Gone (Gone #1)(92)

"Pack Leader's here.* Lana said. She crossed to the sink and picked up Hermit Jim's kitchen knife. She turned to Sam, her expression fierce. "Til stab him in his heart if he comes in here."

Sam and Edilio both drew their knives. From outside the door, just inches away, came the strangled, snarling, high-pitched voice. "Human* Come out" "No" Lana yelled. "Human. Come out"

Lana said, "Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin."

Astrid smiled. "Nice," she whispered.

"Human. Come out. Human teach Pack Leader. Human

"Lesson number one, you filthy, ugly, nasty, mangy animal: Never trust a human."

That resulted in a protracted silence.

"The Darkness" Pack Leader growled.

Lana felt fear contract her heart. "Go ahead. Go tell your master in the mine all about it." She started to sav that she wasn't afraid of the Darkness. But those words would have sounded false.

"What's this about a mine?" Sam asked.

"Nothing"

"Then why is that coyote out there talking about it? What's this darkness thing?"

Lana shook her head. "I don't know. They took me there. It's an old gold mine. That's all *

Sam said, "Look, you saved our lives. But we still want to know what's going on"

Lana twined her lingers together around the knite hilt to keep herself from shaking. "I don't know what's going on, Sam. There's something down in that mine. That's all I know. The coyotes listen to it, they're scared of it, and they do what it says"

"Did you see it?"

"I don'l know. I don't remember. I don't really want to remember."

There was a loud thump at the door and it rattled on its hinges.

"Edilio, let's find more nails" Sam said.

The dining hall of Coates Academy had always seemed like a strange, unfriendly place to Jack. In terms of design and decor, it was an attempt to be airy and colorful. The windows were tall, the ceiling lofty; the doors were high arches decorated with bright ornamental Spanish tiles.

The long, heavy, dark wood tables of Jack's first year at

Coates, tables that had accommodated sixty students each, had just this last year been replaced by two dozen smaller, less formal round tables decorated with papier-mache centerpieces made by students.

At the farthest end of the dining hall a mosaic had been created of individually painted construction paper squares. The theme was "Forward Together" The squares had been arranged to form a giant arrow pointing from the lloor to the ceiling.

But the more they tried to brighten the room, the less friendly it seemed to grow, as if the little touches of color and whimsy just accented the crushing size, age, and irreducible formality of the room.

Panda, his leg not broken but badly sprained, slumped into a chair and looked mournful end resentful. Diana stood to one side, not liking what she was about to witness, and not keeping that feeling a secret.

"Get up on the table, Andrew," Caine ordered, pointing to one of the large round tables in front of the arrow mosaic.

"What do you mean, get up on the table?" Andrew demanded.

Some kids poked their heads irto the dining balk Drake said, "Shoo." And they disappeared.

"Andrew, you can climb up on the table or I can levitate you up there," Caine said.

"Get up, moron," Drake snapped.

Andrew climbed onto a chair, then onto the table."! don't see what.. "

"Tie him up. Computer Jack? Start setting up"

Drake pulled rope from (he bag he'd retrieved from the can He tied one end around a table leg, measured out about six feet, cut the rope, then tied the end around Andrew's leg.

"Man, what is this?" Andrew said. "What are you doing?"

"It's an experiment, Andrew,"

Jack began setting up lights and tripods for cameras.

"This is bogus, man. This isn't right, Caine. It's not right"

"Andrew, you're lucky I'm giving you a chance to survive the big blink " Caine said. "Now stop sniveling."

Drake tied Andrew*s second le^ and then hopped onto the table to tie Andrew's hands firmly behind him.

"Dude, I need my hands free for the power"

Drake looked at Caine, who nodded. Drake untied Andrew's hands and glanced at the chandelier above. He tossed the rope end up over the chandelier, an ornate, heavy iron thing that Coates kids joked was the tenth Nazgul.

Drake cinched the rope up around Andrew's chest, pulled it up under his armpits, and hauled him up till his feet barely touched the table top.

"Make sure his hands can't aim in this direction" Caine said. "I don't want that shock wave thing of his knocking cameras over."

So Drake suspended each hand by the wrist, leaving Andrew looking like a boy who was trying to surrender.

Jack watched the LED viewfinder of one of the cameras. Andrew would still be able to move out of frame by swaying one way or the other. Jack didn't want to say anything, he felt sorry for Andrew, but if the video got messed up ..,

"Urn. He could still move left or right a little"

Drake then ran ropes from Andrew's neck, four of them leading to tables on four sides. Andrew could move no more than a foot in any direction.