Seyruun High Jinx –NEXT!
Chapter 20
Seyruun Campus Detectives
"Do we take the bait and find out?" -- Zel
Ring, ring
"Hello? Oh, hello dear, how are you? Fine. The festival was a big success this year. Ummmm, hummm, she's a beautiful girl, just like her mother at her age. Yes, I know. And her band drew fantastic crowds for us. Who, Rodimus and Zolf? They worked out just fine. I think they got along great. They certainly did the best they could to be invaluable to the band. What? I will. Um, they mostly worked with two of the boys, just a minute… Just a second, I dropped my notes…"
"There now… I have their names here…Zelgadiss and Val. Yes, one was unusual, scarred—Zelgadiss. Old school chums of Lina's? How nice, right? Others? Okay, from my list: Sylphiel, Filia, Amelia…yes, the mayor's daughter…Zelgadiss, Val, Gourry, and Xelloss. Yes, all very nice kids. I took pictures! Certainly, I'll send you all of them. I even labeled them on the back. Shall I send them to the same post office box I did last time? Okay. It's too bad you can't be here yourself to see her grow…I'm sorry too. I know I just keep wheeling off in all directions here. Well, I understand. Yes, I am such a good little sister-in-law, aren't I? Bye for now, then…take care."
Click
"Gourry? That was Nels Lahda on the phone just now. His car's been shop all week and now the loner won't start..."
Gourry looked up from his book at the kitchen table. "He wants me ta take a look at it?"
"No, I think he's got that covered. It's just that his daughter's at cheerleader practice and needs a ride home. They were all going out, I guess, so she's expecting him, otherwise I'm sure she would have arranged something else. So could you go pick her up?"
"Yeah, sure, Mom. What time?"
"Why don't you go on over now and see if she's ready, okay hon?" Mrs. Gabriev smiled and tossed the dish towel over the ring to dry.
Gourry shook his head and closed his book. "Sure." It was odd but this was the third time this week that he had come to Sylphiel's aid. Not that he minded much. He liked to help out when he could, but it was just odd, that's all.
He parked out by the gymnasium and walked to the side door. It stood ajar, so he peeked in. Nice. A bunch of girls in short skirts doing flirty dances and moves. Filia was the tallest, then Sylphiel, then a flock of others. Nice. It was a bit chilly outside, so Gourry stepped just inside the door. He leaned back against the wood slat wall, arms crossed over his wide chest and smiled. Beats homework.
"Oooooh! It's Gourry!" one of the 'others' squealed. "Come on over!"
"Yeah! Join us!" called another.
He demurred as long as possible, but when all the girls grabbed hold of his arms and pushed from behind, he had no choice but to move. Amid giggles and laughter he became the central figure for their newest routine. They only practiced once a week, since with the football season in full gear they had games each week in which to perform.
At the other end of the gym, the basketball team was involved in shooting practice. The coach had been trying to recruit Gourry to the team for years. Now he was laughing. To think, all he had needed back then was a bevy of beauties! Come to think of it, it might work in future years, should he need it with his other brothers.
"Okay, here's how ta do it. I can take one on my shoulders and one hangin' off each leg like this." Gourry helped one of the smaller girls step up, balancing off one of his legs, holding his hand. "See? Now another come on my other side and climb up...yeah...now the one on top... Who's smallest? Okay..."
"Oh you are so strong. But...but... Sure this isn't hurting you?" one asked, Sylphiel. She was the one who tied back his hair so that it wouldn't get tangled and pulled.
Later, she made certain that his hands weren't being strained. "He needs them to play guitar, you know." And, when they all took a break, she made sure Gourry got himself a drink too. "It's so easy to forget and get dehydrated!" she reminded him.
It made him think. It was nice to be cared for, fussed over. No one ever really did that for him, but her.
"I think I'll change at home," she said to him on their way out to his truck. "That way you won't have to wait any longer."
" 'Sall right. No trouble. I was just readin' for English."
"Well, I'm really glad you could do this. Poor father and his car troubles. I think he should get a new car. Don't you think he should if it keeps breaking down all the time?"
"Um...it depends, ya know. New cars are real expensive, insurance is more and all. All cars need stuff, like new brakes. Just the way it is." Gourry spoke confidently. When it came to expenses, he knew his numbers.
"Oh, well, if you say so. I don't know a thing about cars, except driving one. Did I tell you I got a part time job at the hospital?"
"I thought you already worked there," he replied, confused.
"Yes, but only as a volunteer. Now they pay me. I work after school Tuesdays and Thursdays. I could work more, but with the band, well...you know."
"Yeah, gotta keep those weekends free, huh?" Gourry smiled knowingly.
He walked her up to the back, private entrance to the shrine, where they were greeted by her father. He seemed very pleased to see them and invited Gourry to join them when they went out for dinner.
"It's a way of thanking you for all your help this week," Nels Lahda insisted.
"Ah, well, sure. I gotta call home and let them know...ah... Am I okay the way I'm dressed?"
"Oh yes. We're just going to a casual place." Nels Lahda moved closer and lowered his voice. "I'm hoping you can convince her to eat a little. She hardly eats enough to fill a bird and looks thin to me."
Gourry nodded, but said as he observed her entering the front hall, "Ah, well...I thinks she looks okay. Real nice, actually."
And he meant that. She was growing into a dark beauty, her hair long, sleek, shining with good health and tireless care. Her large gray-blue eyes and pearlescent skin contrasted sharply with her long dark lashes and tresses. Combined with her slender shapely body and quiet nature, Sylphiel was very popular with the boys.
Gourry couldn't help but notice. They shared classes and the band so they saw one-another everyday. Naturally, their friendship grew and developed over the past few years. He wasn't so stupid as to have not noticed the way she had sought him out and brought him 'gifts' of food for years. And even though he knew that she had once been attracted to Xelloss, Gourry was strangely pleased to know that they had never dated. Of course, she wasn't Lina, but then...who was but Lina herself?
He was driving home from an errand. A simple thing really. He'd been in the downtown countless times right? Well, yes, Xelloss had, but had allowed his mind to wander for a bit too long.
"I should ask Lina out. Just like that. Someplace nice, but not too nice. A place she'd like and then something on campus…a showing of classic films…that would be okay…" he smiled as he rolled over the scenario in his head.
Alas, his dream world collapsed when he had to brake suddenly at a signal he had not expected. Where in Seyruun (gods, let it at least be Seyruun!) was he? He had to go back, but how? He was on a one way street and keeping pace with the other cars he was driving about 45 MPH. It was after eight o'clock and dark, which didn't help visibility either. He took the first right hand turn and hoped to find the one way street going the other direction at the next intersection. It wasn't. Just a four-way stop. So he continued on…and on…and on… Pretty soon he was completely lost. He had no idea what direction he was headed in, where he'd come from, or what to do next. He could feel panic building up, that pounding in his head. Oh, no… He pulled over and stopped. He did not want to pull out his cell phone and call Zelgadiss. That made him feel so… puerile. Xelloss wanted to get home on his own and prove that he could do it!
What had Zelgadiss told him to do? Deep breaths…counting to ten…in…and out…
Better. What else? 'If you are downtown, look for the White Shrine towers. They stand out.' Yes, that was a good idea, Zelgadiss. Xelloss blinked back a few tears threatening to run amuck and looked around.
No white spires. 'Or the University Museum with the gargoyles.' Yes, thanks Zelly! Xelloss drove further until he noticed a dark building looming above the others. Since there was a parking lot, Xelloss turned in to take a closer look. When he stepped out of the car, it was chilly! Without cloud cover to lock in the day's scanty warmth, the night time temperature was dropping significantly. He zipped his jacket up and stuffed his hands in the pockets, and then marched across the parking lot and up the stone steps to examine the building. No gargoyles and yet…
"Zelgadiss!" a shrill voice called out.
He swung around to see who it was. "Hello?"
"Oh, no…I'm sorry, Xelloss. Oh, am I glad to see you!" the girl gasped. She had been running to catch up to him.
"Oh?" In the street light he could make out her features. She looked familiar, so he relaxed his guard a little.
"My ride," the girl looked around warily before looking back at him. "Never showed. I had a research paper to do at the library," she gestured to the building behind them, "And I guess I lost track of the time and was too late or…something."
Xelloss nodded. As he focused on the buildings, his brain unfroze. He knew where he was. The chemistry building stood before him, the monolith that it was. He had gone into automatic and parked in the parking lot where he and Zelgadiss parked each day for classes. He shuddered in relief and smiled at the girl who was attached to his arm and chattering on nervously.
"…getting really scared. I had no idea how to get home from here this late. I never rode the bus. I just walked the half-mile or so, but that was spring and summer and now it's dark." She may have just realized how hard she was clutching his arm, and that they were practically strangers. She released his arm immediately and blushed. "Oh, sorry…I guess I was more frightened than I thought."
He chuckled softly and raked his fingers through his hair. "That's okay. I don't mind the dark, but it's easy to get lost around here, at least…it is for me."
She shivered and sighed, but smiled too. "Well, I have no trouble finding my way around. I just don't like…the dark…"
"So I guess we are meant for one another!" Xelloss said with a giggle.
She laughed. "Um…yeah, sorta. Ah, I bet you don't even remember me, do you?"
He shook his head, "Sorry…your face is familiar…"
"Candy. We have math together. We were in math together last year too and actually the year before that, when you actually were in class. I graduated last year and started here in the summer so this is my second quarter. What else are you t- taking?"
Xelloss become conscious of the fact that she had no coat and was shaking with cold as well as nervousness. "Just that and chemistry. Ah, you're freezing… Here wear this," he helped her on with his warm jacket, "… and… let's go back to the car. If I turn on the heater we can warm up, okay?"
She nodded and trotted after him. The engine was still warm so the heater supplied a warming blast immediately. She sighed gratefully, eyes closed. Xelloss took the opportunity to examine her face. Candy. Brown wavy hair, dark eyes, straight teeth, nice smile. Okay, now he recalled seeing her in class. She sat on the other side of Zelgadiss and often talked to him, picking his brain for alternate ways to approach problems. Smart girl. Serious student. She had gone to Seyruun High? That he didn't recall.
She opened her eyes and caught his a moment.
"Sorry," he looked away. "I remember you now. You talked to Zelgadiss in class, right?"
"Yeah, he's very…good at math, isn't he?"
"Yes, the best I know. So, aside from being the same size, we don't look much alike, but you called me by his name earlier. Why was that?"
"Oh, that…ah… the car. There aren't any others like this around. You can't help but be noticed and I had seen him driving here a few times. When I saw it pull up in the usual place, I thought he might be going to a lab or something. 'Course in the dark and all… but once I got closer I saw the hair, then your face…Ah, thanks again for helping me out like this. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't…you know stopped or anything."
"Why wouldn't I have stopped to help? Anyone would have, wouldn't they?"
She blushed again. "I didn't really know you and I thought you were, you know…"
Oh not this…he thought to himself.
"…stuck up." (Huh?-Xelloss) "I mean, you kept to yourself most of the time and never talked to anyone in class. At lunch you just hung out with Lina's group." She hesitated. His odd expression confused her. "…But I can see you're really a nice guy and easy to talk to. You are not at all like the way you seemed…then."
He shook his head. "I had no idea people thought of me that way. I, um…was just shy, kinda, and a bit of a geek. Well, to make that all up to you, I'll have to think up something to change that image. Would you like to go someplace…for something hot to drink? A snack maybe? Yes? Great! Oh, ah…do you know a place you like? Good, now if you can just direct me, we'll get there. Otherwise, we'll be parked here for the rest of the night!"
Candy laughed at his candor. He was so utterly open and honest and cute that she was taken by him straight away.
He pulled out of the parking lot and turned as directed until they reached an off-campus, neighborhood donut shop. She had made him feel good, just as he was about to slip into that dark abyss of panic-driven disorder, compliments of his ADD condition. The dark didn't bother him and he'd helped her, too. And now he had a new friend. And a pretty one at that!
She offered to pay, but Xelloss would have nothing of it. His idea; his treat. "Find us a table and I'll surprise you. Anything you don't like?"
"Nothing pink!" She smiled and walked off to find them a place to sit.
It was crowded, but Xelloss crammed into the tiny corner table with a tray of hot chocolates and two warm cinnamon-dusted donuts apiece. His cell phone buzzed. "Excuse me…" he smiled, then reached across to Candy and pulled it out of his jacket pocket. She was still wearing his jacket. "'Lo? Ah, yes, Zelgadiss. No, I have not fallen off the face of the planet. I ran into a friend…No! No! Not with the car! Relax will you? Yeah, on campus. We're having a snack then I'll drop her off at her…residence, which she's telling me is very close. Yes, a 'her'." He rolled his eyes and Candy giggled.
"Of course you know her. Better than me perhaps. Math. Bing-go! You win the prize tonight, little brother. Candy. Yeah, I won't be late. Yeah, right…bye." He smiled and chuckled as he put away his cell phone. "We, ah…keep tabs on one another. Well, actually he keeps tabs on his car mostly."
"Is he rich? That's a pretty expensive car for a college student to be driving." Candy noted.
"Ah…he inherited a bit from his grandfather last year and spent it on a guitar and that car. Not exactly what I would have done, but it was his choice. Like the donuts? I just picked what had come out of the oven and hoped for the best. This is a great place, though." Xelloss was jabbering in his animated style. Candy just smiled and nodded and watched him, clearly enamored with this strange young man.
They chatted a bit longer about school and what not, then bused their table and left.
"Close, you say? Shall we walk? I'd hate to have to find another parking place, if I don't have to." Xelloss was looking around at possible residence buildings.
"Yep, right here." Candy lead him across the street to a multistory building which looked like it had been a nice hotel in its hey-day before the university grew and overtook the quiet community. "This is it in all its glory!" she said. "Um, want to come in? I'll show you around."
She didn't want the evening to end yet. She didn't know when she'd get another chance to be alone with Xelloss, and she really found his company to be refreshing. "I'll only take a few minutes," she pleaded.
"Okay," he smiled and followed obediently.
"Oh… who have we here?" A slender young man slithered up from his over-stuffed chair and held out his hand.
Xelloss assumed it was meant to be shaken, so he did just that as Candy introduced them. "John, Xelloss. Xelloss, John our friendly greeter, when he doesn't have anything better to do. This is the public meeting room, complete with fireplace…"
"And greeter," John said with a smirky smile and still holding onto Xelloss hand.
Candy called, "Come on up stairs and I'll see if my roommate's in."
John bowed, "After you're done upstairs, come 'round and I'll give you the rest of the tour!" He winked at Xelloss just to make sure his meaning was clear.
Xelloss pulled his hand back from the just-a-bit-too-long-shake and smiled cordially before turning his attention back to Candy. "On my way. Roommate? Do I want to meet her?" He trotted up the stairs laughing.
Candy didn't answer. Instead, she rapped on her door once then opened up. "Hey, s'me! I have a friend who walked me home. His name's Xelloss." Clearly, Candy was proud of her cute catch tonight.
The other girl looked up over her glasses from her bed. "Xelloss? Oh, yeah…I've seen you before. You sing with the Suzaku Seven. What, no dress tonight?"
Candy looked from her roommate to Xelloss, curious but not awe-struck. Xelloss, caught off guard, nearly stuttered. "P-pardon me? I think you have me confused with that other purple-haired guy, Nuriko. I'm the drummer with a band called the Slayers. We, ah…did open with the Suzaku Seven at some gigs over the summer."
The roommate sat up straighter, shuffling the books and papers off her lap as she did so. "No, it was you, but not in a dress, I guess. I saw you up on stage. He's a great dancer, Candy."
"Ah…" Realization washed over him. "That's right! I subbed for Nuriko at the very end of summer when he was ill. You must have caught that act. And, ah…thanks. Dancing is one of my passions." He smiled hoping to have settled that issue. After practically holding hands with John, it was essential now to get past the gay-dancer-in-a-dress image.
The roommate raked her eyes over him then sighed. "Okay, I guess so. The other guy's taller and his hair's shaggier anyway. So, nice to meet you, drummer-boy." She touched her fingers to her forehead and flipped him a military salute.
"Well met," Xelloss said with humor returning the salute, "…soldier."
After that, Candy showed him the view afforded by her room's window, and then led him back downstairs to the public room.
"Where do you eat?" he asked politely.
"Just getting there," Candy answered. "Through here is the communal dining room where dinner is served, like at a dorm. Breakfast and lunches, we're on our own. For that we can use the kitchen. The sign-up sheet is for cleaning duty."
"Nice place. Well, thanks for the tour, but I have to get Zelgadiss his car back before he starts calling again." Xelloss smiled apologetically.
"Okay," she said as she tried to keep the disappointment from showing with a half smile. "Do you know how to get home from here? Do you know your address?"
Xelloss laughed, "Yes…I have that memorized… I'm not quite that lame…"
She told him the turns to get him headed back to his end of town, although he didn't tell her his address. "It's been fun and...ah…thanks for helping me out tonight."
"No trouble and… me too! I mean, thanks for giving me directions." He added, "See you tomorrow!"
"To…morrow?"
"Math class, right?"
"Oh," she slapped her hand to her head. "Right, math…right…stupid me, huh? Yeah, see ya in class. Bye, Xelloss!" she waved to him from the door.
He returned the wave and then danced all the way to the car in the wedge of light from her open door. He'd made a friend. On his own.
Yay, me!
"Hello?" Xelloss called to his best friend as he entered their house. He flung the car keys in his general direction.
Zelgadiss caught them midair without glancing up. "Everything all right?"
"Yes indeedy! Shall we cross-test one another for the chemistry exam now?"
"Have you worked up any questions?" Zel asked doubtfully.
"In my head. I thought them up on the way over." Xelloss smiled, rolled over the back of the couch, and somehow gracefully ended up head up and facing Zelgadiss. "Where's Val?"
"Out."
"Out?" Xelloss repeated.
"O.U.T. Out."
"Just…out? Not out with someone else?"
"Ah, he's out with the Great White Serpent." Zel looked up from under the shelter of his overhanging hair and smiled.
Xelloss' eyes widened. "No!"
"Yes!"
"Oh…my," Xelloss sank further into the cushions. "Well, I guess if you think about it…"
"Something I'd rather not…"
"She suits him. They're both loud and flashy, have sex on the brain 24/7, and come from good stock!" Xelloss waited until Zel met his eyes, and then chuckled.
"Good stock, oh brother…"
"That I am! First question…What is the molar strength of the product in this reaction…?"
"You're just happy to have avoided her yourself," Zel sighed.
"Ah…is that your answer?"
"3.7, no. But I'm right."
"3.724…yes, I am but they do share a few traits and common tastes. Next question…"
"3.7 and no further decimals since one of the other values was only accurate to the tenths place. Remember your sig figs. And it's my turn to ask the question." Zel paused for Xelloss to acknowledge. "Very well, when are we going back to check on Grauscherra's paper trail?"
"Huh? Oh…" Xelloss smiled. How cunning of my little brother! "I do believe we have cracked the books long enough. What say you to a little stroll?"
"My shoes are by the door and…do I need a jacket yet?"
"Yes, it's chilling down at last," Xelloss said as he bounded after Zel to get his still-warm jacket back on. "My season is on its way!"
"I thought you liked summer, with the scantily-clad women on campus." They traded smiles. Xelloss had something up his sleeve. Zel decided to play his game. "All right… Your season? You have a season?"
"Oh yes, I am a winter. I look best in brights, black and white…"
"What are you talking about?" Zel yanked open the door and stared cautiously at his friend putting on his shoes. Had he been drinking? Were his meds off?
Xelloss stood and pulled a book out of the bookcase by the door. "This 'Dressing for Success—Know Your Season'. With my pale complexion and dark, lustrous hair…" he looked up with a grin while Zel looked on with fascination turned disgust, "…I am a true 100 percent Winter. Lina…is a Fall, without a doubt looking best in rusty reds, golds, dark green, eggplant…"
"That's a food item," Zel snapped as he locked the door.
"Filia is a Summer, while you are…a Spring!"
"Oh really?"
"Yes, Spring. You look best in pastels, never 'brights' or harsh colors."
Zel started the car. "You are certifiable."
"I didn't write the book…" Xelloss began defensively.
"But you READ it!"
"It was in our book case and I didn't put it there."
"But you read it, Xelloss… gods…"
"That I did. And you will not make me feel bad about having done so. It was …informative… with pictures of cute girls wearing samples of different colored clothes. Well, not clothes actually, more like tiny little swatches of cloth about…oh, I'd say…covering about the surface area of my hand, barely concealing the essentials… Hey! Watch it! Eyes on the road, driver!"
"Asshole…" Zel murmured, but he was smiling too. "Cute girls…You'd read anything with pictures of girls in it, wouldn't you?"
"I thought I'd made that clear when I read that!" Xelloss giggled until Zel punched him in the gut.
"You want a turn at the wheel?" Zel asked.
"No. I did my driving earlier. You know, when I grow up I think I shall have a limo and chauffer to drive me around…much like I have now, but she'll dress better."
"She? Oh, you meant the driver, I take it?" Zel smirked.
"Yes, of course the driver. The other ladies in the car won't be…"
"We're here," Zelgadiss interrupted Xelloss' vocal day-dreaming. "Where should I park this time? Oh, never mind. I see a spot."
The two boys entered the high school building the same way as before, following the hidden tunnels and passageways to the offices.
Pausing outside the principal's office while Zel fished around in his pocket for the lock-breaking tool of choice, made Xelloss wonder aloud. "So, what made you pick tonight?"
"Something Filia said. She was called into the office late today for her Junior interview and thought she noticed something on the desk , a paper something, with a clan or syndicate stamp, she wasn't certain. There, this should be the right one…"
"It's later than before," Xelloss noted. "I hope the custodian hasn't already emptied the…"
"Odd…" Zel muttered softly.
"What?"
"The door's unlocked already," Zel replied tensely.
"Ugh! The custodian's been in and is due back, my guess." Xelloss put his hand to the door and pushed in.
Zelgadiss stopped him, gripping his shoulder. "Stop!" he managed, his teeth clenched. "Maybe someone's in there. Let me go first." He pointed to one of his pointed ears, and slid past his friend.
The outer office was mostly dark, lit again by the glow from a few operating computers. One had a screen saver of an ocean scene. Dolphins jumped and dove gleefully through waves while penguins slid off floating ice bergs to frolic alongside them in the blue sea. On another computer, a pack of wolves howled silently from rock perched above a pine forest, a crescent moon over head. You know, the usual screen-savers.
Zel crept, back hunched, all the way to the principal's inner door, and then froze. Xelloss, who had been hovering nervously by the first door watching for unwanted guests, stilled even his breathing instinctively. He waited until he could make out Zel's movements out of the corner of his eye. When Zel resumed his activity to include turning the door knob, Xelloss exhaled.
"All right, it's clear inside," Zel whispered.
Xelloss scanned the outer hall and office one more time, and then ducked inside after Zelgadiss.
"Damn."
"She's already been here," Zel spat. "The wastepaper basket's gone."
"Well, can't be helped. Look around the desk. I'll check the bookcase." No sooner had the words escaped his lips, than Zel had his arm in a vise-like grip.
"Voices…" Zel hissed.
Xelloss' brain punched into over-drive. This room had to have another exit, besides the secret passageway from the outer office. Zelas, he knew, would never have allowed herself to have been trapped in a room with only one exit. There had to be another door. Window…outer office…storage closet…
"We have to hide. Quick!" Xelloss yanked back on Zel's connecting arm.
"Where?"
"Closet…we haven't time to think. In!"
Voices.
"Why the door's open! That's odd," said a man's voice from the outer office.
"The custodian, dear. She's bungling about the place. If not, then we've caught ourselves a mouse," said a woman's jubilant voice.
"Or two!" the man chuckled in response as his hand jiggled the knob to inner office.
Both boys had a moment to find a spot to stand, before Xelloss pulled the closet door closed and darkness descended. "Feel around for a latch or something," Xelloss said in an undertone.
Zel nodded. All right, his friend was mad, but he was stuck in the closet with him and no way out so might as well humor him…
"Shhh," Xelloss warning came a moment after Zel had also heard the voices enter the room.
Quietly, Zel continued to run his sensitive fingers over the inside wall of the closet. If Xelloss thought there was a hidden escape route, then he would find it.
"It's gone!" The man's voice could clearly be heard now by both boys; it was Grauscherra.
"Well, what did I tell you? We have a leak right here in the office. Or perhaps that clan girl…? Either that or you threw it away…" the woman said with the barest of anger poking through.
"I did not throw it away. And it was here when I left the office after school. Like I told you, the Ul Copt girl had no interest in the contents of my desk."
"I'll bet. So what was she doing sitting on it? That was all she was doing when I came in…wasn't it?"
Xelloss started. What was Filia up to? She could really mess things up. Zel didn't seem to be listening.
"Ah…she was…"
"She's a little settlement slut. With her tight sweater… I know what she was doing and it was only slightly better than ripping off your private mail."
The man pleaded innocence in an attempt to ward off a jealous woman. Xelloss winced and nearly gagged as the argument took a different turn.
"Oh, darling…"
"This I do not want to hear," Xelloss muttered just as Zel gasped.
"Here." Zel elbowed Xelloss to get his attention. "Push."
The both pushed on the back panel of the closet. Zel gave the blade of his knife another twitch and the panel gave way a bit. "It's working…"
It was slightly ajar when Xelloss' body tensed against his. The voices again, louder.
"What was that?" the woman asked.
"Could it be the custodian returning?" asked Grauscherra. "I thought I heard something too."
"No, not out there. Like it was closer."
"Window maybe?" he asked.
Xelloss could follow their sounds to the window, opening it and looking outside. He knew they had only seconds before being discovered.
"Zelgadiss, now!" he said urgently.
"Then help me push!"
Xelloss fell to driving his shoulder into the back panel. Something gave way, and it sprang open. For a few seconds, Zelgadiss felt the wood beneath him slide back sideways into the wall, then the gut-wrenching horror of free-fall.
For about a tenth of a second. His hands, arms and chest impacted with another hard surface. "Stairs!" he gasped. "Come on!"
Xelloss twisted himself around feet first and stepped where moments before Zel had fallen face first. "Wait!" Xelloss scrambled to find some mechanism on there side of the wall to operate the moving panel.
"Below!" Zel said.
"Right…" Xelloss fingered the fastener clumsily, releasing the spring latch. "Got it."
The panel snapped shut smoothly, this time. But before it had closed completely, Xelloss had a glimpse of a tiny beam of light shining through the crack and heard, "There…no…okay you're right, not in there either. Maybe this old place is haunted. I heard the funniest story in the staff room the other day. Yeah… well, it seems there was once a custodian named 'Old Tim'…"
Xelloss hadn't stuck around to hear more. Zel was waving a flash light and retreating into a tunnel quickly. Besides, Xelloss had heard that story before, only he knew the truth behind it.
"Oh…gods…" Xelloss' sides were heaving as he slid into the car seat beside Zelgadiss.
"Yeah…I thought we were doomed this time," Zel sighed. His hands were shaking. He tucked them into his arm pits to mask his fear. "What made you think there was a secret passage in the closet?"
"Ah…well… I just got to thinking like her…not liking to be trapped." He looked up at his friend. Whoa, he was trembling, and not with cold. Xelloss had an idea and smiled. "And I remembered this story I once read about this girl detective finding hidden tunnels in an old mansion…"
Zel stared at him. "You read Nancy Drew novels as a kid?"
Xelloss broke into a grin, "You too? My favorite was when she got dressed up to go to some important dance and she picked out a sea-green dress. I always wondered what color that was, didn't you?" He gave Zelgadiss a mischievous wink.
"I-I didn't say that I did, but…No I didn't think about that dress, I mean I never read that part, er…book…Ach! You idiot! I'm going home!" Zel hid his embarrassment as best he could and started the car.
Well, that was better. Mad was better that scared.
"Oh, and you'd better take a look at this," Zel muttered and flung a wadded up paper into Xelloss' lap.
"What's this? Oh…my…what a good little detective you are!" Xelloss chortled merrily. "When did you snitch this off his desk?"
Zel smiled. He'd let the 'little detective' thing pass this time. "When you were looking for a way out."
"It's interesting….but," Xelloss said.
"But?"
"It could be a trap. You heard what they were saying? About laying a trap. This might not be real, just bait."
"Do we take the bait and find out?" Zel looked askance to catch Xelloss' expression.
"Hook, line, and…"
"No sinker, Xelloss. We go in knowing what's up and don't get caught or dragged down."
"Sounds…fishy…to me!" Xelloss snickered. He easily batted away his friend's half-hearted punch.
From the Authors:
Seyruun High Jinx has a home. If you haven't already visited it and if you ever wanted to see what the kids look like as envisioned by Frog, you can now that our staff photographer has been to their dimension and returned with photos! If you are interested, visit the website. Where? Please go to the author profile for Kaeru Shisho and choose the link. You will find the contest announcement as well as pictures under Seyruun High Jinx NEXT
KS
End Seyruun High Jinx –NEXT! Chapter Twenty.