"I swear, if I'm dying tonight because of you, I'm gonna haunt your ass so hard, Harrington!"
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah! I'm gonna go full Poltergeist and shit!"
"Then bring it, Graveswood."
"Challenge accepted."
***
In which after years of suppressing their...
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Chapter One-Hundred-And-Three: One-Way Trip Down
(The Sauna Test, Pt. 3)
***
Rowan hunkered down behind the ledge guarding her and the four with her from sight, watching the secret room like a hawk as they waited for Erica to come over on the walkie in Robin's hands.
It was well after closing hours in the mall and right after new deliveries came into that room—their perfect chance to get inside, since the guard was nowhere in sight. And if everything went to plan, they'd all get out before he even came back with whatever the fuck was inside those boxes.
Still, even though Rowan knew, logically, only boxes were in the room, Rowan felt worry knot inside her for the sassy ten-year-old, that maybe a guard was inside and they wouldn't know until it was too late. Rowan didn't think Lucas would ever forgive them if he learned they were responsible for his sister's death if that happened.
Her shoulder was bumped and Rowan looked over to Steve, who's hand held hers, squeezing it in comfort.
"She'll be fine," he murmured, and Rowan saw it was as much to assure himself as it was for her.
"I know. Guess I'm just worried. She's just a kid after all. But yeah, she'll probably be fine," Rowan muttered, squeezing Steve's hand right back. Giving her own comfort for Steve's anxiety over Erica Sinclair's fate and the admittedly risky mission she was doing.
A crackle came from the radio as Robin lifted it to her mouth and said, "Erica, do you copy?"
"Mmm-hmm. I copy," crackled over a second after. "You nerds in position or what?"
"Yeah, we're in position," Robin confirmed.
"We have been for the past few hours, but take your sweet time you twerp," Valerie muttered.
"It's all quiet here, so you've got the green light," Robin told Erica.
"Green light, roger that. Commence Operation Child Endangerment," Erica informed.
"Can we maybe not call it that?" Robin requested, a flash of irritation on her face.
"Sorry, Buckley, but I think the name's stuck," Rowan said. She didn't want to call it that, too, but she couldn't deny it now had stuck thanks to Erica.
"See you on the other side. Nerds," Erica said before the radio crackled with static, leaving them to wait and see if Erica succeeded.
Rowan bit her lip as she raised her hand to her mouth and began chewing at her nails, her stomach a mess of nerves and worry. Lightning simmered nervously inside her, twisting with her nervous system until Rowan didn't know where her nervous system ended and her lightning began, the intensity increasing with each long second that Erica didn't come over.
