WHAT WAS scariest was that I couldn’t see. It felt like forever. I tried to scream or cry or make some noise but they blasted some music so it drowned me out. They picked me up and carried me to a car or van or something. One of the people chained me to something else and then put something on my wrists and my neck. It felt thick, tight, and heavy. We drove and drove and drove. We hit a bump and I fell into something soft, person-shaped.

“Johnny?”

“Hi, Sarah,” he said.

“Can you move?”

“A little,” he said. “I was able to loosen the cuffs with some alcohol.”

“Can you help me out?”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

I felt his hands move jerkily on my wrists. There was a slight searing sensation around the cuffs. Some tension released in my body. I was able to move slightly. With my shoulder, I jerked the bag on my head up and wriggled so that it fell off.

“Nice moves, Houdini,” Johnny said. His bag lay on the floor next to him.“Thanks. What’s happening here? I’m scared.”

“They’re driving us somewhere. And considering they accused me, and I’m guessing you, of being a terrorist, I’m guessing it ain’t good. Based on the direction of the wind, and the length of the drive, I would say a maximum security prison for supervillains,” he said. “Also, that,” he added, gesturing toward the small rectangular window in the side of the van.

Outside the window, I saw the Miskatonic running alongside the road and flow into a large lake. An eight-foot high razor-wire fence surrounded the lake. Behind the fence there was an even taller concrete fence topped with laser gun-turrets, and behind the concrete was a translucent red force field that formed an enormous dome around the lake. The road led to a gate with a guard bunker. There were at least ten guards in black uniforms and balaklavas standing outside the bunker with large laser rifles.

We stopped at the bunker and one of the drivers got out. The back door started to open and I slipped the bag back over my head. Someone shone a flashlight around the van and said, “Yup, all here.” He slammed the door shut and shouted, “Good to go,” to the front of the car.

I slipped the bag off again and watched as a gate swung open in the chain link fence and a small opening, the exact size of the van, materialized in the concrete wall. We slipped through it and then passed through the red force-field. When the gate shut behind us with a thundering BAM! I caught a glimpse of what all the fences and gun and guards were protecting. An enormous granite pillar stood in the middle of the lake, taller than any building I’d ever seen, taller even then the cliffs the Academy were built on. It was perfectly cylindrical, and midnight black with flecks of silver and gold. A huge, rectangular, white concrete building crowned the pillar like wedding cake toppers. Barred porthole windows ran up the sides in long lines. I put the bag back on my head. We were totally screwed.

It was the Luther. And we were its newest guests.