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I stepped back and surveyed the door Like the doors in the , this one was an old-fashioned panel of thin wood, attached to the ja, so I figured I could try to pull theh the crack, but I really didn’t like the thought of ending up in Foley’s office again, this time for destruction of St Sophia’s property There was no doubt the brat pack would tell her as responsible, and I guessed that was the kind of thing she’d put inthe door apart" at the bottolanced back at the rest of the roo for another way What about a secret door? Since Foley had one, it didn’t seem far- fetched that I’d find one in a secret, locked baseto find soer

Just as I was about to give up on an escape route that didn’t involve dis occurred to me The model had obviously taken a lot of work, a lot of craftss, all that architecture And that meant someone spent a lot of time in here A lot of hours in here

But the door was locked froot locked in while they hiling away the hours on their obsessively detailed project? Wouldn’t they need another way out? Surely they--or he or she or whoever--had their own escape route I

I was on the far side of the rooht, the reflection, on the eastern edge of the city I cockedfrom the two spires on the Sears Tower

I moved closer

The spires were metal, which eird because they were the onlyelse was rendered in that sa," I mumbled, and kneeled down in what I assuo River I reached out and carefully, oh so carefully, tugged at a spire

It didn’t budge

"Corasped the end, wiggled, and felt it begin to slide free of the cardboard One tug, then another, just enough to pull the h to tear the roof fro

It finally slid free I held it up to the light

It was a key

"Oh, rock on," I said with a grin, then rose froe victory--and I wasn’t even sure the key would work in the lock--but it sure felt like one A victory for the architect who’d been locked in, and a victory for me Andthe river until I reached the lake, then turned for the door, where I slipped the key into the lock and turned

The lock flipped open

I’m not embarrassed to say that I did a little dance of happiness, yellow boots and all

Thinking the next person as locked into the rooht need the key, I pulled it frolanced across the city,a mental note to tell Scout about the model in case she hadn’t already seen it I had a suspicion the sy, and whatever "litter" she and her friends were battling against

And speaking of battling, it was time to considerto the suite to face down Veronica et al They’d gloat about lockingout Not exactly ht

Option tas a little riskier I’d joined the brat pack in their trip to the baseht leadSuccess on that one, I think

Now that they’d returned to the Kingdo of ht, I opted for danger I’d ured luck was on my side

I took a final look at the city and pulled the door closed behind o," I whispered

Maybe not surprising, the hallas eed from the custodian’s closet, the brat pack nowhere to be seen They were probably celebrating their victory somewhere Little did they know

The corridor split into two branches--one that led back to the stairs and the first floor, and one that probably led deeper into the basement My decision to play Nancy Drew already made, I took the road not yet traveled

Ito make myself as invisible as possible The hallway dead-ended in a T-shaped corridor; I headed for it This part of the baseripped it with such force,I was still in the basement, still close to whatever nasties Scout had locked behind the big uard

I lanced down the left- and right-hand corridors Both were empty, and I had no clue where I was relative to the rest of the building Worse, both hallere long and dark There were no overhead lights and no wall sconces--just darkness

Not the best of choices I didn’t have a coin to flip or a Magic 8-Ball to ask, so I ith the only other respectablea decision as ih "eeny an to rumble beneath my feet I was thrown forward into the crux of the hallway, and had to brace ht as the floor vibrated beneathstopped My pal inaboveand footfalls and other telltale signs of the aftero

There was only silence

I snapped aze to the left as hurried footsteps echoed toward me from that end of the hallway and tried to sn the panic

I flicked on ht barely penetrating the blackness, even as I squinted to get a better look

And then I saw the towardfor their lives I dropped the bea the

"Scout?" I called out, but fear had frozen ed some sound "Scout!"

They were still far away--the corridor was a deep one--but they were running at sprinter speedand there was so behind the chased After all, I’d already helped Scout try to escape fro her