The Wasp Chronicles #1: Into the Hornet's Nest

Clément's Curiosity Part 2: Report

The three of us strode quietly down the hallway and stopped at the stairs. We listened. We heard some shuffling and muttering, like someone was opening drawers and moving papers around. "He's searching for something!" Marc whispered. I nodded. Zeke began to creep up the stairs. When he got to the first landing, Marc and I followed. From the landing, we could see an office door with a translucent glass window on the second floor. It was ajar, and we could see the bald man's silhouette move past the window. There was a bang and he cursed. It sounded like he dropped something on his foot. Zeke started to climb the stairs to the door. Marc and I followed, but I stopped when I caught sight of a dark figure standing by the wall opposite the door. "Zeke stop!" I hissed. He did. He followed my gaze to the person. I looked closer. It was a girl. I started to walk to her. She backed away. Zeke held me back and he suddenly lunged at her. She screamed and ran down the dark hallway. "Zeke, what were you thinking?" Marc demanded. The sound of shuffling papers stopped. The bald guy's blurry silhouette appeared at the window. Two things happened at once. First, Marc shouted, "Run!" Second, the man opened the door. I caught a brief glimpse of a gaunt, pale face with a hooked nose and circular black sunglasses before I turned and leapt my way down the stairs after Marc and Zeke. We didn't stop running until we had left the building and ran past Nicholas down the boardwalk and onto the beach.

As we were catching our breath, Nicholas came after us. "What was all that running about?" He asked. "Some guy broke into that building and was looking for something!" Marc explained. "And there was a girl there," I uttered, "Hiding from him. Zeke scared her off." "Scared her off?" Marc repeated, "He freakin' tried to tackle her! It made her scream and then that guy knew we were there!" Nicholas snorted. "What am I going to tell Mr. G. if you three get killed or something?" He took a sip of Mountain Dew. I broke away from the group and walked down the beach to find Louis. "Hey, Clément" He spoke when he saw me. I told him the story of what happened as we walked down the beach. He didn't say anything until I had finished. "I wonder who she was." He pondered. I shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine." Then we noticed a crowd of students heading for the boardwalk, led by Mr. C. "Looks like they got the bus working again," I said. "Yep," Louis said, and we went to join them.