Page 124
Jack shushed them and continued.
They watched the constructs work. The guardian, as Adam had decided to call the big one, just stood there, still as a statue.
Adam lost track of time, but it had to be at least an hour before Jack finished. He played with his phone, which was pointless.
“Oh,” Jack said.
“What?”
“I think I found what they didn’t want us to know.”
“It’s about the Between?”
“Yeah, and it’s pretty bad.”
“Your query has been addressed,” the construct said.
“Wait—” Jack pled but the plinth with the codex was already descending and the platform rising.
In a few moments the floor was back and the vault door opened.
It began to close when they crossed the threshold. The key popped out of its spot beside the door.
“That looks like an invitation to come again,” Daff said.
“If you can find the right book,” Adam added.
Jack took the key and whispered to the door.
Adam tensed.
So far the school had been able to use any door he’d seen to get them home. Though this one might be the exception. Jack finished speaking to it. Adam worried that nothing was going to happen, then heard a click to the side.
An old-fashioned door, limned in green light, opened in the tunnel’s wall.
29
They stepped through. The change from one place to another was usually instant, but in that breath, that heartbeat between, something struck. Adam felt himself fall. He tumbled, over and over, to land roughly in a patch of muddy forest.
They hadn’t been holding hands, and Daff was nowhere near him.
“Yuck,” she said, sitting up and scowling at the condition of her clothes.
Jack stood and offered her a hand up.
“I’m okay.” She found her footing and he wiped the muck from his slacks.
“Where are we?” Jack asked, staring through cracked glasses.
They scanned the snow-covered leaves and bare branches of the smooth-barked, forking trees.
Adam and Daff’s breath clouded the air.
“I think we’re in the spirit realm,” Adam said.
“But not at the school.” Jack straightened. “Something blew us off course.”
“I wonder if they had anything to do with it?” Daff asked as a ring of figures emerged from the shadows.
