The Book of Miranda | gxg | ✔︎

(33) Let There Be Light

The world slows around me when I'm under stress. In a flash, I've run an inventory of my available weapons, then the things I can use as weapons in a pinch. There aren't many of either category. Matches aren't good for direct combat, and there are no loose objects in the room except for me and Barnabas. I'm not even wearing shoes. Barnabas is, at least. That's our best bet for bludgeoning people unless he's got a knife on him, too. I dart to his side.

"Who is it?" he whispers, his voice shaking. He's risen to a crouch like he's ready to take off sprinting the moment an opportunity presents itself.

I scrap my half-formed plan. If either of us is going to get away in a teacher attack, it's the one with a sprinting build and proper footwear.

"I don't know," I say, and shock myself with how steady my voice sounds. It's nice to know my brush with Colson in the stairway just days ago didn't rob me of my affinity for sticky situations. "Barnabas, listen. I'm going to go for whoever opens that door, or Mr. Ashcroft if he's with them. I need you to get away and find Exie. Tell her what you told me, and try to memorize whatever route you take to get out. If you find an underground pool, take the main tunnel straight away from it; that'll get you back to the school."

I'm probably going to regret playing the hero the moment that door actually opens, but I can do some damage if I've got nothing to lose. I've also seen the demon ritual once already. There are weak spots in it that I can take shots at to stall the whole process—until when, I don't know, but hopefully at least long enough to let Barnabas get away.

"Once you're there," I continue, "tell the rest of the students what I told you. Tell Exie to share what she knows, if she hasn't already. You two stand a better chance than me at rallying the rest of the students; turn them against the school. They can't stop all of us."

"What about you?"

"I'm going to try and find out where this cult keeps the books they use for their rituals."

It's a plan. I'm planning. Lord knows what illness infected me with that propensity, but my own words make sense as they leave my mouth, and I can't say I'm used to the feeling. It's nice. The plan, meanwhile, will probably explode in our faces the moment the first teacher opens the door, but at least I'll have tried something different before I die.

I'm not going to die. This school hasn't killed a student yet—at least not in our year. If Exie's been smart about this, she'll have told other students what's going on already, and spread the knowledge of how to burn the doves. They might have even burned some more doves... but here my thoughts swing wide in a different direction.

The other judged students. They're not out and about around the school, waiting to have their demon handcuffs pilfered and incinerated. Headmaster Massingham told Mrs. Hardwick to separate them after we burned Barnabas's dove. The situation they feared was exactly what's played out: students figuring out how to usurp the cult's activities. That means they're all together somewhere. If I can figure out where, I can drop a hint of some kind; some trace for Exie to identify, if she happens to find it in the first place. She can free the other judged students. I'm only sad I won't be there to witness it.

All this and more flies through my overwrought mind in the half-minute it takes for the footsteps outside to reach our cell. Candlelight flickers beneath the door. I rise to a crouch beside Barnabas, one heel braced against the wall behind me for maximum power when I launch myself at whichever teacher appears first. There's a murmur outside. Then a murmured reply. Some tinkling. A rattle, and the door vibrates like someone's grabbed the handle and shaken it. The tinkling returns.

Their key is sticking. In the spare seconds it buys us, I tap Barnabas on the arm and direct him to the far side of the cell, so we can run at the teachers from opposite sides. We've just resumed our positions when a heavy knock shakes the door.