Chapter 7: The Obstacles

I fled along the southern side of the quad, hoping beyond hope that I could at least get behind the chapel or something before Will got to me. Maybe lose him in the rose garden, or in the sunken garden, or somewhere. What had been a calculated strategy moments earlier had turned to full-on panic.

My watch buzzed again.

As I ran, I checked the messages.

Liz: Run

Liz: RUN!

I glanced behind me; Sylvia and Nikki weren’t following me for some reason. Had Nikki convinced Sylvia of that, somehow??

I didn’t care. I needed to run.

The small wall in front of the chapel flew by my side, the stones of that patio catching my attention for just a moment; I was paranoid Will had somehow gotten there and would come at me from the side.

Then the hedges beside the chapel. I looked for an opening—

But down the path a ways, at the intersection southwest of the sunken garden, there was a gaggle of people. Will couldn’t just tackle me to the ground and rape me in front of them. If I got to them, I would have a little bit of safety.

I tried to push my body, looking behind me for a moment, trying to see just how desperate my dash was.

I didn’t see Will in the dark.

Panicked, I turned and barreled forward, towards the crowd, who were heading north, starting to get out of my sight.

I thought I could hear footsteps echoing behind me on the pavement, but I didn’t dare slow down to look back. Forward, towards the group. Past the rose garden. Past a strip of green with some trees dotted in it. Past a tall hedge, then another, the southern edge of the sunken garden.

I kept running, pushing myself, and as I passed the sunken garden I could see the group again. I tried to slow myself, to turn to run in their direction—

Cutting way too quick of a corner—

My shoes slipping on the pavement—

Out of the corner of my eye, movement—

Turning to look—

Will—

Forms behind him—

Turning my head back, catching my balance—

In sight of the group—

Running.

A couple members of the group turned to look at me, probably from the sound of my footsteps heavy against the concrete. As they did, I started to slow to a jog, gasping for breath.

I was reasonably safe in their sights.

I kept jogging, slowing down as I got close to them, and turned around to look.

Will had stopped at the corner I’d turned at, and he was looking at me, I was pretty sure. The other three forms caught up with him, and he turned.

A few people in the group waved at me, and I smiled back at them with a muttered “Hi” and slipped into the middle of their mass. There were about a dozen of them, following one of the RAs north towards the clocktower.

“I’ve already told you about the woman who haunts the sunken garden,” the RA said, pointing a flashlight in that direction for a moment before lighting it on the clock tower. “But did you hear about the child in the clocktower?”

A ghost tour of campus. I knew about those, but had never attended one, as someone who didn’t much believe in ghosts.

Besides, I had something much more frightening chasing me.

I stopped paying attention to the RA as the group stopped at the foot of the clocktower, and took a moment to catch my breath.

My watch buzzed.

Liz: Will upset about group cover. Says it’s external help

I could see the logic in that, though I hadn’t actually technically asked them for their aid. They weren’t even aware they were aiding me.

I looked back, still catching my breath. Will and my three friends were still standing at the same corner, obviously deep in discussion. They kept giving glances in my direction, but probably couldn’t see me. At least, I hoped they couldn’t see me.

I slipped through the group into the colonnade running up to the clocktower, and then kept jogging, through the fountain courtyard, aiming for the tree garden. I turned the corner of the library and paused, taking a breath.

Another buzz, followed quickly by yet another.

Liz: Hide!

Nikki: Sylvia just ruled that the group does not count as external aid and is instead an obstacle just like a hedge or bush. You’re lucky.

There was no doubt they would figure I would keep going north around the library—though one of them would no doubt turn to check the colonnade or double back, just in case.

In fact, Will might even guess that I would run the length of the library and try to catch me at the eastern end.

Or he could guess that I would hide in the garden. Was that was Liz was suggesting I do?

I didn’t have much time, and quickly ran about a third of the way down the length of the library, looking for one of the hiding places I’d seen.

There was a place where one of the small walls that dotted the garden curved around, with a bench in the middle of the curve, flanked by small bushes.

I was absolutely toast if Will found me there, but it might survive a quick look, which is all he’d be willing to do if he didn’t know where I was.

Glancing around, noting that they hadn’t caught up yet, I dropped to the ground and started crawling underneath the bench, trying to get into that small place where I could hide my hands and face.

“—around here somewhere,” his voice said, and I heard the footsteps. I wasn’t done getting hidden, but I still froze. I had to hope that it was good enough.

There was silence as I held my breath. Nothing but the night air.

Then a step. Slow, deliberate. I tried to place what was going on—southwest corner of the tree garden, on the path that ran along the library wall, heading east.

Another step. Then another.

Heading into the garden itself.

Behind it, there were more steps, another pair of feet.

My watch buzzed; I didn’t dare move.

Only the two pairs of feet. Probably Will and Liz? Which meant that Nikki was following Sylvia now, right?

“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” Will taunted as he slowly stepped through the garden. His feet crunched against gravel. Then smushed mulch. A pause here or there as he probably looked under benches.

I tensed, fearing that he would hear my heartbeat as I tried to breathe as quietly as I could, hearing him getting closer and—

“She’s probably not here, you know,” Liz said casually.

“Oh would you cut it out with that?” He sounded exasperated, but he had stopped moving. “Everywhere I look, you say she’s not going to be there.”

“And so far I’ve been right.”