“Lucy?” He said for good measure.
No answer.
Will pulled himself back up and sat on the roof of the elevator shaft. He tried to make sense of her absence. He was starting to panic about David too. Things might not have gone as smoothly as he thought after David escaped the market.
No. Everything’s fine, he thought. Lucy just left out of curiosity, but she’s smart. She wouldn’t go far. She’ll be back.
He decided to stay cool and wait. He dropped back into the elevator, lit a candle, and picked up a book of short stories David had been reading. The creaking of the elevator’s steel cables reverberated up and down the shaft, sounding like a fingernail slowly scratching down the string of an electric bass. Will tried to concentrate on the story but couldn’t. He tossed the book aside and just sat, staring at the candle. He tapped his fingers. He didn’t know for how long.
I gotta get out of here.
Will pulled himself out of the elevator and climbed the ladder to the vent. There was no way he could sit still, and he figured that if he kept moving he’d eventually run into either Lucy or David. He crawled through the vent to the closet and pushed open the door to the hallway.
Two identical pale faces stared back at him.
“Gah!”
Will stumbled back into the closet and pulled the door shut.
He held firm on the knob. He waited for the invaders to tug on the door. Or knock. Anything. But nothing happened. Will leaned close to where the door met the frame.
“Hello?” he said.
“Is-is—” a boy’s voice began.
“You Will?” a girl’s voice finished.
Will crinkled his nose, confused. “Yeah,” he said.
“Got a letter for you.”
“Slide it under the door.”
A scrap of paper appeared at his feet. Will picked it up and opened it, straining to read it in the darkness. He pulled a lighter from his pocket and sparked it. The lighter was almost empty and produced only a blue nub of flame. On the scrap was written: “Lucy’s with me. These kids will take you to us. D.” Will relaxed when he recognized David’s handwriting. He pushed open the door and came face-to-face with the ghoulish twins. They shared the same cringing smile; it revealed more nostril than teeth.
“We don’t bite,” the boy said.
The girl covered her mouth and giggled. Will turned up his nose, crumpled up the paper, and pocketed it.
“You two are weird looking,” Will said, “and that’s saying something in this dump.”
The boy kept a straight face, but the girl sneered at Will and spit to acknowledge the insult. The saliva dribbled down her shorts. The twins turned in unison and walked away from Will. He figured that was his cue to follow.
“I mean, seriously, are you two okay? How long have you been dead? I think I bunked up with a friend of yours in a locker a little while ago.”
They giggled. Will craned his head, surprised at their response. But they weren’t listening to him. They were communicating with each other through barely audible whispers and slight hand gestures. Another flourish of giggles and a glance back at Will. They were talking about him. Will sped up to see if he could hear what they were saying.
“… ehse ogto suey-sus…”
The girl giggled hard this time. A mucous bubble expanded from her nose and then popped. Part of the bottom of her oversize T-shirt was crusted into a point. She lifted it and wiped her nose. Will stifled a gag.
“Let me guess? Single?” Will said.
“The dump,” Will said to himself. “Shoulda seen that coming.” Will stood at the top of the stairs to the basement. At the bottom of the stairs were two open doors that led to the basement. Trash bags were scattered around the doors. The twins trudged their way through the doors. It smelled rank, not rotting-corpse rank but enough to piss Will off.
Will groaned, took a deep breath, and waded into the trash and debris. He passed through the doors into the basement.
The room was as big as a basketball court. Before the explosion it had been the school’s storage area, but everything worthwhile had been raided. Piles of black plastic trash bags, ruined furniture, and debris filled the room. There were hundreds of piles, some knee-high, some almost to the ceiling. To Will’s surprise, every light in the room except one was still working. Not that it helped anything. The lights cast a bluish tone across the wall-to-wall junk.
There was a small crowd of white-hairs gathered at the wall to Will’s left. They stood around the only other door in the room, which was shut. On it was a sign that read BOILER
ROOM. Will recognized most of the group-they were the ones who pulled David out of the quad. There was Leonard and the runty kid with the funnel, but there was no sign of David or Lucy. Without acknowledging Will again, the twins settled at a small three-legged table, pulled out a dirty pink string, and started playing cat’s cradle with each other.
“Yeah, okay, later… nice hanging with you… and your snotshirt,” he called after them, but they ignored him.
Will walked to the boiler room door. Leonard Jong stood guard. He still couldn’t get over the fact that Leonard was one of the ones who helped get David out of the market. In middle school, Will once saw Leonard scream and run away crying when a squirrel got too close to him.
“Leonard… hey. You remember me, right?” Leonard shrugged. It was sort of a yes, a shy yes.
“I’m looking for David.”
“He’s inside.”
Leonard’s voice was quiet and melodic.
“Thanks,” Will said as he reached for the door handle.
Leonard pushed Will’s hand away.
“Nobody go—” Leonard said, and then Will couldn’t hear the rest.
“What?”
“Nobody goes inside,” he said, this time only slightly louder.
“Yeah, but I’m his brother.”
“I-don’t know that.”
Leonard’s voice dropped an octave midsentence. Will wasn’t buying it.
“I saved him in the market. You were there. Let me in.”
“A lot of people want to see David right now.” Will rolled his eyes and grabbed for the door handle again.
Leonard grasped his wrists. Will shook them loose and balled up his fists, ready to fight. Leonard squeaked.
“Looks like you’re B-list around here, Spaz,” someone said.
Will scoured the huddle of Scraps nearby for the speaker and saw Smudge leaning against the wall, smirking back at him. Will sank. If there was a worse witness to his rejection at the door, he couldn’t think of one.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Will said.
Smudge thumbed the Scraps beside him,“These stalkers came for protection. I came ’cause… well, I just wanted to see what happens next.”
“Protection?”
“Yeah. Your bro’s, like, the next Moses or something.” Will glanced back at Leonard and the four Scraps who came to his aid. They eyed Will suspiciously.
“I think he’s changing clothes in there,” Will said in an attempt to sound off the cuff. “That’s why they won’t let me in.” Smudge’s smile widened.
“Lucy’s in there.”
“Oh. Yeah?” Will said.
“They might be taking clothes off, but I’m not sure they’re putting ’em back on,” Smudge said.
“Shut up.”
“Hey, man, I’m just saying. He saves her life one day, goes toe to toe with the most powerful guy in school the next. I’m not imagining any dry panties in that room.” Will remembered the fantasy painted by the Freak girl he’d overheard in the hall. Just be glad David’s alive, Will thought.
But he could feel jealousy rising up in him.
“I rescued him,” Will said.
“Not the way I heard it.”
Did everyone have their eyes closed when he saved the day? This was unbelievable.
“I don’t believe you,” Will said. “Lucy’s not in there.”
“What’d she think of the necklace?”
Will pressed his hand on his pocket. He could feel the links of the fine chain through the worn denim. He had forgotten all about it with everything that had happened. And suddenly, it seemed much less special.