‘I’m still trying to work that out.’
21
Trapped
Hailey paced back and forth between her desk and chest of drawers. A week had passed since Nemertes had tried to drown her, and in that week five more students had vanished. Where are they going? If the nereids aren’t behind this then what is happening to the students? Maybe there really is an invisible monster roaming the school. It doesn’t make any sense.
Hailey had sent Amathia a letter this morning asking if she was any closer to finding Lacey and the others.
‘Are you okay?’
Hailey stopped in front of her chest of drawers and faced Demi. She was standing beside her bed, braiding her hair. ‘I can’t stop thinking about those missing students.’
‘I told you, there’s a room sucking them up.’
‘Well, if it is, I hope it’s stocked with food and water.’ She couldn’t even think about the possibility of Lacey or the others being dead. Hailey glanced back at her desk to see if a letter had appeared. She sighed when she saw nothing but her textbooks.
‘I’m meeting Brax,’ Demi said, checking herself out in the mirror above her chest of drawers. ‘I’ll be in the grounds if you need anything.’
‘Have fun,’ Hailey said absentmindedly, resuming her pacing once Demi had left. She couldn’t just sit around doing nothing, and she was still worried about the nereids freezing them to death, like they had in the parallel world.
Just because the nereids haven’t left the island doesn’t mean they aren’t planning another attack. Amathia can’t keep acting like everything is fine and will work out—which is exactly what every other student is doing. Everyone is acting like things are normal and that students aren’t disappearing one by one.
Well Hailey wasn’t like them. An image of being locked in a dark room where her worst fears had come to life popped into her mind. She’d screamed for help, feeling like she’d be trapped in that darkness forever. Is that how the missing students feel right now? Like they’ll be trapped forever? She wouldn’t let anyone else suffer through something like that, not if she could help it.
Hailey glanced at her desk again. Argh, still nothing. That’s it. She needed to do something. Amathia had mentioned teachers doing research in the library, so that was exactly where she was heading.
Hailey was making her way down the hallway that led to the library when she suddenly stopped. I shouldn’t be here. The rules were pretty strict about never going anywhere alone. And here she was, standing in a hallway by herself. Was there a monster watching her right now? She whipped around, half-expecting to see something. But she was alone. But if it is an invisible monster, I wouldn’t be able to see it. ‘Hello?’ Hailey called out. Silence greeted her.
Stop freaking out and keep going. Hailey pushed down her fear and continued to the library, breathing a tiny sigh of relief when she made it without a monster attacking her, or a vortex sucking her up, or a magical room entrapping her. Told you you were being ridiculous. Now focus.
The library was busy, with students spread about at the tables or searching through the bookcases—a few were even riding the bubbles to get to the higher shelves.
Hailey’s footsteps echoed as she walked down the aisle between the two rows of tables, her eyes searching for a teacher. She ran up to Madam Grayson when she spotted her sitting alone at the last table on the right, surrounded by stacks of ancient tomes that looked old enough to have been written by Athena, the goddess of wisdom. ‘Madam Grayson.’
Madam Grayson pressed her index finger to a paragraph in the book she was reading, before glancing up. ‘Yes, Hailey?’
Hailey slipped into the seat across from her overseer, shifting a stack of books with leather covers so she could see her. ‘I wanted to know if you’d found anything out about changing the palace’s Goldarin commands.’
Madam Grayson raised an eyebrow. ‘How do you—’
‘Amathia told me. So… have you found anything?’
‘If I had, I wouldn’t still be here reading books,’ she replied. ‘I don’t think it’s possible. At least not in this world. The palace in that other world must have been designed differently.’
‘I hope you’re right.’ Hailey tapped a finger on the desk. ‘I don’t suppose you came across anything that explains why students might randomly start disappearing?’
‘Unfortunately not.’ Madam Grayson gazed around, searching for something. ‘Hailey, did you come here alone?’
‘I… uh…’
‘I came with her.’
Hailey swivelled around, something in her stomach fluttering when she saw Brennan behind her.
‘Did you?’ Madam Grayson pressed.
‘Yes, I was just getting a book.’ Brennan held up a book with the title Helping the Dead Cross Over printed on its black cover.
‘Is that right, Hailey?’
‘Yes, Brennan came with me. I didn’t break any rules.’ She hated lying, but she’d hate getting another detention even more.
‘Well you should go now—this is a quiet zone after all.’
‘Thanks. Sorry I bothered you.’ Hailey followed Brennan back down the rows of tables. ‘Why did you do that?’ she asked quietly when they were far enough away from Madam Grayson.
Brennan shrugged. ‘I didn’t want you to get into trouble.’
‘Shh,’ someone hissed.
They continued in silence, walking past students hunched over books. ‘Thank you,’ Hailey said as they stopped outside the library doors. ‘You saved me from detention.’
Brennan shrugged again. ‘That’s okay. You really shouldn’t be walking around alone though. I’d hate it if you went missing. I mean… well, I know you. So technically I’d hate it if anyone I knew went missing.’
‘Yeah, it was stupid. I wasn’t thinking… Um, Madam Grayson might change her mind about detention if she finds out you took that,’ Hailey said, nudging her head to the book in Brennan’s hand.
‘Whoops. I forgot I was holding it.’ His cheeks flushed a little. ‘Wait here and I’ll be right back to take you to the common room.’
That eerie feeling crept back over Hailey when Brennan disappeared into the library—like something was watching her. She clutched her heart pendant. It wasn’t as if she was technically alone right now. There was a library full of people behind her; if she screamed, they’d hear her. But what if I don’t have time to scream?
‘Ready?’
Hailey gasped and jumped, her hand flying to her racing heart. ‘Sorry. I’m a little jumpy.’
‘I won’t let anything happen to you. Promise.’ He held out his hand.
That fluttery feeling returned to Hailey’s stomach when she clasped her fingers with his, and then tingles washed over her body as the hallway disappeared.
‘Don’t go wandering off alone again,’ Brennan pleaded as they reappeared in the common room. ‘I’m happy to take you anywhere you want to go.’
‘I—’
‘Hailey, there you are,’ Jayden came rushing up to her.
‘What’s wrong?’ Hailey asked as Brennan scurried off towards the boys’ dormitories.
‘It’s Demi.’
She gulped, not sure she wanted to know the answer to the question she was about to ask. ‘She’s not missing, is she?’
‘No,’ Jayden said quickly. ‘But about ten minutes ago she came running through here crying. She went into the girls’ dorms, so I haven’t been able to go and see if she’s okay. I think maybe Brax broke up with her.’
‘Oh.’ Hailey’s entire body relaxed. Her best friend was heart-broken not missing; she could deal with that. ‘I’ll check on her. Thanks.’
Hailey walked into her dorm to find Demi hugging a pillow on her bed and crying.
Demi glanced up when she heard the door close behind Hailey. ‘Hailey!’ She leapt up and wrapped her arms around her. ‘I’m so glad you’re here,’ she said through tears.
Hailey hugged Demi back. ‘He’s an idio
t, Demi. You don’t need him. You can do so much better.’
Demi pulled out of the hug, strands of her wavy hair clinging to her tear-streaked face. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘Brax broke up with you, didn’t he?’
Demi wiped the back of her hand across her nose and sniffed. ‘No. He’s missing.’
Hailey blinked. ‘Missing?’
‘He’s vanished, like the other students. No one has seen him since last night. His dorm mate is missing too. Amathia thinks they broke curfew to go to the main hall for a snack last night, and whatever happened to the other students happened to them too.’ Tears welled in her eyes again. ‘What if it was a monster? What if he’s dead?’
Hailey dropped down onto Demi’s bed with her. ‘It’s not a monster. Wherever he is, I’m sure he’s fine.’
Demi grabbed a tissue from her clamshell nightstand and blew her nose before tossing the tissue to the floor; it disappeared a few heartbeats later. ‘I hope so. I think I might actually love him.’
Hailey wrapped an arm around her best friend’s shoulders. ‘Amathia will find him.’ Hailey’s mind spun. How are another two students missing? More terror started to creep into her, like worms burrowing through her flesh. If students could vanish doing something as simple as getting a snack, then who’s to say Hailey couldn’t vanish walking to the bathroom? She began to realise just how stupid she’d been going with Kendra to the stable… and then to the library on her own.
‘Everyone come to the common room now,’ someone called from the hallway.
Demi sprang up. ‘Maybe they’ve found the missing students.’
She bolted into the hallway before Hailey could even stand up. ‘Demi, wait,’ Hailey called, joining the throng of girls filing into the common room, where Madam Grayson was standing in front of the fireplace, the blue flames crackling behind her.
‘Madam Grayson, have they found Brax?’ Demi asked, stopping in front of their overseer.
‘I’m sorry, Demi, Amathia hasn’t found any of the missing students yet.’
If this wasn’t about the missing students, then maybe Madam Grayson had found something in one of the library books—something that could protect them all from the nereids, or from whatever was kidnapping students. Maybe it’s a spell that requires everyone in the palace to chant it.
‘What’s happening?’ Aaron asked, pushing through the crowd with Alec.
‘Have they found out why students are disappearing?’ Alec pressed. ‘Is it an invisible monster? Or a black hole that keeps opening and closing? Or a—’
‘They’re still missing,’ Demi interrupted, fresh tears pooling in her eyes.
‘What’s the matter, Demi?’ Aaron asked.
Demi sniffed. ‘It’s Brax.’
‘I’ll kill him.’ Aaron clenched his hand into a fist. ‘Where is he?’
‘He’s missing,’ Hailey said quickly.
‘Oh.’ He uncurled his hand. ‘I’m sorry, Demi. I—’
‘Quiet down, please,’ Madam Grayson called out. ‘Amathia has just informed me that two more students have gone missing. I said quiet,’ she snapped when murmuring started. ‘That means ten students have now disappeared. Despite Amathia’s best efforts, she has been unable to locate them and fears Poseidon’s Academy is no longer safe. She has decided to close down the school until she can locate the missing students.’
The common room erupted in gasps, and a few students cried out, ‘NO!’
‘Amathia has already sent word to your parents and guardians that you will be returning. Please pack your suitcases and be back here in twenty minutes.’
Panicked chatter filled the common room.
‘No, this can’t be happening. I can’t leave.’ Demi shook her head. ‘Brax is here somewhere. I need to find him.’
‘You might go missing too,’ Alec countered.
‘I said pack your bags,’ Madam Grayson called over the din with a firm voice.
‘Meet you back here,’ Aaron said before following Alec to their dormitories.
‘I can’t leave,’ Demi protested, letting Hailey lead her into the girls’ dorms.
‘There’s nothing you can do if you stay,’ Hailey argued.
‘I feel like I’m abandoning him.’
‘You’re not,’ Hailey said. ‘And even if we could stay, Amathia wouldn’t let you wander around the palace.’
‘I guess not, but it doesn’t feel right.’
Hailey pushed open their dorm door. Would this be the last time she saw her dorm? Did Amathia sending everyone home mean she was giving up? What was Hailey supposed to do at home? She wanted to stay. To be involved. But students not being at the palace meant the teachers would have more time to look for everyone who’d gone missing. They’d be able to find them faster.
‘What’s wrong?’ Demi asked Hailey. ‘You want to stay, too, don’t you? We should hide.’
Hailey shook her head. ‘No, we need to go. I was just hoping this wasn’t the last time I’d see our dorm.’ Without classes to teach and students to watch, the teachers will probably find the missing students in a day or two, and the palace will be reopened by the end of the week. ‘Come on. Let’s pack.’ She pulled her blue suitcase out from under her bed and started emptying her drawers into it. She paused when a silk pouch fell out of her bottom drawer. ‘What’s this?’ Hailey picked it up and peered inside at a gold seed shaped like a bean.
Demi wandered over from her own suitcase packing. ‘What is it?’
‘The seed you stole from the griffin’s nest back in first year.’
‘I forgot about that.’ Demi plucked it from the pouch, pinching it between her fingers. ‘There were two seeds. The second one disappeared when I tried to grow it in the grounds. What should we do with this one?’
Hailey shrugged. ‘Maybe leave it here. It’s not like we know what it’s for.’
‘That’s a pretty seed.’ Cady was standing in the doorframe, her suitcase beside her. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to spy on you. I was just walking past and saw you looking at it. Where did you get it?’
‘We found it,’ Hailey said, not sure how much Jayden had told Cady about the night they’d been trapped on an island and left to fend for themselves in a forest.
‘What does it grow?’
‘No idea.’ Demi dropped the seed back into the pouch. ‘Did you need something?’
Cady shook her head. ‘Sorry, I’m on my way to find Jayden.’
Ten minutes later, Hailey and Demi were all packed. Hailey glanced back at their dorm, now a mess of empty drawers and strewn paper. Despite everything she’d been through at the Academy—attacked by monsters, exposed to a killer plague, and almost drowning a hundred times—this place was her home.
‘We will see it again, Hailey,’ Demi said. ‘Because if we don’t, that means Amathia never finds the missing students, and I can’t live with the thought of never seeing Brax again.’
‘You’re right. This is just like taking an early holiday.’
They followed the other girls to the common room, and regrouped by the fireplace with Alec and Aaron.
‘I can’t believe I have to go back to a normal school,’ Alec whined. ‘I’ll learn so much less than I did here—and I’ll struggle to get into university, and then I’ll probably end up jobless living on the streets.’
‘It doesn’t matter,’ Hailey said. ‘We won’t be gone for long—maybe only a week.’
‘Maybe not even that long.’ Aaron nudged his head towards the stairs.
Madam Grayson had just come up them, and her hands were empty. Where’s the chest of travelling necklaces?
‘Third years, listen up,’ she called over the noisy common room. ‘I’m not sure how to tell you this, but I need everyone to stay calm.’ Madam Grayson hesitated. ‘Um, I’m just going to come out and say it… The travelling necklaces are missing, which means everyone will have to remain in the palace for the time being.’
Cheering erupted, drowning out the
gasps of the few students who had been eager to go home.
Hailey would have cheered, too, about getting to stay in the palace, but a feeling of dread coiled in her stomach.
‘I can’t believe this,’ Madam Grayson’s shocked voice silenced the celebrating students. ‘I tell you that we’re trapped in a palace where students are vanishing without a trace and you’re happy about it.’ She shook her head. ‘I suppose it’s better than you running around in a panic. Well, before you get too excited, Amathia has issued three new rules. One… no one is allowed to leave their common room, unless it is to go to the main hall or classes. Two… any student leaving their common room must either be accompanied by a teacher or at least four other students. Three… curfew is now at 7pm, so there will be absolutely no wandering around the palace after this time. If anyone is caught breaking any of these rules, they will receive detention.’
‘This is good,’ Demi said when Madam Grayson descended back down the stairs, no doubt heading to regroup with the other teachers.
‘Good?’ Alec gawked. ‘We’re trapped in a palace that students are disappearing from. How is that good?’
‘Because now we don’t have to go to some normal school and never see Poseidon’s Academy again. And I’ll know straight away if they find Brax,’ Demi explained.
‘I’m a little glad too,’ Hailey admitted. Yes, it was freaky that she was now trapped in the palace, but she didn’t want to go to school anywhere else. And she didn’t want to abandon Lacey and the other missing students.
Alec shook his head. ‘You’re both crazy.’ He turned to Aaron. ‘Please tell me you’re not happy about this.’
‘I’m not sure what I am. But I think we can scratch out a vortex sucking people up from the list of things making students disappear—or a magical room,’ he added to Demi.
Demi cocked an eyebrow. ‘Why’s that?’
‘Because only a person could take the travelling necklaces. Which means there is someone in this palace who doesn’t want us to get out.’
Poseidon's Academy Box Set Page 80