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He snatched his hand back, his eyes suddenly hard, suspicious in a way that genuinely alar on the Ignorant Assumptions of Others

People saw a diminutive blonde and assumed the worst Sometimes it served me to embrace it and sian to babble like an airhead "Oh, I’ smile on my face "I just really loved my Phenomena class You know Phenomena? That here we learned how to pick locks We learned about tumblers and padlocks and bump keys but this sort of lever lock key that you have is new toevery detail with a precision that would’ve surprised this jerk The infinity symbol seeate The keys themselves eathered bronze, one with two teeth at the end of a thin haft, the other bearing just a single, thick bit They were a standard size,Alcántara’s keys I made all kinds of mental notes to consider later "Wow, that is so cool" I pointed "The loopy part at the top of that one even looks like a little skull Oh, neat, I just got it Do you get it? Skeleton key…skull? Do you see it? There at the top? It’s like a teensy tiny--"

He turned abruptly for the door "I got no tipie on your own tirin Make tiht rolled around, my mood was rim little hideaway, I needed to wait until Frost was asleep Which, unfortunately, gave me way too er at Carden always turned to dread He’d been gone too long I needed to confront the possibility that so awful He should’ve reappeared by now--to feed, at the very least In my heart of hearts, I knew he’d have been here if he could…whichhim

It was unbearable to contery

I easedhoould be if he were here He’d tell me his funny stories and take iant risk I was taking

When I finally ventured out, the night was s that saw better than I did in the pitch-darkness, but I assured myself I wasn’t even really off the path--I was sht about it, was scarier than anything

I’d have to be quick, and wasn’t that just the understatement of the year But I had no choice I’d shadowed that dumb man all day, and never once had he parted fro it was stupid I’d tried everything, even spilling an entire canister of Co the need for et back in the shed for supplies, and still he’d guarded them jealously, like the fate of the world depended on theht track That his key ring ht be my solution

I squatted in front of the shed door for a closer look at the dead bolt I’d cased the place well enough to know exactly what to expect and which tools to bring to break into his gri would’ve been a piece of cake, but of course, there was no such thing in the rudined--the vaet enough torque by usinghall and folded a strip of aluh to fit in the keyhole but still sturdy enough to lever the pins

I got to work

My hands were raw, and I smelled like Borax, Windex, Ajax, and whatever other x-caliber toxicity I’d been exposed to all day, but it’d been worth it It was hard going in the darkness, but finally I decided just to give in to it and shutthe lock by feel and instinct alone Sure enough, the ht, with a pang for my beloved-but-now-dead Phenomena teacher

I cracked the door open as narrowly as possible, terrified the hingesit open all the way I orried about anyan alarm constructed of precariously stacked cans see the sourpuss ht do

My heart punched at ht Though the worst punishment would come from Ronan I’d disappointed him once before, when they’d discovered iven ain

Ever so slowly, I slipped inside, carefully placing a foot, waiting, sliding the other foot forward, waiting, and so on until I was inside No squeaks, no traps

I let myself take a quick ht Nothing heard inally, I’d wanted to get close to the janitor in order to get my hands on moldable materials, but in the end, that was the one element that’d been easiest to procure--especially as there wasn’t going to be any extres in my future When the janitor lit a candle inside his shed, he’d given ht to the wall of keys In the blackness of the shed, it was a erously noisy metal--but I’dShuttinguntil I touched it, that strange infinity shape protruding from the wall differently fro at the tinkling sound , waiting to be caught But still, no one caet ahold of candles in this place--the vas antiquated--and earlier I’dthe smell of matches didn’t summon any of the many creatures on this island with hypersensitive noses

My first attempt was uneven, and finally I decided it’d be best to press the fob itself as flatly as possible into the ithout the keys in the way, but they were proving re I fiddled with the thing, ave it a good twist…but rather than the keys sliding off, so else entirely