“But Mom...”
“Don’t ‘but Mom’ me,” I said. “We’re going to break into the library and I don’t want any backtalk.”
“But...wait, did you say we’re going to break into the library?”
“I did,” I said, then knelt down and turned around. I motioned to my back. “Climb on, kiddo.”
“But I’m almost as big as you.”
“Anthony...”
“Fine, but if I break your back, then that’s on you, not me.”
As he climbed on, I considered leaving him here in the shadows...but then shook my head sharply. Hell, no. Meeting the King Creep had freaked me out completely and totally...and I needed more answers, and I needed them now.
“Hang on,” I said, standing.
And with my son’s long legs dangling down on either side of me, I took hold of the drainpipe and started climbing.
Rapidly.
Chapter Eighteen
Twenty seconds later, we slipped in through a third-story window that had been left cracked open. I cracked it all the way open. There was no fire escape or ledge, and whoever had left it open hadn’t expected someone to climb three stories up a drainpipe. With her son hanging off her back, no less.
“This is cool, Mom!” said Anthony, when he slid off and found his feet.
“Shh!”
“Oh, right. Sorry.”
We found ourselves in an administrator’s office, complete with a blinking monitor and a glow-in-the-dark keyboard and mouse and a small, gurgling fountain that was presently running. Wasteful.
“Come on,” I whispered.
The office led to a hallway, lined with many doors. The halogen lighting above was off. The floor was polished vinyl squares. I led the way down the hallway toward an “Exit” sign hanging over another door.
I already knew that my son hadn’t inherited my night vision, which was, apparently, primarily a vampire and werewolf trait. The angel had only bestowed upon him great strength, agility and quickness.
Good enough, I thought.
I paused at the door at the far end of the hallway and pressed my ear against it. Nothing. I was fairly certain the door would lead to the main library on the third floor. I turned the knob and cracked the door open a smidgen...
I heard a door bang open, followed by the sounds of running feet. Many running feet. Security guards approached, and from the sounds of it, at least three of them. So much for sneaking in.
I turned to my son. “Do not tell your sister about this.”
“Oh, I won’t.”
“Or your auntie.”
“My friends?”
“No,” I said. “This stays between me and you.”
“Fine,” he said, and flashed me a giddy smile.
“Are you ready to run?” I asked, as the voices and pounding footsteps got closer.
“Yes!”
And run we did, exploding out of the doorway and hanging a quick right down a side corridor, where we ran along the west wall. The Occult Reading Room was on the south wall.
“This way!” someone shouted behind us.
“Faster,” I said to my son, and we kicked into a whole other gear. Bookshelves swept past us in a blur. I looked back once and saw my son keeping up with me virtually step for step, although I was pulling away. I slowed down and let him catch up. Then we made a quick left. The Occult Reading Room was about halfway down the south corridor.
A bobbing flashlight was directly ahead. Someone was running toward us. I reached back and took my son’s hand.
Unlike the movies, I didn’t just appear somewhere when I ran. I actually had to cover some ground. I had to pass through time and space. There was no movie magic here. Just my son, me, and a security guard, all converging at or around the Occult Reading Room.
We were too far away for him to see us, although I’m sure he heard our pounding footsteps. Our furiously pounding footsteps. The guy probably didn’t know what was coming at him.
“Hang on,” I said to my son.
As we rapidly approached the security guard, who dropped his flashlight and held up what appeared to be a Taser gun, I hung a hard right through a narrow doorway, pulling my son with me.
The security guard screamed. So did my son.
I didn’t blame either of them.
* * *
Worst mom ever, I thought.
“It’s okay,” I said, hugging my son. “We’re safe.”
“But he’s right—”
“He can’t see us. This is a secret room.”
“Secret?”
“Yes.”
“Like magic?”
“Exactly like magic,” I said.
Outside, through windows that only my son and I could see, we watched the confused security guard sweep his light over the wall. Each time, my son ducked, until he started getting the picture that the guard couldn’t see us.
Still the worst mom ever, I thought.
More security guards appeared, each sweeping their light over the area while the first guard did his damnedest to explain what had happened.
“They went through here,” he said, and now he sounded like he was doubting himself. He should doubt himself. To all the world, “there” was just a blank wall.
“They went through where?” asked another guard.
The first guy pointed his light right at us. My son’s previous reaction was to duck, but this time, he held firm, standing his ground. “Right here. Through this wall.”
All the flashlights hit the wall at once.
“It’s a wall, Mick—”
“I swear to God—”
This went on for another half minute, until one of them got the bright idea that there was a chance that we went left instead of right. And so, they dashed off down a side corridor, flashlights bobbing and pounding footsteps receding.
I felt the presence behind us before he spoke. “You certainly know how to make an entrance, Samantha Moon.”
Chapter Nineteen
I got my son settled in one of the reading chairs, where he was doing just that: reading.
No, he wasn’t brushing up on his dark magic or even studying for his potions finals with Severus Snape. No, he was using the Kindle app on my iPhone to plow through The Hunger Games trilogy, reading like there was no tomorrow. And, according to The Hunger Games, tomorrow looked bleak indeed.
Anyway, I’d admonished him to not touch anything, under any circumstances. He had agreed with a wave of his hand, face aglow in the phone’s back light. What chance did I have to compete with Katniss Everdeen?
At the Help Desk, Maximus, who was wearing a tee-shirt and sweats, said, “You are annoyed at me.”