The Paladin Prophecy

THE OTHER LOCKER ROOM

Will unlocked and opened his door. Ajay and Nick stood just outside, wearing coats, hats, and scarves.

“You ready, Will?” asked Nick.

“Yes,” said Will, still numb. He stumbled past them toward the kitchen, and they tagged along. “Where are we going?”

“The Barn,” said Nick. “You’re gonna show us that spooky room in the basement.”

“Right,” said Will.

“I’m bringing some gear along that I think might be useful,” said Ajay, studying him. “Are you all right, Will?”

Will picked up a bottle of water and drained it. “I’m good. I’m fine.”

“You look kind of … sketchy,” said Nick.

“You look, actually, like you’ve seen a ghost,” said Ajay.

Good guess. “I’m your guardian angel.” Yeah, close enough. I’m in shock. Not a good time to be alone. Go with them. Stay calm.

“Did you guys hear anything?” asked Will. “In my room just now? Like thunder, or …”

“No,” said Ajay.

“Okay,” said Will, and moved to the front door.

“Uh, dude, you might want to grab your coat?” said Nick.

“How would a person know if they’re going crazy?” asked Will.

“The usual,” said Ajay. “Hearing disembodied voices. Rampant paranoia. Visions of hallucinatory figures, often of an overtly religious nature.”

How reassuring.

Will, Ajay, and Nick hurried across the commons, hands shoved in their pockets, huddled against the frigid night air. Will had broken out his new blue winter parka, wearing it over his fleece pullover, a shirt, and long underwear. And he was still freezing. The big clock atop Royster Hall said it was nearly nine, but the halogen streetlamps along the paths lit the grounds like daylight.

“I always fall back on the Robin Williams rule,” said Nick.

“What’s that?” asked Will.

“Seeing ninjas on your front lawn,” said Nick. “Totally dependable nutball indicator.”

“Why do you ask, Will?” asked Ajay.

Will wanted to say, Because my guardian angel thinks an army of monsters is trying to assassinate me and we don’t know why. Not exactly breaking news, but hearing Dave say it in so many words was a throat-grabber. Which left Will feeling he couldn’t decide which was worse: if Dave was real or imagined.

But either way, how much more should I tell these guys? If I spill the whole story, they’ll think I’m riding the express train to Crazytown.

“No reason,” said Will.

“Have you been using that phone in your room?” said Ajay.

“A couple of times,” said Will.

“It’s possible that Lyle has some kind of scanner or tracking device,” said Ajay. “That could be why he decided to search our quarters. You should definitely limit your use of it.”

“I’ll do that,” said Will.

Streetlights thinned out as they reached the athletic fields. In the distance, the Barn lit up the night. A Samoan guard buzzed by in a security golf cart. He waved and smiled. They waved and smiled.

“Do the guards always smile like that?” asked Will.

“Try sneaking out after curfew,” said Nick.

“Eleven on school nights,” said Ajay. “Midnight on weekends and holidays.”

“What happens if they catch you out after curfew?”

“They politely escort you back to your room,” said Ajay.

“Unless you’re walking around with a severed head and a bloodstained chain saw,” said Nick.

When they reached the field house, Will stopped to examine the statue of the Paladin and the crest on his shield. Fighting a horned demon. Coincidence? Maybe I should ask Happy Nepsted about monsters in the tunnels.

They moved inside. Interior lights burned bright, but the practice field and basketball courts were deserted. The unsettling silence made the cavernous building feel even bigger. Will led them down the corridor lined with old photos of school sports teams toward the locker room.

Will gestured for silence as they entered. Lights had been switched off, so they flicked on their flashlights. With the room emptied of life, the air felt as cold and still as a meat locker. They walked past the shower room, where dozens of drips plinked and echoed onto tile. Their beams caught the white grill of Happy Nepsted’s equipment cage. They flashed their lights inside, glancing up and down the long aisles behind the counter.

“What are you looking for?” asked Nick.

“Nepsted,” said Will. “The equipment manager. I had a question for him. He seems a little … mysterious … by the way.”

“What, a surly dwarf who talks in riddles and never leaves the basement?” asked Nick. “Yeah, I’d say that’s mildly odd.”

“The door I saw Lyle use is over here,” said Will.

He led them to the door, their beams bouncing off the painted metal into the air around them with a ghostly glow.

“I never even noticed this was here before,” said Ajay.

“Let’s rock this joint,” said Nick. He barged through the door and slammed it behind him. Moments later they heard a strangled scream: “Oh, no, oh God, help!”

Will and Ajay threw open the door and rushed in.

“Nick? Nick?! Where are you?”

Nick flicked on his flashlight, pointing up under his chin, and his face popped out of the darkness in front of them. “Nepsted got me,” he croaked.

Ajay jumped back against a wall, hand on his chest. “You incorrigible numb nut. You almost gave me a heart attack.”

“Dude, no worries. I almost learned CPR once—”

“Seriously, Nick,” said Will, his own heart racing. “It’s a miracle nobody’s murdered you yet.”

“Yeah, I know, right? Now brace yourselves. Not sure you can handle this … ’cause it turns out we’re in a pretty horrifying … utility corridor.”

Nick flashed his light around to show them a square featureless concrete corridor. A cluster of insulated pipes ran along the ceiling. A few feet farther in, a small jet of steam escaped from one of them.

“That must’ve been the hissing I heard,” said Will. “The room’s this way.”

He led them down the staircase and around the sharp left turn. They pointed their lights down the long straight passage ahead until the beams died in the darkness. Ajay took out his pager and pressed the button on it.

“This,” said Ajay, clearing his throat, “is a very long hallway.”

“The room’s at the far end,” said Will.

“How far is that?” asked Nick.

“I don’t know. Far. Let’s go.”

They started walking. A chill descended around them. Hazy motes of dust hung suspended in their light beams, lazy particles in a murky sea. Vague shapes appeared to float in the distance. Their lights started to wobble.

Ajay stopped and shivered. “I’ve got chicken skin,” he said. “Goose bumps. All over.”

“Ditto,” said Nick.

“Do you want to see this or not?” asked Will.

“Aye,” said Nick.

“So what are we,” asked Will, “men or mice?”

“Pass the cheese,” said Ajay.

“Keep going,” said Will.

“Sure, the way you can motor, what are you stressed about?” said Nick. “It’s Ajay and me who’d be dragged down from behind … and have our brains eaten by ravenous bloodsucking ghouls—”

“Would you please for the love of Mike stop talking?” said Ajay.

“Mike? Who’s Mike?” asked Nick.

Will continued edging forward. The others followed a step behind him. They kept their lights pointed ahead, piercing the thickened gloom with one united beam.

“Would anyone care to join me,” said Nick in a shaky voice, “while I sing the National Anthem?”

“The first good idea you’ve had all night,” said Ajay.

Nick quietly cleared his throat. “Oh, say, can you see”—his voice wavered, barely above a whisper—“by the dawn’s early light …” The others joined in, no louder than Nick. “What so proudly we hailed …”

A loud metallic bang sounded in the corridor behind them. They stopped singing and froze. No one wanted to turn around.

“That happened before,” said Will. “That was the door we came in.”

“And that’s not a problem because?” said Ajay. “Because it shut by itself,” said Will. “Keep going.” They crept along again.

“Come to think of it, dude,” said Nick, “you never did tell us what you ran into down here.”

“You really don’t want to know,” said Will.

“That is, uh, incorrect,” said Nick.

“Yes, Will,” said Ajay. “Pray tell.”

“It’s … hard to describe. And even if it showed up again, you wouldn’t be able to see it anyway. Since you don’t have the … special glasses.”

“You need special glasses?” asked Ajay. “Oh God, I really have to pee.”

“How far do you think we’ve gone?” asked Will.

“A hundred yards,” said Ajay. “Maybe more.”

“You think we’re still under the Barn?” asked Will.

“I have no idea,” said Ajay. “I’m so turned around I’d need a compass just to tell you on which end my buttocks are attached.”

“We’re headed due east,” said Nick.

“How could you possibly know that?” said Ajay.

“I have a sick sense of direction,” said Nick.

“You said your dad was a wrestler, right?” asked Will.

“Dude, he won the New Hampshire Junior College Championship.”

“How many times did he drop you on your head?” asked Will.

“Wait. Your father went to college?” asked Ajay.

“Junior college,” said Nick. “For a year. And you don’t have to sound so surprised.”

Ajay took the school pager off his belt and pressed the button again.

“What do you keep doing with that thing?” asked Will.

“Recording intermittent GPS coordinates,” said Ajay. “I’ll use them to map the tunnel when we get back.”

“If we get back,” said Nick.

“You’re using the school’s pager as a GPS?” asked Will.

“I modified the processor,” said Ajay. “Reverse engineering.”

“Dude,” said Nick. “I can’t even figure out where they put the batteries.”

The darkness folded around them like a heavy shroud. Their footsteps echoed, every sound magnified in the endless void. Finally, their beams glinted off something that sent back a burst of light.

“What’s that?” asked Nick. “Is that a door?”

“Yes,” said Will as they trained the lights on it. “That’s the door to the room.”

“With any luck, a bathroom,” said Ajay.

“The room where I saw the people who chased me,” said Will.

“People were chasing you?” said Ajay. “Oh dear God.”

“Not just people. There was that ‘thing’ that only you can see,” said Nick sarcastically. “With your ‘special glasses.’ ”

“You didn’t say there was a thing,” said Ajay.

“Didn’t I?”

“I don’t know about you,” said Nick, “but I’m feeling excellent about this.”

They stopped ten feet shy of the door at the dead end of the corridor. This time no line of light leaked out from under the bottom of the door. They heard distant rumblings issue from somewhere, perhaps the old building’s ancient furnace.

“Inspired effort. Good show all around,” said Ajay. “Our work here is done. Let’s retrace our steps.” He turned to leave, but Nick hooked him with an elbow and stopped him in his tracks.

“Not so fast, Professor Plum,” said Nick. Then to Will he said, “Aren’t you going to open it?”

“Yes,” said Will. “Yes, I am.”

“Are you going to put your glasses on first?” asked Ajay.

“I don’t think so.”

Will stepped forward and gripped the knob. It turned freely. He took his hand away, wiped the sweat off his palms, and gripped it again. He opened the door. Their flashlight beams poured past him into the room, and Nick chased them inside.

“Oh my God,” said Nick. “This is incredible, dude. You’ve done it.”

“Done what?”

Nick hit a light switch. Overhead fluorescents flickered on. “You’ve found the auxiliary locker room,” he said, pointing to a sign that read AUXILIARY LOCKER ROOM.

They followed him into a small L-shaped room with a paneled drop ceiling. Lining one wall were metal lockers fronted by benches. In a mirrored corner, a weight bench sat on a rubber mat, surrounded by an assortment of free weights. Will stepped forward, sniffing the air.

“Do you smell anything?” he asked.

“Definitely,” said Nick, pocketing his flashlight. “Stale socks and rotten jocks. Dude, it’s a locker room.”

“Dear God, let there be a toilet,” said Ajay, hurrying around the corner. “Yes!”

“So, Nick, you knew about this place before?” asked Will.

“Heard rumors,” said Nick, picking up a dumbbell and doing curls. “It’s practically mythic. For good reason, as you can see. Right up there with Atlantis and Bigfoot.”

Will took out his dark glasses and put them on. Nothing appeared out of thin air. No sulfurous smells, blinding lights, or gleaming portals slicing through time and space. No windows to the Never-Was or screeching, menacing monsters.

“And the rockets’ red glare,” belted Ajay from around the corner, “the bombs bursting in air—”

“So it’s a fail, but at least it’s an epic fail,” said Nick. “Hey, are those the glasses? Let me have a look.”

“No,” said Will, putting them away. “What do they use this place for?”

“Dude, take a wild guess. It’s the auxiliary locker room,” said Nick, yawning and stretching. “And if I knew what auxiliary meant, I could tell you.”

“Providing help or support in a secondary capacity,” said Ajay from around the corner. “As in the backup locker room. Which, given that the main locker room covers half an acre, probably means it isn’t used for anything.”

“Why would they build it all the way down here?” asked Will. “Why all the secrecy?”

“Honestly, dude?” said Nick, yawning again. “I wouldn’t even trip about it.”

“Check the lockers,” said Will, opening the one nearest to him. “Come on, Nick, get off your butt.”

Nick dragged himself over as Ajay came around the corner, zipping up.

“That is definitely enough passion fruit iced tea for one night,” Ajay said, beaming with relief. “We’re searching lockers? What are we looking for?”

“I don’t know,” said Will. “Clues.”

Ajay pitched in, opening lockers. Most were empty. A few held bent wire hangers or wads of discarded sports tape.

“Well, maybe if you’d share exactly what you saw here the first time, we’d have a better idea what to look for now,” said Nick.

Will thought about it. What the hell. If I can’t trust these guys, who can I trust?

“Okay. I’d describe it as a portal,” said Will, matter-of-factly. “Or a window carved in the air to a nasty, horrible place. They call it a Weasel Hole.”

“Aren’t you glad you asked?” said Ajay, shooting a worried look at Nick.

“Right,” said Nick. “And so was there, I’m just taking a shot here, a giant weasel involved?”

“Not a weasel,” said Will. “Something else came through. It looked more like—this is going to sound even more wacko, okay—a hybrid human-spidery-snake thingy with hypnotic eyes. Only a lot more disgusting and dangerous.”

“No, that doesn’t sound crazy at all. Oh, look what I found,” said Nick, pointing into an empty locker. “A cuckoo clock: Cuckoo-cuckoo-cuckoo.”

“Behave yourself,” said Ajay.

“He called what I saw a lamia,” said Will. “I don’t expect you to believe me.”

“A lamia?” asked Ajay, who froze in place. “Are you certain of that?”

“Yes.”

“Sounds bogus,” said Nick. “What’s a lamia?”

“A lamia is an ancient mythological demon,” said Ajay, looking a little green. “Half-female, half-serpent. A monster that creeps silently through the night and … devours children. Allegedly.”

“That sounds about right,” said Will.

“Refreshing,” said Nick.

“And the gentleman who told you this,” said Ajay. “Who might he be?”

“The same one who gave me these glasses,” said Will, reluctant to say more.

Ajay leaned against the lockers, and a concealed panel on the wall above the lockers slid open.

“What did you just do?” asked Will, jumping up onto the bench to take a look.

“I must have activated some kind of pressure plate,” said Ajay, pushing the same spot on the side of the locker again.

The panel closed. Ajay pressed it again: It opened.

Nick jumped up beside Will. “Secret compartment. Awesome.”

Will reached into the recessed space. “There’s something back here. I can’t reach it; it’s shoved way inside.”

Ajay jumped up beside them. “Give me a lift up. I can get to it.”

They grabbed Ajay and boosted him above the lockers. He wriggled inside to his waist and with both hands dragged a midsized black steamer trunk out of the compartment. They lowered him and set the trunk on the bench.

“Not very heavy,” said Ajay.

“It’s locked,” said Will.

“I’m on it,” said Nick. “This requires years of intense training, natural talent, and incredible finesse.…”

Nick picked up a dumbbell and smashed it repeatedly and violently into the lock, which shattered into pieces.

“Works for me,” said Will as he flipped up the lid.

Inside was a strange assortment of old hats. Will lifted them out one at a time. A pirate hat adorned with a big flouncy feather, cavalier style. A floppy red beret. A conical dunce’s cap, inscribed with strange glyphs. A bishop’s miter. A bronze crown, set with large fake gems. A garland made of olive branches. Two tricornered American Revolution–era hats. An iron knight’s coif, made of real chain mail. A cowboy hat. A long feathered Indian headdress. And finally what looked like a steel welder’s mask, inset with a small thick window for the eyes. All substantial pieces, blocked and solidly constructed, none of them shoddy or cheap.

“Amazeballs,” said Nick, astonished. “You know what this means, don’t you?”

“No,” said Will.

“The Village People are getting back together,” said Nick.

“Apparently at a Renaissance fair,” said Ajay.

“Hold on, there’s more,” said Will.

Will lifted the false shelf on which the hats had been resting, revealing an equally eclectic collection of heavy molded plastic masks, with thick elastic bands in the back. The kind you might have found on the shelves of an old-fashioned toy store. The masks were hand painted, designed and crafted with an attention to detail seldom seen anymore. A diverse group of faces, stark and more than a little unsettling: a clown, a devil, a fox, a horse, a tusked wild boar, a pigtailed girl, a grinning jack-o’-lantern, a snarling grizzled man wearing an eye patch, a ghost, a menacing wolf, and two human faces. Will lifted one of them: a heavy-jowled, middle-aged man with pursed lips, with long silver strands of hair hanging on either side of his balding head.

“Who does that look like to you?” asked Will.

“Dude on the hundred-dollar Benjamin,” said Nick.

“Benjamin Franklin,” said Ajay.

“Whoa. That’s a coincidence,” said Nick.

Will lifted the last mask. “And this one?”

“George Washington?” asked Ajay.

“The father of our country?” said Nick, then with mock outrage, “Okay, now they’ve gone too far.”

“The people I saw down here were wearing these,” said Will, realizing. “That’s why their faces looked so weird. Twelve hats. Twelve masks.”

“So what does it mean?” asked Ajay.

“I don’t know yet,” said Will.

Will searched the trunk again and found a yellowing envelope in a small net fastened to the side. He removed an equally aged piece of paper and unfolded it. An embossed insignia topped the sheet, a round cluster of tightly arranged flower blossoms, topped by a square formed by four crossed tools or weapons. In their center was a grinning death’s head. A headline below the insignia read THE PEERS. Below that, in graceful, exquisite calligraphy, was a list of names that filled the rest of the page.

Orlando

Renaldo the Fox

Namo the Duke

Salomon the King

Turpin the Archbishop

Astolpho of the West

Ogier the Dane

Malagigi the Enchanter

Padraig de Mort

Florismart the Friend

Ganelon the Crafter

Guerin de Montglave

“The Old Gentleman”

Will, Nick, and Ajay looked at each other.

“The Peers,” said Will. “You recognize any of these names?”

“No,” said Nick. “But then I don’t own a phone book from the fourteenth century.”

“Any guesses?” asked Will.

“The French national soccer team?” said Ajay.

“The Twelve Musketeers?” said Nick.

“Okay, okay,” said Will.

“Twelve hats, twelve masks,” said Ajay, “but thirteen names on the list.”

“What’s up with that?” asked Nick.

“I’d venture a guess that a hat and mask correspond to each name,” said Ajay. “Except for the last, which is in quotes and is really a description, not a name.”

“ ‘The Old Gentleman,’ ” said Will.

“So let’s take all this stuff with us and brainiac it later?” asked Nick, yawning again, glancing at his watch. “I really need to crash.”

“No,” said Will. “We should put it all back exactly as we found it. Spread everything out first—I want to take pictures.”

“I’m quite certain I can remember them, Will,” said Ajay pointedly.

“I know. We may need to show them to someone else.”

Nick and Ajay laid the masks and hats on the floor. Will pulled out his cell phone and activated the camera. “Can we get more light in here?” he asked.

Nick tried more switches by the door. None turned on fixtures in the locker room, but one activated lights in the corridor outside. He stepped out to look at them. Will took shots of the hats and masks, then leaned in to snap close-ups of the paper with the insignia and the list of names.

“So the people you saw were wearing both hats and masks?” asked Ajay.

“Which could explain why it took them so long to come after me,” said Will. “They had to put all this away first.”

Nick slowly backed into the locker room, looking pale. “Uh, hate to harsh your mellow. We need another way out of here.”

“Why?” asked Will as he took the last photo.

“Bad guy. Far end of the hall. With a big-ass knife …”

“What?!”

“… and a medium-sized hatchet,” said Nick.

“Are you high?” asked Ajay.

Will and Ajay stuck their heads out into the hallway. A long row of single bare lightbulbs had come on, suspended from the ceiling down the full length of the corridor, creating small sharp pools of light that didn’t quite blend. In a last splash of light at the far end, just before the distant corner, stood a lone figure.

The figure was tall, wrapped in a black cloak, and wore an iron helmet. He looked up, appeared to see them, and drew something from his belt: a short sword that gleamed in the light. The figure headed their way, picking up speed as he rushed from one pool of light to the next. A harsh, bloodthirsty cry echoed down the corridor.

“Thank God I already peed,” said Ajay.

Will yanked them both back into the room and shut the door. “Look for another way out,” he said.

Nick and Ajay frantically searched the room and adjoining bathroom. Will turned the lock on the inside knob and rattled it to make sure it was secure.

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