Riddle Me This?

Chapter 2

The video playing at the front of the room should have been more interesting to me, but I barely heard the words droning out of the unseen narrator. It was about space, and normally that would have held my attention.

The screen flared a little brighter with each movement of the pulsar animation. Like that buried thing in the woods, or broken glass glinting in the sun. What had been in that window? Was someone living there? Had they buried the piece of metal? What if they came back and found it so suddenly gone? Maybe what I saw was just the flap of an old curtain, or a torn piece of wallpaper, bothered by any breeze that swept past the broken glass. I realized I'd forgotten to call Brandon. I'll just bring it up at lunch.

Something bumped my elbow, and I jumped. Matt leaned away. His arm. That's all.

His eyebrows rose.

I shook my head.

The bell blasted then. Our teacher put down whatever novel he was reading and moved wordlessly towards the TV as our class filed out of the room. The plaid and khaki ranks of Ravensbrook Academy filled the plaster and tile hallway, voices rising and echoing around us.

"What were you thinking so hard about?" Matt asked.

"The house."

"So you definitely still want to go back?"

"Of course." I skirted around a group of gangly middle schoolers. "Don't you?"

"Well...yeah. I've been thinking about that metal thing. The stuff on it."

The cafeteria doors were propped wide open. I stopped and leaned against a polished wood windowsill. "And?"

He slouched next to me. "I haven't figured out why I know I've seen those letters before."

"Oh." What now? "Well, I want to get inside the house. And soon."

"Okay. Soon's good."

I hesitated for a moment. "Soon like tonight."

He stared across the hall at a row of brown lockers. "That soon."

"Yep."

He didn't seem to have more than a slow nod as his answer.

Yes. I let my gaze drift around as the stream of students filing past us slowed to a trickle.

A forgotten prom poster on the wall above the lockers caught my eye. The paper was looking rough now, faded and torn at the edges. Up there since January, at least. Prom had been weeks ago, and me and Matt had gone together.

That was the night we'd gone back to an old middle school in Wilson County. The first place Tim took us, all those years ago. Before prom was even over, we'd left Brandon and his girlfriend at the country club and rushed back home to change. Then we were off, just the two of us night hunters, clambering through creaking windows and kicking up dust in the night. The old school was still as spooky as they come.

I blinked. Weeks ago. Wow. Tomorrow was the last day of school, something I hadn't even given more than a second's thought before this moment. Preparation for college would overshadow everything in the next year, and what if there was suddenly no more time for our hobby?

"You guys weren't waiting for me, were you?" Brandon White swaggered into my line of vision, his phone loose in his hand. He pocketed it.

I pushed off the windowsill. "Come on, I'm hungry."

"I'll meet y'all. Gotta get my food." Brandon said. He made off for the hot lunch line.

"Me too," Matt added. "You?"