Chapter 16

The PA system turned on with the familiar sounds of chimes. A female voice came across, one I didn’t recognize. “Hello boys and girls. As you all are probably realizing right now, your phones are no longer accessible. You’re welcome. We have taken over the school and blocked off all exits. So no one get any funny ideas about trying to escape or we will take care of you.”

Panic was starting to rise from everyone.

“We’re here for a certain someone, I’m sure that one person is now aware of this, please come forward and no one will get hurt. If this person doesn’t come forward, we are very convincing and will take necessary action. Oh and if you think the police are going to do anything we already informed them of the consequences of doing that. Thank you and goodbye.” The PA turned off.

“Who is this person? They should just turn themselves in?”

“What did she mean necessary action?”

There were many more questions and comments followed. Some started crying and others were getting loud.

“Everyone keep it down.” I yelled making more noise than all of them but it worked. I went to a softer voice “There is nothing we can do about it except stay quiet and hidden until help arrives.” A few people didn’t like the response but there weren’t many options.

Jessica continued to look at me, her cheery spirit and lovable smile wasn’t present, instead stood fear.

“Do you think Leon’s got wind?” Jace whispered

I looked over at him “If it made it to the scanners I’m sure he did. It’s only a matter of time.”

“What should we do?”

“Honestly…I don’t know. The easiest thing would be to just sit and wait, but something tells me it’s not going to be that easy.”

“Yeah, I don’t trust them either.”

“All of this for one person. The attack, guns, whatever took out everyone’s cellphones and how many acolytes did you see out there. What is the purpose? And how far are they going to go to get what they want?”

“This is all too crazy. So what’s the plan?”

“I need to find Emmalin, and then see if we can find a way to get everyone out.”

“This is a big school.”

“I know…but considering…”

“I know…”

Felicia and Kyra came over, they were still scared but calmed after Alec and Donovan worked them down. Those two were checking on everyone as well as a number of others. It was horrible situation but it was nice to see everyone helping each other.

“Felicia listen to me…I need to look around and see if there is way out” She did not like those words coming out of my mouth.

“But you just said...”

“I know just trust me, I need to get Emmalin and then we will find a way out, you guys are safe here.” She still wasn’t agreeing but she kept her mouth shut. Kyra took her to the side.

“When do we leave” Jace asked.

“Soon…”

I went over to where everyone was standing. Many were still worked up but the atmosphere had calmed somewhat, thanks in part to the ones helping. Many of the people in here I recognized but vaguely, most of them were underclassmen with a few upper classman, mostly girls. I was initially worried about egos but the more I looked the less I worried, everyone was taking in the seriousness of the situation. I talked to everyone trying to keep everyone as calm as possible. After I had everyone pull any provisions they happen to have. There were some reluctance but shortly watching the others contribute they began too.

At the end it looked like we raided a few snack machines. It wasn’t much compared to how many people there were but it was better than nothing. Easier to separate with everyone evenly then have to deal with any type of drama with food. Fluids was another issue, no one really had water, a few soda bottles but that’s it. I didn’t plan to be here long but I wasn’t in a position to make that decision so either we would have to find some or find a way out sooner rather than later. I figured we could hold out for a while with the lack of food and water but hopefully it didn’t need to go further than that.

Jessica was sitting with my sister but I needed to talk to her, I didn’t want the others to hear our conversation, it was bad enough the situation we were in but if they heard everything was happening because of her, I’m not too sure how they will react.

“Jessica, can we talk over here?”

Jessica didn’t look at me as she approached, she continued to stare towards the ground. We stepped as far as away as we could from everyone keeping our voices low. “I need you to be completely honest with me.” She looked at me with her warm green eyes, but they weren’t the cheerful eyes I remembered, these had a noticeable look of concern. I took a slight breathe. “I overheard you say it was a trap, what did you mean and what do you know?”

She didn’t react but I could see from peripheral Jace reacting from my question.

"The acolytes...are after me...well my brother is" she slowly said.

Her brother? I wasn’t expecting that answer, "Why? And why this? This is too much and too risky, it doesn’t make sense."

There was more, a whole bunch more. Tears were starting to form in her eyes.
“My brother...has been trying to contact me the past couple of months. In truth he has for years but now it’s been consistent. He’s the one who put this together.”

“Is he an acolyte himself?” Jace asked

“No, well not that I know of...”

“So why would your brother put this together then and what is this all about?”

“I honestly don’t know and as far what this is about its money…it’s always been about money. Remember when I told you of our history and how he despises my father especially after our mother died. He wants what he believes is his…money.”

“So what stage a coup, grab you, and hold you for ransom…? Wait the tournament.” Jessica didnt say anything but I already knew the answer.

“You got to be kidding me.” I heard Jace say

“That was for you.” Bam the realization of everything hit home, the attack on the studio, the tournament, this attack on the school.

Jessica finally spoke confirming my thoughts. “He used you to get to me. In one of his messages he said he was going to go after you again. I wanted to tell you and this was the only time i could get away, he said a couple of days but he tricked me to get me away into the open.”

“And here we are.” There were still more questions I wanted to ask but I was already using too much time and needed to get moving.

“Gabriel I’m sorry”

“Yeah... we will talk later once this is all done.” I looked around trying to process all this information but it was a lot to take in. “Jace we need to go now. Jessica go ahead and sit with my sister, I need to figure this out.”

Jace nodded in agreement.

“If you two are headed out I’m coming too.”

“Craig…I need you to stay here and watch everyone in here. Keep the peace.” We did need someone here to take charge and I was hoping he wasn’t saying this thinking it was a way for him to stand out.

“No! I’m tired of being left behind. You two shouldn’t get all the glory.”

It took everything I had not to punch him in the face. “Are you kidding me right now? Do you think this is a game? Do you think there is a prize in the end? Stop being stupid and think more than just about you.” Craig was about to interject but I kept going gritting my teeth as I tried to keep my tone down. “We’re not going out there to make a name for ourselves, doing this for me is the last thing I’m thinking of. These people, my sister, our friends, are who I am thinking of right now. Now I will ask you again to stay here and keep charge.

Craig had a stern look on his face. “You think you’re something special always getting all the attention. You say you’re not thinking of you but it’s amazing how you’re always in the center.”

“Hey if you want to hash it out, now is not the time. If we get out of this then we can spat like little kids but until then I need you to stay here and keep charge.

Craig tightened his jaw but he didn’t talk any further. He just nodded and took his spot back where he was sitting.

“That sounded like he was holding that in for a while.” Jace said behind me.

“I know but this is not the time or place.”

“Okay so what’s the plan?”

I took a minute to think. What would be the first thing they want to do after the initial attack? “Cameras, they said if anyone tries to escape they would know, that’s the only way I would think they could do that. We don’t know their numbers but they wouldn’t want to spread themselves thin or be in the doorway when the police arrived. “ 

“Wow, that’s pretty good.”

“I guess if this doesn’t work I can always follow in my dad’s footsteps.”

We talked to Jeffrey, he was still in bad shape but he looked better than before. He originally disagreed with our plan but after pushing enough he finally provided the information we needed. “My office is in the administration office on the right side. Your best bet is to go through the assistant principal office. Remember there’s a door that connects from the hallway next to the science halls. They used the PA system so their either in the principal office or the main office. The cameras are everywhere but it all can’t be viewed at once. There’s only a number of monitors so it loops unless you hold it on a camera. To turn it off simply hit the switch on the right side of the system.”

It was a quick lesson but more than enough, by now everyone knew Jace and I were heading out. I turned to Craig as we got to the door. “Don’t open this door unless you know it’s us for sure. Verify with a question only we would know.

“I know what I need to do.”

“Okay….” I said as the door closed.

I looked at Jace who looked as nervous as I felt. “Are you ready for this?”

“Wait.”

“Now?”

“I just need a minute…I’m freaking out a little…”

“Yeah I know what you mean…It’s already been scary.”

“Are we equipped to do this? I mean this is a lot bigger than what we prepared for…”

“I don’t know but we can’t sit around and figure it out. We have no idea if the cops are going to risk coming in or if Leon will get here in time.”

“Yeah I know…” Jace said looking more nervous

“Jace remember what Leon taught us, it works, we already established it did and after were done with this we thank will him for all the beatings he gave us.”

Jace gave a little smile. “Okay sounds good. I needed to hear that. Don’t worry I got your back.”

“I never did. Let’s do this?”

 

We ran out to the hallway and the floor was riddled with paper and school supplies. Everybody didn’t think twice when they hear the gunshots. The dropped everything and ran.

“Janitor is going to have fun with this.”

“Right Now?”

“I’m nervous…”

There was no one around and I couldn’t hear anything in the distance. “Okay let’s hope no cameras catch us, so let’s move.”

We ran quickly and quietly watching for anything that may catch our attention. Jeffrey gave us his keys to the school so all we needed to do was get to the assistant principal door. I glanced outside when we came across and window and saw a number of police cars and news station vans. It hadn’t been thirty minutes and already the parking was littered with cars. Another observation I made as we were moving was the chains on the door. Every exit we came across had a chain wrapped around the handles with a padlock. These guys had this planned pretty good.

It was quiet. From all the noise earlier to nothing was very suspicious. We made it to the door in no time. I had it unlocked and confirmed no one was inside.

“That was too easy.”

It really was but I didn’t let my guard down. We stood quiet and heard voices in the main admin room. I went to the door and pressed against it to hear the conversation

“Where are we?” It was a female voice similar to the one from the announcement earlier.

“We just finished the north wing and heading to the east.”

“Good, make sure you round up everyone and take them to the gym. If she won’t come out to us then we will just drag everyone out. Everyone to the east wing, I want this school swept as soon as possible. We don’t have much time. I’m going to check on the boss and meet you in the east wing.”

“Yes Ma’am.” A number of people said at once as they ran out and then the voices disappeared.

Damn it, Emmalin was in the east wing. After a few moments we moved into the office, I readied myself but to my surprise the room was empty. I half expected to be at least a few people but I guess everyone went to the hunt. The admin office was just as trashed, it was evident enough that there were multiple struggles that didn’t end well but on top of one of the desk there was a number of guns both hand and machine. That was weird, I signaled to Jace who gave the same expression.   

I looked over to the security office where the cameras would be, sure enough there was a small room with a few monitors filtering through a section of the east wing. In front of this sat one guy as he looked through the cameras. I nodded at Jace, he took the hint rubbing his fist into his palm as I walked to the guns.

Jace whistled and the surprise of the acolyte was cut short. I was looking at the guns, they were all functional and some even had ammo left inside. I didn’t get it, but hopefully that meant they didn’t have weapons on them. I heard a loud crash and a couple wires shorting out, but I didn’t pay any mind to it as it came from the camera room.

“Cameras are turned off. I couldn’t find the switch so I used our buddy as an off switch. Keep from things recording. So…east wing?”

“Yeah…east wing.”