Edition Seven

             I guess I should explain the significance of Maddie’s eyes turning black. It has happened once before. Her eyes didn’t turn black for little things like kickboxing with Sophie, or cramming for a big test, no, it had to be something big. It had happened a grand total of once before. It was last year, Maddie and I were heading up the castle to grab some stuff from our room (Cheez-its, flip flops, ponytails, and an extra towel to be exact). Sophie and Jordan, were saving our spots by the pool. We were walking and talking about who knows what. When we heard Shea yelling.

“Kayla! Maddie!” We exchanged a glance and quickened our pace. “Maddie! Your dad’s here!” She yelled again. We both froze. Maddie never told me about her dad, I always assumed he’d left her mom and sister. Nobody wanted to talk about it, so we never pushed. I paused, from surprise. As for Maddie, well she looked scared. She whipped around and stared at Shea.

“Wait, what?” She demanded.

“Your dad, he’s here. He’s really cute! Although you didn’t get his gorgeous blond hair.” Shea laughed rambling, I’m assuming because of the look on Maddie’s face. Maddie face hardened and she looked everywhere. I watched her carefully and saw her eyes turn a deep dark shade of black.

“Maddie your eyes...” I started just as an older blond man came walking down the pathway towards the mansion. He was tall, and large, and was kinda cute so I could see where Shea was coming from.

“Get against the wall.” She ordered, face hardening.

“Maddie what’s...” Shea started, but she couldn’t finish Maddie had pinned us to the wall, knocking the wind out of us. She reached above my head and smacked a brick, nothing happened.

“Come on.” Maddie said urgently, smacking it harder, I heard a swishing to my left, turned, and saw a sort of door opening. “Get in.” Maddie demanded, not we had a choice considering she was already shoving us in there. The passageway was dark and unfamiliar which really surprised me. I'm the one that always finds the secret passageways, not usually Maddie, Jordan, or Sophie. I could tell that it was one of the older ones that was rarely used. The dust everywhere indicated that nobody had been in here for a long time. I wonder when Maddie found it- let alone how she found it.

Once we all stumbled in Maddie whipped around and quickly closed the door, as the door  clicked shut the sound of someone slamming into the wall echoed across the walls of the “room”

We heard a muffled “No!” And a cry of outrage. There was a clicking and all the sudden light filled up the space from a small flashlight Maddie took from a shelf nearby.

Maddie barely muttered a “That way.” (pointing to the right) when she collapsed.

Everyone ended up fine when we dragged Maddie out of the passageway. We dragged her to Aunt Macey’s office where we sat for the rest of the day waiting for any information, but we never got any from her. After questioning most of the other girls, we found out that Maddie’s “dad” had tried in vain to chase us down. When the secret, brick door closed the guy freaked and security had him down in about fifteen seconds. But she knew that her dad couldn't have been there... so who was it? Well, I have no clue. I tried to push her for answers for a while, but her eyes would darken and she never would utter a word of that day. But there was something weird going on now. How did Maddie know Mr. Taylor, and why did her eyes turn black when she saw him?

*   *   *   * 

So when Maddie’s eyes go black we all are concerned. Yada, yada Kayla told you the story...

So it was the second time in history this has happened, so naturally, we followed.

I honestly don’t remember how fast I was running, or who was behind me, or how many people were running after her, all I could think about was finding her. Now, Maddie can outrun just about everyone I know. She’s fast, when she wants to be, she just doesn’t ever want to be. But right then she wanted to be. She outran all of us easily. We lost her trail in about two minutes.

We (Kayla, Sophie, and I) were walking down the East Wing hallway looking for any sign of Maddie, but she was no where in sight.

“We should just give up. She’ll come back when she’s ready.” Sophie said quietly, but impatiently. Kayla and I exchanged a look then turned to her.

“Sophie. Her eyes turned black...” I started knowing I didn’t need to finish.

“And instead of running to us, she ran away from us. Maybe she wanted some time to freak out privately, then come back to us and freak out some more...” Sophie started watching us carefully.

We all looked down, going through our options which don’t even require a list but I’ll make one anyway: A) Go back to our room and wait for Maddie or B) Keep looking. Sophie had a point, she would come back when she was ready. No matter how fierce Sophie could be, she was always our sweet little Sophie who would think things through first. I started to think about the options on what to do, again, but it seems that fate already made the choice for us.

As Kayla was opening her mouth to respond the sound of muffled voices carried down the hall. Now we weren’t breaking any rules looking for Maddie but my instincts told me to hide. Only now do I think maybe I wanted some information which is why I hid, but honestly it never crossed my mind.

I looked at Kayla and Sophie, eyes questioning. They nodded. I quickly ran (silently of course) to the window and tucked myself behind the curtain, but left a tiny crack so i could observe who was coming.

Sophie went all ninja on us grabbed the pipe on the wall and scaled it to the ceiling where she sat dangling down. Kayla nodded her approval at our spots. Now here is the thing, Kayla is amazing at hiding, she has so many different hiding spots and everything. But the thing is that she is terrible at realizing she has to hide! She is like the cheerleader, encouraging us that we have good hiding spots, but then she doesn't realize that she also has to hide too. She smiled and kind of stood there for a second. When the voices got closer her eyes widened finally realizing that she had to hide. She is a genius! Note the sarcasm. Kayla looked around panicked, she faced opposite of me examining the wall when all the sudden a little door popped open, wow I didn’t even see what she did, but without hesitation she slid behind it silently. Like I said, she's an amazing hider, but terrible at realizing she has to hide. She had just closed the door enough to be conceal when they arrived.

It was Mr. Taylor, Headmistress McHenry, and- surprising- an unconscious Maddie. Appearing effortlessly, Mr. Taylor was holding Maddie, baby style, in his arms. Now I’m the one of the group who doesn’t do guys, but I almost sighed thinking about his muscles.

“What if she remembers?” Mr. Taylor said in a panicked tone.

“Andy you considered that possibility when you came here, but you knew you had to.”  Headmistress McHenry said simply, in a calming tone.

“I know, I just wanted to make sure she was okay. Maybe I shouldn’t of come...” Mr. Taylor started trailing off.

“Then the academy would have lost great opportunity for an excellent teacher.” Headmistress McHenry quietly. He stopped walking, and turned to her looking her up and down.

“Would it be worth it if she remembered?” He asked looking her straight in the eye. The atmosphere changed so fast I knew this was the question he’d been avoiding.

“It’s a risk you took and already decided on.” Headmistress McHenry said simply, starting to walk again.

“But-” Mr. Taylor started.

“Andy! If you really thought this was a bad idea you’d be gone by now, leaving me to find a halfway decent teacher, but you’re still here which means you’re going to stay no matter what I say so stop trying to get me to convince you when you don’t need convincing!” Headmistress McHenry snapped.

Mr. Taylor looked taken aback. His eyes widened, his face was pure shock. A moment passed then he shook his head and a knowing smile formed on this lips. “I think you need more time away from her.” He laughed.

Headmistress McHenry glared at him, then rolled her eyes (yes, actual rollage). “We can take her back to her room.” She said, walking a little faster. Mr. Taylor opened his mouth but Headmistress McHenry quickly cut him off. “They’re not back yet.” She laughed.

“How do you know?” Mr. Taylor questioned.

“Cause their moms wouldn’t be either.” She said shrugging her shoulders. They were now turning down the hall, out of our earshot...

The last thing I heard was Mr. Taylor laughing, concluding the conversation.