“Ooh, watch out everyone, New York is in charge now,” Valentina said, her hands going up in mock surrender. “Better be careful, she’ll get us out, but she might burn the building down in the process.” Valentina leaned against a desk casually, her eyes still on me.
Nina stepped in front of me. “Shut up V. Those rumors aren't even true. That was a total frame job, and you know it.” She looked around the room for a second. “Although, if we could manage to get a flame to one of the sprinklers on the ceiling, the fire alarm would go off, and I bet the firefighters would come let us out.” Valentina’s gaze followed Nina’s up to the ceiling.
“And so would the police, and they’d probably arrest us for trespassing.” Adan pointed out. “As far as banging against the door, I already tried that. I don’t think it’s going to budge.”
“What about that vent?” Valentina suggested, pointing her phone light to an air duct above us.
“Oh, I didn’t realize we were in a Tom Cruise movie,” Nina said.
“Or a Matt Damon flick,” I added.
“Or -” Nina started, but Valentina cut her off.
“Look, there’s an opening there, and it trails all the way into the classroom next door. If someone could climb through it and make it to the other room, they could remove the hockey stick and let us out.”
“Ooh, I love that, escaping espionage style! Classic.” Nina said to Valentina, who smiled smugly. Nina bounced up and down at the prospect, and for the first time, I could see how the two of them may have been friends.
I scoffed. “Sure, you like the idea now. Just wait until you realize who they’re going to send up there.” I said, and Nina’s eyes widened.
“I don’t know…” Valentina sauntered over to me. “Nina may be the shortest, but you’re the most petite, Harper.”
“Maybe compared to a giraffe like you…” I muttered, crossing my arms.
“What was that?” Valentina put her hand to her ear to signal she hadn’t heard me.
“I said, who says you’re not the shortest?” I retorted, instantly regretting it. Obviously, Valentina was the tallest of the group, male company included. Still, something about Valentina’s attitude made me want to challenge her, despite knowing I would look really stupid in about two seconds.
“Get ready to stand on your tippy-toes.” She said as her hands went to my arms. I straightened, and she guided my body right up against hers, so she was looking down at me. At least, I guessed she was looking down at me, but I had no real way of knowing, considering she had my face jammed into the dip between her neck and shoulder. I breathed her in, the smell of saltwater and French linen wafting into my nostrils. Weren’t we supposed to stand back-to-back to do a height test?
“What do you think?” I heard her say, a note of humor in her voice. Her anger from earlier had clearly dissipated, replaced by amusement at my embarrassment. Still standing toe to toe, Valentina coaxed my top half a few inches backward so she could look at me. It was undeniable. She had four inches on me, five tops. “Do I look shorter than you now?” Valentina was smiling, actually smiling.
Seeing Valentina completely relaxed just then shocked me into a state of absolute silence. Someone cleared their throat. Valentina must have taken my non-response as my surrendering defeat because she pulled me back upright and gently released me.
I blinked a few times, gathering my bearings. “I don’t like heights.”
Valentina pulled a large black lab desk directly under the vent opening. “I’ll give you a boost.”
I gritted my teeth. “I don’t need a boost.” I climbed up on the desk and dug around in my pocket, pulling out my knife and popping it open. “And look at that,” I pulled out the thickest, flattest blade I could find and held it up to one of the screws on the vent cover. “A use for my pocketknife.”
I handed Valentina each screw as I pulled them out, and to my surprise, she didn’t complain. As I pulled out the last screw and stuck my other hand flat under the vent grille, I somehow managed to look down, the distance between me and the floor freaking me out a little. My legs wobbled as I lost my balance, and I felt a hand press hard against my thigh, steadying me. Valentina pulled her hand away the moment I regained my composure. I handed her the last pieces of the vent.
“Don’t lose those. We’ll want to leave everything the way we found it when we get out.” Nina said to Valentina. “We don’t want to tip off some janitor about our… after-school activities.”
I closed my knife and tossed it to her so she could close the vent up behind me. Valentina took the opportunity to hand Nina the rest of the vent pieces as well, freeing herself up to stand even closer to the table, spotting me.
“Oh, and Harper?” Nina’s high-pitched voice pulled my attention back to her. “Not to freak you out, but it’s probably filthy in there.” I looked up at the gaping rectangular opening and sighed, realizing Nina was probably right.
Sighing loudly, I shrugged off my flannel, leaving nothing but my black racerback tank top underneath. Thank God I hadn’t worn my white one. I shivered as the chilly air slapped my skin but forced myself to press on. My hands reached up, only my fingertips grasping the cold metal. I tried to hoist myself up, jumping a little to get a better grasp. After a minute or two of trying, I looked down, willing myself to hide my embarrassment.
“Just get up here,” I said to Valentina. I was wrong; I obviously did need a boost.
Valentina jumped up onto the desk in a smooth movement.
“You don’t have to do this,” Adan said tightly from the floor, looking as anxious as I’d ever seen him. He walked away from us and started ramming his body up against the door again, probably hoping to get the door open so I wouldn’t have to put myself through this whole ordeal.
I put my hand on Valentina’s shoulder for support and looked into her eyes, which were intent on me. I held her gaze. “No, it’s okay. I’m doing it.” I said to Adan without breaking contact with Valentina. My other hand went back to the vent. The combination of both composure and intensity I saw in Valentina’s face gave me a sense of something I’d never felt from her before. Safety. I felt safe in her hands.
“Are you ready?” Valentina whispered. I nodded slightly and put one of my feet in her cupped palms.
“One, two, three.” On three, Valentina crouched and hoisted me into the air, my hand quickly moving from her shoulder to the vent, my butt landing halfway on her shoulder in a warped version of a cheerleading move. One hand still on my foot, Valentina took the other and placed it squarely on my butt - yes, my butt - and pushed me deep into the opening of the vent. I barely needed to pull myself up at that point since I was practically inside already. In a swift movement, I used my forearms to crawl further inside and bring the rest of my body along with it.
“Can I get someone’s phone? It’s pitch black in here.” I yelled, attempting desperately not to peer down. A phone appeared in the opening, and I grabbed it. Valentina had turned the flashlight on for me already, thank God, and I flashed the light in the direction I would be crawling.
“Okay,” I muttered to myself, my voice echoing. “Let’s do this.”
I got down on my hands and knees and started crawling through the tight space like I was in boot camp. I could feel what was probably years of dust buildup clinging to the hairs on my arms and cringed.
“Gross.”
My heart rate picked up the farther I got from the classroom, and I increased speed. The sooner I made it to the other end, the sooner I was out of here. My flashlight caught sight of something moving, and I screamed.
The sound of Adan banging up against the door heightened in fervor. The grunting sounds he’d been making as he slammed his body against the door turned into something of an angry cry.
“Calm down, Adan.” I heard Valentina say to him in a strange role reversal, her voice soothing. Part of me wished I’d been down below to see it, a glimpse into the way things used to be be
tween them.
I held the phone light up against the supposed spider and realized it was just a piece of dust flying around. Even still, I scanned the rest of the makeshift tunnel with the light as I moved, just to be sure.
A little light shone through the vent opening a few feet from me, likely reflecting the moonlight and streetlamps from outside the classroom windows.
“Yes,” I said out loud. My own voice bounced around the tight space and back into my ears. “I made it to the other classroom!” I stuck my head over the vent and scanned the room below. It looked similar to the one I was just in, and it even looked like one of the lab desks was close enough to where I needed to land.
“Oh shit.” My stomach dropped as I realized something. “Guys, we didn’t think about this vent cover! I can’t unscrew it from the inside!” I set Valentina’s phone up against the side of the enclosed space and pulled on the vent grille below me.
“Pull it off!” Valentina yelled through the air vent.
“I’m trying!” I shouted back, claustrophobia hitting me with full force. I yanked at the vent grille over and over, hearing the rattle of screws dancing sturdily in place. I could see a few of them loosen from this side, but the vent wouldn’t budge.
“Guys, it’s not coming off!”
A sharp splintering of wood reverberated through the room, and Adan’s face appeared immediately below me, his phone flashlight shining up at me as he looked up, breathing heavily. A zip of relief flushed through my body. He pulled a desk directly under me and climbed up. Adan yanked the vent cover off the ceiling much too aggressively, no screwdriver required, and threw the metal to the ground with a clatter. The relief I’d felt a moment ago turned to trepidation.
The blood on Adan’s knuckles caught my phone’s light as he reached out to me. I hesitated. The sticky red smears gave me pause, but it was the look in his eyes that made me wonder if I’d crumple to ash in his grip. Seeing my reluctance, his face melted into a sudden calm. The wrinkles on his forehead smoothed, and he offered me a small smile. I breathed out and smiled back tightly.
I tossed Valentina’s phone at him, which he leaned up against a nearby table, then reached his arms back out to help me down, knuckles conveniently facing down this time. He was relaxed again, emitting the same level of comfort I’d gotten from Valentina when she lifted me into this damn thing.
I sat down on the vent opening, feet dangling, and reached both hands greedily towards him. By this point, I didn’t waste time thinking about how I would make my exit. I simply eased out of the vent by looping my fingers through one of Adan’s hands, reaching the other to try and catch his shoulder, all at the same time as he used his free hand to grasp onto my hip. I fell into him, and he caught me, holding me close as I got my bearings atop the shiny rubber desk.
I could feel Adan’s hands all over me, but at that moment, I didn’t care. I let him hold me firmly and found my eyes scanning the room, noticing the wood shards from the hockey stick in the dim light and the open door to our right. Nina and Valentina stood on the threshold, watching us. I looked back at Adan, concern etched across his features.
“Thanks,” I said to him, noticing he too was now covered in a layer of gray dust, probably wiped directly onto him in my descent from the ceiling. I pulled away and looked down, the five feet between me and the floor now seeming like a million miles with the vertigo I was experiencing.
Shiny black boots appeared on the floor below as Valentina approached me, holding her hand out to help me down. I took Valentina’s hand and jumped off the table. I felt the soft warmth of fabric as she slipped my flannel over my shoulders.
As Nina tossed Adan my pocketknife, probably to re-screw the vent back into place, I took a few deep breaths. Valentina stood inches from me, watching.
“Next time,” I said between gasps, eyeing the smashed-up hockey stick that Nina was cleaning up, “We go with my plan.”
SIX
I never thought I’d find myself sitting in a pew with Adan on one side and Valentina on the other, but tonight had been a strange one, to say the least.
Nina peered over at me around Adan’s shoulder. “Is it time to call someone? Our phones are dying.” She asked hopefully.
“Look, the church was a good idea, Nina, but there’s nothing here. We just turned the back-rooms upside down looking for a key to that door.” I pointed to the large wooden exit at the back of the school’s church. “The priest obviously took it with them.”
Adan turned to me, looking sheepish. “Harper, there isn’t any chance you can…”
I waited for him to keep going, but he didn’t. “What?”
Valentina angled towards me. “You know.” She said. No, I didn’t know. What were they talking about?
“Pick the lock.” Nina finished for them, eyes hopeful.
I gaped and imagined the way they all must have seen me, the New York rebel girl. My classmates back home would have gotten a good laugh out of this.
“Guys, I can’t pick a lock! I think you’re thinking I’m someone I’m not here, I can’t do that kind of thing.” I put my feet up on the back of the pew in front of us, accidentally knocking a bible onto the ground. “Seriously, why do you even think that? What, because I’m from the city? Because I’m the only one here who wasn’t raised with a silver spoon in my mouth?”
Nina leaned over to me. “You may not have been raised with it in your mouth, but it still stirred your oatmeal if you know what I’m saying.”
“Exactly!” I said. No one said anything. I stood up. “Okay fine. I mean, I’ll try. Does anyone have anything to pick a lock?” Nina pulled a bobby pin from her hair and handed it to me, along with her phone with the flashlight still on. “Okay, how about a long pointy metal thing? Does anyone have anything like that?”
Valentina laid her head back against the smooth pine and pressed her feet against the pew in front of her. “Let me know if you find one, so I can plunge it into my frontal lobe.”
“Okay, no one is performing a lobotomy just yet… At least not until we’re out of here.” I kneeled in front of the exit and stuck the bobby pin inside the old school keyhole. I fished for my pocketknife, thinking maybe there was something on it I could use to work the lock.
“Adan,” I yelled. “Pocket knife?”
“Oh yeah, sorry," He replied and stood, tossing my knife across the room. I stretched my arm out and caught it, then turned back to the door.
“Wait,” I whispered, coming face to face with a very familiar-looking stained-glass window. “Is that… Guys! Guys, come look at this.”
“What?” Someone shouted hopefully as the three of them scrambled to their feet.
“This emblem in the stained glass looks like a compass with a rose placed inside. That’s the crest of the Order of the Six, isn’t it? Does someone have one of their scrolls on them?” I looked from person to person, my hope faltering as I noticed disappointment blossoming across their faces.
“What?”
“No, duh,” Valentina said, collapsing back onto the pew. “The Order, while relatively secret, owns a lot of property in Newport. You’ll find their symbol on a bunch of old buildings around here. Most people don’t notice, and if they do, they don’t realize what it means. I think most people think it’s a town thing.”
My eyebrows knit together. “Okay, so should this matter then? Like could this be a hint or a clue?”
“I don’t think so.” Adan said softly, shaking his head. “Their crest is kind of everywhere. The Order has been buying up land since its creation. They probably put these windows in when they did the renovation one hundred years ago.”
“Wait.” Nina shot up from her seat. “The church was only renovated one hundred years ago, but when was it built?” Her eyes started scanning the room.
Adan thought for a moment, his hand to his chin. “The church was here long before the school was built around it, so I’d say at least a few hundred years be
fore the renovation.”
Nina started moving around the building, her hands coming to the walls, examining any dips or crevices. “That’s it then. I think I know our way out. Priest holes.”
“What now?” Valentina said before I had the chance.
“Priest holes. They were huge in England around the 1500s. The British Monarchy had kind of an issue with Catholic churches at the time, so the Queen would send out ‘priest hunters’ to snatch up the priests.” Her fingers continued trailing along the walls as she made her way from one end of the church to the other. The three of us stared at her as she talked.
“I guess priests started making little hidden rooms or exits to escape being killed for treason. And thus, priest holes were invented.”
Valentina crossed her arms. “Okay, that’s fascinating and all, but didn’t you say that was in England? What does any of that have to do with this church?”
Nina turned to face Valentina and spread her arms out wide. “V, look around! This is classic English architecture! If I remember correctly, this church was modeled after a famous British Cathedral. If we’re lucky, the architect who built this included the priest hole from the original design. Not to mention if the Order took hold of this land, they probably wanted the sneaky exit for something.”
“Something illegal,” I muttered.
“Um, guys,” Nina said to us. “Are you going to help me look?”
We split up and searched again, tearing apart some of the rooms we’d already looked in earlier. This time, we weren’t looking for a key. I kicked floorboards, opened heavy chests, and removed framed photos from walls.
Nothing. Nothing, that is, until I noticed a cupboard the size of an extra-large medicine cabinet built directly into the back wall of the stone room. When I’d opened it before, I’d dug around the various holy knickknacks littering the shelves. This time, I pressed everything to the side and gave the wood a quick knock. The sound was hollow. I knocked again to be sure, then yelled for the rest of the gang.
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