Wizard Born

Chapter 22 - Secrets Revealed

Roxanne followed him, wondering if he was going to show her a hiding place. But he turned towards the boy's bathroom instead. Roxanne stopped and tugged his sleeve to get his attention. This room was not as dark as the hallway and the moon seemed to make their skin glow, Roxanne felt very exposed.

Sevastian came back to her and whispered very softly, "I know a way out."

Roxanne nodded, it was just a boy's bathroom, and it should be empty this time of night. Sevastian slipped in and held the door so Roxanne could too. He held onto the door so it would close slowly and silently. There were a few inches to go when they heard a loud bang followed by screams. Sevastian let go of the door and it snapped shut, muffling the noise from upstairs. A man was yelling over the screaming, but they couldn't make out the words.

"Do you think they heard?" Roxanne whispered, struggling to speak.

Sevastian looked shaken. "Did they shoot someone?" he whispered.

Roxanne hadn't connected the bang to a gun shot, but Sevastian had. She started towards the door, worried about Mandy, then stopped. There was nothing she could do against men with guns. Mandy would be okay, she had to be. She turned towards Sevastian who was still staring at the door. "Let's go," she whispered.

This seemed to wake him up and he nodded, then headed to the last stall. Roxanne followed, wondering what sort of secret passage started in a bathroom.

But it wasn't a secret passage; it was a window, high up near the ceiling. Sevastian climbed up on the pipes behind the toilet and wiggled head first out the window. He did it so quickly and confidently that Roxanne knew he had done it many times before. It wasn't just the fact that Sevastian had experience. He was also better outfitted for climbing out bathroom windows. He was still in his school uniform, with trainers. Roxanne had been ready to go to bed so she was in her nightgown. She hadn't even stopped to put on her dressing gown or slippers when she'd run out of her room to get help for Scarlet.

Roxanne had to climb up on the toilet seat with her bare feet. Then she had to climb the pipes which were cold and pressed painfully into the soles of her feet. At the window, Roxanne almost lost her balance as she held the window open with one hand while she wiggled out. When she was hanging half out the window she let go of the window so it came to rest heavily on her back. The window sill under her was digging into her belly. Sevastian must have been bullied worse than she thought to regularly leave the dorms this way. As she hung there she realized there was nothing to hang onto on this side of the wall. She'd have to fall forward and roll or something.

Sevastian reached up and grabbed her hands. "Wriggle forward, I'll pull."

So Roxanne wriggled as Sevastian pulled. At first she didn't seem to move it just felt like she was scraping skin off her belly. Then suddenly she slid out of the window, falling head first onto Sevastian. She managed not to hit her head onto his, but not much else. It felt like Sevastian was made all of sharp angles that she was sure would leave her skin black and blue. By the way Sevastian groaned he hadn't fared much better.

They both scrambled up, checking for serious injuries. After a moment, Roxanne whispered, "What next?"

Sevastian glanced up at the upper floor windows that were bright with light. They were on the wrong side of the building to see if the other dorms had also been broken into. "We should get out of sight," Sevastian whispered back.

Roxanne nodded and contemplated the best path to take into the woods. At the corner of the building, they'd be harder to see from the windows. But if they cross here they'd be out in the open for a shorter time. Roxanne started to point out the two paths, but Sevastian was already creeping away along the building.