“I will,” I said, and couldn’t help but chuckle as I exited the residence hall. The moment I cleared the doors, all four guys snapped to attention, clearly waiting for me. I could practically hear Amy’s wry laughter as I trotted down the stairs to them, brandishing my key.
Luke took it from me, holding up the thin strip of metal with a dubious look on his face.
“That’s it? Surely we’ve got better security than that.”
“We might,” Connor said, taking the key from him and giving it a once-over himself. “But Maddigan’s been a janitor—or was a janitor—for over six years. She’s had plenty of time to prove herself trustworthy.” He handed the key back to me.
“How long have you had full campus access?” Rafe asked.
“Probably only about three years,” I hedged. I knew the exact date, of course. My work as a janitor was not so exciting that an event such as being given run of the campus was easily overlooked. But I didn’t want to let on to the guys that such a meaningless moment in the grand scheme of life had such significance to me.
“It was late summer three years ago, maybe early fall,” I said. “I can’t remember whether it was before that year’s Mage Trials or after. And since that was the year that the Red Team stayed inside the Trials, I don’t know if it would’ve been more reasonable for that to have happened before or after my upgrade.”
“You had to have been upgraded before the Red Team made their move,” Connor said. “The academy would’ve been on edge otherwise.”
“You think?” Luke asked. “I thought the Mage Trials’ advisory panel didn’t really get involved with the day-to-day administration of the campus.”
“Maybe they do, maybe they don’t.” Rafe shrugged. “I’ve given up on making any assumptions with the agency, so why should the advisory panel be any different?”
We walked in silence the rest of the way to Founders Hall, but when Connor angled toward the opening, I shook my head and pointed to the back of the building.
“Staff entrance. It’s probably warded or something to make sure that only the right people go through, so if you want me to try to open the door and get inside myself, I’m happy to hit it solo.”
Both Marcus and Lucas scowled, while Connor chimed in. “Not a chance. We go in together, or we don’t go in at all.”
I fought the urge to roll my eyes as I turned back toward the door. It was the answer I expected, and I wasn’t going to lie, it made me feel good to know I had all four guys willing to stand with me. I approached the door quickly and smoothly, putting one hand on the doorknob as I hefted the key…
Then I stopped. “Um…the door’s already open.”
Something rustled in the breeze just then, a faint moaning that sounded all too familiar.
“Maddigan,” the wind seemed to murmur, and I froze for a heartbeat while the guys moved past me. I’d heard that sound before. I glanced around sharply as the guys approached the door.
“Let me,” Luke said, and I stepped back a few feet as he pushed the door open and entered Founders Hall. No alarm went off, and nothing crashed on top of him, so the others followed him in…except for Rafe. Of course.
He stayed behind, studying me with his piercing, knowing eyes. In the gloom, he looked like an avenging angel, with his fair skin, the dark fall of hair over his brows, and the sense of power coiled deep within him. I half expected him to sprout wings and brandish a fiery sword, ready to slay anything in his path.
A thought slithered through my traitorous mind. Even me?
“You heard something, didn’t you?” he asked quietly, making me jump. “Is it them?”
I grimaced. There was no reason for Rafe to elaborate on who “them” was. He might not have the advantage of crawling around my mind, but he’d faced the strange smoke-faced monsters when they’d appeared during one of our fights in the Mage Trials. He hadn’t understood what they were at the time, but now he did. All the guys did. Which meant he also knew that the terrifying humanlike creatures had been following me since I was very young.
But as I peered out into the darkness, nothing looked back at me.
“I don’t think so,” I said finally. “I think I’m just stressed out. I was really worried about getting us in here.”
“Were you?” Rafe asked mildly. Something flashed in his eyes, then was gone. Something that made me shiver worse than the smoke-faced creatures did. “Is that all that’s bothering you?”
“Well, you are now, does that count?” Irritated, I gestured him forward, ignoring his grin as we stepped into Founders Hall.
We walked quickly along the narrow access corridor up the stairs that led to the main floor of Founders Hall. The advisory panel’s chamber was at the far end of the building, but there were several offices to either side of the main corridor, which was lined with photographs and paintings from Twyst Academy’s illustrious past. We didn’t stop to check any of them out. Even if some of the people that were listed in the agency’s document were featured in those photographs, we wouldn’t be able to recognize them. None of the pictures had labels. We’d need to get to Thelonius Twyst’s office. Not only was that the location of the fancy painting Rafe and Connor remembered, it was where the academy’s staff records were held. Maybe we would find the names from the document there…or maybe they were hidden elsewhere in the old building.
To that end, both Rafe and Connor had their hands up, magic crackling along their fingertips as we passed door after door. They murmured spells of revelation as we passed, but none of the doors immediately swung open or lit up with blinking lights. We reached the end of the corridor no wiser than we’d been at the beginning. We paused in front of the door to Thelonius’s office, and Rafe frowned at it.
“So, all that was less than enlightening,” Connor drawled.
“There has to be something here,” Rafe said. “Other than Brillion and Bartholomew, I recognized no one from the document we found. Those names can’t reference anyone with recent attachment to Twyst, no matter how new the parchment page itself is.”
“Agreed,” Marcus said. “What’s more, I’ve done my fair share of research on the Mage Trials, and I haven’t seen those names before. Why aren’t we getting any hits?”
“That document has to be linked to you, Rafe.” I turned, not missing the spark of awareness that flared within me as Rafe gazed my way. “You asked the key to show you what you most needed to know. You’re the link, the important part of this picture. You have to be the common denominator. You were the one who went after the information in the agency storeroom. You were the one who helped open the box.”
“You were there too,” he pointed out, but I shook my head.
“Yeah, but I don’t have any connection to Founders Hall. I never even cleaned it when I was a janitor. I also don’t know anything about the founding fathers of the academy, but you’ve got a blood tie to them. You’re the key to what we were supposed to learn to help the Mage Trials. You and good ol’ Thelonius here.”
I stepped up to Thelonius’s office door, and, with an easy turn in the lock, my master key let us into the room.