Ajay took the school pager off his belt and pressed the button again.
“What do you keep doing with that thing?” asked Will.
“Recording intermittent GPS coordinates,” said Ajay. “I’ll use them to map the tunnel when we get back.”
“If we get back,” said Nick.
“You’re using the school’s pager as a GPS?” asked Will.
“I modified the processor,” said Ajay. “Reverse engineering.”
“Dude,” said Nick. “I can’t even figure out where they put the batteries.”
The darkness folded around them like a heavy shroud. Their footsteps echoed, every sound magnified in the endless void. Finally, their beams glinted off something that sent back a burst of light.
“What’s that?” asked Nick. “Is that a door?”
“Yes,” said Will as they trained the lights on it. “That’s the door to the room.”
“With any luck, a bathroom,” said Ajay.
“The room where I saw the people who chased me,” said Will.
“People were chasing you?” said Ajay. “Oh dear God.”
“Not just people. There was that ‘thing’ that only you can see,” said Nick sarcastically. “With your ‘special glasses.’ ”
“You didn’t say there was a thing,” said Ajay.
“Didn’t I?”
“I don’t know about you,” said Nick, “but I’m feeling excellent about this.”
They stopped ten feet shy of the door at the dead end of the corridor. This time no line of light leaked out from under the bottom of the door. They heard distant rumblings issue from somewhere, perhaps the old building’s ancient furnace.
“Inspired effort. Good show all around,” said Ajay. “Our work here is done. Let’s retrace our steps.” He turned to leave, but Nick hooked him with an elbow and stopped him in his tracks.
“Not so fast, Professor Plum,” said Nick. Then to Will he said, “Aren’t you going to open it?”
“Yes,” said Will. “Yes, I am.”
“Are you going to put your glasses on first?” asked Ajay.
“I don’t think so.”
Will stepped forward and gripped the knob. It turned freely. He took his hand away, wiped the sweat off his palms, and gripped it again. He opened the door. Their flashlight beams poured past him into the room, and Nick chased them inside.
“Oh my God,” said Nick. “This is incredible, dude. You’ve done it.”
“Done what?”
Nick hit a light switch. Overhead fluorescents flickered on. “You’ve found the auxiliary locker room,” he said, pointing to a sign that read AUXILIARY LOCKER ROOM.
They followed him into a small L-shaped room with a paneled drop ceiling. Lining one wall were metal lockers fronted by benches. In a mirrored corner, a weight bench sat on a rubber mat, surrounded by an assortment of free weights. Will stepped forward, sniffing the air.
“Do you smell anything?” he asked.
“Definitely,” said Nick, pocketing his flashlight. “Stale socks and rotten jocks. Dude, it’s a locker room.”
“Dear God, let there be a toilet,” said Ajay, hurrying around the corner. “Yes!”
“So, Nick, you knew about this place before?” asked Will.
“Heard rumors,” said Nick, picking up a dumbbell and doing curls. “It’s practically mythic. For good reason, as you can see. Right up there with Atlantis and Bigfoot.”
Will took out his dark glasses and put them on. Nothing appeared out of thin air. No sulfurous smells, blinding lights, or gleaming portals slicing through time and space. No windows to the Never-Was or screeching, menacing monsters.
“And the rockets’ red glare,” belted Ajay from around the corner, “the bombs bursting in air—”
“So it’s a fail, but at least it’s an epic fail,” said Nick. “Hey, are those the glasses? Let me have a look.”
“No,” said Will, putting them away. “What do they use this place for?”
“Dude, take a wild guess. It’s the auxiliary locker room,” said Nick, yawning and stretching. “And if I knew what auxiliary meant, I could tell you.”
“Providing help or support in a secondary capacity,” said Ajay from around the corner. “As in the backup locker room. Which, given that the main locker room covers half an acre, probably means it isn’t used for anything.”
“Why would they build it all the way down here?” asked Will. “Why all the secrecy?”
“Honestly, dude?” said Nick, yawning again. “I wouldn’t even trip about it.”
“Check the lockers,” said Will, opening the one nearest to him. “Come on, Nick, get off your butt.”
Nick dragged himself over as Ajay came around the corner, zipping up.
“That is definitely enough passion fruit iced tea for one night,” Ajay said, beaming with relief. “We’re searching lockers? What are we looking for?”
“I don’t know,” said Will. “Clues.”
Ajay pitched in, opening lockers. Most were empty. A few held bent wire hangers or wads of discarded sports tape.
“Well, maybe if you’d share exactly what you saw here the first time, we’d have a better idea what to look for now,” said Nick.
Will thought about it. What the hell. If I can’t trust these guys, who can I trust?
“Okay. I’d describe it as a portal,” said Will, matter-of-factly. “Or a window carved in the air to a nasty, horrible place. They call it a Weasel Hole.”
“Aren’t you glad you asked?” said Ajay, shooting a worried look at Nick.
“Right,” said Nick. “And so was there, I’m just taking a shot here, a giant weasel involved?”
“Not a weasel,” said Will. “Something else came through. It looked more like—this is going to sound even more wacko, okay—a hybrid human-spidery-snake thingy with hypnotic eyes. Only a lot more disgusting and dangerous.”
“No, that doesn’t sound crazy at all. Oh, look what I found,” said Nick, pointing into an empty locker. “A cuckoo clock: Cuckoo-cuckoo-cuckoo.”
“Behave yourself,” said Ajay.
“He called what I saw a lamia,” said Will. “I don’t expect you to believe me.”
“A lamia?” asked Ajay, who froze in place. “Are you certain of that?”
“Yes.”
“Sounds bogus,” said Nick. “What’s a lamia?”
“A lamia is an ancient mythological demon,” said Ajay, looking a little green. “Half-female, half-serpent. A monster that creeps silently through the night and … devours children. Allegedly.”
“That sounds about right,” said Will.
“Refreshing,” said Nick.
“And the gentleman who told you this,” said Ajay. “Who might he be?”
“The same one who gave me these glasses,” said Will, reluctant to say more.
Ajay leaned against the lockers, and a concealed panel on the wall above the lockers slid open.
“What did you just do?” asked Will, jumping up onto the bench to take a look.
“I must have activated some kind of pressure plate,” said Ajay, pushing the same spot on the side of the locker again.
The panel closed. Ajay pressed it again: It opened.
Nick jumped up beside Will. “Secret compartment. Awesome.”
Will reached into the recessed space. “There’s something back here. I can’t reach it; it’s shoved way inside.”
Ajay jumped up beside them. “Give me a lift up. I can get to it.”
They grabbed Ajay and boosted him above the lockers. He wriggled inside to his waist and with both hands dragged a midsized black steamer trunk out of the compartment. They lowered him and set the trunk on the bench.
“Not very heavy,” said Ajay.
“It’s locked,” said Will.
“I’m on it,” said Nick. “This requires years of intense training, natural talent, and incredible finesse.…”