Neverland Academy (7 page)

Daphne
approached an intersection. Which way had Finn led her? She would berate
herself later for not paying attention, if she made it out of here alive. Right
now she had to keep moving. Daphne turned right.

She
kept running, trying to pick up the pace, but fatigue was setting in quickly.
Daphne had never been very athletic, apart from the handful of fistfights she’d
gotten into on a weekly basis. She hadn’t even attended her P.E. class in the
last two years, opting to skip it to hang out with her friends in the school
parking lot where they smoked weed and drank Schnapps out of emptied juice
boxes. She would never admit that her parents were right about her friends, but
at this moment she did wish she’d used that P.E. time more wisely.

Daphne
came upon another intersection. This time she turned left and followed the
tunnel until she came upon another wall. The tunnel veered right. At the end of
the tunnel was a rope ladder, dangling from darkness above. Daphne knew this
was not the ladder she had come down. But Finn said there were other entrances
to the tunnels. Maybe this was one of them.

By
the time she’d placed her left hand on the ladder, the boys had caught up with
her. She fumbled on the ladder trying to gain her footing, but every time she
lifted her foot, the rope swung to the side and she’d miss the rung. Finally,
she’d caught hold and flew up the ladder at lightning speed. Just when her eyes
crossed the threshold into the ceiling she could go no further. Her foot was
stuck on something. She flashed the light down and saw a hand grasping her
ankle. She pulled and kicked violently, but instead of kicking it away, she
felt herself yanked downward. She hit the ground with a thud and pain radiated
from her backside up her spine.

Still
breathless from running, Daphne was too tired to even stand up. She huddled in
the corner, staring through her hair at the boys who were watching her. They
had lights glowing from the foreheads that hurt Daphne’s eyes, but she could
still see their faces. There were five of them altogether. And they looked like
starving lions. And she was a fresh carcass.

Chapter
Eight

Welcome
To Neverland

The tip of the
razor-sharp dagger held
by the thick boy with shaggy brown hair grazed Daphne’s chest, just below her
neck. He pulled away quickly, but not before breaking the skin. A small bead of
blood hung to the surface of her skin.

“She
doesn’t look like a cop,” Shag said, looking back toward the others. The girl
was frozen in the corner, small as a rag doll, and visibly shaken.

“She
could be one of those under-whatevers,” said Trick.

“Undercover
cop?” said Hangman. “Nah, she’s too young. Look at her.”

“But
Belle said—”

“I
know what Belle said. But she must have been wrong.”

“Is
she hurt?” Toot wondered aloud.

“Of
course she’s not you idiot,” Kevin grumbled. “It’s not like she fell off the
bell tower. It was just a few feet.”

Toot,
being the smallest and least intimidating of the five, stepped forward and nudged
her with his foot. The girl kicked him away.

“Don’t
touch me!” she screamed. Daphne shot up to her feet and hooked her fists in
front of her face in an exaggerated boxer’s stance. She was small and
outnumbered, but she wouldn’t go down without a fight. Every time one of the
boys neared her, she swung her fist out. They played this game for several
minutes, the boys cackling with laughter at her display of false courage. She
probably would have laughed too, had she witnessed this scene from anybody’s perspective
but her own.

“Daff?”
A voice tumbled down the tunnel. “Daffy? Where are you?”

As
Trick stepped forward to taunt her he lost his focus and she slugged him across
the chin. “Ow!” he cried, jumping back.

“Finn?”
she murmured. Louder, she cried, “Finn! Over here!”

All
at once the boys turned their backs to Daphne. As their lights met the end of
the tunnel, Finn had just rounded the corner. “Daffy, I told you to
stay—oh.” His eyebrows shot up, a little surprised to see the crowd that
was waiting for him. “What’s up, guys? Start the party without me?” Finn
grinned.

Daphne
pushed her way through the boys and ran toward Finn. Just before he caught her,
he noticed a flash of red on her chest and pushed her back to examine it.

“What’s
this?” he murmured as he dipped his finger in the drop of blood and rubbed it
against his thumb. Finn stood stiff and his eyebrows furrowed.

“What
happened?” Finn’s voice no longer sounded like a high school dropout, but as a
commander, firm and resolute. The boys cowered in his presence.

“We
didn’t know,” Toot hollered.

“They
chased me,” Daphne squeaked. She felt that childish need to cry, but held it
in. She couldn’t let these boys see how vulnerable she felt. “They had a knife.
Finn I was lost; I couldn’t find my way out! Why did you leave me there all
alone?”

Finn
wrapped one arm around Daphne’s shoulders and turned her to face his band of
boys. “I bring you an ally and you try to kill her? What the hell!” Finn was
fuming now. Even in the darkness Daphne could see his fair skin flush red.

“It
was a misunderstanding Finn,” Kevin called out. “Belle told us a cop was
snooping around the grounds.”

“She
said she saw the cop go down the tunnel,” Trick added.

Finn
seemed to calm down. He scratched his head thoughtfully. “Now why would Belle
go and tell you that? No cops come around here. If they did Trappe would be
shittin’ his pants. And besides Belle knew where I was tonight. If she saw
anyone go into the tunnel she would have known it was Daffy and me.”

“It’s
Daphne,” she clarified, placing a hard emphasis on the ‘ne.’

“No.
As long as you’re with us, it’s Daffy.”

“But—”

“Don’t
worry Daffy,” Hangman said. “We all have nicknames here. None of us uses our
real name anymore.”

“But
why?” she asked.

“Tell
me something, did you give yourself that name?” Finn asked, turning her so that
they could return down the tunnel.

“Of
course not. My parents named me.”

“Exactly!
You didn’t get to choose your name. They did. You’re free now, Daffy. You can
have any name you want.”

“But
I like Daphne.”

“Okay,”
Finn challenged. “Let’s try a different scenario. When your parents wake up
tomorrow and find you missing they are going to alert the police. There’ll be
news bulletins, amber alerts, countywide searches. Hell, they’ll probably even
dredge the lakes for you. Your picture and name will be plastered everywhere.
Now, we’re running down the tunnels and to keep you from impending danger I
call out your name.” Finn cupped his hands around his mouth and pretended to
yell, though he kept his voice low, “’Daphne!’ Somebody above, say somebody in
the administrative offices, hears your name being called through the
ventilation ducts. Think about it. How many boys here do you think are named
Daphne?”

“Okay,
I get your point,” Daphne sighed.

“So,
what will it be?”

Daphne
tried to run through a list of random names in her mind. None of them had any
real appeal to her. She was tired, hungry, and in dire need of sleep. She
didn’t want to think anymore. She just wanted to crash. She yawned and gave in
to Finn’s request. “Daffy it is.”

***

Daphne
rolled over a padded hard surface to lie on her back and stretched her arms up
over her head. Her eyes fluttered open only to meet with darkness. Confusion
set in over the events of the previous night. Did all of that really happen? It
should be morning now, so why is it still so dark? She scratched an itch on her
chest and winced briefly at the subtle pinch. Daphne smacked her face. “Of
course, you idiot,” she said to herself, “you’re underground.”

She
couldn’t see anything around her other than a faint light filtering in from an
open doorway. Daphne was lying on the floor. The padded mat and flattened
pillow beneath her kept it comfortable enough, but she was still freezing with
the thin blanket someone had draped over her. From out in the tunnel, she could
hear voices, a boy’s and a girl’s.

“Why
would you do that?”

“I’m
sorry, Finn. I told you it was a mistake. I’d heard some of the boys talking
when they left Professor Vermin’s class and—”

“Come
on, Belle. You know better than to fall for those callow rumors. Those kids
couldn’t tell a cop from a donut.”

“I
know. It was really stupid of me. I’m sorry.”

Daphne
quietly slid out of her blanket and crept toward the doorway. Someone had taken
her shoes and socks off and her toes instinctively curled under at the chill of
the stone floor. She peeked her head around the corner to find Finn talking to
a girl with platinum hair piled atop her head in a short ponytail. She was
young, yet curvy, and Daphne couldn’t help the tiny thorn of jealousy that
stung her in the rear.

“Just
be careful next time,” Finn lectured the fair-haired peach. “You’re lucky I got
there in time.”

“Finn?”
Daphne said wearily, wanting to make her presence known.

“Daffy!
Come here, I want you to meet someone. This is Belle. Belle, this is Daffy, the
newest member of the gang!” Finn approached Daphne and wrapped his arms around
her shoulders, as if he were showing off a new girlfriend.

“It’s
Daphne,” she said, yawning. “I’ve heard much about you, Belle.” She considered
offering her hand to shake, but it felt unnatural so she kept it to herself.
Not to mention that Belle was giving her the stink eye.

“No,
it’s Daffy,” Finn corrected, nuzzling her head with his knuckles playfully.
“Remember?”

“Of
course.”

“Belle
. . .” Finn warned when Belle crossed her arms and turned her cheek from
Daphne. She sighed and smiled spuriously.

“It’s
a pleasure to meet you,
Daffy
. I just
know we’ll be BFF’s. Want to have a sleepover? Hey, maybe we can invite your
brothers, the tall one is kind of hot, if you like that nerdy, D&D gamer
kind of look.”

Daphne
scowled and returned some biting remarks of her own. “What’s the matter? All
the other guys get bored of hooking up with you and run out of options?”

“All
the guys around here haven’t a chance of getting into my pants,” Belle
returned, not to be outdone.

“Maybe
because your pants are too tight around your ass. Maybe you should loosen up
and let it air out a bit.”

“Yeah,
well, I’m sure you can’t wait to be the new Neverland slut.”

Daphne
clenched her fists. Her desire to break the girl’s face overpowered any sense
of restraint. She charged forward, stopped by Finn’s unwavering arm.

“That’s
enough, Belle,” he snapped. “Get out.” Belle gave Daphne a final dirty look
before turning and sashaying away into the darkness.

“Friend,
huh?” Daphne mused. “You sure know how to pick ‘em.”

Finn
stared down the tunnel, confused. “I don’t know what’s wrong with her. She’s
usually really cool.”

“She
feels threatened by me.”

“Why?
That doesn’t make any sense. You’d think she’d be glad to have another girl
around to do girly things with. Someone to gossip with, you know. That’s what
you girls do, isn’t it?”

Daphne
rolled her eyes. “Not all of us. Did you ever stop to think that maybe she
likes being the only girl around. She sees me as competition.”

“And
what is it she’s competing for?”

Daphne
shot Finn a ‘you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me’ stare. “Seriously? I thought you were
smarter than this. You know the history of this place, the secrets it holds,
all the tunnels and everything. And yet, you don’t know that she’s crushing on
you?”

“No,
not Belle. I told you; she’s one of the guys.”

“You
really are clueless.”

Finn
grinned. “Probably my Aspergers. You hungry?”

Daphne’s
stomach had stopped growling at some point during the night. She remembered
thinking before she fell asleep that she wished she hadn’t started that silly
hunger strike. Hungry was the understatement of the year.

“Starving.”

“Come
on. Let’s get some grub.”

***

The
clattering of aluminum pots and pans signaled the end of the breakfast shift
for the dark-skinned girl with her long, straightened black hair knotted up in
a bun under a hairnet. In the real world she should have been dozing off in a
high school trigonometry class instead of working in a cafeteria kitchen. But
this was not the real world. This was Neverland Academy. And Lily had
homeschooled herself between shifts.

She
started working at the young age of twelve, after she’d gotten in trouble for
spreading rumors about the headmaster at her local public school. That was
around the same time Finn had gotten expelled. Only, the rumors were true. From
that point on, the headmaster forbade her to attend public school and
threatened to remove her from the premises if she continued. Her mother was
forced to comply since she needed to keep her job and had no other way of
providing for her daughter as a single mom. Not to mention the academy was her
home. Lily didn’t mind the work though. At least she got paid. Sure it was
miniscule at first, more like a meager allowance. But now that she was sixteen
and legally able to work, she was making minimum wage. And she’d saved every
penny since she was eleven in a savings account that would be her ticket out of
this hellhole. By the time she was eighteen she would have enough to go to a
decent in-state college.

Lily
was on dish duty today, one of her favorite jobs because she could be alone and
sing to her heart’s content without anyone disrupting. Most of the time, that
is.

While
rinsing a handful of forks, Lily’s back was turned away from the panel low in
the wall that was slowly sliding to the side. She didn’t even hear Finn and
Daphne come in with the hum of the water sprayer and her own melodic crooning.
Today she was singing Beyonce’s “Halo,” one of her favorite tunes.

“When
are you going to audition for American Idol?” Finn nearly shouted so that she
could hear him. Lily jumped out of her skin and dropped the forks into the sink
in a screeching chorus of
clinks
.

“Don’t
do that Finn!” She tried to look angry, but couldn’t disguise the smile
breaking through at seeing one of her best friends. Finn simply chuckled.

“Lily,
this is Daffy. She’ll be with us for a while.”

Lily
smiled brightly, her pearly white teeth a perfect complement to her taupe skin.
“It’s so good to meet you, Daffy! I’d shake your hand, but well . . .” Lilly
held up her yellow gloved hands that were dripping with soapy water.

“That’s
okay.” Daphne smiled. “It’s nice to meet you too.” Daphne thought back to what
Finn had said about Lily, that they had once been involved. She couldn’t help
but notice how pretty Lily was, even hard at work scrubbing greasy dishes. It
was an exotic kind of pretty, something you don’t see every day. A small stroke
of jealousy crept into her mind, though she chastised herself for feeling that
way. Finn was her friend and nothing more. She didn’t want a relationship with
him any more than he wanted one with her. And he made it perfectly clear
romance was off the table. Besides, Lily seemed really sweet. “You seem to be
much more hospitable than the other girl I met.”

Finn
dodged off to the side between two floor-to-ceiling length shelving units
filled with dry goods and paper products.

“You
must be referring to Belle.” Lily raised and lowered her eyebrows knowingly.

“Is
she as hostile towards you as she was to me?”