Catacombs

by Avery Cross

  Zach was laughing when he entered the hall, and we left the main building.

  “I’m not sure Zach is into dolled up girls,” I pointed out as we entered our dorm building a few minutes later.

  “So? Don’t you want to be just a little girly every now and then?” she pouted.

  “You’re naturally good at it,” I insisted. “I didn’t exactly have a great role model growing up.”

  She patted my arm in sympathy.

  “Thanks, by the way.”

  “For what?” she asked as she reached up to put her hand on the door.

  “For not looking at me like I’m crazy,” I whispered.

  She pulled me to a sudden stop, her other hand falling back to her side.

  “Briar, what happened with Carter was an accident. And though I know you and Zach are up to more than just making out in the library,” she went on as my jaw dropped, “you two are definitely not about to mess around with dark magic or whatever other crap his asshole friends are spreading about you. I am far from gullible and will stand by you no matter what.”

  I coughed as I quickly turned my head to the side, trying to hide how much those words meant to me after a life of crap.

  Between her and Zach, I wasn’t sure who had been better at giving me a kick in the ass. Then she hugged me, and I returned the favor, realizing just how much of a friend I had in her.

  “Alright, time to get girly… huh, that’s weird,” she mused, staring at our door.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, pulling my cell from my butt pocket when it dinged.

  “The door is open. I swore I closed it.” She started to push it open further.

  I reached out and snagged her hand. “Hold on.”

  I pushed her behind me quickly, picturing Carter charging out of the shadows to attack her.

  “Briar, I’m sure it’s nothing,” she was saying, but I wasn’t about to take that chance.

  I let the door swing inward, feeling my fire pool at my fingertips ready to engage, as my other hand reached in and felt for the light switch on the wall.

  She was still trying to tell me it was nothing when the light flipped on and her words cut off on a gasp.

  Herbert came flying out, fluttering around my head before I held out my hand and he settled on my palm, his paper wings shaking.

  “What the hell?”

  Our room had nowhere for anyone to hide except the closets, but it was pretty obvious no one was in there because the doors and drawers were open, and our clothes, shoes, and other belongings were strewn all over the floor. Our desk drawers were pulled out and emptied, the beds tossed over, and blankets torn off.

  Nyala was mouthing curses as she carefully stepped inside. I was numb for a few more seconds before I rushed in, digging into my mattress, Herbert jumping to my shoulder.

  “Briar? What are you doing?”

  “Close the door.” I peeled back the corner of the mattress I’d sewn back up after cutting it a while back.

  Nyala did as I asked.

  I finally got the seam open and peered inside. “Thank god.”

  “You hid something inside your mattress? What is it?”

  “The reason this is all happening.” I pulled out the files one by one and checked to make sure everything was still there.

  I texted Zach and asked if he could come to my room ASAP just as Nyala was telling me we should report this.

  “Not yet.”

  “Someone broke into our room,” she argued. “We can’t just say nothing.”

  “Is anything missing?” I asked her.

  She spun around slowly, picking up a few piles of clothes to check and after a few minutes shook her head confused. “No, nothing. I think.”

  “Exactly. Whoever came in here was after these. Please, just trust me.”

  “You going to tell me what they are?”

  I anxiously started snatching up my clothes and throwing them in a pile. “I don’t want you to get in the middle of this mess.”

  “What mess? Briar, come on, you have to tell me something.”

  “Can you at least wait until Zach gets here?”

  She puffed out her cheeks, annoyed, but nodded. “But you better tell me something. No more of this sneaking around crap.”

  We were still sorting out our things when a knock came at our door. “Shroud?”

  I opened it and found Zach and Hunter. I waved them in quickly and shut the door behind them quickly. “Someone was looking for the files,” I said in explanation to Zach’s pissed expression and Hunter’s confused one. “They trashed the room.”

  Zach whirled around. “Where are they?”

  “Safe because she’s weird and hides things inside her mattress,” Nyala said as she plopped down on her bed after righting it. “Now can someone please tell me what these files are?”

  “Ditto.” Hunter leaned against the wall looking like he’d had enough.

  Zach was checking over the files, then shuffled them together and shrugged. “Up to you. You’re kind of the one who started this adventure to begin with.”

  He had a point. If I’d never said anything to him that first day, the question never would’ve stuck with him, and we wouldn’t be here.

  All of this was my fault. And anything that happened next would also be my fault. I took a deep breath and dove right into telling Nyala and Hunter what we’d discovered hiding here in Academy.

  “I’m sorry, can we back up here?” Nyala said an hour later. “You’re saying that what, these students just disappeared, and no one said anything about it and now you think they’re necromancers? I thought that shit was illegal, like death penalty illegal?”

  “Doesn’t mean someone isn’t deciding to use it anyway,” Zach told her.

  “And these files, they’re all missing students?” Hunter asked.

  “From one year,” I said with a nod. “And we haven’t even gotten through the whole year yet.”

  Nyala blew out a heavy breath as she leaned back against the headboard of her bed. “Wow, this wasn’t even close to what I expected you two to say.”

  “Sorry, but I did warn you.” I grimaced.

  “And this is all connected to Carter attacking you?” Hunter asked uncertainly.

  “That’s the part we’re not sure about, but when I was inside his head… it wasn’t Carter, or at least he wasn’t in his right mind,” I tried to explain. “Someone or something is messing with him to get to us.”

  “For the files of a coverup,” Hunter said to clarify.

  I nodded.

  He glanced toward Zach. “You told your brothers about this, right?”

  “Not yet and now Hooke is giving us just a few days to find more proof before we show him everything we’ve found.” Zach tapped the stack of files on my desk. “Half of me says we can trust him, but then there’s Ivan. He’s a complete unknown, especially since I saw him talking to that Dresden guy.”

  I glanced at the clock on my desk and rubbed at my eyes. It wasn’t late but unloading all this information wore me out more than I expected, and I no longer felt comfortable in my own room.

  Who had even broken in? The door seemed untouched, as if Nyala had just forgotten to close it all the way, but I remembered her doing being thorough about closing it before dinner. Whoever came into our room used magic to break in. Ivan was my prime suspect right now, but without proof, no one would believe me, certainly not Hooke. He seemed to take our concerns about his second in command seriously, but every time I saw him lately, Ivan was right by his side. That, and I sensed Hooke was merely playing along with what we’d told him to stop us from doing something drastic, like telling Zach’s brothers who had high up contacts in the military.

  “We have to find the rest of the files,” I said quietly, determined. “As many as we can.”

  “I still think you should send them to your brothers,” Hunter said, but Zach was already shaking his head.

  “And have them do what? Open an investigation base
d on old files that the headmaster didn’t even know about in his own library? They would have to get permission from their commanders, and the chances of that are slim. These files are old, and there’s hardly enough to be proof.” Zach grunted in annoyance. “No, we keep searching, find as many more as we can first. If we run out of time, we’ll think of something to show Hooke, maybe keep him off our backs for a while longer.”

  I wasn’t sure I completely agreed with him, but our hands were tied. Not like I knew anyone in the military or government we could trust.

  Zach had checked Hooke’s aura every day, and it never wavered. If his brothers couldn’t do anything, there was a slim chance Hooke could at least get the issue started. We were taking a risk, but to figure out what was going on with these missing students, it was worth it.

  Especially now, since someone was clearly after these files as much as we were.

  “Tomorrow night, we’ll head back to the catacombs to check through the archives,” Zach told me. “And you keep these on you at all times.”

  “I will, don’t you worry about that.”

  “You sure you’re going to be alright tonight?” he asked somberly.

  “Yeah, I’ll be fine,” I lied, picking at my nails until he caught my hands.

  “I’m putting a shield on your door,” he assured me. “Just in case.”

  I leaned into him as he wrapped his arms around me. “I appreciate it and… uh, I’m sorry, about all of this.”

  “Remember what I said about trouble being worth it? And if you hadn’t, who else would’ve dug up these files, or figured out that there is something wrong here at Academy?”

  “I know, but if you get hurt, I’ll hate myself for it.”

  He gave me a swift kiss on the lips making Nyala and Hunter whistle and guffaw.

  “How do you think I felt when Carter was strangling you? We’re in this together, Shroud, just deal with it. Nothing’s going to happen to me.”

  I wanted to believe him, but the days had only grown darker since he showed me those archives and we started finding files of missing students. He and Hunter left a few minutes later, and I felt him place a shield on the door before he headed upstairs. We’d still be able to open it to leave, but if anyone else tried to get in, they’d be repelled. It was a small comfort, but Zach was a strong warlock. It’d hold through the night, and that’s what mattered to me.

  Nyala and I put our girly night on hold, finished cleaning up our room, and turned in earlier than normal.

  I was lying in bed, listening to Nyala’s light snoring, when my cell dinged.

  Zach texted me saying his and Hunter’s rooms were untouched, but he felt someone’s presence left behind; dark, and not there for a social call.

  Tomorrow, we’d keep searching, and in a few days, we’d figure out what to show Hooke, but I prayed we’d have enough to show Zach’s brothers instead. The plan didn’t make me feel better.

  Instead, I felt like this mystery was just getting started and things were about to get worse. Much worse.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Zach

  I heard footsteps approaching the secluded corner of catacombs and waited, holding my breath.

  “Just me,” Briar called out.

  I relaxed.

  She appeared around the last row of shelves with two paper cups in hand as well as what looked like some leftover pie from dinner.

  “That smells like coffee.”

  She set them down, and I pulled her into my arms. I glimpsed the fading bruises on her neck and bit back my anger at Carter. Or tried to.

  Briar rubbed her finger along my jaw. “That tic is going to become permanent if you don’t learn to express your emotions.”

  My brow rose. “Coming from the girl I had to trap in a stone circle, just to get her to talk to me.”

  “Just passing along some good advice my mentor taught me.” She walked around to the other side of the table. “Pretty good guy, most of the time at least. He can be a bit of a stick in the mud when it comes to training and rules. Or at least he used to be, but I think I cured him of that.”

  “Think you did,” I agreed quietly.

  If only we were down here to simply enjoy each other’s company and not to give it one last shot to find the rest of the files, at least in that one year and the previous one.

  Briar started on another box, and I buried myself in the files before me, searching in vain for any more signs of missing students.

  We were up to almost twenty and still had two more boxes left after these.

  The only sounds were the turning of pages, the annoyed grunts from either one of us, and the crackling of the fire in the hearth. I finished my box with no luck and set it aside to pick up the next one in the queue.

  There’d been no leads to tell us who had broken into Briar’s room, or gone through mine, though my gut told me it was Ivan. He was the only one that made sense. But strangely enough, these past few days, I hadn’t seen him. Not even from across the hall or outside. It was like he was just gone.

  And I had texted my brothers a few days ago, but none of them had answered yet. That was the only problem with what they did. It was damned hard to get ahold of them when I needed them, without sending out an SOS, and throwing them all into panic mode.

  I was starting to second-guess my decision to hand over anything to Hooke, just to give him something. Last night I was up for most of the night, feeling sick to my stomach, and not sure why. I wanted to discuss it one more time with Briar—

  She let out a shocked yelp and dropped the file.

  “What?” I rushed around the table.

  She backed away a few more steps, shaking her head. “It’s… I think it’s her.”

  Frowning, I reached for the file and froze before my fingers could even reach it.

  There staring back at me was another photo of the girl who looked exactly like Briar, except this one was worse. I would’ve sworn on my life this was Briar’s file, but the dates were wrong, and the hair was a shade lighter. Other than that, she was a dead ringer.

  “Did she go missing?” Briar asked.

  “How about we start with her name,” I insisted. “Bethany Morris, wait, Morris?”

  “Who’s that?”

  “He’s a general in the military,” I muttered, frantically flipping through the file now. “A very high-ranking general and I’m assuming this is his daughter…” I glanced back at Briar.

  She was pale and picking furiously at her nails.

  “You said you never knew your dad.”

  She nodded, but that was it.

  When I reached the back of the file, I skimmed over the details for her second semester and sagged. “Bethany’s another one who disappeared,” I whispered. “And I think… I think she might be your sister.”

  “No, I told you, I don’t have any family,” Briar argued.

  I held up the photo. “You can’t tell me you two aren’t related. We have to contact the general. He might not even know you’re here.”

  “Or,” she snatched the file away, slamming it on the table, “he might not know I exist, alright? That’d be a great way to meet him, dragging him down here and having him look at me and wonder where the hell I came from.”

  I reached for her, but she stormed off.

  “Shroud, come on.”

  She kept walking. “No. I can’t deal with this, not on top of everything else,” she threw back over her shoulder. “That I had a… a sister and that dear old dad is a general, but clearly, I meant nothing to him because he left me to rot with a mom who didn’t give a shit. I don’t want to do this right now. I can’t.”

  I followed her, mind racing as to why Hooke would’ve hidden this information from her. Unless she was right and General Morris had no idea he had another daughter. He should be told; Briar was strong, and she needed family, actual family, to help her understand her abilities better than I ever could.

  We were halfway across the catacombs, her mutter
ing a curse under her breath every few seconds, when she stopped short. Her whole body shook.

  I reached for her hand to find her trembling and her palms clammy. “Shroud?”

  She lifted her hand and pointed, eyes wide and mouth open.

  The second I saw the nightmarish sight, I wished I hadn’t. I instantly regretted starting any of this.

  I grabbed for her hand and slowly pulled her back with me.

  Standing there, looking more than ready to kill us both, was Carter. And he was not alone. Two other figures shambled out of the darkness toward us, skin hanging from their gaunt faces, eyes glazed over with a milky film.

  “Are they…” Briar started to ask, but she didn’t have to finish before I was nodding. “What do we do?”

  “The files,” I whispered. “We grab them, and we get out of here.”

  “And what about them—those things?”

  “With any luck, they’ll follow us up and out, and we’ll have our proof that there is necromancy happening here.”

  We were still moving backward. Carter and his… friends, had yet to make a move, but the air had grown heavy. Any second now, they were going to come after us, and I started to focus on forming a shield around the two of us to at least get us up the steps and out of the library in one piece. The table was a few more yards behind us, and the shield was almost complete when Carter bellowed, just as he had in the infirmary, and sprinted toward us.

  “Run,” I yelled to Briar, and she took off toward the table as I braced for Carter’s attack.

  He threw himself at me from a few feet away, and my mental attack barely slowed him down. It knocked him a few feet off his trajectory, but he clipped my shoulder, and I was thrown to the floor.

  He rolled back to his feet and continued on his path toward Briar. I shouted a warning, but before I could get back up, the two others were on me, pinning me to the floor with their grotesque hands, their mouths hanging open in disgruntled snarls, watching me with those lifeless eyes.

  They reeked of death, and I gagged on the stench, pushing to get back to my feet.

  Briar screamed, but I couldn’t see her.