Chapter 15

Madeleine closed her eyes and whispered, “Are you serious?”

Kayley nodded. “Yes, but you don’t have to come!”

“Didn’t we resolve that earlier?” Madeline replied. “We’re in this together.”

The warm feeling Kayley felt earlier flooded back. Yeah. Friends were pretty awesome.

“The stairway to his office is near the nurse’s station,” Kayley said. “If you keep watch at the top of the stairs, I can run down and put the key back where I found it.”

Madeleine nodded, but Kayley could see her face was pale. Time to get this over with.

They tiptoed to the nurse’s station, and Kayley peered down the dark stairs. No TV light came from Bert’s room this time. Kayley’s stomach tied itself in a knot.

Madeleine seemed to sense her unease. “Should I head down with you?”

Kayley shook her head. As much as she wanted Madeline by her side, it was time for her to take responsibility. She started down the lower stairway, aware of every creak.

When she got to the bottom of the stairs, she hesitated. Bert’s office was pitch-black except for the bead of red light from his DVD/VCR player. She squared her shoulders and walked in.

In about a minute’s time, her eyes adjusted and she could make out the outlines of shelves, a desk, a chair. She made her way over to Bert’s desk, ducked down, and tapped her hand along the wall.

She couldn’t feel the little door.

Frantically, she ran her hands all around the wall, squinting to see if she could make out the tiny cabinet door.

There was nothing there.

Then she heard footsteps coming down the hall—and whistling.

Bert was back. Kayley hid in the space under the desk, closing her eyes tightly. It was just a matter of minutes before he caught her.

A light came on in the office, and Kayley shut her eyes tighter. She waited to hear Bert’s voice, yelling at her.

Instead, she heard a whoooooooo-oooo, traveling like a strange wind through the office door. Kayley peeked under the desk and saw Bert’s feet pointed toward the door.

In a shaking voice, Bert said, “Who’s there?”

The whoooooooo-oooo came again. This time Kayley recognized the voice: Madeleine. Her eyes teared up—Madeleine was saving Kayley’s skin. And risking her own.

Bert grabbed something off the desk and said, “Quincy house, you won’t get the best of me!”

His feet disappeared, and Kayley soon heard him running up the stairs. She wished with all her heart that Madeleine had hidden well again.

She turned back to the wall and spotted, in the light, the little outline marking the key’s rightful home. As she crouched down to open the door, Kayley heard something else. The sound started like a whisper and seemed to come along a breeze toward her. A laugh, cold and evil.

Kayley dropped the key on the floor and dashed out of the room. The climb up the stairs to the nurse’s station felt like the longest she’d ever taken. Even the chance of Bert being there didn’t slow her down. As she reached the top, a hand crawled around the corner and grabbed her.

Kayley squealed.

“It’s me,” Madeleine whispered. “Just me!”

Kayley stepped back, her hand on her heart.

“I barely ducked out of the way of Bert. He tore down the hall in the other direction.” Madeleine gave a little smile. “I know why he was freaked out, but what got into you? You know that whoo sound was me, right?”

Kayley shook her head. “No time. Must go now.”

She grabbed Madeleine’s hand and took off down the hallway, occasionally checking back to see that no monsters had followed them.

Kayley ended up sleeping in Ophelia’s room, as did Madeleine, Sophie, and Emma. Kayley was way too freaked to be alone, and because it was Friday, academy rules said the students could have sleepovers. When Madeleine and Kayley had arrived at Ophelia’s, they collapsed and said they’d answer questions in the morning. At breakfast the five girls huddled around the table together.

Madame Puant came into the dining hall just as breakfast started. “I want you to all know that the shoes have been located and are safely back in their case.”

Murmurs broke out among all the students. Sophie, Emma, Ophelia, Madeleine, and Kayley all gave each other knowing looks.

Madame went on. “Because of recent injuries, we are canceling the production of Cinderella, but we’ll begin to prepare for The Nutcracker across the next few weeks.” Kayley could swear Madame looked directly at her. “Make sure you continue to practice and keep in shape until then.”

Madame swept out of the dining hall, and the normal chatter took over the room once again.

Ophelia leaned over the dining table. “So, you put the … uh, things … back. But what happened with the key?”

Kayley could feel her face lose color. “First, Madeleine saved my butt. Bert almost caught me. Second, I know I’m going to sound crazy. And you know me. I don’t believe in this stuff. But when I was trying to put the key back? I heard this laugh. This super-evil laugh.”

The girls looked at each other. Not one of them laughed.

Ophelia sat back in her chair. “There is something very wrong at Dario Quincy Academy,” she said gravely. “We’ve all felt it. And I think it tried to hurt all of us. No matter what happens, no matter who gets what part, or whatever, we all need to stick together. Deal?”

Ophelia met eyes with everyone. They all nodded their heads and joined hands in the middle of the table.

Kayley didn’t even care how weird it must have looked to the other students at breakfast. They had one another and that was all that mattered.