It’s oddly quiet in these dark hallways, and I’m beginning to think the place is completely deserted. I peek into dark doorways and classrooms. I hope something will speak to me. I’m about to give up when I come upon the sound of laughter and giggling. It’s so refreshing. I open the door a crack. I spy Jenni in the middle of a bunch of girls! She’s laughing and talking. I try to get her attention. “Pssst!”
Her head jerks up, and she spies me in the doorway. She goes back to what she was doing as if she didn’t see me! “Pssst!” She looks over at me again. I gesture wildly to her. She jumps up and rushes to my side. I grab her hand and pull her into a different room. “Jenni.” I lean in to hug her. She’s as stiff as a board. “Hi.”
She looks back at me with no recognition in her face. “Hi.”
“What have you been doing? I’m so glad you’re okay.”
She blinks a few times. “Right as rain.”
Something’s off. “Have you seen Austin?”
“Austin?”
“Yeah. Have you seen him?”
She gets a faraway look in her eye. “I don’t know who that is.”
I want to shake her. “Jenni. It’s me, Amy. Look at me.”
Her eyes roam over my face, and alarms go off as she starts shouting. “Intruder! Intruder!”
I clamp a hand over her mouth. “Stop it, Jenni. Stop yelling!”
I release my hand, and her lips tremble. “I must get back to the children.” Her voice quivers. I stare at her again. What has happened? What did they give her?
I stare at her and try to think straight through my terror. “What is your name?”
She opens her mouth to speak, and then closes it again. She shakes her head back and forth furiously. “I don’t know.”
I try again. “Where are you?”
She shakes her head even harder. “I don’t know! I don’t know!”
I don’t know what to do, but I can’t be discovered, not with her, and not like this. I’ll be the next one. I yank Jenni back into the hallway and shove her in the room with the children. She stands in the middle of them, screaming. “I don’t know! I don’t know!”
I run away, terrified. I hear people coming. I duck inside a door. I hold it open a crack. I’m frozen with fear when I see three women rush her. They take Jenni to the ground. I bite my knuckle as I watch her thrash around. She screams and hollers before a hand holding a needle flies into the air. They bring it down and jab her in the butt. Jenni’s cries turn into muffled sobs. Her fingers are in her mouth. She stares blankly out into nothing.
Time slips away from me, and I feel powerless to stop it. I must find a way out before it’s too late to rescue Jenni. What did they do to her in such a short time? Will I be next? I close the door and sink down the wall. I whimper into my hand to keep from crying out.
I go to open the door again, but there’s a bumping noise in the closet. I don’t know how much more excitement I can handle right now. I tiptoe over. I try to see through the bumpy tinted glass, but it’s impossible. I open the door a crack. I hug the wall so I can peek around. It’s Austin and Simon! They’re all tied up I reach down and pull the gag from Austin’s mouth just slightly. Whoever put it there, tied it tight.
“Get the scissors and get us out of here.”
Gladly. I can’t go far without Austin. I stand up. I spy a pair on the highest shelf. I stand on tippy toe to get them. Quickly, I cut through their bindings. Austin stands up. He rubs his wrists and ankles vigorously. Simon does the same. I try a bit of humor, because I need it. “Simon, who’s winning?”
He glances up at me like I’m crazy. “Not me.”
I give him a wink. “Well, the game’s not over yet.”
Austin takes me by the elbow. “Let’s get out of here.” He turns to little Simon and grabs him by the shoulder. “Do you have anything on you that makes you easy to find?”
Simon’s hand flies to his necklace that has a stone in the middle. “This. It’s my lucky stone. My dad says as long as I wear it, he’ll always know where I am.”
Austin whips out the scissors and cuts it off his neck. “Simon. For right now, we have to leave it here, okay? You can come back for it later. But if you don’t take it off, you’ll never win the game.”
Simon looks at it, his face full of worry. “Okay, Austin, if you say so.”
Austin looks relieved. “Thank you, Simon, for understanding. I really want to win this game.” Austin turns back to me. “Let’s go get Jenni.”
I look at him like he’s lost his mind. “Didn’t you hear her, Austin? She was just in here with me. They’ve done something to her. She’s not right in the head. We can’t get her now. She’ll blow our cover.”
He frowns at me. “Are you sure?”
I grab his arm. “Austin. They took her to the ground like she was an animal. They tranquilized her with a shot to the butt because she wouldn’t stop screaming. She’s probably unconscious by now.” I swallow hard and blink back tears. “I saw her with my own eyes.”
He stares at me. “Fine. But we can’t leave here without her.”
Simon stares at the both of us. “Leave here? You said nothing about leaving, Austin. You lied to me!”
Austin turns on him. “Fine, you caught me, Simon. I lied a little.” I stare hard at Austin. He stomps his foot. “Okay, maybe a lot.” Simon starts to walk away.
I grab his arm. “Simon, stop. Austin knows what he’s doing.” I look over at Austin. “I trust him with my life.” Something passes between Austin and me. I shake it off. I dart my eyes toward Simon.
Austin breaks our intense gaze. He leans down to Simon’s level. “Simon, there are men in here pretending to be your father’s friends, and Hank’s friends, but they’re not. They want to hurt your father and Hank, because they want to be the next leaders. As long as you’re in here, you will be in danger too, because you are the son of a leader too.”
Simon doesn’t look so sure.
I give it my best shot. “Simon. I don’t want Hank to get hurt. He’s my friend and I care about him. Do you understand?”
He smiles at me. “You love my brother, and you don’t want him to be killed.”
Sure, why not. “Yes. I don’t want Hank to die.”
Austin looks at Simon again. “When this is all over, Simon, if you play your cards right, you could be the new ruler here, as long as you don’t have sex. Once you have sex with a girl, you don’t hold the power anymore.”
Simon wrinkles his nose. “Gross. Stop talking about sex. I don’t want that. I just want to be King.”
Austin holds out a fist. “Then let’s go save the throne.”
Simon fist bumps Austin, and they make an explosion sound. “To the throne.”
I look back at Austin. “Who put you in the closet?”
Austin looks sheepish. “Hank.”
I’m thoroughly confused. “What?”
He sighs. “He said it was for my own good, because T.J. and the gang were coming for me, and he was trying to hide me because you’d never forgive him if something happened to me.”
My face goes red at his words. “It seems Hank’s overpowering everyone these days.”
Austin turns to me. “What’d he do to you?”
I blush again. “Let’s just say I don’t remember falling asleep last night, and I woke up with nothing to wear.”
He looks me up and down, now that we’re in the light. “That’s why you’re wearing his shirt and boxers? He took your clothes?”
I nod my head. “Yep. Woke up in my birthday suit. Alone. It was not pleasant.”
Austin’s fists are clenched. “I’m going to kill him.”
I grab his arm. “Nothing happened. Hank thought if I thought something happened, I would choose to stay with him.” Austin doesn’t look convinced. I pinch him hard. “Nothing happened.”