Miss Mayhem (Rebel Belle #2)(34)

My eyes watered as I scanned the room, but there was no sign of David.

Still, he had to be here. I felt it. “David!” I called, rushing in and bumping into a desk. It screeched across the linoleum, and I called again. “David!”

And then I saw his messenger bag propped against the door of the darkroom.

Several years ago, some parents whose kids had been super into photography had donated the funds to have the darkroom installed in the newspaper lab, but hardly anyone used it anymore.

Except David.

The little light over the door was on, showing that it was in use, but I ignored that, flinging open the door to stare at David, who whirled around to glare over the top of his glasses.

When he saw it was me, the glare lessened a bit, but he still didn’t seem thrilled. “Pres, you know you can’t open—”

Then he stopped, lifting his nose. “Wait, are the alarms going off? Is that smoke?”

Without answering, I reached in, grabbed him by the sleeve of his ratty sweater, and tugged him out of the darkroom.

I could already hear the wailing of sirens as I pulled David through the empty halls of the school, heading for the doors that led to the courtyard. He was safe now, so I didn’t feel like my chest was in a vise, but my stomach still churned. The English hall hadn’t totally gone up in flames, but the damage was going to be huge. We’d probably have to move classes out of there for the rest of the semester, a thought that made me feel angry and sad and sick. My school. The place I’d spent so much of my time trying to make perfect. But since I couldn’t even begin to process that right now, I turned to David.

“Why were you in there?” I asked over the various sirens, and David pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

“I forgot that I had some photographs I wanted to develop, and the assembly seemed like a good time to get them done.”

Now that David wasn’t in imminent danger of becoming charcoal, I whirled on him right there by the front doors. “I told you I was speaking this morning.”

He frowned, folding his arms over his chest. “Yeah, but just about the dance, right? You already told me everything you were going to say.”

It was the worry getting to me, I think, the worry and the knowledge that my school had been attacked and pretty seriously damaged. I couldn’t freak out about all of that right now, but I could snap at David. “So you didn’t care?”

He blinked at me. “Are we seriously going to do this here?”

He was right; now was definitely not the time, but if I could have shoved him out the door, I think I would have. Instead, I opened it and steered him toward the steps. “Go to your car. I’ll meet you there in a minute.”

David ran a hand over his sandy blond hair, ruffling it. “You’re going back in there?” he asked, and I nodded.

“I knocked Headmaster Dunn unconscious, so I should probably deal with that.”

His eyebrows lifted up into his hairline, but he didn’t say anything else, jogging down the steps toward the group of students milling around on the grass.

I darted back inside, running back for the gym, trying to tell myself that it wasn’t that big of a deal that David hadn’t come to the assembly. I was probably just mad because it had put him in danger.

But then, as I rounded the corner back toward the gymnasium, I realized: If this was one of the trials, why on earth would the Ephors put David in danger? They said they wanted him.

Unless this was all a trick, and I was right about Alexander being evil.

Man, I really hoped I was right.

When I got back to the gym, I was surprised to see Ryan there, kneeling next to Headmaster Dunn, who was trying to stand.

“You okay, Headmaster?” Ryan asked, easing a hand under the man’s elbow. “You seriously whacked your head on that podium.”

Ryan could annoy the ever-living heck out of me, but right now, I was so grateful, I could have cried. Somehow, he must’ve known I’d need him, and I smiled at him as I came to help him get Headmaster Dunn to his feet.

“It’s these gym floors,” I said. “Super slippy.”

But then Headmaster Dunn looked at me, his expression dark, his face nearly purple. “Gym floors?” he repeated. “You hit me, Miss Price.”

Panicked, I looked at Ryan, who was staring back at me, confused. He gave a tiny shake of his head, and I could smell the rose balm in the air. He’d used the mind-wipe stuff, so why wasn’t it working?

“Young lady, you are coming to my office right now,” he continued, shaking his head as though he couldn’t believe he was saying those words. I couldn’t believe he was saying those words.

I’d already told David to meet me at his car so we could get to Alexander’s and find out what the heck had happened. If I went with Headmaster Dunn now, I had a feeling I’d be in his office for a while. They’d have to call my parents. Oh God, or the police. Or my parents and the police. Honestly, what was the point of having someone who could do mind-wiping magic if the freaking mind-wiping magic didn’t work?

Two choices stared me right in the face. Either I stayed here and I dealt with this, or I took off for my car and got to David and Alexander. If I did that, maybe I could get some answers about why one of the trials involved nearly killing David, and why Ryan’s magic wasn’t working.