Chapter 33
James Renders, assistant principal of the Spero School, sat up with a start in his cabin bed.
He didn’t know what had caused him to wake, but even deep in sleep, he’d registered a noise that was out of place.
He listened but heard nothing more. He got out of bed, went to the window, and drew back the blind.
He could see no lights in the dorms beyond those that always remained lit in case of emergencies, and no sign of movement on the campus.
Renders relaxed. It might have been the screech of a red fox that he heard.
The animals were plentiful in the Kennebec, even if it was early in the season for females to be summoning a mate.
Renders was about to get back into bed when a rattling came from the cabin door.
He looked over his shoulder to see the doorknob slowly turn, back and forth, though the motion-sensitive light outside had not come on.
No one could have approached the cabin without activating the light, which was working fine earlier, and the grounds were empty when Renders had left the window moments before.
Even a world-class sprinter couldn’t have closed the gap between the nearest building and the cabin in that time.
Renders did not move. The door was locked and bolted from the inside, a precaution he’d begun to take in recent weeks.
Patrick Elgot, who taught English, social sciences, and phys ed, admitted to doing the same when on night duty, even as he tried to make a joke of it.
(“Sadlier tried locking up his seeds and that didn’t help.
I hope we’re dealing with the ghost of a vegetarian.
”) Renders hadn’t found it funny then and wasn’t finding it funny now.
One of the kids has found a way to work around the sensor. Open the damn door and catch him in the act.
Renders didn’t open the door.
You’re a grown man.
Renders didn’t feel like a grown man. He felt like a trapped child. But he wasn’t going to let whatever was outside know it.
“Come on,” he said. “It’s just a door. If you want me that bad, you’ll find a way. But don’t think it won’t go hard on you.”
The doorknob ceased turning. Renders listened for teenage giggles, but none came. He returned to the window, this time lifting the blind on the opposite side to give himself a view of the doorstep. Nobody was there, the sensor remained dormant, and the grounds were quiet.
Renders retreated. His hands were shaking.
This school. This damned school.