“This is the foyer, which we use frequently for meet and greets, assemblies, and other social events.”
“Mr. Trappe,” Mr. Werring interrupted. “I recall reading in the brochure about the antebellum architecture. When was this home built?”
“Neverland Academy was initially the home of my ancestor James Roger Tanner. He bought the property and built this home in 1837, after emigrating from Cornwall. Though it has been updated through the years, you’ll find many of the original architectural components and motifs that were a throwback to his childhood home by the sea.” I guess that explains the mermaids, Daphne thought.
“And what about those gothic spires we’ve seen over the tree line?” Mrs. Werring asked. “Those don’t seem to fit in with the antebellum style.”
“Ah, yes.” Headmaster Trappe bent and chuckled. “That would be the work of my great grandfather, Tucker Trappe Tanner. When he took over the school from his father he found he needed to add on in order to accommodate more students. He stuck with the original style when he built the west wing and the dormitories, but he grew a little kooky as his years progressed and built the chapel in the style of old gothic architecture. The building is quite a departure from the original look. My own father thought to tear it down and rebuild something a little more, ah, traditional, but the art professor insisted he keep it for educational purposes. Despite the contrast, it is quite a magnificent building as you will soon see.” Trappe turned and leaned on his cane. “To the left you will find the library, which was recently updated with state of the art technology. We have the latest Mac systems with laptop charging stations, and Wi-Fi is accessible throughout the campus.”
Daphne peeked into the library and was instantly taken. Not just by the computer systems lining rows of long tables, but bookshelves so high she’d need an extension ladder to reach the top. If there was one thing she loved more than geeky computer hacking, it was reading. She was eager to get online and send an email to Rocks—her parents monitored her emails at home so she hadn’t been in touch with him since last week—but the walking tour bus was moving on. Before leaving, she noted the apparent lack of a librarian in the room. She felt a pinch on her shoulder and whipped her head around.
“Let’s go, Daph,” Josh grunted. “You’re holding us up.”
Daphne trailed behind her brothers, who shuffled behind their parents with Trappe and Smeed in the lead. They toured the common areas on the main level which included another section of the library used for study and group projects, a parlor and drawing room which were converted into administrative offices, and an enlarged dining room, adjacent to the kitchen, where the students would eat their meals.
The group exited the dining room through a pair of French doors onto a terrace that overlooked a courtyard housed between two long buildings—dormitories, Daphne assumed by the layout. In the center of the courtyard lay a long, elaborate garden; so detailed and precise it looked more like a renaissance painting than a part of nature. The garden was enclosed on all four sides by green shrubbery, apart from an entrance in the front and back, where a brick-laid walk led to the gothic style chapel. Inside the garden was a geometric pattern of pathways winding around more greens, pinks, yellows and a few blues. Daphne thought it looked pretty, but much too perfect for her taste. She preferred disarray. She liked things to be out of place. It made her feel normal.
The family followed Trappe down the steps of the terrace and through the entrance of the garden. The concoction of floral aromas was almost suffocating to Daphne. Her scent preferences leaned more toward the fruity and spicy. Lemon-ginger was her favorite.
She hadn’t noticed it from the terrace but there were several young boys—younger than Max, who had just turned thirteen—hunched over on their knees, pulling weeds in the garden. Daphne felt a little sorry for them. She wondered why on earth they would be out here working instead of studying. This was a school after all. They should be in class. Perhaps this was their punishment for putting super glue on a toilet seat or fake puke on a teacher’s desk. Surely this was some kind of disciplinary measure. Shouldn’t they hire gardeners for this sort of thing?
“Here at Neverland Academy, boys learn the tenor and reward of hard work. There is plenty of free time between classes and meals and boys are required to participate in chores, just as they would at home. We find it keeps our costs down and their integrity high.” Mr. and Mrs. Werring seemed to accept this explanation without question, but Daphne grimaced at the thought of having to work and go to school. Where was the fun in that?
As they were walking out Daphne peered back at the boys. One of them, a skinny stick of a boy with a puffy tuft of bleach blond hair, snuck a glance over his shoulder. There was something mildly suspicious about him. It was as if he was hiding something or knew a secret that he wouldn’t be caught dead revealing.
After a dreadfully boring tour through the gothic chapel and dormitories, Daphne and her parents said goodbye to Josh and Max and followed Headmaster Trappe and Professor Smeed back to the mansion.
“My office is on the upper level,” Trappe indicated with his left hand. “We may finish our business there.”
Daphne followed the adults up the curved staircase, but paused at the door to Trappe’s office. Her skin began to crawl again and the smell of Lysol made her choke. There wasn’t anything immediately threatening about the headmaster’s office, but she still got a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. Or maybe it was the frozen waffle she’d wolfed down way too fast that morning. Either way, she didn’t want to be there. She’d hoped the escort requirement only applied to children outdoors.
“Um,” she whispered to her mother. The last thing she wanted to do was to attract the attention of the creepy headmaster. “Is there a bathroom here?”
“Mr. Trappe, my daughter needs to use the facilities.” Thanks, mom, Daphne thought as she twisted her head away in embarrassment.
“Yes, there is a ladies room downstairs, just outside the parlor. I can have an escort—”
“I can find it,” Daphne blurted out and bolted before he had a chance to protest. Her parents would vouch for her anyway. After all, how much trouble could she really get into in a place like this? She raced down the stairs, as quietly as she could, which wasn’t that quiet really, considering she was wearing her clunky black combat boots and the floorboards were probably older than the sun.
In the restroom, which was a modern design, centuries away from the old-fashioned décor of the rest of the place, Daphne stared at her reflection with sadness and caught a tear beginning to poke out from her eyelid. She dabbed it with a square of toilet paper and told herself to be strong. Seeing all the boys at the academy made her miss Rocks and her friends in Atlanta all the more. She’d never felt so alone.
When she’d ambled out into the empty foyer, she’d realized her parents were still speaking with the headmaster. She wasn’t about to go back upstairs. Instead, Daphne sauntered around the lower level and ended up in the library that fascinated her earlier. She wedged her head back to view the books on the highest shelves of the room, which took up two stories itself. For a moment she wondered how anyone could reach the books up there. Then her gaze settled upon the rolling ladder at the corner of the room. In the back of the library, a tall window, set deeply into the wall, streamed in natural light, while several average sized windows in the front did the same.
Daphne peered around the library and back into the foyer, then tiptoed to one of the computers in the corner, where she hoped she wouldn’t be discovered if somebody happened to wander in. She wiggled the mouse beneath her fingers to disrupt the screensaver—a Neverland Academy logo—and was disheartened to find she needed a login and password. She checked a few of the other computers and found the same. But Daphne was not one to let a little security stand in her way. She knew computers in and out and she knew of ways to bypass the security features, especially something as simple as this.
As she began tapping the keys, a
sound—a very tiny sound, like a pin drop—cause Daphne’s heart to leap from her chest. She turned her head and scanned the library. Nothing but dust motes disturbed the air. When she was convinced she was still alone she resolved to work faster. She slid a flash drive from her pocket—she carried it everywhere as if it were her car keys—and plugged it into the USB port in the computer.
Finally, after a few easy clicks, she was in. She didn’t make a habit of hacking into computers often—she never really needed to. But it was a useful skill to have.
Daphne quickly signed into her Yahoo account. A goofy grin spread on her face when she found an email waiting for her from Rocks.
Hey Babe-
Tried txting but won’t go thru.
Playin @ Jaggers on Fri. See u there?
Rocks m/
Daphne hit reply. Just as she was about to type, she heard a noise again. This time she was sure it was right behind her. She turned and looked down into the short, narrow spaces between the low bookshelves but again, she saw no one. She would have to keep this short and sweet.
Hey Baby,
I’ll be there.
Love ya,
Daphne <3
“You’re not a student here,” a voice drifted from behind her as if a breeze carried it through a drafty window.
Daphne jumped nearly two inches off her seat and her heart thumped wildly against her chest. Quickly she hit “Send” and stood, guarding the computer screen. She was shocked to meet face to face with a boy who looked not much older than she. Judging by his stature, tall and athletic, he looked like he couldn’t possibly be young enough to attend, but his boyish face complete with deep-set dimples defied that thought. His hair, black as coal was spiked up in that “just got out of bed” look and he was dressed in a black V-neck tee shirt and jeans, which had worn holes in the knees. She was well familiar with the style, being in the crowd she was in, but this didn’t exactly look like a fashion statement. Especially not with bare feet that looked like they’d been through a few mud puddles since his last shower. It certainly didn’t meet the dress code for Neverland Academy.
“Apparently neither are you,” Daphne retorted, letting her gaze scan him from head to toe, but she refused to meet his eyes. There was something intimidating about this boy. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but there was something about him that made her incredibly nervous.
The boy smiled, showing off a perfect set of teeth.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, leaning back against the bookcase and crossing his arms in a cocky manner.
Daphne twitched nervously. Surely this guy wasn’t old enough to be a professor, was he? “I was just sending an email. See, my parents haven’t set up the Internet at our house yet and I just needed to get in touch with some old friends from—”
“No not here, in the library. I mean what are you doing at the academy? Don’t tell me Professor Pervpot has changed the rules to allow girls in.”
“Professor who?”
The boy rolled his eyes and sighed. “Trappe?”
“No!” Daphne laughed. “My brothers are starting school here. We came to help them move in and do the tour and stuff, which was incredibly boring, I might add. And speaking of Trappe, is it just me or is he a really creepy guy?”
“Don’t I know it.”
For the first time Daphne met his eyes and did not look away. She was dazzled by the clarity of them. It was like somebody sliced a lime in half and stuck the two halves in his eyeballs, with the flesh facing out. She’d never seen green eyes that looked so bright and clear. She struggled to look away, but couldn’t. His gaze remained on her, audacious and enraptured.
“So you’re into computers, huh?”
“Kind of,” Daphne replied humbly.
“Kind of? Really? What you just did seemed like the work of a seasoned hacker.” Daphne trembled a little. Would she get in trouble? Who was this guy?
“Don’t worry,” he said, catching on to her nervousness. “I won’t tell. What’s your name?”
“Daphne,” she said. She instinctively turned toward the entrance of the library when voices drifted in from the foyer. Daphne could hear the distinct voice of Headmaster Trappe approaching along with her mother’s gentle voice. She turned back to the boy. “What’s yours?”
But he was gone. Daphne walked along the computer tables, peeking down each aisle of bookcases, but the boy was nowhere in sight. He just seemed to disappear.
“There she is.” Daphne turned at the sound of her father’s voice. He was standing in the library, her mother and Trappe behind him. “Daphne, it’s time to go.” Relief flooded her and she was the first to reach the Escalade and buckle up.
Daphne spent the entire fifteen-minute ride home thinking about the boy with no name. How could he have just vanished into thin air? She was looking at the entrance to the library when he disappeared, so it was impossible he could have left that way. But there were no other doors in the room, especially in the corner where she met him. The windows were all shut and Daphne doubted they could even be opened as old as they were. Could he have been a ghost? His eyes did look unearthly. But maybe she’d just imagined him. He was definitely too good-looking to be one of the boring students there. Daphne sighed. It didn’t matter. She was going to start school next week. And her life would continue to be miserable.
Chapter Three
Beneath the Surface
Bare feet padded the dank cellars underneath Neverland Academy so silently not even one of the many resident rats bothered to skitter away. His body melted into the darkness. The boy had traveled the tunnels so often and for so long he didn’t need light to find his way. He only needed intuition. All but his glowing irises were invisible to the naked eye. There was no disguising the light in his eyes. But fortunately he needn’t worry. Nobody lurked in the tunnels except for him and the outcasts, those boys lost to the academy. Still, keeping quiet was essential. Trappe knew Finn still roamed the academy. He just didn’t have the acumen to find and extricate him.
Finn slipped into a narrow galley where, at the end, he nimbly climbed a hanging rope ladder. There had once been a wooden ladder fitted into the wall, but the most of the rungs had rotted with age and mildew and the few that remained creaked with the weight of a toenail.
The boy continued his journey through the hollow walls of Neverland Academy until he came upon a pinhole in one of them. Behind him, on the opposite wall from the hole, illuminated by the ribbon of light shining through it, was “Belle’s room” scribbled in black ink.
“Belle!” whispered the boy with the green eyes. He peered through the pinhole. A teenage girl, barely old enough to drive, was lying asleep on a bed covered with a patchwork quilt of yellows and pinks. Her short, strawberry blond hair was pulled back into a ponytail as much as possible, and the wisps that wouldn’t reach framed her fragile face. One wavy tendril dangled in front of her nose, shifting with each inhale and exhale, like curtains by an open window. It wasn’t unusual for her to be napping mid-afternoon. It was quite normal, actually.
Finn pushed firmly, but gently, on the wall until he could slide his fingers into the crease that opened up. Along with the wall panel he had to slide a side table aside to enter, and as he did, the girl roused.
She inhaled sharply and pulled the quilt to her chin as she sat up against the wall, clapping her head against it.
“Ouch!” she cried and clawed at the back of her head. Then, she angled her eyebrows upon seeing the boy she recognized.
“Pres—Finn! I told you don’t do that!” she shouted in a whisper.
Finn’s brows furrowed in a look of warning. “I told you don’t call me that, Belle.”
“I know.” Belle relaxed and rubbed her eyes with the pads of her fingertips. “I’m sorry, Finn. I forgot. But as you can see I was sleeping. You didn’t have to barge in here like that. Can’t you just throw rocks at my window like normal boys?”
“Me? Normal? You do know who you’r
e talking to, right?”
Belle sighed, rolling her eyes. “Of course. What was I thinking?”
“Sleeping in the middle of the day again?”
“I have you to thank for that.”
“Why do you act so regretful? You have to admit, that was fun. Don’t deny it.” Finn’s eyes sparkled and dimples flashed as his lips turned up. Belle smirked.
“Of course I did. But we’ve got to lay low for a while, Finn. I think Uncle Byron is on to me. That’s kind of why I’m here.”
Finn’s eyes shot toward the white-painted door on the opposite end of the bedroom. “He locked you in again?”
Belle nodded. “So what better use of my time than to take a long nap.” She exaggerated a yawn and fell back against her pillow.
“You could come hang with me and the boys.”
“Maybe after the next check in. He’s been sending someone every two to three hours to make sure I’m still here.”
“Cool.” Finn scratched his head nervously. “Hey, I need to ask a favor.”
“No, Finn. No. I’m not helping you do any more of those stupid pranks. I told you he’s on to me.”
“No, no. Not that. I need you to find someone. A street address is all I need really.”
“Find someone?” Belle’s face scrunched up. “Who on earth would you need me to find?”
“There was this girl down in the library today.”
“A girl?” Belle’s words were laced with jealousy and disbelief. She caught herself and quickly tried to cover it up. “I mean, a girl . . . here?”
“Yes, a girl. Listen, she was on the computers and hacked the system’s pass code within a manner of seconds. You know what this means? I think she could be the one.”
Neverland Academy Page 2