Academy of Legends

Chapter 23: Rapunzel (Carrot)

Me and Will tailed Ariel for what felt like hours. By that time, I was beginning to wonder if my hunch had been wrong, and she was actually innocent. But the way she'd spoken to Will, as if he were beneath her, and her parting words ... "You're a traitor to your kind" ... it had me convinced. There was no way the Little Mermaid was as innocent as she appeared to be. I just had to figure out what exactly she was guilty of.

We were beginning to delve into the darker, more unexplored sections of the Academy. And still Ariel didn't slow down; that made me believe that she had somewhere very important to go. I could tell Will was getting nervous from the way he kept rubbing at his injury, from Robin's death, and by the ghostly pallor of his face. All I could do was give him a reassuring squeeze of his hand in mine as we moved quietly after Ariel.

Finally, Ariel stopped at a door, rusted over and flaking wood. I barely managed to keep Will from stumbling out into the corridor by dragging him back. The Little Mermaid raised her fist and knocked on the door. The two of us exchanged glances, and I could hardly restrain my excitement. Finally, I was getting somewhere! Oh, and I suppose Will was too.

A voice responded to Ariel's knock. "What's the password?" it said in a droning, bored tone.

"You know it's me," Ariel said with a trace of asperity. "Do I really need some stupid password to get in?"

"You know the rules."

"Fine," Ariel huffed. "C-carrot hair."

There was a snort from the man on the other side of the door. "That never gets old," he said. "Come on in, mermaid."

"How many times do I have to say that my hair is red, not orange?" she complained as the door opened. "Honestly." She went inside, and the door slammed shut behind her.

I moved to go out into the hallway, but Will grabbed my arm and dragged me back. "What are you doing?" he demanded softly. "Do you want to get yourself caught? We found what we came for."

"We don't know anything, except that Ariel is part of some kind of a secret society," I insisted. "What if it's some idiotic student clique or something? We have no proof, Will. We need proof."

"Well ..." Will looked unconvinced. "We'll be going into potentially dangerous enemy territory, unarmed."

"We're not unarmed," I reminded him, waving my frying pan at him. "C'mon, Will. Don't you want to get the people that killed Robin?"

Will's face hardened, and I regretted bringing it up. "Of course I do," he snapped. "But that doesn't mean I think we should go in like some form of heroes and get ourselves caught and killed!"

Movement behind Will caught my eye, and I froze. He must have seen the expression on my face, because his shoulders tensed. "Rapunzel?" he said softly.

"Okay, this is so not my fault," I insisted, pointing.

Will turned and groaned. There was a man behind him, his eyebrows raised ...

And a gun pointed at Will's head.