Part 35 (1/2)

They were standing at the back of a large open room. At the far end of the room was a raised stage. Deem let herself drop into the River, and saw the room filled with students. There was a group of teachers, sitting along a table on the stage. Most of them were looking down, but Deem saw one begin to look up in her direction. She dropped out of the River quickly.

”It's full of them,” Deem said. ”Don't drop here.”

”d.a.m.nit, Deem!” Winn said. ”Did they see you?”

”I don't think so. There's at least a hundred kids sitting in chairs, and teachers up on the stage. Someone speaking at a podium.”

”Stop dropping!” Winn said. ”It's not helping. I don't want to get chased out of here!”

”Alright,” Deem said. They turned and walked out of the auditorium.

Deem saw the staircase directly across from the auditorium entrance. A wide set of stairs led up, and a smaller set led down. They walked down the stairs and found a closed metal door at the bottom, locked.

”Did you bring your picks?” Deem asked Winn.

”Of course,” Winn said, setting down his backpack and retrieving his tools. He turned on his head lamp to light up the lock on the door.

”This is a no-go,” Winn said. ”Look.”

Deem observed the lock that Winn had lit. Someone had smashed at it repeatedly, trying to get through the door. The lock itself looked so damaged it couldn't be picked.

”Great,” Deem said. ”Doesn't look like we can kick it in, either. Would probably already be open if you could.”

”There might be another stairwell,” Winn said. ”Maybe on the other side of the auditorium.”

Deem walked back up the stairs, Winn behind her. As she reached the top, she felt something pa.s.s by in front of her. She'd felt this kind of brush of air many times before, in caves and mines, and her experience told her it wasn't a draft. Her first reaction was to drop into the River and see what it was, but she knew that would expose her and Winn, so she resisted.

”What?” Winn said behind her. ”Why'd you stop?”

”Something in front of me,” Deem said. ”Significant.”

Deem strained to detect what was moving in the hallway in front of her. It wasn't a normal ghost, but it wasn't a zombighost either. A different mutation? she wondered. She focused as intently as she could one step away from slipping into the River, which would betray them. She felt the air again. Whatever it was, it was turning in front of her, receding.

”You felt that?” Deem asked.

”No,” Winn said. ”I didn't feel anything.”

”It's moving away,” Deem said. ”I want to drop in for just a second and see what it is. It'll be facing away from us.”

Before Winn could object, Deem dropped into the flow and stared down the hallway. She saw a creature that was huge, lumbering away from her. It looked like a bear, but it was twice as big as any bear she'd ever seen. It was so large it nearly filled the hallway. As it walked, she noticed it left wet footprints behind. Blood, she thought. The footprints dried and disappeared after a few seconds. She dropped back out of the River.

”Bear,” Deem said, turning to Winn. ”Huge bear. I mean huge, not normal size.”

”Spirits of animals he's trapped here?” Winn asked.

”Or a new breed of skinwalker?” Deem said. ”Awan said he'd been experimenting, right?”

”I seem to remember that, yes.”

”Then who knows what's in this place,” Deem said, a little panicked.

”As long as we stay out of the River, we should be fine,” Winn said. ”That was the plan, remember? Let's just find the sub-bas.e.m.e.nt and locate the shaman, alright? No more dropping.”

”Alright,” Deem said, not entirely sure she could honor the promise. She'd learned, over the years, to resist the urge to drop in front of zombighosts and avoid the chase. But this place felt different, and the ent.i.ties felt different. She wasn't sure if her fear would win out over her curiosity.

They walked through the auditorium, toward a pair of double doors on the other side of the room. Deem knew the room was filled with spirits. She resisted the urge to drop and examine them.

When they reached the far side of the auditorium, they went through the doors. Winn was right; there was another set of stairs. They went down.

Winn turned his head lamp back on and lit up the lock on the door at the bottom. This one was intact. He removed his tools and began picking it. Deem waited patiently, listening for sounds in the distance. She could hear a rumble that increased in intensity, then diminished. Then she thought she heard a scream, far in the distance. It was just loud enough that she wasn't sure she'd heard it.

”Hurry up,” she said to Winn. ”It feels like things are s.h.i.+fting in here.”

”s.h.i.+fting?” Winn said as he moved a torsion wrench in the lock. ”What do you mean?”

”I mean something is building,” Deem said, ”and when it reaches a certain point, things are going to s.h.i.+ft. We need to get out before that happens.”

The lock gave in to Winn, and as he replaced his tools, Deem pushed the door open.

She turned on her headlamp, and they made their way through a dark hallway that opened after twenty feet into a large room. There were a number of pa.s.sages leading out of the room in all directions.

”The tunnels,” Deem said. ”This is the central point.”

”I remember seeing this on the YouTube videos,” Winn said. ”I remember those spray-painted arrows on the walls.”

”People must have gotten in here somehow, even with that door locked,” Deem said.

”Probably from one of these pa.s.sageways,” Winn said, walking to the entrance of one of them and looking down it. He could see ten feet before his headlamp illuminated a pile of junk blocking most of the tunnel. ”Some of them must be pa.s.sable. Maybe not this one.”

Deem walked to another tunnel entrance and looked down into it. It went off into the darkness, further than her headlamp could reveal. ”This one looks like it goes a ways,” she said.

”This is the bas.e.m.e.nt,” Winn said. ”But we're after the sub-bas.e.m.e.nt. If these tunnels just run to the other buildings, they're not what we're looking for.”

Deem paused, hearing the rumbling sound once again. A faint scream accompanied it.

”Did you hear that?” she said.

”No, I didn't.”

”Sounds far away, but it was louder than last time. Something's coming, and it's coming fast. That's the s.h.i.+ft I was talking about.”

”I still don't know what you mean by a s.h.i.+ft.”

”It's like when the pressure builds in your ear, before it pops. You know it's going to pop at some point.”

”Any idea what happens when this pops?”

”Not exactly, but it feels like something bad. There it is again. You don't hear it?”

”No! I can't hear anything.”