Chapter Twenty-Three #2
To prove that I’m overthinking it, when Maddox and I make our plans, he tells me that he let Theo know we were busy tonight, chasing a clue, and we’d fill him in later. Theo was fine with that.
Maddox also foresees and fends off another potential issue. After Jayden shoved me down the stairs, Westdale decided they needed to do more to keep students out of that subbasement. So far, though, they’ve only put on a latch, and when we see it, Maddox pulls a multi-tool from his pocket.
“I checked it earlier,” he says as he unscrews the latch.
Thankfully, I wasn’t entirely unprepared for this journey. I charged my phone and brought a flashlight, and once we start descending the stairs, I check my phone to make sure I have reception. My cell signal is weaker, but it’s still at several bars, and my Wi-Fi is excellent.
I lead Maddox straight to the storage room with the secret hatch. As I enter, I curse under my breath.
“What’s wrong?” he asks.
I wave. “I forgot to re-hide the hatch. It was behind that cabinet.”
“Well, if those footprints in the dust are any indication, no one else has found it since.”
I follow his cellphone light beam and see what he means. The only tracks through the dust are mine.
“I guess that makes sense,” I say. “They didn’t need to come down here to investigate my story, so they probably never came down at all.”
“And the fact they didn’t suggests they don’t know there was anything here for you to find.”
“Or they don’t care. Just rich kids and their secret-society games.”
I show Maddox how the hatch had been hidden, and how the screwdriver had been used to open it. He examines the old tape on the back of the cabinet and agrees with me that the state of it—and the fact the screwdriver had fallen off—suggests no one had been down here in a very long time.
When I lead him through the opening, he puts his sleeve over his mouth to stifle a sneeze.
“The cleaners have definitely not been in here,” he says.
“It smells like it hasn’t been opened in decades, and I couldn’t see any footprints in the dust.”
He crouches. “Thick dust, too. That really does suggest it hasn’t been used. If the room has been closed up, the usual particles—like dead skin cells—aren’t coming in to make dust.”
“Look who’s showing off his science guy creds.”
He rolls his eyes and continues shining his light around. He takes in the candles and the brazier and crouches beside it, poking at the burned paper bits. It’s only when he stands that he sees the scorpion on the wall and gives a start.
“Shit,” he says. “Okay, it’s official. You’re tough as nails, Chamberlain.”
My cheeks heat. “Not exactly.”
He gives me a look and his voice softens.
“You spent months living alone after your mom died. You are hardcore, Lili. But right now, I mean this.” He waves his light around.
“The secret room. The candles. The weird little altar thing with burned paper. That’s creepy enough.
But a scorpion drawn in blood? I’d have been out of here in two seconds flat. ”
“It’s not blood. Just red paint.”
“Which you needed to walk up to and check out to discover, while I’d have been hightailing it out that hatch.” He walks over, puts his fingers under my chin, and lifts my face, touching his lips to mine. “You really are something else.”
I make a face.
“Yeah, yeah, you’re also still shit at taking compliments,” he says. He points at the symbol. “Do we know what that is?”
I tell him about the scraps I found in the brazier—with the dates and the words Janus Society.
“Never heard of it,” he says.
“I’ve looked it up and asked around. Blank looks from Ms. Dimitriou and Cecilia, nothing in the Westdale archives. As for the symbol, I saw a tiny version of it on that message in my dad’s staff yearbook.”
I show him the photo on my phone.
Maddox frowns at it. “Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but it seems like that symbol is the threat.”
“That’s what I thought. And I saw a scorpion somewhere else, too.”
I tell him about the tattoo on Charles Dubois’s arm.
“Huh,” he says, rocking back on his heels.
I hold up my hands. “I might be wrong. I only saw the tail, so it might just be a regular scorpion, nothing to do with this symbol.”
Maddox eyes the symbol. “It’s pretty distinctive.
And I know I’ve seen the tattoo, though I haven’t really looked at it.
Charlie has a few, and Theo snarks about them.
Charlie is…Well, he’s a corporate guy. Not an artistic bone in his body.
Theo thinks he got the tats in college to try to look more Hollywood, but they really don’t work for him.
Most times these days, he keeps them covered. We can ask Theo, though.”
Maddox returns to the brazier and pokes around in it. “There are other pieces of paper with writing. Probably a wild goose chase—and it’s not like we have a ton of free time—but…”
“Let’s gather them up. Maybe I can piece them together.”
—
We’re heading up the stairs when I stop short.
“Oh!” I say. “The audio.”
“Audio?”
I glance over my shoulder, looking deeper into the subbasement.
“When Jayden lured me down here, I could have sworn I heard your voice. Obviously it wasn’t you—and I couldn’t make out words.
It was just enough to convince me that you were down here.
It must have been a recording, but I forgot all about it.
” I shine my light down the hall. “Do you think it’s still here? ”
“Let’s find out.”