Arrangements were made and the six students from St. Hibbard's soon shuttled to their respective rooms. Jupiter, Harriet, and Samantha shared one room in the girls' wing, while Gavin was forced into a room in the boys' wing with Mitchell and Maximilian. The three boys couldn't have been more estranged from one another. Usually, when you have a group of three people, a natural two vs. one dichotomy develops, but in this case, it remained one vs. one vs. one.
Mitchell instantly claimed the double bed as his and his alone. His tone dared either of the others to argue, but neither one bothered, The school had also provided a cot, and Gavin made a motion to Maximilian, offering it to the older boy.
"No, thanks," he replied. "I wouldn't use it all that much anyway. I'll crash on the couch."
"What does that mean? You wouldn't use it?" asked Gavin.
Maximilian walked over to the ratty-looking couch and sat down without answering.
The next hour was one of the most miserable in Gavin's life. The three boys did all they could to avoid one another, but none of them were remotely tired, so sleep wasn't an option. Mitchell laid back on the double bed breathing loudly, while Maximilian paced across the cramped room. Gavin tried to block them both out, but it was simply impossible. Once or twice he tried to make conversation, asking what they thought about the slashed tires on the bus and who they thought might be behind it. Their answers were terse and uninspiring.
"Thumbledown," said Mitchell.
"But why would they do that?" pressed Gavin. "What do they gain by keeping us here?"
"They make us angry. They're jerks."
Maximilian's answer was even shorter.
"Dunno."
Finally, just when Gavin thought he couldn't take Maximilian's constant pacing any longer, the older boy leaned his ear against the door for a moment, then grabbed the handle, saying, "Don't wait up for me." He opened the door and silently slipped out into the hallway, easing the door closed behind him.
Gavin sat up on his cot, suddenly alert. He hopped out of bed. "What do you think he's doing?" he asked Mitchell.
"Who cares? The pacing has stopped, thank God," came the reply.
But Gavin did care. He hesitated only an instant before marching to the door and following Maximilian out into the hallway. It was, thankfully, not as well-lit as it had been earlier. The lights along the walls were turned down low, giving the place a comfortable amount of shadows in which to hide. Gavin looked up and down the corridor, straining to hear Maximilian, but he was greeted by silence.
Great, he thought. So much for seeing what the guy's up to. He refused to give up, however. As far as he was concerned, he had a 50/50 shot at moving in the correct direction, so he took a breath, made a decision, and headed off to his left down the corridor.
He passed dorm room after dorm room. Sometimes he could hear noises within the rooms, other times it was silent. He ignored them all. Whatever Maximilian was doing, Gavin doubted it had anything to do with meeting up with someone from Thumbledown. No, he would be somewhere else, looking for something specific. Gavin just wished he knew what it was.
The dorms soon gave way to the main gallery, and Gavin froze, contemplating his choices. There were a total of six hallways leading away from the central room. Up on the balcony where Gavin stood, were the two leading to the dorm wings for the boys and girls. Below, down curved staircases on either side, were four more. One led to the entry hall and outside, one led to the main classrooms, and the other two led deeper into the bowels of the school. It was these last two that Gavin focused on. He'd been down one of them earlier when they'd gathered for dinner, the other was a complete mystery.
He listened intently at the entrance to both of the hallways in question, but came up empty. Whatever Maximilian was doing, it was a good bet Gavin had already lost him. He cursed himself for not reacting sooner., then took a stab in the dark and entered the final 'complete mystery' hallway.
Keeping to the shadows, he made his way forward, peering through any open doors he came across. He passed a couple of cozy-looking studies with fireplaces and comfy chairs, as well as what looked like an office, before coming to a stairway leading both up and down. A sudden noise from above snagged his attention and his heart jumped. Had he found his prey? He eased back against the wall and waited as the noise grew louder and he could just barely make out footsteps. When the footsteps turned a corner at the top of the stairs, however, he became confused. What he heard was not one, but two pairs of footsteps. Had Maximilian joined up with someone? He tensed, hoping whoever it was wouldn't see him. But then they came into view.
"Jupiter? Harriet?"
The two girls jumped back, startled and Gavin stepped into the dim light, his hands up defensively.
"Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you."
"What are you doing out of your room?" demanded a very flustered Jupiter.
Gavin smirked. "I could ask you the same question."
Harriet looked around the corridor, then gestured down the stairs. "Not here," she whispered. "Into the stairwell. Quickly."
Gavin wasn't sure what the hurry was, but he gladly followed Harriet down the steps with Jupiter close behind. Having bumped into these two almost made up for the miserable hour he'd spent cooped up with the boys.
"What are you guys doing?" he asked when they were safely tucked into a dark corner on the stairs.
"Are you kidding?" asked Jupiter. "Do you think we'll ever get a better chance to snoop around this place and find out what's going on?"
"As soon as we were in our room, the three of us plotted out our plan of attack, so to speak," said Harriet. "She remained behind to run interference if anyone came looking for us. What about you?"
Gavin awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "If anyone comes looking for me, they'll find Mitchell who will gladly tell them I slipped away thirty seconds after Maximilian did the same," he admitted, both impressed and jealous that the three girls had worked together on this.
"Where's Max?" asked Jupiter.
Gavin shrugged. "I was trying to follow him, but he got too much of a head start and I have no idea where he is. I don't suppose you've seen him, have you?"
"Would we ask you where he was if we had?"
Gavin conceded the point.
"Since you're here, you should probably join us," said Harriet. "I mean, if you want to."
"Of course I want to!" said Gavin a little too eagerly.
They quickly gave him an update on their travels thus far. They had snuck out of the girls' wing and come to the same conclusions as Gavin upon entering the main gallery. This was the first hallway they'd tried, and they'd gone upstairs but found nothing but boring offices and a bathroom.
"We could have gone through those offices, of course," said Harriet. "But we didn't think that would have been a good use of our time. Whatever we're looking for, we think it'll be a bit more interesting than some old files."
It made sense to Gavin, so he followed them down the stairs onto the next level to continue their adventures. This level seemed to hold more offices and some storage areas. They lingered for a time in one room that was packed with boxes, but the first few they looked into all held school supplies, so they gave up and moved on.
They moved slowly and quietly, always keeping an ear out for anyone else, but the place seemed deserted. By this time, Gavin had given up hope of finding Maximilian, but he was more than happy to continue exploring. Jupiter was right, they wouldn't get another chance like this. At the end of the corridor was another stairway heading down. They shared a look and a nod and then headed into the blackness. It was a testament to their time at St. Hibbard's that they weren't nearly as put off by the dark hallways as they would have otherwise been.
They reached the bottom of the stairs, however, and came to a stop. Here there were no lights at all--at least none that were on. There were also no windows, as they had to be several feet beneath the earth by now.
"I'm good in the dark, but not this dark," said Gavin.
"Good thing we came prepared," said Harriet, pulling a small flashlight out of her pocket.
"Where'd you get that?" he asked, impressed.
"I knew we'd be returning home at night, or thought we'd be returning, anyway. So I brought it to light my way to and from the bus. I'm wearing nice shoes and didn't want to trip."
She flashed her light down at her shoes, revealing light blue pumps that matched the color of her dress. Gavin chuckled at the realization that the girls were sneaking around through the dark corridors of the school in their nice outfits. For the first time that night, he was happy he was wearing jeans.
They followed the circle of light stemming from Harriet's flashlight down the hallway and quickly came to a four-way intersection. After a quick round of "Which way?" they turned left. Not long after, they came to another four-wy intersection, and Gavin began to get worried.
"I've already been lost in one maze this week," he said with a frown.
"Don't worry," said Jupiter. "I have a keen sense of direction. Plus, we'll just stick to the left wall. That way, we can always find our way back."
"That's what I thought back in the hedge maze," he said.
"I doubt this one moves," she replied.
With Jupiter keeping one hand on the wall, they inched forward until Jupiter's hand came up empty. Harriet flashed her light on an archway leading into a subterranean chamber that looked empty.
"Is anybody else getting an impending feeling of dread right about now?" asked Harriet.
"Yup," answered Gavin.
"Oh, good. I'm glad I'm not the only one."
They skipped the chamber, as well as the next two chambers they came across, and were about to turn left at another intersection when a noise froze them in their tracks.
Somebody was whistling.
The sound came from up ahead. Not sure what to do, they stood in the dark, held fast by indecision. They then heard a strange creaking sound, followed by a clang, and what sounded like a key turning in a lock.
"Back to the last chamber!" whispered Jupiter urgently.
The three kids hurried as silently as possible back to the last chamber they'd crossed, ducked inside, turned off the flashlight, and held their breath. The footsteps approached, growing louder. The whistling grew louder, too. It wasn't any particular tune, just someone whistling randomly to hear themselves. Suddenly, a circle of light crossed in front of the threshold, followed by a figure Gavin instantly recognised. He ducked down, eyes wide with fear. The other two looked at him curiously, worried. A moment later, the light of the figure vanished as he reached the intersection and turned the corner.
They waited a moment more, Gavin filled with nervous energy, then Jupiter broke the silence. "What was that all about? Did you recognise him?"
Gavin nodded. "That was Phantom." He quickly told them all about his chilling encounter with the Thumbledown student during the Hide and Seek match. When he was finished, Jupiter stated the obvious. "I think we've found what we're looking for."
The others agreed.
They hurried out of the chamber and down the corridor to the intersection, then straight across until they came to another archway, much like the ones they'd already passed. This one, however, was blocked by an iron gate. Harriet flashed her light through the gate. It looked to be a graveyard of some sort, but there was a large, stone table against one wall stacked with files.
"What are those?" asked Harriet.
"One way to find out," said Gavin. He pressed against the gate, but it was, of course, locked. He tried to slip his hand through to unlock the gate, but the spaces between the bars were too small.
"You've got to be kidding me," said Jupiter. "We get all the way down here to be stopped by a gate?"
Harriet, being the smallest, also tried to slide her arm through, but it just wasn't possible. They were locked out. She turned to Gavin. "Do you think you could squish your head through the bars?"
"Probably," he said. "But the lock is too complicated for me to open in that state. Back at the library, I just had to lean against the bar. Here, I'd need to manipulate the lock, and I can't do that when I'm squished."
"So we're really stuck?" asked Jupiter, frustrated.
Gavin was about to agree, when a thought struck him. He looked at Jupiter. He looked at Harriet. He looked back at Jupiter. He smiled. "Maybe not. You could go all gas giant on us and drift through."
"No, because if you'll recall, I have no control over myself when I do that."
"What if there was a slight wind blowing you through the bars?" he asked.
Both girls' eyes widened. They suddenly looked at each other and grinned.
"How come we've never thought about that?" asked Harriet.
"You got me," answered Jupiter.
The two turned to Gavin. "OK, we'll give this a go on one condition," said Jupiter.
"What's that?"
"Don't make fun of us," said Harriet. "I look like an idiot when I do my thing."
"And I start out looking really, really fat before I move into my gaseous state."
Gavin hid a smile and promised not to tease. He stepped to the side and let the girls work their magic. Jupiter walked right up to the gate, then closed her eyes and concentrated. At first, nothing happened, but then Gavin noticed that she was growing. Not just taller, but in all directions, as if she were a balloon somebody was blowing air into. Weirdly enough, her clothes were growing with her. Just when Gavin was worried that the corridor wouldn't hold her, her skin shimmered and just like that, she was a giant ball of gas. It was diffuse, with no indication where her head was or her arms or legs or anything. She was simply a large ball of gas. A gas giant. Jupiter.
Then it was Harriet's turn. With a quick, sheepish look at Gavin, she stepped up and began flapping her hands. He had to admit, it did look kind of ridiculous. But it had the desired effect. A soft breeze rose out of nowhere. At first, Gavin wasn't sure the plan was going to work, but then he saw the gas drift through the bars of the gate.
"It's working!" he cheered.
"Yeah, shush," replied Harriet, her tongue out the side of her mouth as she worked. "I'm concentrating."
She continued to flap her hands until every last bit of gas had floated through the gate to the opposite side. Finally, she stopped, obviously winded, and began to slump forward. Gavin was there to grab her and help her remain upright. She smiled a gentle thanks to him as she caught her breath.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the gate, the gas began to coalesce. Gavin watched, fascinated, as it suddenly shimmered back into a solid state, and then deflated until at last, Jupiter stood, hands proudly on her hips.
"Who's unimpressive now?" she said. Then she walked back up to the gate and undid the lock, opening the gate. "Now then. Let's see what we've stumbled onto."