Chapter 3
We had no choice, but to leave the game room. The secret passage was actually accessible through a crawl space located in the ghoul's bathroom. That meant we had to pass the husky werewolf guard posted at the doors of the game room. We planned to do this as inconspicuously as possible. First, Toralei's team headed to the bathroom. They carried toothbrushes and toiletry bags to make it believable. Five minutes passed and then Clawdeen's group headed out, then it was our turn. My claws were so sweaty. Since all my stuff was in my locker, Catrine handed me a towel to throw over my shoulder and a bottle of fur spray. I felt so stupid. If the guard paid close enough attention, then he should be wondering why I was going to apply fur spray at night.
Billy and Pawl opened the door for us. The goliath brown werewolf had his huge arms crossed over his boulder chest. He was staring us down with the most fearsome fangs protruding from his jowls. I could have sworn he grunted as we passed by. I'm sure protecting teenagers was not his number one job choice. I tried not to look at him, but it was rather difficult to ignore the massive manster.
Luckily, to get to both the manster and ghoul bathrooms we had to turn the same corner, so the guard didn't see us all going into the ghoul's room. When we got inside, we saw Scarah kneeling on the floor under a sink. Her vacant white eyes staring at us with a nervous smile. She was holding the hatch door. I guessed she offered to stay behind just to see Billy before entering the dark tunnels. Once we got closer, Billy kissed her on the cheek and she jumped into the crawl space.
There was no light coming from that hole in the ghoul's room floor. I was glad to be gifted with excellent night vision, but darkness was still darkness. I hopped down the hole and landed pretty gracefully on my feet. Pawl jumped in right behind me. We all gathered at the threshold of the tunnel. We waited for Clawd who agreed to take the rear through the tunnels. Once he got down and closed the hatch, we walked swiftly through the tunnels. My nerves were really kicking into high gear. I trusted all the monsters I was with, but I was scared for all of us. How could we possibly believe we could be a match for those MHAT men?
Just when my thoughts were getting the best of me, Catrine caught up alongside me. "Sis is exciting, no?"
"Yeah, exciting, but super scary!" I admitted.
"Zoo not worry. We will stick sugether!" Catrine said with her adorable accent.
"Remember, this is a scouting mission only." Clawd put his hand on my shoulder. "Plus, I know Pawl would never let anything happen to you. He is the manster!" Clawd patted Pawl's back.
"I know he wouldn't." I smiled at my big strong boyfriend.
"Touching moment in tunnels. This is going on the ghostly gossip for sure!" Spectra said as she floated silently above us with Porter by her side.
We slowed down when we started see some light. Clawdeen confirmed it was moonlight. We were getting closer to our true mission. It was getting real. Clawd, Pawl, and Billy worked together to push the wall blocking the exit.
"Okay," Clawdeen began. "When we get out there, we run. Run…" she looked up at Spectra, "…or fly as fast as you can. Stick with your teams and then remember to split up and cover your locations."
"Remember, keep your phones on. We don't want anyone lost." Clawd added.
"Just try to keep up with me, okay?" Toralei said, mostly to Spectra and Porter. They just looked at each other and laughed. Who was she kidding thinking she'd be faster than ghosts?
"Let's go!" Clawd said. He was now leading the group. He dashed out of the tunnel as quick as I'd ever seen him before. His teammates followed. Each person ran out just behind the other. My heart was about ready to beat a hole right through my chest. Then Pawl reached for my hand.
"We can do this, kitten." He whispered.