Nightmare Academy (17 page)
“Don't trouble yourself about it. I got other plans for you.” He put his big hands on her shoulders and whispered something in her ear.
The Booger game began to flash. In only seconds, Elisha lost all her Kleenex points and the game ended in a giant, green explosion.
“Awwww . . . ,” came a chorus behind her.
E
LISHA COULD STILL HEAR the dull roar of the games and the heavy thumping of the music from her dorm room. It was after eleven at night. A few of the girls had returned to their rooms, giggling, gossiping, some tired and snippy, but most of the noise was still coming from the Rec Center. Marcy had not returned, and one look at Marcy's totally devastated half of the room told Elisha not to expect her anytime soon. Whoever Marcy was pretending to be, she was definitely not pretending to be anyone organized or disciplined, and one look at the hallway outside said the same thing about the rest of the girls in this building.
It had Elisha worried, not about the messiness, but what it meant and what it could lead to. If trash and clothing scattered about the rooms and hallways and graffiti on the walls didn't matter, what else wouldn't matter? Mrs. Meeks, the dorm supervisor, didn't seem very concerned. She hardly ever came out of her office to check on things.
Elisha reached under her bed and took her radio from its hiding place in the bedspring. Sitting on the bed with her back against the wall, she held the tiny microphone near the corner of her mouth and began transmitting. “Mom and Dad. In case you're within range of this radio . . .” Just talking to Mom and Dad brought a wave of deep longing. “Hi. I miss you.” She had to pause a moment and draw some deep breaths. Her voice was still choked when she continued. “Elijah and I are okay We're trying to find a telephone or any other way to contact you. We've found the Knight-Moore Academy and from what we've seen, there's no doubt that Alvin Rogers was here.” She looked out the window and could see a few dim lights coming from the mansion. “And I think we've found part of the answer to what happened to him.”
While Elisha was in her room filing a report, Elijah was taking advantage of the darkness, scouting the big stone wall that enclosed the mansion. He'd already circled the campus looking for a road and found nothing, so the only way in and out of this place had to be through that big iron gate and by way of the mansion. He thought he'd heard some vehicles coming and going up there. A mansion that size had to have a road leading to it, and that road had to go somewhere.
Elisha reached under her bed
and took her radio from its
hiding place in the bedspring.
He continued along the wall until he came to the right lower corner. From there, the wall continued up the hill, shrouded by thick forest and darkness. He found an opening in the underbrush and pushed his way in. The brush was low and thin and moved aside easily, but the footing was a little tricky. He climbed, step by step, tree by tree.
When he had gained some elevation above the campus, he halted in a small gap in the brush and listened. Tonight's evening of “rocking out” was winding down. The music had stopped. Lights around the campus were blinking out. He was now closer than he'd ever been to the mansion and could see the big, lighted windows through the tangled tree limbs. He shook off a chill. Maybe it was the darkness, or the rumors he'd heard, but that place gave him the creeps.
Then he heard a strange sound below, a yelling, banging commotion.
“Don't these people ever sleep?” he muttered to himself.
Elisha heard the noise, too, only much closer. She jumped out of bed and went to the window. It was too dark to see much, although she could see two or three bodies running around out there in white KM tee shirts. She heard a long, loud squeal and footsteps coming down the hall. It sounded like Marcy.
She heard a long, loud sgueal
and footsteps coming down the hall.
BAM!
The door opened and it was Marcy, all right, her face red, panting, shrieking and giggling. “It's a raid!” She slammed the door shut, then grabbed a chair to prop against it. “I can't believe it! This is so exciting!”
“Who is it?”
“Alex and all the boys!”
Oh, great!
"Where are they?”
“They're raiding the boys' dorm!”
The crash of a breaking window! Angry screams!
“Where's Mrs. Meeks?”
“I don't know!”
“Well, what about Mr. Stern?”
“I don't know.”
“Leave the lights off.”
Well,
Elijah figured, with
everybody having such a good time down
there, I'll never get another opportunity like this one.
He continued up the hill, keeping the lights of the mansion off his left shoulder, trying to circle it until he found something. So far, he'd found plenty of loose rocks, tangled brush, and low tree limbs, but no break in the forest.
Then he saw something differentâvery vague in the dark, but different. The amber glow from one of the mansion's yard lights was reaching far back into the forest, suggesting a long, narrow opening, a possible road. He paused a moment to study it.
Then he heard something and quit breathing.
He heard it again. A low, close-to-the-ground snuffing, then a snorting. Some bushes rustled. Some twigs snapped.