Seasons of Chaos by Elle Cosimano

Author:Elle Cosimano [Cosimano, Elle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperTeen
Published: 2021-04-22T00:00:00+00:00

31

How the Cold Creeps

JACK

The walls of the tunnel widen suddenly, opening into a cavern laced with icicles of stone. Kai stops just inside, her flashlight sweeping over the room. She digs in her pocket for a packet of matches. With a snap and a whoosh, she lights a torch and nests it back in its hole in the wall.

I turn in a slow circle. More stone coffins, just like the others. “Where are we?”

“Under the Winter kitchen,” she says, sliding off her backpack and bow.

For all the years I spent poking around down here, piecing together sections of hand-drawn maps, I can’t believe I never found this room. “Who do you think are in these things?” I ask, trailing a finger over the cold stone.

“Where do you think the faculty and staff are buried when they die? Apparently, if you make it through retirement without pissing anyone off, you get to choose.” She gestures from the coffins to an incinerator on the far wall. The furnace is identical to the one we just left under the Summer wing, with a wide silver duct rising up from the top.

Kai points to my arm. “Can you climb?”

“Do I have a choice?”

She yanks open the incinerator’s iron grate and pokes her head inside, aiming her flashlight up the duct. She tucks the light in the front pocket of her jacket, the beam pointed up. “I’ll go first,” she says, shrugging on her gear. “Once I’m sure the coast is clear, we’ll make a break for the dorms. You’ll need to move fast. We’ll only have a few seconds to make it past the cameras before someone sees us. Where do you think we’ll find Boreas?”

When Kai had asked me where we would start our search once we made it down here, Boreas’s name had spilled from my mouth like contraband. He’s the go-to guy of the north wing. He hears everything that happens down here, and he’s got contacts everywhere, both above and below ground. He’ll know where Doug’s holding Fleur and Chill.

He’ll also know which room was Névé’s.

And I’m betting he knows what happened to her.

“We should check the kitchen.”

Kai ducks into the incinerator. I peer inside. A ladder runs up one side of the duct, disappearing into the blackness above it. Every word I haven’t said rises like bile as she starts to climb. “Kai, wait . . .” She hangs from a rung by one hand, twisting back to look down at me. “Before we talk to Boreas, there’s something you should know.”

“I already know how Boreas operates, if that’s what you’re worried about. His reputation wasn’t limited to the Winter wing, you know. Don’t worry,” she says, turning back to the ladder and scurrying up a few rungs, “Auggie refused to keep the cash I gave him. There should be more than enough to convince Boreas to tell us where Doug’s holding Fleur.”

“It’s not just that, there’s something else.” I climb inside and grab the first rung, hissing as a stitch in my shoulder pops.

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