Bobby disappeared down the hall, and the boiler room door screeched open. Rubric stumbled out rubbing his head, followed by Angel and Chew.
“Mr. Rubric!” Mrs. Bagley’s voice echoed down the hall. “The boiler room is off limits to students. Would you like me to extend your detention?”
Mrs. Bagley smiled grimly at me as she strode past, heading straight for Rubric and the Red Team, wielding her yardstick like a broadsword.
I caught up with Bobby near the library. “I have to leave school,” I told him. “I need you to cover for me.”
“How am I supposed to do that?”
“I don’t know. Improvise.”
Bobby threw his hands in the air, then looked around like he would find the answer somewhere in the hall. “Oh,” he said slowly. “Okay, go. You’re covered.” He was staring intently at the fire alarm on the wall.
I shook my head. “No, Bobby, that’s a bad idea.”
“I’m not that stupid,” Bobby said. “Now go.”
I turned and sprinted down the hall, my feet never making a sound. Short of having my uniform with its Shimmer Mode, I would have to rely on pure stealth. I slipped around corners, watching and listening, making certain no one was near before speeding ahead. I slowed to a dead stop and slipped into an empty classroom next to the school’s back exit. Voices. I should have known better than to try that way out.
I quickly left the classroom and headed for my next option, the girls’ locker room. It had a back door to the track field. If I could get there in time, it would be empty and nobody would notice me leaving. The shortest route to the locker room was through the gym, so I cut through the open doors and walked quickly across the floor toward the locker room entrance.
Suddenly, the fire alarm blared. Seriously? I could have sworn Bobby said he wasn’t that stupid. His definition was obviously different from mine.
Since the gym’s side doors opened into the school parking lot, it was also a fire exit escape route. The gym quickly filled with students and teachers, and I found myself in a crowd. Plenty of people to hide me, but the locker room exit wasn’t good any more. Then another exit came to mind, one that I should have thought of in the first place. All I had to do was find it.
As I made my way through the crowd, I saw Egon pushing toward me, panic in his eyes.
“Rinnie, Bobby told me what happened.” Egon opened his arms, and I threw myself into them, resting my head on his chest. Hope washed through my anxiety-ridden body as he squeezed me tight.
“I knew you were involved in something dangerous,” he said, caressing my hair. “We’ll get through this. Together.”
That sounded so good. I desperately needed help. But reality smacked me hard between the eyes. Egon couldn’t help me against a Knight. It was too dangerous. I might have to become masked. As much as I wanted my lovable, understanding bodyguard, this was way out of his league.
My heart broke as I pushed gently away. “I have to go.”
He took my hand. “I’m coming with you.”
I needed an excuse to keep him from coming, but excuses required thinking. I didn’t have time for thinking. “No, Egon, you can’t. I’m sorry. I have to call the police.”
I kissed his cheek and walked away into the crowd of students. Egon stood dumbfounded for an instant, then tried to follow me. I was almost ashamed of how easily I lost him using my art-of-stealth training. From behind the bleachers, I watched him pass by, searching the gym. A frustrated sigh escaped my lips.
I would allow myself to feel bad later. I needed to move, quickly and alone. When he exited the far door, I took off, and worked my way back to the boiler room. I had to find that secret entrance Andy had told me about. It was the quickest way to the Academy, and I needed speed. The hall was luckily empty when I got to the boiler room.
I opened the door and entered into total darkness, hit the light switch, and made my way to the electrical panel. Somewhere on that wall, there was a hidden electrode plate that activated the secret entrance, but I couldn’t see it. I searched all around the panel, but turned up empty.
The plates in every other entrance Andy built were brass or silver. There was nothing that remotely resembled an electrode plate around that panel. Nothing but a stupid warning sign—which, I suddenly realized, was classic Andy.
Danger! Shock Hazard! Do Not Touch!