During lunch, the four musketeers launched an invasion to breach the dreaded nurse’s office.

They found me gathering up my phone and charging cord.

Scott latched on to my arm and whispered, loudly, because the boy was incapable of anything resembling actual stealth, “Wes and Eric will jump him. You get ready to run!”

“What are you talking about?” I said through my laughter.

Norris said without looking up from his notes, “Good afternoon, Mr. Shipp. Can I help you with something?”

“It’s too late!” Scott lamented. “Throw Dustin behind us. Every man for himself!”

Wes announced, “We’re here to visit Miss Cole.”

“All four of you?” Norris asked.

Eric crossed his arms. “When does she get to leave?”

“Miss Cole was already getting ready to leave.”

“Wait. You mean you’re letting her go?” Scott said.

Norris folded his hands over his notes and stared at the five of us.

The silence was only broken when Dustin said, “Come on then.”

As we walked toward the door, Wes touched my elbow. “Are you all right, Emerra?”

“I’m fine guys. I promise.”

When the door closed behind us, Scott released a full-body shiver that was big enough it could be called a spasm. His feet danced in place. “Man, that guy gives me the creeps.”

Wes and Eric murmured their agreement. Even Dustin nodded.

Yes, the poor guy had a few creepy mannerisms—okay, a lot of creepy mannerisms. And hobbies. And did he have to stare that much?—but I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt.

“You really didn’t think he’d let me go?” I asked.

“You hear stories,” Scott said.

“From who?” I tried to hide my amusement.

“Older students. They get passed down from year to year,” Eric said. “He’s been here since the school was founded. You can see him in the staff photo.”

“He likes to watch people,” Scott whispered.

Wes added, “He calls it ‘monitoring their condition.’”

“Or maybe,” I proposed, “he’s a careful nurse.”

None of the boys thought much of that idea.

Stolen story; please report.

“He gets bored,” Dustin explained.

“Is it any wonder?” Eric said. “If I sawed off my arm, I’d tie the tourniquet with my own teeth before I’d go to him.”

“What happened, Emerra?” Wes asked. “You weren’t at breakfast. We couldn’t find the wolfman or Lord Fancy-suit either.”

I knew Darius would want me to correct him.

“It’s Count von Fancy-suit.”

“We asked Mr. Turner if he knew anything. He gave Dustin permission to try to find you.”

We all looked at Dustin.

He shrugged. “I have the best grades.”

Scott leapt in to add to the story. “So Dustin finds the wolfman—”

“Conrad,” I said.

“Yeah. Him. And howler-boy said that you were in the nurse’s office. He wouldn’t tell us anything else! I call that unhelpful.”

Dustin tried to soothe his friend. “I don’t think he knew any more than that.”

Wes jammed his hands in his pockets. “He could have told us what was wrong.”

I was still watching Dustin. “You walked up and talked to Conrad?”

“Yeah.” He hesitated. “Why?”

I shook my head and smiled. “No reason.”

“So,” Scott wailed, “what happened?”

I studied the ground as we walked. “I, uh…I fainted.”

“Why?” Eric asked.

“You’ve got me,” I admitted. “Reisig found me while he was doing his rounds and brought me to Norris. I guess the teachers don’t have the same reverence for Norris that the students do. I normally sleep like crap, so I crashed out for a few hours, and woke up fine. It’s not a big deal.”

“If Reisig was doing his rounds,” Eric said, “that means you were up after hours.”

I gazed at him, feeling slightly betrayed.

Eric met my gaze without flinching. “What were you doing up that late?”

“Were you searching the school?” Wes asked.

Geez. There was only supposed to be one smart one. They weren’t supposed to gang up on me.

I sighed. “Yes, I was searching the school.”

“At night?” Scott said.

“By yourself?” Eric said.

It was Dustin’s turn: “And you fainted?”

I ran each of their statements through my head. There was something like the truth in them. You had to split it up a bit, but it spared me from having to mention that I’d had a drink with Turner, and that I was only out that late because I was lost.

“Yes,” I said.

“Why didn’t you take us?” Wes demanded.

I looked at each of their stern, young faces, and burst out laughing.

“What’s with all these knights in shining armor?” I said. “I know it’s not because you’re English—”

“Some of us aren’t English,” Dustin reminded me.

“And Conrad and Darius do it too. Is it a guy thing?”

“Yes,” they chorused—even Scott, who must have been the world’s most adorable warrior.

I checked myself. Throw some face-paint on him, Scott would be an amazing berserker.

“Hey, guys,” I whispered conspiratorially, “I hate to break this to you, but I’m not a princess. I’ll have to check a dictionary,” I put a hand on my chest, “but I don’t think I’m even a damsel.”

“Yon fair maiden in distress!” Scott shouted.

Eric had a much less flattering take on it. “You’re the one that fainted.”

He had me there. That was a bit embarrassing. At least I had a trump card in reserve.

“I couldn’t take you with me. I was out after hours, remember?”

“This is Thursday,” Wes said. “We have fourth period free. We can help you look around then.”

“Don’t you have homework you have to catch up on?”

His entire defense was to smile at me. I rolled my eyes.

It was a tempting offer. No matter how brave I was acting, no matter how cheerful I tried to sound, the idea of being alone in the building scared me. The boys already knew I was searching the school to try to figure out what was going on, so it wouldn’t seem weird to them if I went poking through all the closets and opening cupboard doors.

“Don’t expect too much,” I warned them.

Scott threw his fist up in triumph.

I continued, “What I’m doing lacks both glamour and excitement, and I’ve already finished most of the main building.”

Wes scoffed. “Maybe according to your map.”

“Huh?”

The boys looked at each other to confirm that I was the only person excluded from the joke.

Wes said, “That map Miller gave you for the school—only half of the top floor was marked, right?”

“Yeah. The rest of the rooms were empty or being used for storage.”

“Right. The map only shows the parts of the school that are being used. It’s to help the students get around.”

“Okay. And?”

“Do you want to guess what other part of the school isn’t being used right now?”

When I didn’t say anything, Wes offered me the answer.

“The basements.”