Chapter 6

"What are we doing back here?" Prentiss asked. "The crime scene has already been looked at and cleaned up."

The BAU team had piled into their cars and followed Reid (driven by Morgan, much to his distaste) back to the warehouses that they had investigated earlier that day. Reid wasn't saying anything, just checking and rechecking the photo and the card.

"I knew it." he muttered. "I knew it."

The rest of the team had long since given up questioning what the ramblings of the genius were supposed to mean, instead just waiting for everything to be explained.

"We missed something." Reid said, in answer to Prentiss's earlier question. "Something important."

He was walking, as if in a trance, towards one of the buildings. This particular warehouse was a light grey colour, the metal faded from years of sun exposure. The windows were mostly broken, wooden boards, dark and cracking, covering the space where there had once been glass. Like the other warehouses, the sides of the walls had random bits of graffiti on them.

"There." Reid said excitedly, pointing to a spray painted picture.

"Graffiti." Rossi said sarcastically. "It's a revelation."

"No, look at it." Reid said.

The symbol was light grey, almost disappearing against the colour of the walls. The base was a triangle, a straight line jetting out the top, like a volcano erupting. In the middle of the line was an oval.

"I've seen that before." Rossi said, his brow furrowing.

Reid reached in his pocket and pulled out a card; Amber Kersley's Salem Institute card.

"The symbol on the card!" JJ exclaimed, ripping the card from Reid's hand and holding it against the graffiti. "It's almost identical."

"Not almost." Prentiss said. "Exactly."

Prentiss was right. It wasn't just a copy of the mysterious Salem symbol, it was as if someone had taken the card, enlarged it by about fifty and stuck it on the wall. Each dimension was precise and exact.

"And look at where it is." Reid said. "The other graffiti is overlapping but this is all by itself, like someone purposefully cleaned the wall and painted it there."

"So we've established the symbol is the same." Hotch said. "What is the significance of it? Why is it here?"

"Okay, Kid Genius." Morgan said to Reid with a smile. "Do your stuff."

Reid went up the wall and began to run his fingers along it.

"Observe," Morgan whispered, "the genius in its natural habitat. Watch carefully as it uses its problem solving skills to overcome the many challenges of the urban jungle. If you look closely, you can see its little brow furrowed in thought."

JJ put her hand up to her mouth and Prentiss sniggered. Reid didn't seem to notice.

"Give me the card." he said, stretching out his hand.

JJ gave it to him. He held it up and then placed it against the spray painted symbol.

One second the wall was there, the next it was gone, leaving behind a gap that opened up on a set of stairs. Electric lights lined the walls, giving off a dim glow. The BAU stood, not moving.

"What the Hell just happened?" Rossi said, his mouth open in disbelief.

"And where did the wall go?" Prentiss said, her eyebrows raised in confusion.

"How did you know that would work, Reid?" Hotch asked.

"I didn't." Reid frowned. "I just wanted to compare the symbols again."

"So where does this lead?" JJ said, walking forward.

She looked around for some sign of identification, but found nothing.

"I think we'll just have to go down."

"Lead the way." Rossi muttered.

Indira Inkpen walked slowly down the corridor. The morning had been unproductive, spent putting off the task of calling the dead girl's parents. She finally got around to it, doing the best she could not to burst into tears at the shouts of her father and the desperate crying of her mother. It was times like that that Indira wished she was a Muggle. Using a telephone, or what ever they called them, would be so much easier than talking through the fire. She was on her way to Robert's office to tell him about the conversation, when she heard footsteps. Frowning, she walked towards the entrance stairs, her heels clicking against the floor. All of the students who had left the school for lunch had returned for afternoon lessons. The entrance, she thought, had been sealed off. Her wand was concealed in her jacket, the pocket of her blazer enchanted to make it big enough. She made sure she could reach it, before turning the corner.

Hotch walked at the front, with JJ following second. They tried to be as quiet as possible. Each member of the team held a gun, pointed in front of them just in case someone should jump out. They reached the bottom of the stairs and heard the tapping of heels coming from around the corner. The stairs had led them to a corridor. It looked like a normal high school corridor, except for the flaming torches that lined the walls. At least, they looked like real fire. But that was crazy. Wasn't it?

"May I inquire as to what you are doing here?"

A woman stood before them. She was tall, angular, with sharp grey eyes and blonde hair that fell just below her shoulders. She wore a skirt suit, purple pink in colour, with matching heels.

"My name is Aaron Hotcher." Hotch said, stepping forward. "I'm with the FBI."

"That," the woman said, with a flat smile, "was not the question."

"Is this the Salem Institute for the Gifted?" Reid asked.

The woman turned to him.

"Who are you?" she said, somewhat suspiciously.

"That," Reid replied, "was not the question."

The woman smiled again, this time a little more warmly.

"This is, as you say, the Salem Institute for the Gifted." she said. "My name is Indira Inkpen and I run the Institute. And you're... FBI, was it? I suppose it was inevitable. If you'll come this way, we'll talk some where more suitable."

And with that, Indira Inkpen started back down the corridor.