Authors: Lisa Roecker
Alistair reacted instantaneously. I guess all those two-a-days during lacrosse season had paid off, because he was shoving past them and into the tunnels before anyone else had moved an inch.
Liam looked at me. “You okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“Good. Don’t move.” And with that Liam sprinted out the door after Alistair.
I sat on the couch for a beat and then stood up. There was no way I was going to just sit around while Liam and Alistair fought in the tunnels. I was going in.
I made a dash for the door, but Seth moved to block me.
“Kate, it’s not safe.” He put his hand up like a misguided crossing guard.
“No, but it’s better than sitting around and waiting. He has everything. All the evidence I’ve gathered. I have to get it back.” My voice was shrill, desperate almost. Now that everything had finally clicked into place, I couldn’t let Alistair get away.
“Fine. I’ll come with you.” Seth put on his best tough-guy face, and in that moment I knew he’d always do his best to help me slay whatever dragons might come my way.
“You’ve got to stay here with them. Please? For me?” I asked. He looked over at Maddie and Taylor. “I have to do this, Seth.” My hands were already positioned on the door.
He shook his head back and forth. “Fine, but be careful and take this.” He grabbed one of the swords positioned next to the entryway.
I had to laugh. Something about me running through underground tunnels with a sword was beyond funny, but I took it with me anyway. A girl could never be too careful. Besides, I was ready to start slaying my own damn dragons.
I could hear the guys ahead, so I took off in the direction of the noise, hoping I’d get there in time to save Liam and get my invitation back from Alistair. The sconces guided my way, with my bare feet padding against the stone floor, but the voices drifted away the more I ran. I must have taken a wrong turn. I heard footsteps again and picked up my pace, but as I broke into a sprint, I realized the footsteps weren’t ahead of me—they were behind me. I was being chased.
“Kate, I know you’re out here.” Alistair’s voice echoed through the narrow halls, igniting a scream deep in my throat. I managed to swallow it back and instead flew around a corner and stopped, pressing my body against the damp brick. I could barely hear his footsteps over the sound of my pounding heart.
“No use hiding. I know every inch of these tunnels.”
The footsteps came closer to where I stood. Sucking air deep into my lungs and digging for courage I didn’t even know I had, I jumped out, pointing a shaking sword at Alistair.
“Shit,” he hissed, holding his hands up. “Calm down, Kate. Don’t do anything you’ll regret.”
I lowered the sword an inch, but he dodged at the base of it, trying to rip it from my fingers. Trying to protect myself, I sliced the sword through the air and felt the blade hit something soft. Alistair’s hand shot to his bicep and he dropped the invitation. It floated to my feet and, still training the sword on Alistair, I bent to retrieve it.
Swearing at me, he lifted his fingers to examine the damage the sword had caused. His hand was red with blood, and a long line of maroon tore down his arm where he’d been cut. He crouched to the ground and sucked air through his teeth, clearly hurt.
“You tell the truth, or I’m going to,” I said, standing over him but lowering the sword. Witnessing his pain, I let my guard down. Big mistake. He lunged for my midsection, tackling me to the ground like a rag doll. The sword flew from my grasp, clinking against the brick wall a few feet from our bodies.
“Just stop fighting and listen to me for a second. You’re going to ruin everything,” he hissed.
“Stop. Hurting. Me…” I struggled to form words with the full weight of him on top of me. “It’s not going to get you anywhere.” My lungs felt as though they were crushed.
“Get off her.” Maddie’s voice rang in my ears. It sounded strong and confident, so much different from the way she looked.
All at once, I felt his weight slide away and I was able to breathe again. I scrambled backward and into the brick wall, trying to put as much distance as possible between us.
Maddie held the other sword out in front of her. It shook in her hands.
“Trying to redeem yourself?” Alistair asked, walking straight for her. “Once a traitor, always a traitor, isn’t that right, Maddie?” He charged at her, easily knocking the sword from her weak grip and pinning her thin form against the brick wall with his body.
“I’m not about to lose everything because of
you
,” he hissed. His voice was laced with both hatred and fear at the same time.
I couldn’t take another second. I searched the ground around me for some sort of weapon besides the sword. I had cut him once by accident; I knew I didn’t have it in me to cut him on purpose. My eyes were drawn upward, and I saw the portraits hanging on the wall. Acting quickly, I managed to lift one of the heavy frames off the hook and drag it toward Alistair, his fingers digging into Maddie’s thin arms.
Her eyes widened as she saw me coming. Screwing up my features, I struggled to raise the frame above my head. Maddie squeezed her eyes shut and turned her face toward the wall as I slammed the substantial frame over his head. He didn’t fall as quickly as I’d envisioned, and I wondered if one hit wasn’t enough. But then, with his head lolling to the side, he fell to the cobblestone floor with a thump.
Maddie rubbed at her arms where he had held her, and I dropped the frame to the ground. Both of us looked at Alistair’s body lying in a heap and took off down the tunnel without another word. As we rounded the corner, I saw Liam slumped against the ground near one of the trapdoors. I knelt down next to him.
“Liam”—I shook his shoulders—“Liam! Wake up.”
When I heard him moan, I let the air out of my lungs. “Oh, thank God.”
He rolled onto his back, and the instant I looked at his face, I noticed the black bruise already forming around his left eye.
“Your eye.” He grabbed my hand, and I helped him sit up. “Does it hurt?” I placed my fingers on his cheek, barely touching his skin.
“I’m fine. It’s fine,” he said, reaching his hand up to touch my fingers.
I glanced back at Maddie, who stood awkwardly behind us, not knowing where to look. “I’m going to help you up, okay?” I said. “We have to get out of here. Alistair’s out for now, and we need to call the police to tell them where to find him.”
I pushed myself up and helped Liam stand as well.
“What about Taylor?” Liam mumbled groggily.
“I saw her take the stairs out to the clock tower,” Maddie replied, gesturing for us to follow her.
“You just let her go?” Liam asked, shaking his head to try to clear it.
“I’ll explain later. Let’s just get out of here.” I grabbed his hand, and we followed Maddie as she expertly navigated the tunnels until we came to another door. “Alumni Hall,” she said, nodding at it. Liam climbed the stairs first, looking back when he didn’t hear additional footsteps.
“I’ll be up in a minute,” I said. When he still didn’t move, I continued. “It’s okay. I just need a second.” Slowly, he continued the rest of the way up without us. I turned back to Maddie. As soon as she met my eyes, hers filled with tears again. I clenched my hands into fists and found the courage to say what I needed to say.
“Grace is really gone, isn’t she?” I asked, my voice cracking.
Maddie cried then. Huge, silent tears. “Yes.” Somehow she looked even smaller than when I’d first met her all those years ago. I didn’t know if she’d hug me back, but I wrapped my arms around her anyway. We stood together like that, crying for everything we’d lost, including each other.
“You have to get help, Maddie,” I said, referring to more than just her obvious eating disorder. “Promise me you’ll get help.” She nodded into my shoulder and wiped beneath her eyes as she pulled away. “And we have to go to the police.” I looked at her, praying the girl I once knew was still in there somewhere. That she was still able to see what was right.
“I already called them. It’s over,” Maddie said quietly.
I peered around her, taking in the narrow tunnels one last time, and wiped beneath my own eyes. There were more hurdles ahead, possibly even more challenging than the ones we’d just jumped, and I had to be strong. My invitation to the Sisterhood was crumpled in my hands. I had to finish what I had started.
After we climbed the steep flight of stairs, Liam reached down to grab my hand. His strong grip was comforting, my struggle with Alistair already drifting into the recesses of my memory.
We rushed down Alumni Hall, and I gave the plaque at Station 6 a habitual slap.
Respice, adspice, prospice
. I had just looked at the past, and we were off to the present. I’d worry about the future tomorrow.
The next morning, my parents and I were called to the police station to give an official statement to the officer in charge of Grace’s case.
Detective Livingston’s office was overloaded with files and loose papers, but I noticed a Pemberly Brown bumper sticker pinned to his bulletin board.
“Please, everyone, have a seat. Can I get anyone something to drink?”
My dad rubbed at his eyes and asked for a cup of coffee.
“No, I’m okay. Is that evidence?” I asked pointing at the bumper sticker.
He smiled.
“No, ’fraid not. I graduated in the class of ’97.” Detective Livingston shuffled some papers on his desk. “So let me review why we’ve gathered today.”
“We were under the impression that Kate was here to give an official statement,” my mom said, transitioning seamlessly from mom to lawyer.
I reviewed the events of the previous night in my mind: me cracking the code to get into the headquarters, Alistair threatening all of us, me slicing into his arm by accident, finally handing the invitation I’d received last year to a police officer. Never in a million years did I think I was the kind of girl who would get involved in a sword fight for evidence in a criminal investigation. But I also didn’t think I was the kind of girl who would give an official statement to a police officer, either. I guess I didn’t really know who I was, exactly.
“Kate.” Detective Livingston met my eyes. “You need to know that Alistair Reynolds is pressing charges against you.”
I was floored, speechless, literally unable to respond to the news. My palms began to sweat, and a dull ache pulsed at each temple. This was not happening. There had to be a mistake.
“Hold on just a second.” My dad sat up straighter and put the coffee cup down on the detective’s metal desk with a clink. “What exactly are you accusing my daughter of?”
“I know this might come as a shock to you, Mr. and Mrs. Lowry”—the detective looked at me as he said this—“but Alistair was treated at University Hospital last night for a knife wound. He claims Kate stabbed him.”
“What’s this all about, Kate?” my dad asked, wrinkles threatening to overtake his entire face.
“Kate, what exactly happened last night?” my mom asked, narrowing her eyes. I could feel their support waver. My mom scooted uncomfortably in her chair, moving a little closer to my dad and farther away from me.
“He attacked me! I was protecting myself,” I yelled defensively. “Did Alistair mention that he started the fire that killed my best friend?” I stood up as I said the words, and my dad guided me back down into the seat.
“Kate, let’s not say anything we’ll regret,” Detective Livingston said, referring back to his papers.
“I won’t regret anything I say. What about the Brotherhood and the Sisterhood? What about their role in Grace Lee’s death? They killed her.”
“Kate, I’m going to have to ask you to calm down. Detective Sanchez took down all of your information about these so-called societies last night at the school, and frankly we’ve been unable to find any evidence of these types of groups at Pemberly Brown.”
“Dad,” I said, beginning to get desperate. “I showed him where the tunnels lead…I gave him my evidence, the invitation, their crests, everything.”
The detective looked at my parents. “Mr. and Mrs. Lowry, we’ve investigated all of Kate’s claims. The clues lead nowhere, and Headmaster Sinclair assures us that the only thing beneath Pemberly Brown are some old sewers.”
“Of course he said that! He’s one of them.” And then I remembered Alistair’s comment about the police.
The Brotherhood runs deep
. “You’re one of them too, aren’t you? Is that what this is about? Protecting your stupid secret society?”
“Kate, that’s enough.” My dad placed his hand on my forearm. “You’ve said plenty.”
“I think we’re done here. Without additional proof, it’s Kate’s word against Alistair’s, and frankly after she assaulted him last night, her word doesn’t carry much weight.”
“But what about Maddie and Taylor?” I didn’t bother looking at the detective; I asked the question of my parents. “They’ll tell the same story.” I was more desperate than ever now. I couldn’t believe this was happening, and worse still, I couldn’t believe he was right.
I had no evidence. Nothing. The past few weeks had been a huge waste. The only information I had left implicated me and the Sisterhood. The police even had the invitation I’d managed to get back from Alistair, and they’d probably already burned it.
“Honey, Maddie is very sick,” my mom began. “I spoke with Mrs. Greene. They’re sending her to a facility to get help. She’s not a reliable witness.”
Detective Livingston gave me a long, hard look and, to my shock, reached out across his desk and grabbed my hand.
“Kate, I know you’re missing your friend and that you want her death to be something more than a horrible accident, but that’s exactly what it was: an accident.”
I pulled my hand away from his and looked back at my parents. They were nodding their heads in agreement. All the blood rushed out of my face. I was back at square one.
“Thank you for understanding, detective. We appreciate how much you’ve done already. What do we have to do to fix this?” my dad asked.
“The Reynoldses were hesitant to press charges in the first place, so I think with some reassurance they’d be willing to rescind. But I’ll need Kate’s word that she’ll stop spreading all this nonsense about secret societies. It’s dangerous.”
I sat in silence.
“Kate?” my mom asked. “Did you hear what Detective Livingston said?”
I remained silent, but my mom didn’t ask again.
“Detective,” my dad said, standing, “please tell the Reynolds family we’ll take care of all the medical expenses associated with this situation.” He reached out to shake the detective’s hand, and my mom stood as well.
“So if we don’t hear from you, we’ll assume the charges have been dropped?” my mom asked.
“Yes. I’ll contact you if anything changes,” the detective responded.
We left the police station in silence. I could see the questions forming on my parents’ lips, but no sound ever left their mouths. I couldn’t believe that after everything, it had come to this.
I’d played the game and solved the puzzle, but somehow I’d still lost.