“There must’ve been something we missed. Amalie wouldn’t mark this spot on the map for no reason,” Kallie insisted.
“But if there’s nothing in the lake, why is it important, and why is the Warden searching it?” Marcus asked.
“Maybe what Amalie put here was already moved,” Charlie said.
“Or the Warden found it,” I said darkly. “Whatever was in the lake is already gone. The Warden stopped sending guards down there to search, so he must’ve already found the first clue before we did, which puts him ahead of us.”
“Probably.” Kallie punched the rock wall, and a bit of granite shattered off. “Ugh! This is a waste of time. We should proceed to the next spot on the map and hope that the clue makes sense when we get to it.”
I agreed, although I wish we had a better course of action. From the way things looked, I wasn’t sure if Amalie’s treasure map was anything but a road to nowhere.
CHAPTERELEVEN
CHARLIE
The Warden was already ahead of us. He’d found whatever Kallie’s map was leading us to, and he was one step closer to finding the merfolk key.
That was our best assumption, at least. Based on Kallie’s map, what we could tell was the points led tocluesto the merfolk key, rather than the key itself. The Warden had the first clue. I prayed it wouldn’t lead him to the second before we found it ourselves.
The map wasn’t clear on what we were looking for, though. We knew the map pointed to a general area inside the prison next, but we didn’t know what we were looking for once we got there. Kallie led us inside the school, until we came to a long hallway.
“There’s nothing here,” Marcus complained.
“Amalie must’ve hidden it, whatever it is,” Ava insisted. “Keep looking.”
We walked up and down the hall, searching foranythingthat could be considered a clue, but there was nothing. Either the Warden had already gotten to it, or we were missing something.
I ran my hands over cinder blocks, and Oberi sniffed the floor at my feet. Ava kept making little involuntary sounds, like she was uncomfortable. We must’ve been searching for over an hour, and her fatigue began to slip through our bond.
“Maybe we should call it a night,” I suggested.
“No,” Ava protested. “We have to keep looking. The Warden’s already found one clue. We have to find the next one before he does.”
There was nothing here. Perhaps he’d already found it, but I didn’t voice my thoughts. I wanted Ava to be right, and I wanted to get to the clue first.
“Pidge, you’re ready to fall asleep,” I pointed out. “We need to rest. We can regroup in the morning and keep looking.”
“What if the Warden finds the clue by then?” Ava pressed. “Please, Charlie. We can’t stop.”
“We’ll have to stop at some point,” Marcus said. “I’ve got janitorial duty before curfew. If you want, Ava, I can take you back to your room, and Charlie and Kallie can keep searching.”
“That’s a great idea,” I agreed. “We’ll stay until curfew. Go get some rest, pidge. We’ve got this.”
Ava sighed and reluctantly agreed. Our friends left, along with Oberi and Rishi. Kallie and I searched the hall high and low until curfew approached, but we found nothing.
Finally, Kallie said, “We should probably head back, before we’re locked out of our rooms for the night.”
I gritted my teeth. I didn’t want to leave here with nothing, but I wasn’t sure there was anything here to find. “We’ll come back another day, I guess.”
Kallie and I left the abandoned hallway. We were on our way back to our dorms when we heard a sobbing voice around the corner. “Th— they’re saying it was the Dollmaker. I can’t believe Regina is gone.”
A single beat passed before Kallie rounded the corner. “Whatdid you say about the Dollmaker?”
“He’s claimed another victim,” a guy said solemnly. It sounded like Edwin, though his voice was softer than normal. Whatever happened must’ve rocked their world. These two had always been rude. To see them rattled was unusual.
“Who’d he kill?” Kallie demanded.
“It was Brianna’s cousin, Regina,” Edwin said.
