Children of the Stars

Chapter Twenty Two

We all exchanged looks when Riley melted into the door. Emma looked horrified, Isobel and Ember seemed to be in shock, Jasmine and Skylark didn't seem to care very much, and Kaylin seemed to be in denial. "This goddamn school," she was muttering. "Gets weirder everyday."

"Did that really just happen?" I asked my friends, examining the door.

As an answer, Riley's face rematerialized in the door, as if she were peering through water. I leapt back with a strange strangled noise leaving my throat.

"Well, are you coming?" The face asked, looking like everything was fine. I felt my stomach roll and looked away.

"God, only if you don't go sticking your head through anymore doors!"

"Perfect!" I looked up in time to see her chestnut hair whirl around her head as she disappeared again. My eyes turned towards my friends, where Emma was staring at me as if I had three heads. The others were in various states of disgust or horror—except for Jasmine who seemed to be unaffected. When she caught my questioning stare, she shrugged.

"They're Gemini and in the same Element as me; it's like they're always where they shouldn't be. It isn't actually that uncommon to see them Ghosting. If you know what you're looking for."

"Ghosting?" Skylark murmured, arms crossed. "What's that?"

"What you just saw. Now come on, we don't want to lose her. She may be able to walk through walls and I may be able to travel through the pipes but you guys are unfortunately stuck with walking the old fashioned way." With that she opened the door and strolled out into the hall.

Skylark followed after her, fiddling with the sleeves of her faded sleep hoodie, and grumbling under her breath. Emma was next with Isobel, while Ember and Kaylin waited for me. Together, we followed the succession of people after the Ghosting Gemini. Riley led us through the main hallway and then disappeared through a bookshelf beside a classroom. Emma scoffed and rolled her eyes, but Jasmine pressed a jutting book further into the shelf and like it did at the Air party, the shelf opened inwards, revealing a narrow, stone lined hallway.

"Another one?" Skylark whispered, looking around her at the dark space. "What even are these?"

"They're the tunnels." The fascinated voice was from Kaylin who was looking around the dark space in awe. Jasmine chuckled and nodded while five pairs of blank stares gaped at the Leo from us Sagittarius's. Kaylin's eyes flashed in the dark and she continued. "You know. From the first day in that really boring class where Mr. Hawkesburn taught us about the history of the school?"

Emma and I exchanged confused glances and shook our heads.

The Leo girl sighed exasperatedly. "Sagittarius and their short attention span," she grumbled. "The school is littered with tunnels like these in case the school was taken over by the Axis in World War II. It's for students to escape without being taken hostage. They literally go anywhere within the walls of the school."

"Whoa." Emma's face held a look of wonder as she glanced at the walls around her. Isobel rolled her eyes and shouldered passed her. She froze and peered into the thick darkness.

"Where are Jasmine and Riley?"

"They are down the hall a ways," Kaylin replied, her eyes fixed on a point further in the darkness.

"Dude, how can you see that far in this?" That was Ember, who was hanging around the still-open doorway. Kaylin shrugged. "Lions can see in the dark." Then she headed off into the darkness.

"Wait for us!" I called, trying to keep her in the light as I started after her silhouette. I heard four sets of footsteps following mine. As soon as Ember was clear of the bookshelf, there was an ominous creaking as the shelf clicked back into place, sealing us into the solid black. I froze, not trusting myself to keep moving forward. I felt someone run into me with a grunt.