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“What’s it about?” Justin asked, glancing over at me.
“I’m not sure, but in her last lecture, Professor Chan mentioned that she’s looking for an assistant to do some admin work for her. I’ve been pretty active in all of her classes so far, and she seems to like me, so I’m hoping she’s called me in to ask me to do it,” I said, staring bleakly at the rain pounding the pavement outside. “I think it would look good on my resumé.”
“Yeah, it would.” Justin’s lips tightened. “But this rain isn’t gonna let up anytime soon. I’d offer you an umbrella if I had one, but I don’t. Sorry.”
“It’s okay. I’ll just dry off as much as I can before I go in.”
“Hold on.” Justin’s brows dipped in a contemplative frown. “Where exactly is her office?”
“In that really tall building right next to the Winthrop lecture theater. Do you know it?”
He nodded. “You could use the tunnels. They come out right near that building.”
“Tunnels?”
Justin’s eyes crinkled at the corners. “Sorry, I always forget that other people don’t spend half their life here like me,” he said, gesturing around us. “But anyway, there are tunnels here. They come in handy at times like this. Follow me.”
I turned to trail him down the closest hallway. “Are you talking about the tunnels leading away from the rink?” I asked. “To the locker rooms?”
“Nope, I’m talking about actual full-fledged tunnels,” he said, looking back at me. “You know how this arena was only built a few years ago?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Well, way before DC was an actual city, a lot of the land in this area was owned by some super-rich old guy. We’re talking all the way back in the 1700s. It was eventually ceded to the federal government when they decided to move the capital from Philly to here,” he said. “Anyway, they built the old treasury building in this spot. Then, when it finally got demolished to make way for this arena, the workers found something the old man put here centuries ago.”
“The tunnels, I presume.”
“Yup. Apparently he was a pretty erratic old fella. He built tunnels all over this place, because that’s how he preferred to get around, and somehow, a few of them got missed when the original city planners were putting in all the roads and such.” Justin paused and raised a brow. “Anyway, when the construction workers found the tunnels here, they were going to fill them in. But some rich Worthington donor heard about it and kicked up a big stink. Had the tunnels heritage-listed. So now they’re all still here, right under our feet.”
Justin stopped and stamped his foot for dramatic effect.
“Wow.” I slowly shook my head. “I had no idea.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty wild. But anyway, the main tunnel under the arena actually comes out in that park just off 21st Street. And that’s right near Winthrop, right?”
“Yes.”
“That’s useful to you, then. You’ll only be stuck in the rain for about thirty seconds. Much better than ten minutes, right?”
I nodded. “Definitely. But is it actually safe to use them?”
“Yup, perfectly safe. I go down there whenever it’s raining and I need to get across campus.”
I kept following Justin down the hall, past the coaching offices and locker rooms. He led me all the way to the end and pushed open a storage room door. “The entrance is in here,” he explained. “Right at the back.”
We stepped over to a thick wooden door behind a row of shelves. Justin grabbed the handle and wrenched it open. “There you go.”
I peered into the black abyss before us, brows rising. “That’s it?”
“Yeah. There’s no lights down there, because adding those would ruin the whole heritage aspect of it,” Justin said. “Technically, we aren’t even supposed to use the tunnels at all. But we all do it.”
“Um… are you absolutely sure it’s safe in there?” I asked. I felt like the main character in a B-grade horror movie, about to put myself in a situation that would make the audience scream with frustration.
Justin nodded. “I know it looks scary, but I promise, it’s totally safe as long as you use the flashlight on your phone and stay on the right path.”
I lifted my palms. “Okay, now I’m officially freaked out,” I said. “Are you saying it’s possible to take the wrong path and get lost down there?”
He laughed. “Don’t worry. I’ll tell you exactly where to go. It’s actually really easy,” he replied, pointing into the dark chasm. “You go down those steps and walk straight forward for about three or four minutes. You’ll notice other tunnels branching off the sides. Ignore them. Eventually you’ll reach a T-junction. Turn left and walk that way for a couple more minutes. You’ll wind up at a set of steps that lead out into the university park on 21st.”
