Page 85 of I Don't Need Your Protection

“And the rain isn’t so bad anymore,” Luna says. “We should go right now before it gets heavy again.”

“So what are we waiting for?” Clarissa jumps up and skips to the door.

“Your parents will let us go out in the middle of the night?” I ask as I get up and join them at the door.

Clarissa shares a secret look with her friends.

“What?” I ask.

“Hmm, I’m not sure if you’re cool enough to know.”

“Cool enough to know what?”

She grins. “Of course you’re cool enough!” She leans forward and whispers, “This stays between us, okay? I’m trusting you.”

It makes me feel good that she feels like she can trust me. It seems we’re heading in the direction of being really good friends. “I won’t tell anyone,” I promise.

“See. I knew we could trust you. Okay, so when my ancestors built this house, they added a secret tunnel that leads outside. I think it was a precaution, in case they had to escape from their enemies or something. Maybe it was during a time of war. Whatever, it doesn’t matter. It was passed down through the generations about a secret tunnel, but no one was able to find it. Until a few years ago.”

“You found it?” I ask.

She shakes her head. “My brother. So we kids keep it a secret from our parents. It’s how we’re able to sneak out without them knowing.”

“Where does the tunnel lead to?” I ask.

“A few blocks away. It’s an old abandoned house that no one uses. My brother put up warning signs so no one would come near it. We keep a car there.”

“Oh. Are you sure we won’t get caught?”

She chuckles. “Of course not. We’ve been doing it for years. Parents are always so clueless. Come, let’s go before it’stoo late.”

As we quietly sneak to the basement to where a secret door is located, I get worried. I don’t like the idea of sneaking out because I don’t want to get in trouble. But if we can make it back quickly…

“Don’t be so scared,” Clarissa says with a laugh as she playfully hits my shoulder. “It’s tons of fun. You’ll see.” She uses a key to open a very old door, the creak echoing down what sounds like a long tunnel. “Quickly, quickly,” she whispers as she pushes us in and closes the door behind her.

“Wait,” I say.

They all look at me.

I didn’t have a chance to tell Caleb where I’m going. If I sneak out, I’ll be out there in the world and not in the safety of Clarissa’s house like he expects. And I didn’t take my phone with me to text him in the car.

“Addie, you’re wasting time,” Jemma hisses. “Her mom can come up soon to check on us.”

“Let’sgo.” Luna grabs my hand and she and Clarissa pull us along.

If we get to the store, make my milkshake, and hurry back to Clarissa’s house in only a few minutes, everything should be okay. I mean, would my parents’ killers be waiting for me at the ice cream store? As careful and safe as I want to be, there’s a thing called exaggeration.

The tunnel is crazy. There are rats and bugs, which has us all screaming and then hushing each other, and it’s so darn cold. It feels like I’ve gone back in time and am walkingthrough an ancient tunnel. It’s cool that Clarissa has this part of history here.

“What if the tunnel collapses on us?” I ask.

“Then we die,” she says.

I gape at her.

She giggles. “It’s okay. I brought my phone. There’s some service here, but it’s spotty.”

Eventually, we reach the end of the tunnel and pass through another old door. The house we find ourselves in is run-down and basically a dump. There are signs all over warning people to keep out. And in the center of the room is an ordinary-looking car.