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“Everything okay, Ro?” Ezra asks, finally stepping up next to me. I can’t speak, so I wordlessly shake my head, turn toward him, and bury my face in his chest. He wraps his arms around me, his cheeks coming to a rest on the top of my head. “What’s wrong?”
I feel silly, crying over a room. But I can’t help it. It might be the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. My voice is muffled when I speak. “I can’t believe you guys did this for me.”
He pulls back and looks down at me, his brows drawn low. “The room? We just figured you’d need a place to work.”
I scoff and shake my head. It’s not just a place to work. It’s a perfect place to record my videos. To be fair, I hadn’t spent all that long looking at it, but from the very brief glimpse I’d gotten they’d divided the room in two, one half is set up for my make-up videos, the other is set up for Gany. They’ve set up cameras, lights and microphones for each, so I won’t have to spend an hour swapping the background or moving the equipment like I used to do.
Along the far wall there’s a set of built-ins, one side full of my makeup and wigs, the other of the favorite items for ASMR, and a huge new monitor on a desk in the middle to edit.
These are all the things I picked out in the five seconds I’d looked and I’m sure that once I actually have a proper look, it’ll be even more perfect. Holy penguins. What am I going to do with these guys?
“Is it okay?” Fielder asks, and I’m pretty sure that I’ve never heard him sound unsure.
“I mean, if you could tell anything from the half second you looked,” Gideon added.
I take a deep breath and release Ezra, turning to the door again. I push it open and let my eyes actually take in the details, walking through it noticing that they’d used my own props but had also added in new things.
They’re all lingering in the doorway, in various states of uncertainty, waiting for my reaction.
I grin. “Its perfect.”
Having arrived on a Saturday, we have all of Sunday to get settled. Though settled isn’t exactly the word I’d use. Saturday night I spend with Merritt catching up on everything. Fielder assured us he’d put silencing spells and protection spells on our suite so we could talk without fear of being overheard.
At midnight a knock sounds on our door, and Merritt and I exchange a glance. When I pull it open, there are the four boys, fully dressed, much to my disappointment and grinning widely at me.
Ezra holds out his hand to me. “Come on. We’ve got things to show you.”
I glance over my shoulder to Merritt and see she’s already pulling on a coat, and grabbing one for me. “The tunnels can get chilly at night,” she explains, handing it to me.
Ooh, the tunnels!I’d almost forgotten that they existed. “Give me two seconds!” I dart back to my bedroom and dig through my sketchbooks until I find the one I need and then join them again. I thrust the notebook at Gideon to pull on my jacket and he arches a brow at it.
“Are you planning on taking notes, Ro?”
“Would you make fun of me if I am?” I try to take the notebook back, but he shakes his head and holds it against his chest.
“Nope.”
He’s not going to give it back right now, so I sigh, then lace my fingers through Ezra’s, allowing him to pull me into the elevator.
“The door to the tunnels in Proctor is in the basement,” Fielder explains, pushing the button. “Not many people have access to it.”
I nod and bounce on the balls of my feet. Sure, last semester I’d spent a good amount of time in the tunnels. I’d made my own map, but I always had to be on the lookout, careful to avoid them and Morgan and all the others members of their coven.
But now I can complete my map and assign actual names to the large rooms that are under each of the buildings.
“You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?” Ezra asks, stepping closer to me with an indulgent smile.
My face stretches into a wide grin. “I am a goonie at heart. I love the idea of hidden passages and discovering treasures.”
“A goonie? What’s that?” Hardin asks and I stare at him in surprise.
“It’s a movie from the eighties,” Gideon answers for me. “A group of kids go looking for buried treasure along the Oregon coast.”
The elevator doors open and we step into the dark basement.
“Why would I watch a movie that’s over thirty years old?” Hardin scoffs. “There’re plenty of newer movies.”
We’ve stopped next to a shelf of cleaning supplies. “It’s a classic,” Fielder says, taking my hand from Ezra’s and guiding it to the side of the shelf where he slides my finger over a carving there, just like the one on the bookshelf in the common room in Goodwin. “Feel that?”
