Clutching Avery’s well-worn note, I punch in the six-digit code to unlock the transparent door to the library. It’s secured after six o’clock, but now that I’m an official trainee I can get in whenever I need to for studying. Not that there’s going to be any studying going on tonight. I hope.
I think back to what Skandar said at Lookout. She’s gotta have a reason for wanting me up here so badly. Considering all of the different possibilities kept me going through Dr. Hemming’s two-hour History of Pearls lecture in astronomy this afternoon.
Half of the lights inside the circular room are turned off. A few adult agents huddle around a table by the computers playing chess. They glance up as I enter, probably wondering why a kid would want to spend his evening in the library.
I walk past a display of black-and-white Surface photographs. Heavy wooden tables sit neatly arranged on the main floor in front of me. Circular staircases hug the walls, leading up to the second and third levels, the highest of which juts up into Lookout Park like a secret underground house. They poured a lot of money into this place. Too bad I get mass distracted whenever I come in here to work. Maybe if they forced me to study in a white room with no windows or furniture or anything I’d actually get something done and ace a test for once.
I peer down the rows of bookshelves, looking for Avery. Other than the group of agents, the place is deserted.
Someone grabs my shoulder and spins me around.
“There you are, stranger.” Avery grins.
I stare at her in silence for a moment before holding up the piece of paper. “I got your note.”
“Crumpled.” She smiles. “Is that what you think of me, Fisher?”
“No, no.” I lay it against my knee and attempt to straighten it out. Instead, I end up ripping off the corner. “Oops.”
“Cute.”
I wince, stuffing the pieces back into my pocket. “Where did you come out from? I didn’t even see you.”
She shrugs. “I was hiding behind a shelf. Thought I’d sneak up on you.”
I try to keep a straight face but it’s hard. She’s too weird. “Okay, then.”
She grabs my hand, sending sparks through my skin up to my chest where they explode like fireworks. “Come on. Let’s get going.”
“Where are you taking me?”
“Oh, just wait. Tonight’s the best yet. I’ve got something to show you.”
I sigh. During the past year, Avery and I have covered every inch of the Academy together. She loves sticking her head where it shouldn’t be. And she asks more questions than any person I’ve ever known. No wonder they didn’t make her a bonafide agent.
She pulls me through the library over to the glass doors. Her death grip doesn’t ease up until we’re out in the hallway. Not that I’m complaining.
“Did you hear about the Pearl that almost smashed into us this afternoon?” she whispers as we walk out toward the canteen.
“I was there.”
“You were at Lookout?”
“Yeah, it happened right after August Bergmann almost pounded my face into the ground.”
“What a creep. We should’ve done the chili thing last night.” She shakes her head. “Don’t worry about him. Remember, being the big, flaunt agent is overrated.”
I shrug. “After today, I’d rate it a million percent.”
She rolls her eyes. “I don’t think you can go over a hundred.” She leads me through the canteen, grabbing an apple from a basket on the counter as we go. “They said it was a false alarm. The Pearl, I mean.”
“I think they’re lying.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time,” she mutters. “You saw it, then?”
“It was headed straight for us, definitely. Then all of a sudden it changed course, curved to the side.”
She spins around, pulling me closer and blocking the exit. “Changed course? You been falling asleep during Dr. Hemming’s lectures again, Fisher?”
I shrug. “Yes, actually. But it happened, I swear. I was standing right in front of it.”
She flashes me an inquisitive look. “Do you have a death wish or something?”
“No.” I sigh. “It’s not that. It was just… interesting.”
She turns around, leading me out into the curved hallway along the perimeter of the ship toward the staircase. “Sure. Interesting until it smashes into you.”
The last remnants of daylight stream up through the windows, creating a soft glow around Avery’s face. I can’t help but stare. Luckily she doesn’t notice, too busy chomping on the apple.
“So tell me where we’re going,” I say. “I can’t get in trouble again.”
She swings her arm around my shoulder. “You won’t get in trouble. Promise.” She bites into the apple. “I’ve made an amazing discovery and tonight’s the night to test it out.”
“Why tonight?”
She pulls her head closer to whisper. “Alkine’s having one of his closed-door staff meetings.”
“So? They always do that before Visitation.”
“We’re gonna bash those doors down.”
I look around to see if anyone’s listening. “That sounds dangerous.”
“Nah,” she says. “Not with my discovery.”
“Let me guess. You invented an invisibility potion.”
“Nope.” She bounds down the stairs and pushes me into a hallway leading back toward the center of the ship. We make our way past dozens of closed doors and two befuddled-looking agents before stopping outside Room 514.
“Isn’t this just a maintenance room?” I try the doorknob. “And it’s locked, anyways.”
She tosses the apple core into a nearby trash chute and digs in her pocket, pulling out a small pointed key. “Bam!” She shoves it in my face.
“Shh!” I look around the empty hallway. “Someone will hear you.”
“Yeah, right.” She crouches toward the door, sliding the key into the hole and turning. “Now spot me, Fisher! I’m going in.”
I keep my eyes on both sides of the hallway, waiting for someone to show up and drag me away to Mr. Wilson’s office. Or worse, Alkine’s.
Thankfully, nobody does.
Avery conquers the lock and grabs the back of my shirt, yanking me into the room with her and slamming the door behind us.
One thing she forgot to do was turn on the freaking light. It’s pitch black now. Like, beyond black.
She giggles. “Oops, where’s the switch?”
Panicked, I grope around the room looking for a button. Any button. A couple of minutes in here and I’ll go insane. Tight spaces are bad enough. Tight spaces in the dark are hell.
In my quest for the lights I trip over something-a broom, maybe-and land on the floor with an agonizing thud. Avery stops laughing and crawls over me, flipping a switch next to the door. Fluorescent light flickers on above us, casting a spotlight on me doing my best impression of a puddle.
I pull myself to a sitting position and rub my shoulder. The closet’s tiny. Stacks of buckets sit next to boxes of mechanical junk and dried-out, still-dirty mops. A row of brightly colored bottles line the shelf along the far wall. A wide metal tube in the corner stretches from the floor to the ceiling.
Avery rests her hands on her hips. “You like?”
I’d like it better if we were in here to do something other than snoop around, but things are never that simple with Avery.
“So we’re in a maintenance room.” I stand up. “This is really blowing my mind.”
Ignoring me, she heads over to the far wall and lifts herself onto a wooden crate.
I walk over to her. “What are you doing?”
She struggles with a square grate on the ceiling, yanking at the corners until they pop out from the panel and reveal an open air vent. “Think of this as our own little portal.” She bends down and leans the grate against the wall.
I stare at the dark hole in the ceiling. “A portal to where? The trash chutes?”
“Of course not.” She rubs her dirty hands on the front of her jeans. “This is how we’re gonna spy on Alkine.”
“Oh, no.” I take a few steps back. “I’m not going up there, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“Relax.” She crouches to a sitting position, the heels of her feet kicking the crate. “I’ll go up first. All you’ve gotta do is follow. It’s safe, I promise. And you’ll kill yourself if you don’t go.”
I cross my arms. “Now why would I do that?”
“Because this meeting, Jesse Fisher, is about you.” She pauses. “They’re going to talk about you in there.”
“No they’re not.”
“Yeah. They are. And you wanna know how I know that?” She points to the hole in the ceiling. “Because I was up there in that vent a week ago when Alkine announced it.”
“No way.” I picture the faculty sitting around some fancy table arguing over reasons to throw me off the ship. “Why would they be talking about me?” I think back to my weird conversation with Captain Alkine the other night and suddenly it’s not so hard to believe.
“Trust me, Jesse. Have I ever lied to you?”
“I guess not.”
“And do you really think I’d drag you up into some vent for nothing?”
I take a moment to consider it. “Yes.”
She laughs. “Okay, maybe I would, but you’re still coming up with me.”
My arms drop to my sides and I give a defeated shrug. She’s impossible to argue with.
She beams. “Good enough for me.”
Without wasting another moment, she stands and grabs onto the ceiling panel. Her shirt rises, revealing an inch of midriff. If her words weren’t enough to get me up into the vent, that’ll sure do it.
Then she lifts herself into the hole. She’s definitely done this before. I bet she’s a pro.
Once she’s all the way through and has a second to turn herself around, I crawl onto the crate and grab her outstretched hands. She helps me up until I’m halfway in. I scoot toward her and turn to look back at the closet. I’m gonna regret this. I just know it.