Chapter 19

 

West Tower

 

Olivia trudges back along the corridor toward the basement storeroom. Her knee aches and her left leg drags with each step.

It isn’t fair.

She used to be one of the fastest runners in the school. She could beat most of the boys at basketball and she could do flips on the balance beam in gymnastics that none of the other girls would even try.

Now she has trouble walking.

The doctors haven’t told her anything but she had not missed her mum’s red eyes and forced smile after the specialist had spoken to her and Dad. The doctor is worried, Mum and Dad are worried and the nurse in the old fashioned uniform had been worried enough to give her the newspaper clipping.

That article showed Olivia just how bad her condition could really be.

She remembered the nurse’s irritated voice, ‘Doctors.’ Her disapproval had been plain. ‘They shouldn’t hide the facts from their patients. Even young ones like you.’

Olivia hopes the nurse was wrong.

What is she going to tell Yip about the key? He is going to be so disappointed. She thinks about their last conversation and frowns in annoyance.

‘It would be in the key cupboard in the office with all the other keys I expect,’ he had said. His condescending tone had annoyed her at the time. It annoys her even more now. She could have been in all sorts of trouble if she’d been caught.

Just proves how much you know, Yip, she thinks.

How much I know about what?

The key wasn’t in the key cupboard like you said it would be, she snaps; her irritation clear.

Well maybe someone borrowed it, he snaps right back.

Well whoever borrowed it didn’t sign it out.

Oh, Yip says. And why would they borrow the key if they weren’t coming here to the storeroom?

Olivia thinks about that for a moment. Maybe, whoever locked you in there wanted to make sure you didn’t get out. If only she can work out who took the key.

I don’t think they were worried about that.

Why not? Olivia asks.

It doesn’t matter, Yip replies quietly. Is there any way you can force the door open?

Olivia is exasperated. I’m a skinny twelve-year-old-girl and besides, I had a flaming gargoyle fall on me three days ago.

It wasn’t on fire. Yips tone is bewildered.

What?

I was there and it wasn’t on fire, Yip repeats.

“Well it still hurt.” Olivia actually shouts that out loud.

A group of kids give her an odd look.

She sits down on the top step leading down to the basement storeroom and tries to think.

Who locked you in there anyway? Olivia asks.

I don’t really know, Yip replies. I was blind at the time.

You’re blind?

I hope not, Yip says.

But you said—

It’s temporary. Well I hope it’s temporary, he adds. I heard Brother Westerman arguing with the people that put me in here.

He saw them and didn’t do anything about it? Olivia is incredulous. He didn’t try to let you out, or call the police or something?

It’s a bit complicated, Yip says.

What’s he got to do with it anyway? she asks.

That’s even more complicated.

“Wait!” she exclaims out loud.

Ah, not going anywhere. Locked in a storeroom remember? Yip’s thought stings her mind like a whip.

She ignores him. There is something about Brother Westerman. He had been acting strange at recess—even strange for him. She can see him clearly in her mind, wandering about, muttering and…

…And jingling a set of keys in his coat pocket.

Could Brother Westerman have the keys? she asks.

There is no answer for a moment. That’s it, Yip shouts. He’s the only one who knows how important we are.

We?

Complicated, Yip dismisses the question. He wouldn’t sign the key out if he was trying keep anyone from getting in here and disposing of us. That has to be it.

OK, but how does that help?

Brother Westerman is ninety-two years old, Yip says. He’s been taking an afternoon nap for years now.

Oh, no. Olivia can see where this is going.

You have to sneak into the West Tower and find the key, Yip says.

Absolutely not!

It’s the only way.

Brother Westerman hates me, she states coldly.

He’s a priest. He’s not allowed to hate people.

Well he does a good impression of hating me. He calls me an abomination.

That’s just because you’re a girl.

What’s he got against girls?

Priest!

What?

The priests here are not allowed to like girls, Yip tries to explain. I’ve never understood it myself, but I think that’s how it works.

That is ridiculous.

I know, Yip admits. I think girls frighten him.

That is even more ridiculous. Olivia sighs. You know if I get caught, I’ll be in big trouble.

Good girl, Yip encourages.

That’s not what they’ll say when they are shoving me in the back of a police truck.

Well you’d better not get caught then. There is a hint of amusement in Yip’s tone that softens the harshness of the words.

Olivia can’t go back past administration and the principal’s office to get to the West Tower stairway. She will have to take the East Wing stairs and pick her way through the boy’s dormitory rooms on the first floor. That whole area is out of bounds during school time for everyone and it’s out of bounds to girls all the time. Olivia has no idea why she has agreed to this crazy plan.

She makes her way to the end of the East Wing and ducks into the stairwell. The climb to the first floor makes her knee ache even more. She peeks into the corridor.

Olivia has never been in this part of the school before. The Townies, as the boarders call them, also aren’t allowed on the dormitory floors. The first two rooms along the corridor are teacher apartments. Both of those doors are closed. The door to the next room is ajar and Olivia peeks inside.

There are two sets of bunk beds and a desk along the wall under a tall narrow window. There are posters pinned to the wall and the lower bunk bed on the right has a teddy bear partially hidden under the pillow.

Olivia moves on past more sets of doors. As she turns the corner into the North Wing of the building she sees two large common rooms with comfortable chairs and a large television mounted on the wall. The shower rooms, kitchen and dining room are also in that wing.

So far, so good. She turns the corner and sees the stairwell that leads up to the West Tower rooms, way down the far end. Olivia hurries forward. She wants to find Brother Westerman’s room and the storeroom key before the bell rings for the end of lunch. If she isn’t back by then, someone might come looking for her. They wouldn’t find her in the sick bay and the office ladies would confirm that she hadn’t been picked up and taken home.

Even if they don’t find her sneaking around in the out of bounds parts of the school, she will still be in trouble for skipping class.

Olivia winds her way upstairs past the second floor landing and up into the West Tower.