"So...it's been like...I dunno, twenty minutes now, and we haven't heard anything. Do you think they're gone now?" Ava pulls her knees into her chest, slightly rocking back and forth. Most of the cookies had been devoured out of boredom, and the desire for some sense of normalcy.

"Well, all we can do is check." Leia stands up to check the door, leaning against it before opening it. She turns the handle slowly, pulling it towards herself, and opening the door a tiny crack. There's nothing, so she pulls it open a little more, until she can stick her head out into the hallway.

"Looks like the coast is clear." She turns back to the group, and sees the light spark back in their eyes.

She trots over to the table and picks up the yearbook, plunking it into Charlotte's hands. Charlotte starts to protest. "No, I won't hear it. Cynthie has gotten close to you too many times now, and I'm not letting anything happen to you."

"But what about everyone else? Shouldn't they be carrying it too?" Charlotte flinches away from the book, tempted to set it down and insist someone else take it.

"Please, Charlie. For me. It'll make me feel better." Leia crouches back down to meet Charlotte's eyes. The concern in Leia's eyes makes Charlotte's decision for her.

"Okay. Fine. But it's still really creepy." She wrinkles her nose up, still halfway refusing.

Leia rolls her eyes, but a smile of satisfaction plays about her lips. "Anyway. Let's go ahead and search this damn school top to bottom. We're bound to find something eventually."

The group searches for hours, to no avail. Leia checks off each spot they've looked on Charlotte's hand drawn map as they walk along, her neat checks becoming aggressive scribbling the more locations she marks off. "Ugh, we're not making any progress here. For all we know, Cynthie wasn't even murdered here at the school, and there aren't any crumbs left for us to chase down."

Ava stops in her tracks, chewing on her lip and thinking hard. "Well...maybe we're going about this wrong. I know you guys might not remember, because well...I don't think you guys all even lived in the town at the time, but there was a massive remodeling of the school back when I was a Freshman."

Charlotte perks up. "Hey, I remember that! It was all finishing up on my first day." Two rosy spots of color appear on her cheeks. "That was the day I met you, Leia. A-and the day I got the idea for the Mystery Hunters Club."

Thinking back, Leia recalls the construction, and the pain it had been to navigate around to the classrooms, especially for a Freshman that didn't know her way around the school just yet. "Yeah, I uh, totally forgot about that. But, Charlotte, I thought you came up with the club a lot later."

Two colorful spots blossom on Charlotte's cheeks. "I mean...I didn't tell anyone about it right away, because I didn't know at the time what kind of club I really wanted to have. And then, I learned that you liked reading mysteries like I did and...it just made sense."

Leia starts to say something, when Ava cuts her off, squealing with excitement. "Oh, I think there were parts of the school they didn't remodel though, and some of it was still part of the original buildings. It was out of budget to be fixed or something like that. Maybe we can start there."

Lucas scratches the back of his head, trying to follow the flow of a conversation that he doesn't feel invited to. "Well, uh...do you remember what those parts were?"

"Hmm...well, I know they didn't change the outbuildings at all, as those were redone beforehand. Not entirely, but I think they added in the science lab decades ago. That, and I know they didn't redo the locker hall, because I totally would've remembered having to deal with that headache." Ava shuffles her feet. "I...have a key that Mrs. Johnson gave me, but she said it was so we could get out in case of an emergency, so I'd rather not use it if we don't have to."

"Locker hall it is then." Leia straightens her shoulders, points her flashlight down the hallway and leads the way forward.

The wooden floors creak under their feet as they enter the locker hall. The air clings to their skin, the smell of old varnish and dust invading their nostrils. Leia feels a lurching in her gut, and takes a deep breath. "Okay guys, so confession time. I uh...I know I never told you where I found the journal. I didn't think where I found it was nearly as important as the book itself."

Leia walks over to her own locker, the group trailing behind her, clustering close in the gloom. She turns her combination into the lock, and her locker pops open with a dull, rattling thud. Her books are tucked neatly away on the top shelf, and an extra coat hangs off the coat hanger hooks secured on the bottom of the shelf. Miscellaneous papers are scattered along the bottom of the locker, along with a few broken pens and pencils. Leia crouches down, scooting the discarded trash aside to lean in and poke at the back panel. It gives way, the pressure from her hand opening a dark cubby a few inches deep.

"It was a pain in the ass to dig out of there too. I bent the metal a little bit, which I felt really bad about at the time but, I don't think it really matters anymore." She lets the panel fall back into place, and stands back up, dusting her hands on her jeans.

The group is speechless, at first. Ava manages to pipe up, excitement gleaming in her eyes. "I had no idea our school could hide so many secrets."

Leia nods. "Yeah, and it looks like the yearbook might have just been the start of it. We should try and check the other lockers, see if they have any spaces like that. Although, I don't know how we're going to get into everyone's lockers. It's not like we have all the codes or anything."

"Well, these lockers are pretty old, and I know mine's broken, so you can just pop it open if you pull on it right. I haven't actually used the code all year. I'm sure there's plenty of others like that, so we can at least start there, and who knows? We might just be able to force the rest of them open." Ava trots over to her own locker, pulling it open with an upward tug and jerking backward quickly. She gets down on the floor and reaches into her locker, but the wall feels solid. "Hmm, well, there's not one in mine at least."

Charlotte and Lucas walk over to their lockers, opening them and checking them too. They come back to the group, shrugging. "At least we can rule out our own lockers now." Lucas wipes his hands on his jeans, shaking off the dust collected from the floor.

"Well, I guess let's go down and see if any of them pop open." The group spreads out down the row of lockers, tugging on a few gently, and a few with more force than is necessarily needed. They're about halfway through when Lucas calls out, and the three girls run towards him.

"Here, look. There's definitely something back there." He shines his flashlight, illuminating a gap he has held open with his foot. A book is lodged in the entrance, covered in dust and mold.

Leia bends down, reaching forward to try and retrieve the book from its hiding spot. She hooks her fingers around it, and starts to pull, but it snags against the metal and refuses to budge. "Shit. Do you think you could grab the panel and pull it out?"

Lucas bends down beside her, and pulls the metal toward himself. It comes forward an inch or two, but it's still not quite enough for Leia to reach into. She gives up, and Lucas lets the metal flop back into place. "I don't think I can get it. My hands won't fit in that gap."

Ava stoops down and gently brushes Leia aside. "Here, I've got the skinniest wrists of all of us. Maybe I can." Lucas pulls the panel out again, and Ava gingerly sticks her hand in the gap, rummaging about for the reluctant book.

She feels her fingers graze across the corner of the book. "Oh, I think I've almost got it." With a grunt and a struggle, she reaches a little deeper in, the metal scraping against her skin. Once she manages to push her wrist into the tiny crevice, she's able to get enough of the book in her hand to pull it out.

"Yes! I've got it, I've got–" Without warning, the lights snap on, painfully bright and blinding after the constant gloom of the darkened school. The four students that chased Lucas and Ava down the hallway blink into existence between one flickering of the lights and the next.

"A, you better pull that thing outta the wall now, we've got company." He pulls the metal closer to him, trying to ease Ava's escape from the hidden cubby-hole. A violent slap of air flows down the hall, followed by the erratic laughter of the four spirits.

Ava feels the metal clamp down on her wrist, tight as a vice. She gasps, turning to yell at Lucas for letting it go so suddenly, when she feels the sharp edge begin to bite into her flesh. She pulls harder, panic flooding her senses. "No...no no no, I can't pull my hand out!"

Lucas leans forward, reclaiming the metal that ripped itself out of his grasp. "I can't...seem to get a good grip on it." He mutters through gritted teeth, reaching deeper in, between the gaps around Ava's wrist.

A trickle of blood weeps around the edge of the metal as it slams down harder on Ava's wrist. She cries out, large tears trickling down her cheeks. "Please hurry, Luke... it hurts."

Leia and Charlotte stare on in abject horror as Lucas fights to free Ava from her trap. The four students creep closer, a few steps at a time, all the while their laughter bouncing off the walls. "Lucas, get her out of there!" Leia yells, one eye on the approaching apparitions, and one turned towards Lucas and Ava.

Charlotte clutches the yearbook closer to her. "Leia...should we just...leave the book with them and run for it?"

"No, we're not leaving them. Besides, Cynthie could be around the corner and catch us too." Leia draws closer to Charlotte, guiding her to stand closer to Lucas and Ava.

Ava's sobs shudder through her body as the metal cuts deeper into her flesh. She clings to the book as a lifeline, digging deep to find the will to hold on.. Her blood makes the metal slick and hard to pull, and Lucas feels the sharp edge cutting into the grooves in his hands. He sets his feet against the locker and pulls as hard as he can. The metal creeps towards him, cutting deeper into his hands, but relieving the pressure against Ava's wrist.

With a final last pull, the metal bends well out of its normal shape and pulls away from Ava's wrist. The moment she feels the pressure release off her hand she yanks it out, scraping her hand in the process, some of her skin staying behind and clinging to the metal. Her scream intermingles in with the haunting laughter of the four students, making the hairs stand up along the back of everyone's necks.

Ava rips the book out of the hidden space, flinging it in Leia's direction. It hits Leia in the chest and clatters to the floor. Leia stoops down, scrabbling to collect it.

Clutching her ragged and bloody hand to her stomach, tears running down her face, Ava mutters in between gasps of breath. "Let's get back to the classroom now."

Lucas, nearly as bloody as Ava, places his injured hands gently on Ava's shoulder, turning her into him and holding her tightly. "I think we're gonna have to run for it, A. Hope you're up for it."

"I think I can make it through anything else they try and dish out." Her eyes shine, wet with tears still threatening to fall.

"Let's get going then, I don't want to stick around and find out what they might try and do to us next." Charlotte shoves Lucas and Ava along, and Leia trails behind the group, glancing back at the students periodically. They don't follow them, but their laughter does, echoing in Leia's ears for what feels like a lifetime.

Word Count: 2,178

Word Count (Total): 20,104