I’d seen the news. Things were getting worse between the supernatural races every day. “I’m scared. What if there’s another war?”
“There’s nothing wrong with being scared. We all are,” he said. “What’s important is what we do with that fear. Courage isn’t a feeling. It’s a choice. And you’re brave enough to make the right decision, whatever happens.”
It was reassuring that he had so much faith in me. I knew I could do anything, so long as the people I loved were behind me.
I said goodbye to Uncle Jonah, then left to go to class. I was anxious all day, and barely able to concentrate on anything my teachers were saying. I was so worried for Marcus— what he might find in the Warden’s office, and what would happen to him if he got caught.
What if he came out with nothing? What would we do then?
We were supposed to meet up in Marcus’ room at six o’ clock. Time ticked by. He was late.
Kallie was nervous, chewing on her fingernails. “Where is he? He should’ve been here fifteen minutes ago.”
Maybe he’s curtains, and so are the rest of us, Oberi suggested.
“Oberi!” Charlie and I both scolded. Kallie couldn’t hear him, but it wasn’t like we needed to hear it, either. Rishi laid on the pillow and purred, like he knew there was nothing to worry about.
We all jumped as the door banged open. “I got them,” Marcus said as he came flying into the room. He waved a bunch of papers above his head. “I wasn’t seen.”
My stomach twisted. “Do you think the Warden will notice they’re gone?”
“These are just copies that I made. I didn’t take the actual blueprints,” Marcus said.
I took a breath. “I have to tell you guys something. The Underground is a place, not a movement like we thought.”
Kallie nodded as I finished telling them what I’d learned. “If what your uncle said is true, the Underground could be on these blueprints. Let’s have a look.”
He placed the papers on his desk. We loomed over the blueprints. My eyes searched the papers, but my thoughts became frantic as I realized there was nothing here we didn’t already know. In the basement level of the Institute, I saw the pool and Cellblock 9, but nothing else.
“This doesn’t help us,” I said, and I slammed my hands onto the table. “We know all these rooms are here already. There are no other rooms anywhere on this map.”
“Well, if it’s a secret, would it be on the blueprint?” Charlie asked.
“The fight club isn’t on the blueprint, and that’s a secret, too. I bet there are other hidden rooms,” Kallie offered.
“It had to be built somehow. The Warden can’t just make a room appear out of thin air, and he’s too stuck up to get his own hands dirty building it,” I said crossly.
“It could be an illusion,” Marcus speculated.
Kallie shook her head. “Illusion rooms are difficult to maintain long-term, especially if you’re using them to hide people. What if it’s a cave tunnel, like the ones the Elves used to get to Forevermore?”
Charlie shook his head. “I already asked Eddie if there was a tunnel underneath the Institute, and he said no. The entire property was built on a huge slab of concrete, to prevent the patients from trying to dig their way out.”
“Your Earth powers could move, or even destroy, the concrete,” I pointed out.
“It would make a big mess, and it would take time,” Charlie said. “We’d get caught before I could make a tunnel large enough for us to leave.”
“If the blueprints are useless to find the Underground, can we use them to escape?” Kallie asked.
“Escape how?” Marcus asked. “We know digging our way out isn’t going to work, even with Charlie’s Earth magic. And we can’t get past the fence with those crystals buried there.”
“We could use Charlie’s Elven powers to escape somehow,” I offered.
“And where would we go after that?” Charlie asked. “How are we supposed to find the other keys when we’re running for our lives? We know there are keys on Darke Island, or at least close by. We’d have to leave the island to not get arrested again, and that would be pointless. Everything we need to save the Elves and stop the war is here.”
“Let’s go down to the basement and check anyway,” I said. “Maybe there’s a secret passageway or something.”
There was nobody down at the pool when we got there, not even a guard, thank the ancestors. We started poking around, running our hands over the walls and floor. We searched for nearly a half hour and didn’t get anywhere. As badly as I wanted to find some sort of gap in the stone, I didn’t.
