Forty-One After Midnight (Completed)

Chapter Fourteen

I opened one of the heavy wooden doors to the library and stepped out into the hallway. I forgot how dark it was with absolutely no lights on. That and I suddenly remembered we were not alone when I looked closer and saw the foggy spirits of past students and felt the cool air they brought with them. I was actually glad to have Kyle with me now.

I didn't really know where we were going to start, but I had a feeling the principal, who was also related to John Williams, might have something to do with the book going missing.

We walked to the main office and stood outside the door. I leaned my ear up against it to see if I could hear any sort of noise coming from inside. I remembered Jane making us be extra quiet when we walked by and I wondered if that meant he was here. If he was, I wasn't entirely sure how we were going to look for that book. This part I had not planned for.

"Why do you think it's in here?" Kyle asked, his voice barely audible.

"Because, they're related, and I heard Laney talking to an older man once. He said they shouldn't let anyone know about what was going on. I think it was our principal. It sure didn't sound like any of the teachers I've seen around here," I whispered back, trying to be as quiet as possible.

He nodded. I assumed that meant he agreed with me. I listened more, but I couldn't actually hear anything. I wondered what that meant for a second, and then decided to just go for it and find out. Kyle tried to grab my arm and stop me when he saw me start to slowly turn the door knob.

The door creaked open and I cringed when I thought of how loud that probably was with all the silence around us. I waited for a moment. When nothing happened, I pushed it open a little farther.

Inside it looked just as I imagined a main office should look, only a little creepier due to the fact that all the lights were off and the only light in the room came from a single window on the ceiling. We both stepped inside and I shut the door behind us so we could turn on the light.

It didn't look like anyone had been in there since school hours. Everything was neatly where it should be. Then again, why would a ghost need to actually use the office? It wasn't like he was going to get anything done.

It was already early in the morning. We only had four hours left until the school day started. I began to dig through the filing cabinets and Kyle started on the secretary's desk. When we were done with those areas we moved onto other little side rooms where the copiers and printers were located. One of the rooms was where meetings were generally held now and one of them was the principal's office, which was rather small and located in the back of the entire main office.

We looked through more cabinets, dug through desks, bookshelves, and even looked in the fake plants. Nothing. Nothing at all.

"Well... what do we do now?" I asked.

"You know what's a possibility?" he asked, but didn't give me time to answer. "If the principal found it then it's with him. Right now. Maybe he took it out of the school."

I thought for a moment and then leaned back against the principal's desk. Kyle could be right, and if he was, that meant we were somehow going to have to get into the staff dorms. That was potentially a very dangerous plan, but I really needed to see that book. I had to find page 641 and see what was on it.

"On Monday someone in our group needs to stay in sick or something. Then they can sneak on over to the dorms while everyone else is in class. We have to do that part during the day when he's in the main building."