The Hidden Door Read Online Free PDF Page B

pretense drops from Justin’s face and his smile softens. “Okay, okay. So my dad has gotten really weird this last year. He took a sabbatical to study regional lore, and he got totally wrapped up in the Hidden Door legend. I mean, I think he surpassed me.”
    I giggle. “How is that possible? No one is more obsessed with the Hidden Door than you.”
    â€œAnd you,” he says, his voice soft and full of intense emotion. I meet his gaze and have to sit back down on the floor. Suddenly we are too close, this space too confining.
    Swallowing against my dry throat I ask, “So what does that have to do with the key?”
    Just over a yea r ago, Justin kissed me—my first— in a situation similar to this. We had been searching for the Hidden Door and had stopped to rest. I had come prepared with snacks so we hid in a little alcove and chowed down. After we ate, we had gotten into a deep conversation about what had happened to the original fraternity guys. Thanks to Justin’s dad’s connections at the university we had information on three of the seven. We liked to speculate about the other four.
    Anyway, I don’t know if it was the darkness or the closeness but out of nowhere Ju stin leaned over and kissed me.
    And then he didn’t talk to me for a week.
    And then he up and got himself a girlfriend.
    We have never talked about that night. And as much as my heart aches right now, I am not going to bring it up. I am not going to give Justin the chance to break my heart again, which he still has the power to do. I’d be an idiot if I didn’t acknowledge that fact.
    He notices the change in my mood. Clearing his throat he continues, “So, um, my dad got a little drunk one night just after Christmas and he started rambling about things that didn’t make a lo t of sense to me at the start.”
    A noise from do wn the hall makes us both jump.
    â€œWho’s there? Hey, what’re you kids doing in here at this time of night?” A night janitor rounds the corner with a push cart full of cleaning supplies.
    We scramble to our feet. Even though the buildings are open we really aren’t supposed to be skulking around darkened hallways.
    â€œJust taking a study break,” Justin says, picking up my back pack as evidence.
    The janitor doesn’t care, which he makes apparent by spitting into his garbage can before entering the office door we were just sitting in front of.
    After he’s gone, Justin and I continue walking toward the gym. With every step I feel certain that the door can’t be in here. Back in 1927 this place would have been either super busy or locked up tight. There wasn’t the freedom that there is today. Plus there were only ten or so buildings on campus, including the three dorms. We decided a long time ago, after an initial perusal of many of the buildings, that the fraternity guys hid the gargoyle’s head in one of the buildings surrounding the castle or the castle itself.
    â€œThe head can’t be in here,” I say, stopping mid-stride. We can’t waste anymore time chasing false leads. We need a plan. When I share my thoughts with Justin he looks suitably impressed that I have thought this through.
    â€œLet’s go back to the law library,” Justin says, reaching over then taking my backpack from me. With the weight gone I feel so light, like I can fly. The adrenaline rushing through my veins ever since our run-in with The Vampire is starting to settle, and mellowness settles over me.
    As soon as we step outside I regret my choice. The wind has picked up and the temperature has definitely dropped. I shiver. “Let’s cut through The Hun. It’s too cold out here.”
    Justin shrugs and we cut through the courtyard containing the body of the headless gargoyle. The area is now surrounded by a low hedge, but Justin jumps over with ease, my backpack thumping against his back. Sidling up to the