Page 165 of The Forbidden Note

I glance at Sol. “Not yet.”

“What?” Rick curses. “Security just checked the tapes and saw the camera blockers. They’re trying to get the cameras back up. My boss is sending a team down there. They’re moving in like the freaking SWAT.”

Dammit.

I shove one of the boxes at Sol and hug the other one under my arm. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

Our sneakers thump on the stairs as we scramble to the landing. Security guards turn the bend and spot us. Their shouts of alarm light a fire inside me.

“Move it!” I yell, shoving Sol in the back.

We take off into a hallway and throw the emergency door open. The lights flicker as we tear down the staircase.

A door above slams open.

“They’re down here!”someone yells.

I glance over my shoulder, hissing in annoyance when I see the guards take chase.

“They’re splitting up,” Sol grunts.

I breathe hard. “They’re going to try and cut us off.”

“Maybe we should hide out in the practice room?” His voice is breathless and slightly shaking. “They won’t have the key.”

“But we’ll be trapped and they’ll know it’s us,” I answer back.

“We have to do something!” Sol hisses.

I watch him with alarm.

“I can’t go back, Zane. I’m never going back.”

I meet his eyes and see the distress there. He’s thinking about that night when he took the fall for us.

The night everything went to hell.

I won’t let that happen a second time.

My mind whirs.

I think fast.

These guards are new to Redwood. They don’t know the school like we do.

I tug on Sol’s shirt. “This way.”

We throw the door open and cut into the fourth floor, right above the science labs. There’s an extra room where kids stow away to smoke pot in between classes. It used to be a storage place for dangerous chemicals, but after an accident, they moved the chemical chest to another location.

I crawl into the narrow space.

Sol follows me.

We’re breathing hard and nervous as hell. It’s pitch black. The boxes dig into my stomach painfully. The smell of dust mixes with the fragrance of pot leaves and a telling chemical burn.

“Where’d they go?”

“Check the cameras!”

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