The Boarding School Experiment (25 page)

The guys looked confused, but I understood. I hadn’t seen my own clothes in months and the thought of finding even one of my own T-shirts, made my throat tighten.

Rhys whispered something to Kaitlin and she slapped him in the arm. He laughed and towed a big camouflage bag toward a wall. “Help me with this one, Thane.”

Thane and I joined him while Kaitlin changed behind us.

“Brr,” Kaitlin said, and her clothes rustled.

“Oh, yeah, jackpot,” Thane said. The camouflage bag netted us two knives, a first aid kit, a silver survival blanket, and a sleeping bag. Thane checked the tag, “Thanks, Trevor Collington.”

“Thanks, guys, I’m good now.” Kaitlin wore a peach-pink snowsuit and matching headband. Most noticeable after the color was the fact that her pants legs didn’t have to be rolled up. These clothes fit her, unlike the boarding school uniforms. She brushed her hair and clipped her curls into a fancy clip. Her grin was huge and she waved a small pink tube at me and threw it. “Lip balm.”

My cracked lips had been the least of my worries, but now that relief was near, I noticed how they burned. I squeezed the gel onto my fingers, smeared it on my lips and gave the tube to the guys. They didn’t protest the sparkle. The cold, dry air was getting to all of us.

Kaitlin struggled with opening a larger, matching leather bag. When she got the lid up, she pulled out a coral-colored sleeping bag. “Now we have two.”

Rhys looked at it and Kaitlin and a slow smile spread over his lips. “It’s kind of girly, but I’ll share with you.”

Kaitlin smiled and blushed under the glow of the headlamps. “Okay. Ready for the cool thing?” She ripped open a plastic bag and tossed each of us a small, white fabric square.

I weighed it in my palm and raised my eyebrows. Rhys sniffed it.

Kaitlin giggled. “Rub them in your fingers. The beads inside get hot, and the heat lasts eight hours.

“No way.”

“Yep.”

Cool.

Thane waved a hand in the air. “Junk food stash.”

We all left our piles to check out his new find. “Barbeque chips, beef jerky, case of red bull, and six pack of bottled water.”

Kaitlin said, “Caffeine’s a diuretic, it increases water loss, so just drink the water for now.”

We each grabbed a bottle and sucked it down. The cool water eased my throat and was pretty much the best thing I’d ever tasted other than the Godiva chocolate.

Rhys said. “Let’s start an emergency pile of back up food in case we have to ration things for a few days.”

Kaitlin stopped digging. “Days?”

“We will be missed,” I said. “It may be safer to wait The Scientist out than to risk the climb back immediately. At least one night of solid rest.”

“Unless it snows again.”

That was a nightmare of a thought.

Thane said, “If we have to, we’ll close the door on the trailer. Then shovel snow over the side.” He pulled a ladybug pillow-pet from an animal print bag and passed it to me along with a book light. I clutched both to my chest. “Thanks.”

“And you know I can make a snow-resistant fire with some of this equipment we’re finding.” Rhys held up Kaitlin’s cordless straightener. “Is this butane?”

“Maybe. Let’s check the other bags first.” She snatched her appliance away and tucked it out of sight, then dragged a yellow bag with a dragon pattern over to her spot.

I got out of their way and searched for a bag with potential. My hands stilled and my heart thumped when I found what I’d really been searching for—my bag. When Kaitlin had found hers, I’d hoped that this truck held the bags for our dorm.

I sank down and tugged the navy tote close, still for a moment. Tears stung my eyes at the welcome reminder of home. Undoing the heavy zipper, I smelled my perfume first. I drew out the letter jacket. “I had big plans for this, Thane. You were in so much trouble.”

His light blue eyes widened in the circle of my lamplight and he squatted beside me. His fist clenched on the leather sleeve a second and he swallowed. Then he shook off whatever emotion it evoked, put it to his nose and sniffed. “I love your perfume. I bet my locker still reeks.”

“You’re not mad?”

“I love how you don’t roll over and take stuff. You get a retaliatory, alive gleam in your eyes, and I’d want to mess with you just to see it again.”

I shook my head. “Thane.”

“Really. And your perfume.” He threaded a hand through my hair and kissed my neck, making me shiver, but not from the cold. I sent a quick glance at Rhys and Kaitlin, but they weren’t paying any attention to us. They were too busy sorting through their new finds. I turned back to Thane. “On the plane—”

He drew my hand into his larger, warmer one. “I was trying to say, let’s start over as friends. But I screwed it up. And then I thought, maybe I could show you better once we got there. Prove to you we could be friends. Prove we could be more.”

I shut my eyes and kissed him. He tasted like chocolate and warmth.

Rhys clapped his hands breaking my moment. “We got it. We’re good. We are so saved.”

We pulled apart. “What?”

“Our deviant schoolmates have hooked us up.” Rhys tilted his head and his excitement sharpened. “What’s that, Kaitlin?”

“I found a lighter and liquor.” Kaitlin scanned the luggage. “And, books we can burn.” She paused. “But I don’t want our whole space to go up.”

“I can contain a fire,” Rhys said, with utter confidence.

I stared at him, and felt my eyes widen. He seemed to have forgotten his own evacuation the night of my going away party.

Rhys held up a brown paper bag. “As soon as it’s dark, we’ll set these off.”

He’d found fireworks.

Chapter Fifteen

Thane and I lay together on top of a pile of pillows with a sleeping bag pulled over us while we enjoyed the fireworks. A surprisingly large number of students had brought pillows from home, so our bodies were well cushioned. I laced my hand through Thane’s, and his thumb brushed my palm.

Rhys used a watch we found to estimate the time until dark. Once evening set, he went to work. Blue, red, yellow, and green lights sparked above us.

He’d broken apart several containers in a science experiment only he understood to make higher, bigger effects. Every ten or 15 minutes he’d light a new fuse. I liked the roman candles the best. They garnered a lot of height, and true or not, I liked to imagine he could aim them toward the school.

All the students gazed through the dome. Someone would see this. Someone would be in the atrium, or if they were already out searching for us, the searchers would spot the fireworks. This could work. I tightened my hand on Thane’s.

Rhys dusted off his hands. “That’s it. We’ll look for more in the morning. And do this again tomorrow night if we have to.” He crawled in beside Kaitlin, and we waited.

***

The rescuers came before dawn. We heard them first, voices overhead calling for the coordinators and each of us. We shouted back with voices hoarse from cold air and stress.

Within the hour, two male coordinators rappelled into view. One held up his hand and yelled from his anchored spot on the wall. “We found your equipment up top. You guys okay? How many are down here?”

“Four,” I said.

I noticed Rhys had one of the knives in his hand, but my heart was beating a happy, thrilled rhythm. The two men had a tethered basket between them. The whole thing screamed rescue, not destruction.

“Don’t you kids worry. We’ll bring you up one at a time.”

“Ladies first,” Thane said and cupped his hands to boost me onto the trailer door.

“Kaitlin and Rhys first. I could climb if I had to.”

Rhys had lifted Kaitlin out, and he shook his head. “I’d have to kick my own ass if I let that happen, Elena.”

I let Thane help me, then the guys pulled themselves up. “I almost hate to leave my bags,” Kaitlin said, clutching a small tote to her chest.

The basket landed on the trailer door. I checked the straps and the guys helped Kaitlin inside. Rhys secured her with the seatbelt.

At the last second, I tossed her tote in. She weighed nothing. It wouldn’t hurt.

Thane made a thumbs up and the basked rose into the air.

I went next. The ride up in the basket was horrible. I’d rather have climbed with ropes, than floated up in mid-air dependent upon the equipment at the top, but I respected the speed this would give us. When I got to the surface, several other teachers were waiting, barraging Kaitlin with questions. She grabbed me and held on without answering.

The questions came at me, but I shook my head and stared at the hole. I couldn’t breathe again until both guys reached the top.

***

When we got back to the school, we were hustled into the clinic to be checked out, then were sent to change before meeting with the director. Fed, showered, and dressed in clean sweats, we sat together in his office.

I chewed on the side of my thumb and weighed what to say.

Thane said, “Basically, they forced us down there because we found out they weren’t really giving us vitamins.”

The director tapped his fingers together and looked horrified by everything we told him. “We’ll have the stocks destroyed immediately.” He rubbed his temples then looked each of us straight in the eyes. “Here’s where it’s up to you. I won’t stop you from telling your story—I couldn’t. But please recognize that the scandal will end this program. Destroy all the good we’re doing.”

“You want us to lie?” Kaitlin asked.

The director didn’t answer.

I noticed Thane cross his arms over his chest when the director said the word
scandal
. This story would blow up nationwide. If reporters dug deep enough, they could drag our past into the whole mix and we’d go from local scandal to national freaks.

I bit the side of thumb harder, trying to think.

Thane said in a tight voice, “I’d rather none of it come out.”

Rhys eyes took on a wild gleam. “Me too. Though some authority has to go after The Scientist.”

“We haven’t seen him, but that’s what we’ll do. We’ll tell the authorities that he went crazy and forced the other coordinator down the hole. To the students, we’ll just report that you were weather-delayed, and the two coordinators were shifted to another campus due to a staffing shortage.”

Kaitlin said, “I’d go along with your story because my parents would hate the spectacle, but the problem is—”

She and I said it together, “Geneva.”

“What they did to Geneva—” I shook my head. “Her family should know.”

The director tilted his head, and waved his arms out. “The bear was no one’s fault, unless there’s something you’re not telling me.”

“She disappeared.” I said the words slowly with anger.

He shook his head. “No. No. Geneva’s in a hospital in Seattle. Her family’s military insurance is excellent, and she’s doing very well. Patient privacy being what it is, I can’t give you more details, but I understand she’ll be back here in the spring.”

I searched his face and could find no deception. My mood lifted. The news eased the horrors of the past couple of days. “Okay, you’ve got my silence.”

The director looked at Kaitlin. A tear slid down her face and into her smile. “Okay.”

“Good. Remember. Bad storm. You sheltered at the hangar. Hiking back, you fell in the hole where the rescue coordinators found you. The other two coordinators left after they were sure you were safe. Everyone stops the vitamins. Deal?”

“Deal.”

“Okay, get some rest and we’ll see you in class in the morning.”

We groaned and headed into the corridor, down the hall and past the familiar wolf motifs. A few students glanced at us, but they must have been warned to leave us alone, because no one said anything. I didn’t think that would last, but as exhausted as I was, I appreciated it for now.

I’m used to a certain lack of sleep, so I had an advantage, but it took everything I had to make it to our room. Kaitlin went in first, leaning heavily on Rhys. I followed with Thane.

Inside, Nevaeh lay across Geneva’s bed, flipping through her hair clips. “Get out.” Something in my voice made her not argue, and she scooted around us with only a little bitching.

I slammed the door shut behind her. We collapsed onto the beds and slept.

“Kaitlin!” The screech woke me up, but I’d used all my stores of adrenaline and I had no more to give to the screecher. The grit in my eyes made me blink and I yawned like a newborn. The infusion of oxygen along with the assault on my ears allowed me to pry open my eyelids.

Kaitlin and Rhys looked okay. Thane was here beside me. I turned to the doorway.

The screecher was an unfamiliar woman wearing a grey suit with a cream silk blouse. She stood staring at Kaitlin’s side of the room. A man in a similar suit stood beside her. He was taller and also unfamiliar. If the Screecher knew half of what we’d been through these last few days, she wouldn’t squawk at the sight of a couple in a twin bed.