then Jinx, then Grace and Mel. Ya-Ya hangs back for a moment and sighs.
“It’s going to be dirty down there, isn’t it?”
“Probably, but if I know Nexus, that’ll be the least of our worries,” Aziza says.
Ya-Ya shudders, but she steps into the hatch.
“You go next, Rye, then you, Sailor. I’ll bring up the rear.”
“I don’t need bodyguards on either side of me,” Sailor says, instantly seeing through Aziza’s plan.
“No, you don’t,” Aziza concedes. “But you do need people who might actually know what any creatures that appear are and what they can do. Now those voices are getting closer. Do you want to come on this mission, or do you want to get detention?”
Sailor nods. “Fair point,” she says.
I jump into the hatch, Sailor close behind me and then Aziza. Aziza reaches up and pulls the hatch closed.
“Stay close,” I warn Sailor as I look around.
The tunnel isn’t what I expected. I was expecting a mud floor and bare concrete walls. Instead, I’m greeted with a tiled floor and plastered walls. Electric lights shine above us.
“What the hell is this place, Nexus?” Jinx asks.
“The first few tunnels are officially part of the school. They were used before the two blocks were expanded and joined together. A way for staff to get quickly from one building to the other.”
Nexus leads us quickly down the tunnel and we turn into another one.
“And we’re down here because?” Grace says.
“Because, my little impatient one, once we get out of this tunnel, then we’ll be in a tunnel that’s not on any of the blueprints of the school and is clearly not the same as the others,” Nexus replies.
I feel a surge of anger. Nexus expects so much from us, and yet everything she says is a fucking riddle with no real answers. I open my mouth to demand to know exactly where she’s taking us, but then she turns away abruptly, and we enter a new tunnel. She’s right. This one is very different to the others. It’s all mud, packed solid but still just mud. And the only light comes from torches pushed into the walls at regular intervals. They cast enough light to walk safely, but not really enough to see by, and I am instantly on high alert. There’s something important down here. Something dangerous. I can feel it. The tunnel is so narrow we have to walk in single file and I can still feel my arms brushing the walls as I walk.
“Be quiet, listen, and stay alert,” Nexus orders.
We walk for another couple minutes, following Nexus through various twists and turns. Suddenly, she stops walking and I almost collide with Ya-Ya. Before she can say anything, a scream goes up from behind me.
“Aziza,” I gasp, spinning around.
It’s so dark here I can barely work out what I’m seeing. Some large creature is on top of Aziza. All I can see of it is black fur, but I’d bet my last dollar it’s a wolf. I can hear growling, snarling, and Aziza’s screams as the thing tears lumps off her. It’s going to kill her and there’s nothing any of us can do. The tunnel is narrow, and if anyone attempts to use their powers, we could all be fried.
I pull out a dagger and go to move past Sailor, but she beats me to it. With an angry roar, she launches herself at the wolf. As she flies through the air, horror fills me. I can see the thing properly now without her blocking my view, and it’s no ordinary wolf. It’s a Voke Wolf, a fearsome hell creature. Its claws are loaded with venom that will eat a person from the inside out. Its blood is acid, strong enough to melt down to the bone in seconds if a person comes in contact with it.
Sailor lands on the Voke Wolf’s back and grabs its ears in her hands. She screams with effort as she pulls at the ears, trying to distract it from Aziza. Aziza is still screaming as the venom takes effect. If Mel or I can’t get to her and heal her in the next few minutes, she’ll be dead.
Sailor releases one of the Voke Wolf’s ears and
