Page 38 (1/2)

"How can I get outside?" I asked, ht and scoped out the rooe look "You climb down the chimney to the basement," she said slowly "Why?"

"Itit worked It actually worked I talked to o I’ll explain it all later"

"Do you kno to get back? Want ure it out I’ll meet you back in the rooh I knew she was skeptical "If you walk past the furnace, there’s a fire escape It leads to the back of the doro"

I sratitude "Thanks"

"Are you sure you don’t want s "I’ll see you later"

I shiot to the baseh the fireplace, I loweredthe ceiling, filling the rooy se bea in the hall To ht the laundryceateda viscous liquid that left yellow stains on the floor Otherwise the roo the drips until I spotted an eroded ht air, htened Goose bumps prickled acrossany clothes Ih I knew no one was there to see ht freeze to death before I even reen, and if Eleanor ever conjuredaround campus like an idiot in my shorts

But what else could I do? If my father was out there, I had to find hih the trees, until I was standing in eyesight of the great oak Its gnarled trunk looked thicker without its normal shroud of leaves, and its bare branches extended over the lawn like a system of roots It was the exact sa the séance

And then in the distance, two figures materialized out of the darkness by the Ursa Major statue I squinted It looked like a , I ran toward theirls’ dorust of wind carried the sound of the voices across the path, and I wrapped my arms around myself in the cold

"Mom?" I called out as I approached "Dad?"

At the sound of my voice they froze, then spun around I realized, to my horror, that they weren’t my parents at all Instead, I was face-to-face with Gideon and Vivian "II’ht you were soht in the midst of a cri to Gideon, and they both looked at ht in their antique suits, and ere they talking about, and why did they always look so angry?

It’s okay, I told myself They’re just students What could they do toto Vivian in Latin, and she nodded and approached an to back away from them, when I felt someone directly behind nized his touch iht wind

"Stay behindin front of me, his voice low and authoritative

"Friends," he said, looking between Gideon and Vivian, "what are you doing out past curfew on a night like tonight?"