“Fire?” Meghan echoed, trying hard to sound dumb.
“Come with me!”
Meghan knew she had been caught, and she wasn’t going down without yelling a few more things. “FIRE! EVERYONE RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!”
Ms. Ratter dragged Meghan away as fast as possible.
Charlotte tried to follow them, but she lost track of where they went as a chain of screaming girls ran through the hall and cut her off.
“All students to their dorms immediately,” a voice over the loudspeaker ordered. “Immediately! To your dorms!”
This is very bad, Charlotte thought.
Meghan had been caught, and Witherwood was in turmoil.
CHAPTER 25
OPEN, HICKORY
“There, there” is a really nice thing to say when someone is hurting. Try it out. If a friend loses the remote, or drops something precious down a deep hole, pat them on the shoulder and say it. It’s also useful to say if you’re pointing to a building you don’t know the name of, or if a bank robber is running down the street and you need to alert the authorities to where they are.
There, there!
It would have been nice if someone could have put a hand on Tobias’s shoulder and said “there, there,” but no one did. Instead, Fiddle pushed him and said, “You’re probably in big trouble.”
The two of them were near the back of Witherwood, hidden in the trees and watching all the orderlies and staff streaming out of the school with buckets of water and wild expressions. They were running to the bonfire barn, which was burning like … well, a bonfire. The fire was intense and causing Tobias to worry about it spreading to the trees.
“If the trees catch fire, it could work its way to the school.”
“Yep,” Fiddle said.
“That’s bad,” Tobias reminded him. “Really bad.”
From where they were, they could see the top of the fire and feel waves of heat. Smoke rose from the blaze like a dirty twister, sending ribbons of gray throughout the air.
“We’ve got to make it into the school and help students out the front,” Tobias said. “This could turn into a good thing if everyone gets out okay.”
Falling embers ignited a tree that was on the edge of the clearing. The tree began to burn. Flame from the tree hopped to another tree and then to another. A small chain of trees leading to the school lit up one after the other as if the fire were hopscotching its way to the back of Witherwood. Orderlies were hurling buckets of water at the trees, trying desperately to stop the flames from spreading.
A cedar tree burst into flame fifty feet from where Tobias and Fiddle were hiding. It crackled and popped, sending new embers up into the sky and drifting down toward the back wall of Witherwood.
“It’s going to catch the school on fire!” Tobias yelled.
As he said it, a hairy shadow shot out of the trees and snapped the ember up into its mouth. Half a second later, the animal was gone.
“They’re protecting the school,” Fiddle said needlessly. “That’s what they do.”
Another ember drifted near, and once again, a Protector swooped in and snuffed it out. Three orderlies with a long hose were drenching the tree closest to the school with water.
“How do we get inside?!” Tobias asked Fiddle.
Fiddle ran farther into the trees along the side of Severe Hall with Tobias following behind him.
“There!” Fiddle yelled, pointing.
Tobias looked but couldn’t tell what he was pointing at.
“That’s where I broke my wrist when I was a little kid.”
“We don’t have time for reminiscing, Fiddle!”
“Right. Over here!”
Fiddle ran through a dozen more trees and stopped directly in front of one of the biggest on the mesa. It had a thick bark trunk and high branches covered with leaves that hung limply from every limb.
“This is the tree,” Fiddle declared.
“What tree?” Tobias asked. “Is this where you stubbed your first toe? We’re supposed to be going into Witherwood.”
“You like to worry, don’t you?”
“I like to live,” Tobias retorted. “How do we get in?!”
Fiddle walked around the tree twice, staring at the trunk. He put his hands on the bark, feeling around for something.
“What…?”
Fiddle’s fingers found what they were looking for. Digging into the crevices of the bark, he pulled and two large sections opened up like tall doors. Behind the bark, there was a very compact spiral staircase winding down through the roots of the tree.
“Wow,” Tobias said.
“I hope I fit. I don’t remember it being so tight.”
“When did you last use this?”
“I think I was around seven.”
“Where does it lead?”
“It goes a couple of places under the school. I just can’t remember where.”
“Why didn’t we use this last time we came here?” Tobias said with frustration. “Or I could have used it today.”
“I didn’t know you wanted to. You seemed really excited to climb out the window.”
Tobias stepped into the tree. The spiral stairs were narrow, but he was easily able to slip down them. Fiddle was a little bulkier, so his shoulders barely made it into the trunk. The stairs descended twenty steps and ended. Tobias pulled out his matches and struck one to see where he was. The light let him see that he was standing in a small cement room with an open tunnel that led south beneath Witherwood.
A draft of wind shot in from the tunnel and rattled up the spiral staircase, blowing out the match. Tobias struck another one.
“It’s weird how dark some places are,” Fiddle observed.
“Right,” Tobias said. “It really is surprising to discover that it’s dark underground.”
“Exactly.”
Tobias walked cautiously into the tunnel. His steps were slow and short, but in less than twenty of them, he reached a wall and the tunnel ran off in both directions. He thought about asking Fiddle which way they should go, but he knew the answer would only complicate things.
Tobias went left.
His match went out and he stopped to light another one.
“Why did you go this way?” Fiddle asked.
“I don’t know,” Tobias said, pulling the matches from his pocket. “Left felt right.”
“Weird. I’ve always thought right felt right.”
Tobias dropped the matches and swore. It was a mild swearword. The kind of word that matched the mood of being in a dark tunnel while trying to save others and you accidentally drop your only source of light. Tobias went to his knees and felt around for the matches.
“What are all these tunnels for anyway?” he asked. “It seems like there might be more hidden behind the walls and floors of Witherwood than out in the open.”
Fiddle dropped and helped him feel around.
“My uncle said that his father had a passion for secrets and that hidden tunnels and doors are necessary for certain secrets to flourish.”
“Witherwood is baffling on so many levels,” Tobias said. “I can’t wait to tell people about it.”
“It is remarkable,” Fiddle agreed.
“Found them.” Tobias grabbed the matches and stood up. His arms brushed against Fiddle as he did so. “Sorry.”
“For what?” Fiddle asked, his voice coming from the opposite direction.
Tobias’s heart did flips. He stepped backward and away from whatever had just brushed up against him. He nervously fiddled with the matches, trying to pull one out and strike it.
“What’s happening?” Fiddle asked as Tobias pushed up against him.
Tobias struck a match.
There, staring at him, was a small animal. Its body was round and about the size of an overinflated beach ball. It was covered in feathers and standing on two legs that appeared to be made from fleshy springs. It had a small beak on its round orange-sized head. The animal squawked
softly.
“What is it?” Tobias asked.
“They’re Whimms. They get in the tunnels sometimes,” Fiddle answered. “I bet the fire’s driving some down here.”
“Is it harmful?”
“Not by itself,” Fiddle said. “They don’t attack unless they’re clustered. My uncle Marvin has one he keeps on his shoulder as a pet.”
“Capricious.”
“Gesundheit,” Fiddle said.
“That’s what Lars must be.”
“Lars?”
“Charlotte made friends with one. She named it Lars. It’s weird because none of the animals up here seem to smell.”
“They do at times,” Fiddle said. “It used to be my job to clean up after one.”
The Whimm in the tunnel squawked.
“So it won’t hurt us?” Tobias asked, slowly backing up with Fiddle.
“I didn’t say that. I said Whimms don’t attack unless they’re clustered.”
The odd animal shivered and cocked its head to the side. It made a sound similar to what one might imagine a turkey-chicken-monkey makes, and blinked its hairy eyelids. Something behind it made a different noise. Tobias lifted the match and the flame reflected off a dozen different pairs of eyes belonging to other Whimms in the tunnel.
“That’s a cluster,” Fiddle informed Tobias.
“Should we worry now?”
“Yes,” Fiddle answered.
Tobias and Fiddle turned and ran. The match blew out and the darkness took over. Tobias kept his hands in front of him, desperately feeling for any obstacles or walls that might be in his way. The Whimms behind them were chirping and squawking. One hit up against Tobias’s leg and bounced backward.
“Run faster!” Tobias yelled.
Fiddle gladly did as he was told.
CHAPTER 26
VISITORS
Running in the dark is the worst. Running in the light is no great treat, but it’s way worse when you can’t see anything. On your mark, get set, go run into a wall. Ready, set, go fall into a hole. If you think about it, none of the Olympic running games take place in underground tunnels. I believe the dark plays a role in that decision.
Tobias and Fiddle were not in the Olympics. They were running in the dark somewhere beneath Severe Hall. It was not a casual jog either; it was an all-out sprint as they tried to get far away from the Whimms that were chasing them.
Tobias’s super smelling ability helped a little, but at the moment, his legs were running faster than his nose could smell. He slammed up against a wall that seemed to jump out at him. He rolled along the wall to make a turn.
“Watch out!”
The warning came too late. Fiddle hit the same wall and almost knocked Tobias over as he too was forced to turn.
“I’m okay,” Fiddle yelled.
Tobias tripped on a set of stairs hidden in the dark. “Stairs!”
Fiddle crashed into the back of him.
Tobias quickly climbed the stairs. At the top was darkness. There was also a passageway behind the walls. Fiddle was up the stairs right behind Tobias.
“I don’t think anything’s following us anymore!”
Tobias wasn’t taking chances. He kept running the one direction the passageway went. “You have no idea where this goes?”
“I had no idea it was this long.”
Tobias ran with his hands out in front of him.
“Look,” Tobias said.
Down the passageway there was a thin line of light at the bottom of the wall. When Tobias reached it, he could feel two metal handles that were attached to the wall at chest level. Fiddle bumped into Tobias again, coming to a stop.
“What is it?” Fiddle asked.
“There are a couple of handles on the wall.”
Fiddle felt the handles. He tried to pull them, but nothing happened. Tobias took the handles and pushed. The lower part of the wall pushed out like a garage door opening. The two boys could see into a hall that was dark, but nowhere near as dark as the tunnel they had been running through. Somewhere off in the distance, an alarm was ringing.
They stepped into the hall and Tobias quickly closed the wall behind them. With it closed, there was no sign that the opening even existed. The hallway corridors were covered with wood paneling.
Time was of the essence, but Tobias pulled a pen from his pocket, rolled up the sleeve on his right arm, and quickly drew out what he could remember of the tunnel he had just been through. He rolled his sleeve down and put his pen away.
“Do you have any idea where we are?” he asked Fiddle.
“Witherwood?”
“Where in Witherwood?”
“I have no idea,” Fiddle admitted.
The hallway they were in was narrow and cool. Down one direction there was nothing but darkness and the sound of people yelling. Down the other direction there was a single door with a plaque on it that read R44-ADMIN.
Tobias wanted to head toward the screaming, but a door with the word ADMIN seemed like it might have a lot of answers hidden behind it.
“Come on,” Tobias said. “Let’s just see if this door is open.”
It was.
Inside room R44 there were two desks and two rolling desk chairs. In the corner near the door stood a metal storage cabinet that was taller than Tobias by at least a foot. There were numerous bulletin boards on the walls, and all of them were covered with papers that had pins stuck through them. Tobias looked closely at some of the papers. Most of them were copies of want ads the school used to lure staff members to Witherwood.
ARE YOU DOWN AND OUT?
DO YOU NEED MONEY?
DO YOU THINK CHILDREN NEED MORE INSTRUCTION?
DO YOU HATE ASKING QUESTIONS?
CAN YOU KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT?
WELL THEN, THIS MIGHT BE THE JOB FOR YOU.
The two desks in the office were messy, but the bigger desk was the messiest. Papers and books were scattered across it and there were dozens of empty coffee cups tipped and stacked. On the floor there was a round rug with the fuzzy image of a cat on it. The room was dark, but some light shone from a very surprising source. On the corner of the big desk sat a small TV monitor that was glowing. The picture on the screen was the iron gate at the front of Witherwood.
“They have a security camera?” Tobias whispered.
“I think my uncle likes to know who’s trying to come in.”
Tobias sat down at the biggest desk and scooted the chair closer so he could properly stare at the monitor. Next to the monitor there was a red button on a little metal box. Near the button there was a phone. And by the phone there was an old-fashioned microphone.
Tobias studied the monitor and the iron gate he had first seen the night his father had abandoned them. His head hurt as he thought about all that had happened to them because of their dad.
“You know what I like about your sister?” Fiddle said as he stood behind Tobias.
“What?” Tobias asked, not sure he actually wanted to hear the answer.
“She has really good hearing. Like me.”
“That’s great,” Tobias said, distracted and opening one of the desk drawers. “Wait. Why did you mention that?”
“Because I think I hear someone coming.”
There was no time to complain about Fiddle’s poor communication skills. Tobias stood up and moved to the metal storage cabinet. He opened the doors to find some yellow orderly jackets and a few buckets and brooms. He climbed into the cabinet, pulling Fiddle in with him. Tobias softly closed the metal doors as the office door opened. He could tell by the smell that it was Orrin.
“This isn’t happening,” Orrin said to himself. “This is not happening.”
It was dark in the storage cabinet and Fiddle was breathing directly into Tobias’s face. They heard Orrin pick up the telephone and push some buttons. Before he said anything, there was loud screaming from the other end.
“I know.” Orrin finally got a word in edgewise. “Of course. We do think it was in
tentional. There have been two students caught. A boy and a girl.”
More screaming on the other end.
“No,” Orrin said, flustered. “It’s not them. That was my first guess, but these are different children.”
Screaming.
“If anyone tries to come into Witherwood, I will turn them away. If by some outside chance they force their way in, we will be ready.”
There was silence for a moment and then Orrin spoke again. “Actually, I can see on the monitor that someone is at the gate now.” He sounded dejected.
“I’ll handle this, Marvin. Just like I handled those children’s father. Just like I handled the attacking Protectors. I’ll handle this.”
Tobias and Fiddle could hear Orrin hang up. Immediately following the phone being slammed down, they could hear him pick something up. There was a clicking noise and then Orrin began to make an announcement.
“Attention! There are visitors at the gate,” he said calmly. “This is a code blue situation. Repeat, a code blue situation.”
Orrin clicked off the microphone, banged a couple of drawers, and then scurried out of the room.
Tobias silently counted to twenty in his head before he opened the door of the metal cabinet. Orrin was gone, but on the monitor Tobias could see large fire trucks in front of the iron gate. He could also see some orderlies talking to the firefighters through the bars.
“They’re not letting them in?” Tobias said, disgusted. “I can’t believe it. This won’t work if they can’t get in.”
“They don’t like visitors here,” Fiddle said, sounding like a friendly tour guide.
“We have to get to the gate and let them in.”
Tobias ran out of the office and down the hall. At the other end of the hallway, there were metal bars that were locked tight with a very modern lock. Tobias shook the bars, trying to open them. He could see into another hall that had light at the end of it—light he couldn’t reach.
“I don’t think you’re strong enough to break these bars,” Fiddle said sadly. “I guess that’s why the office wasn’t locked. The bars would keep anyone out of that hallway.”
“Yeah,” Tobias lamented. “And now it’s keeping us in.”
Tobias turned and ran back to the wood panel they had come in through. He couldn’t tell for sure which panel opened up, so he ran his fingers along the bottom of the wall, searching for the movable section.