by Julia Nobel
Emmy nodded, and Larraby swept from the room.
“What are Tusculan Disputations?” Emmy asked.
“Beats me,” Lola said.
“You haven’t learned it yet, either?”
“No,” Jack said.
Lola looked around the room. “Hey, Dillon!” A sixth-year girl from their soccer team turned around. “What are Tusculan Disputations?”
“Some books written by Cicero around two thousand years ago,” Dillon said. “We read some of them this year.”
“Just now, in sixth year?” Emmy asked.
Dillon nodded, and Emmy groaned. “Then why would I have to know them for my second-year exam?”
“He’s probably just mixed up the exams,” Lola said. “You know what he’s like.”
“Yeah, but what if he mixed it up when he was making the exam?”
“Oh relax,” Lola said. “Just read through the worksheet and be done with it.”
• • •
The next day, Emmy went to Larraby’s office at three thirty on the dot. She raised her hand to knock, then stopped. Larraby was talking to someone.
“I know,” Larraby was saying. “But don’t you think that…” There was silence. “Yes, I agree.” There was silence again; it sounded like Larraby was on the phone. “Things haven’t gone to plan with the Allyn girl.”
Emmy froze, her hand poised over the door like a statue.
“I haven’t been able to get a single thing out of her,” Larraby continued. “And she’s far too inquisitive for her own good.” There was another pause. “Thankfully she hasn’t, and I don’t see how she could. Heaven help us if she did.”
Emmy moved closer to the door. I haven’t what?
“We’ll keep an eye out. If she ever found her way onto the Lane… No, I don’t see how she could. She doesn’t have a medallion, there’s no way she could get in.”
Emmy sucked in her breath. So, using a medallion would get her onto Black Hollow Lane.
“Thank goodness for that. We’d be finished if she ever found all the information we have down there about Thomas.”
Emmy felt like her chest was going to explode. Thomas. They had information about her dad. And she knew how to get to it.
“Yes, she’s on her way here now, so I’d best be off; she’s annoyingly prompt.”
Emmy put her hand over her mouth and closed her eyes. She had to get that worksheet, otherwise he’d be suspicious.
She took a few slow breaths, then knocked.
“Come in!” Larraby called.
Emmy opened the door and Larraby flashed her a toothy grin. “Ah, Emmeline, I’m glad you came! It’ll give us a chance to chat!”
“Oh, uh, sorry, but I can’t stay.” Emmy twisted her fingers behind her back. “I’m, uh, meeting a study group.”
“Oh, what a pity, I had hoped to spend a bit more time with you before the end of the year.”
“I’m already late, so I should really just get my worksheet and go.”
Larraby studied her face, probably to figure out if she’d overheard him. Emmy smiled and tried to look as relaxed as possible.
Larraby smiled back and nodded. “Of course, I won’t keep you then.” He handed her a worksheet. Emmy thanked him and tried to keep her excitement in check as she walked out the door. As soon as the office was out of sight, she raced back to Audrey House, her brain working with every step. The Lane. A medallion. Thomas. Dad.
She slowed down when she got to the edge of the forest and tried to catch her breath. If Brynn saw her agitated after meeting with Larraby, he might get suspicious.
Emmy didn’t pull Jack and Lola aside until after dinner. She couldn’t risk doing anything suspicious, not today. When she finally told them, Lola’s eyes grew wider and wider, and Jack’s frown grew deeper and deeper.
“So, what are you going to do?” he asked.
“I’m going down there,” Emmy said. “And don’t bother trying to talk me out of it.”
She was ready for a fight with Jack, but he just shook his head. “I was just wondering whether we should stick together down there or split up so we can find it faster?”
“Together?” Emmy said. “No way, you guys shouldn’t come down there… It’s not safe.”
“All the more reason we should come,” Jack said. “It’ll be faster and safer if there are more of us.”
“No, I can’t let you—”
“Don’t be stupid,” Lola said. “We’re not missing this.”
“Let’s face it,” Jack said, “you need us.”
CHAPTER 20
Black Hollow Lane
Emmy lay awake, staring at the ceiling. She tried not to think about what they were going to do. Or what they might find on the other side of that wall. They were waiting until the middle of the night, hoping that there wouldn’t be any Order members down there, but there was no guarantee.
When she went downstairs on the stroke of two, Jack and Lola were already waiting for her. “Are you sure you guys want to come?”
“Don’t bother asking,” Lola said.
Emmy looked at Jack.
“We’re with you,” he said.
Emmy smiled grimly and handed each of them a brown paper bag.
“What’s this?” Jack asked.
“Keep them in your pockets,” Emmy said. “Just in case.”
Jack looked inside the bag, swallowed hard, then put it in the pocket of his hoodie.
Emmy hoisted her bag onto her shoulder. “Let’s go.”
“Are you sure we won’t be seen by the security cameras again?” Jack asked as they made their way through the grounds.
“At two in the morning?” Lola said. “What are the chances that Jonas is still awake and looking at the cameras again?”
“Besides,” Emmy said, “even if he did, we’d be gone by the time he got there. I’m not standing in that hallway any longer than I have to.”
Slowly and carefully, they crept into the main building. The emergency lights sputtered and flickered with an eerie green glow. Emmy shivered. Those lights hadn’t spooked her the last time. Then again, she hadn’t been trying to sneak into the headquarters of a potentially murderous society the last time.
They tiptoed through the school and down the long flight of stairs that led to the old humanities wing. Emmy looked over her shoulder. The whole wing seemed deserted. Finally, they reached the wall.
“Last chance to back out.” She pulled a medallion out of her pocket.
“Just do it,” Jack said grimly.
Emmy took a deep breath and rubbed her hand along the wall. There was the spot, exactly where she remembered it. “Here goes nothing.” She fit the medallion into place.
Click.
The sound echoed off the stone walls, and Jack glanced at a nearby security camera. “Okay, try turning it.”
Emmy gripped the medallion and turned.
Clack.
A breeze blew into the hallway as a wide crack opened, revealing a long set of narrow stone steps. Emmy pulled the medallion off the wall and walked onto the little landing at the top of the staircase. Jack and Lola squeezed in behind her, and Lola started feeling around on the door.
“What are you looking for?” Jack asked.
“The handle. There it is.” She pulled the door shut.
“Are you sure we can get back through?” Jack asked with a wavering voice.
“It’s a proper handle on this side,” Lola said, “so just get going and stop being such a baby.”
The steps were smooth and slippery. Dim light bulbs flickered here and there, but they didn’t give off much light.
“Looks like a bloody bomb shelter,” Lola muttered.
The stairs seemed to go down forever, twisting and turning and constantly changing pitch. Finally
, they reached the bottom. A long stone passageway stretched out in front of them, and just like the staircase, they couldn’t see how far it went.
A light bulb buzzed overhead. Nobody walked forward. It was a lot harder to be brave down here.
“How far underground do you think we are?” Emmy asked.
“Far enough that no one in the school would ever hear what goes on down here,” Jack said.
Emmy took a deep breath, then started walking. They walked and walked for what felt like a mile, even though it probably wasn’t. They turned a corner, and all three of them stopped in their tracks. A pale light glowed nearby, much too bright to be a light bulb.
“Do you think someone’s down there?” Jack whispered.
“Only one way to find out,” Emmy said.
They walked closer and closer, following the glow like moths drawn to a porch light. Emmy squinted. Where was that light coming from? “I think I can see an archway.”
The light was bright enough to see each other’s faces. Lola was white as a sheet, and Jack looked ready to throw up.
“Anyone want to turn back?” Emmy half hoped they’d say yes.
They both shook their heads, but not as firmly as when she’d asked the same question earlier. Finally, they reached the archway and walked through.
They were in a large round room. The glow was coming from a huge lantern that hung from an archway in the middle, almost like a small stone gazebo. Above the lantern there was a carving that read, “Hollingworth Square.”
“Now what?” Jack asked.
“There must be some kind of office,” Emmy said, “or a file room that has the info about my dad. We need to find it.”
Lola checked her watch. “We’d better hurry. We can’t risk anyone seeing us on the cameras or running into us when we get back up to the school.”
Emmy looked at all the corridors that led to who-knows-where. It was so much bigger than she’d imagined. She should have planned for more time. “We need to split up. We’ll cover more ground, and there’s no way there’s anybody down here now.”
Lola looked at Jack. “What do you think?”
Jack cleared his throat and nodded. “We don’t have much choice. I don’t want to have to try this again.”
“Okay, but we should meet back here every fifteen minutes to make sure we don’t get lost,” Emmy said.
“Agreed,” Jack said. He walked to the closest archway and ran his hands through his hair. “Good luck.”
“I don’t believe in luck,” Lola said, and she disappeared down another corridor.
Emmy looked at her watch to make sure she knew when to be back, then went through the archway straight across from the one they’d come in. She’d only gone twenty feet when she saw another tunnel on her left. Should she take it? No. She’d better keep going straight if she was going to figure out how to get back.
“Should have brought a compass,” she muttered.
Every few minutes, she passed another doorway. She looked at her watch and started to walk faster; she was going to have to turn back soon. The ceilings started getting taller, and the light bulbs were replaced with lanterns that hung from iron hooks. She must be getting into an older part of the tunnels. Then she froze. The lanterns were lit. That meant someone must have lit them.
She turned around and started to run. She needed to get back to Jack and Lola; they should never have split up. Suddenly, one of the corridor’s walls moved. It scraped along the floor and banged into the next wall, like a door slamming shut. A hooded figure stood with his body pressed against it. He had blocked the hallway, so she couldn’t get through.
“That’s better,” the figure said. “We should be far enough away now that your friends won’t hear us.” He turned toward Emmy. She squinted, but the hallway was so dark, and his hood fell so low that she couldn’t see his face.
“I’m sorry it’s come to this,” he said, “but you have something of mine, and I need it back now.” He stepped into the lantern light.
Emmy’s mouth went dry. No. It couldn’t be.
He pulled back his hood. “Welcome to Black Hollow Lane, young miss.” It was Jonas.
CHAPTER 21
The Round Tower
Emmy couldn’t speak. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t do anything but stare.
“This wasn’t how I wanted things to happen,” Jonas said, “but sometimes I have to make tough choices as Brother Loyola.”
“You’re Brother Loyola?”
“At the moment, yes. There was another Brother Loyola before me, and there will be another one after. There will always be a Brother Loyola to look after the Order of Black Hollow Lane.”
“But I thought… Larraby…”
“Yes, Larraby does have his uses. All his blundering makes him an excellent decoy, and he does like to feel involved. When I had him stage that phone call for you to overhear, I wasn’t sure he’d be able to pull it off. But I had to get you down here, and I had no other options left.”
The phone call in Larraby’s office. It was fake, and it wasn’t the only thing. Jonas’s kindness… All his helpful suggestions. It was all fake. She wanted to scream at him. She wanted to burst into tears. But she had to keep her head. He wasn’t her friend Jonas anymore. He was Brother Loyola, and he was blocking the only way she knew how to get out of here.
Get him talking. Give yourself time to think.
“Why did you need to get me down here?”
“I saw you in the humanities wing that night. I know you have a medallion.”
Emmy’s insides lurched. “You were watching me?”
“I’ve been keeping a close eye on you for a while. Ever since you asked me about Tom.”
Hot sweat prickled at the back of Emmy’s neck. How could she have been so stupid that she’d told Jonas about her dad? Why had she even brought him up? Jonas… He’d said he’d found her gloves at the church…but she thought he was returning something else. “My letter. You knew Brynn had my dad’s letter.”
Jonas nodded. “Mr. Stratton can be a bit…direct when he wants information. Sometimes he needs a little reining in. But it was the first link we’d had to Tom in years. I couldn’t let him be punished for it.”
Of course. Jonas was the one who had told Brynn about them breaking into the office. She should have figured that out ages ago.
“Finding out Thomas Allyn was your father changed everything.”
“Why?”
“I told you I knew Tom, and I did. At least, I thought I did. He was my roommate.”
Emmy’s fingers twitched. She should be figuring out how to get out of here. But her dad’s roommate was standing in front of her, and she couldn’t get her feet to move. She wanted—needed—to hear his story.
“Tom and I were recruited by the Order in our fifth year at Wellsworth. We rose quickly through the ranks, and by the time we left school, we were part of Brother Loyola’s inner circle of advisers. When we left school, we were both given tasks. I was in charge of recruitment, and Tom was in charge of establishing a political presence in London.”
“A political presence? Like some kind of party, like the Democrats or the Republicans?”
“The Order doesn’t answer to any particular political stripe. Our only goal is to look after our own. Each member plays a part in ensuring that the Order as a whole has as much influence as possible.”
“I don’t get it.”
“Why should we form a political party when that would mean our only influence is in politics? Our members include scientists, diplomats, prime ministers, Nobel laureates. We work together to ensure each member gets the life he deserves. Let’s say one member sees another’s name on a list for a possible promotion. He makes sure that promotion happens. Or maybe a member owns an oil company and he wants permission to drill in the North Sea. We’ll have someone
placed in government who can ensure permission goes ahead. Right now, I’m helping a young man develop his skills in recruitment. He comes to Wellsworth every once in a while, and I mentor him as he works with our boys. All of us benefit.”
He comes to Wellsworth every once in a while… He works with our boys… “Vincent!” Emmy said. “You’re still mentoring Vincent Galt, aren’t you? That’s why he’s been hanging around the school.”
Jonas nodded. “One member helps another, and our influence grows.”
Emmy frowned. That didn’t sound so bad. “Why would the Order have gone after my dad if it was just a club where members help each other? That doesn’t sound like something worth killing someone over.”
“As our influence has grown, it has needed to move outside the law. Dealing in weapons, the black market, the underground diamond trade—these are all necessary parts of our work.”
A nasty feeling slithered up Emmy’s throat. The Order sounded like some kind of mafia. Jonas was talking about “influence.” That was just another word for power.
Barlowe had said something about power when they visited the round-tower church.
There will always be people who crave power. And people who will go to any lengths to hold on to it.
An icy tingle twitched at Emmy’s spine. What lengths would Jonas go to?
He started pacing, his feet scuffing the old stone floor. “I thought Tom and I were on the same page. I thought he believed in our mission. But in our last year of school, he started having second thoughts. One of his friends was injured when an initiation ritual went too far. The girl was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was just an accident. I kept his misgivings to myself and didn’t object when he was given such an important task when he left school. My task was just as important—to mold and shape young minds here is a privilege.”
Emmy cringed. It sounded more like brainwashing kids. Why was he telling her all this? He was giving her a lot of information, information she could take to the police. He must not be planning on letting her out of here. She swallowed down the panic that clutched at her throat. He was telling her things about her dad, but it wasn’t out of the goodness of his heart. He must be trying to coax her into revealing something he wanted to know, and then he wouldn’t need her anymore.