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I hadn&039;t sounded all Crap! I just fainted and need to change the subject &039;cause I&039; a reincarnated chick I&039;d sounded like a High Priestess Well, it wasn&039;t really that big of a thing Stevie Rae looked nervous and unco too hard to be nonchalant because she was feeling the exact opposite Hey, are you sure you&039;re okay? Shouldn&039;t we go up out of here and et you a brown pop or soives you flashbacks, talkin&039; soht now I just want to hear about the tunnel I aze steadily So tell me how you did this

I could sense the other kids, as well as Sister Mary Angela, watching us with curiosity mixed in with their confusion, but I kept focused on Stevie Rae &039;Kay, well, you know the Prohibition tunnels are practically everywhere under the don buildings, right? I nodded Right Also, remember that I told you I&039;d been doin&039; so to see where they all went? Yeah, I remember Okay, so, I found that kinda half-covered tunnel entrance that Ant told y&039;all about the other day--the one that branches off away fro and stuff I nodded again impatiently Well, it was filled in with dirt, but when I felt around the little hole left in the middle of it, I knocked a bunch of dirt away, stuck h, and felt a bunch of cool air

That made me think there was probably more tunnel on the other side of it So I pushed, with my mind and my hands and my element And earth responded Responded? Like it shook or so? I asked More like it moved Like I wanted it to In my head She paused It&039;s kinda hard to explain But what happened was the dirt that had sealed the tunnel ended up cru into a really, really old tunnel And this old tunnel was made of dirt, not lined with concrete, like the tunnels under the depot and don, right? Damien said Stevie Rae s around her shoulders

Yeah! And instead of heading don it pointed to uesstimate in my head how many miles that was and could no way do the math Of course, I am math impaired, but still, it was a ways Nope What happened was that once I found the dirt tunnel and kinda opened it up, I went explorin&039; in it Okay, it starts as one of the off shoots of the Philtower Building I thought it eird and kinda cool that it headed away from don How could you tell that? Dauess where you were heading? Easy-peasy for me! I can always find north, you know, the direction ofHmm, he said Go on, I said Then what? Then it ran out Just, well, stopped Before you slippedyou here at the sisters&039; place, that&039;s where I stopped, too I o back and check it out soh priority to ht have to move the kids here, I couldn&039;t quit thinkin&039; about the dirt tunnel I remembered that it had been headed in this direction before it ran out So I went back there I thought about where I wanted to go and hoished the tunnel would go there

Then I pushed again, like I&039;d done to get the opening bigger, only o, the earth did what I told it to do, and here we are! Ta-da! She finished with a big smile and a flourish Into the silence that surrounded Stevie Rae&039;s explanation, Sister Mary Angela&039;s voice sounded utterly normal and reasonable, which made me heart her even more than I already did Reree upon the source of your gift, but I am nonetheless in awe of its vastness Thank you, Sister! I think you&039;re pretty awesome, too, &039;specially for a nun How did you see down there? I asked Well, I really don&039;t have a probleood at it as I aht some lanterns from the depot tunnels Stevie Rae pointed to a few oil lanterns that I hadn&039;t noticed before in the dark corners of the root cellar

Still, it was a long way, Shaunee was saying Seriously It must have been dark and creepy, Erin said Nah, the earth really isn&039;t creepy to ed Like I said, it was no big deal Actually, it was super-easy And you s here safely? Damien said Yep! Which all? I asked What do ya mean, which all? That doesn&039;t s y&039;all met before, plus Erik and Heath Who else are ya talkin&039; about? Her words sounded norh and wouldn&039;tto me

And I didn&039;t knohat to do about it I thinkconfused because she&039;s exhausted, as she should be after the experience she&039;s had tonight Sister Mary Angela&039;s war as her voice We&039;re all tired, she added Her smile took in Stevie Rae, the Twins, Aphrodite, and Daet you settled with the rest of your friends Sleep Everything will seem clearer when you&039;re well rested I nodded wearily and let Sister Mary Angela shepherd us out of the depths of the root cellar and up the staircase we&039;d co up and into the hallway of the abbey, the nun opened a door off the landing I hadn&039;t noticed when I&039;d been hurrying after Damien earlier

A shorter staircase led into theceiant laundry room to a te talls opposite each other,cozy There was a kid-sized mound in one of the beds, and the poof of red hair that was sticking out of the blanket he&039;d pulled up over most of his head told lings were clustered around the washer-dryer area, sitting on those folding e flat-screen TV that was perched on top of one of the washers

There was a lot of yawning going on with them, which meant it really must be almost dawn, but they seelanced at the screen and felt rin The Sound of Music? They&039;re watching The Sound of Music? I laughed Sister Mary Angela lifted one eyebrow at lings ht enjoy it, too It is a classic, Damien said I used to think that Nazi kid was cute, Shaunee said Except he rats out the Von Trapps, Erin said Which is when he turned not so cute, Shaunee continued as the Twins grabbed folding chairs and joined the other fledglings in front of the TV

But everybody likes Julie Andrews, Stevie Rae said She shoulda smacked them damn spoiled kids, Kralanced over her shoulder and gave Sister Mary Angela a tired smile Sorry &039;bout the damn,&039; Sister, but they is brats They just needed love and attention and understanding, like all children do, said the sister Okay, barf Seriously, Aphrodite said, before any of you break into a chorus of How Do You Solve a Problehto find Darius and led her brows and started to twitch out of the baseela called

When Aphrodite paused and looked back at her, the nun continued I iht to him would be just fine, but you&039;ll find your roo it with Zoey and not with the warrior Ugh, I said under my breath Aphrodite rolled her eyes Why does that not surpriseto herself, she continued to twitch away Sorry, Z, Stevie Rae said after she rolled her eyes at Aphrodite&039;s back I&039;d be your rooround really feels better to me after the sun rises, plus I need to stick close to the red fledglings

That&039;s okay, I said a little too quickly So now I didn&039;t even want to be alone with my BFF? Is everyone else still upstairs? Da around, and I was pretty sure he was looking for Jack I, on the other hand, hadn&039;t been looking around for any of my boyfriends Actually, after their stupid, testosterone display outside, I was thinking that being boyfriendless sounded better and better And then there was Kalona and the memory I wish I&039;d never had Yeah, everyone else is upstairs in the cafeteria or already in bed Hey, Earth to Zo! Check it out The nuns have aselection of Doritos, and I even found soar, said Heath as he jumped down the last three steps into the basement