Chapter 24

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The plan was ingenious.

Yes, I knew that I came up with it, but for such short notice, I was pretty proud of myself.

Rule 10 had always stuck out to me. No draining the pool. It was such an odd and specific request to make, compared with the other 9 rules, which were to be expected. I knew that there had to be a reason why the rule was written down. I had figured out after I killed Scarlett.

As I was complaining about the rule list, and how I would surely be punished for the murder of my roommate, rule 10 struck into my head.

I remembered how curious I was the day after I read it, and why it would be on there. So, I asked Yusuf why. What he told me would be what would have to help me escape tonight.

As Dane and I walked into the pool room, I felt a chill run up my spine. It was cold, and even though the water was in the pool, the air felt moist and suffocating. I would suggest opening a window, but no windows opened in this academy, due to the fact that they were trapping their students here.

"Let's get this over with," I said, shivering.

Dane closed the door behind us to make sure that nobody would follow us in.

He walked up next to me, and looked down at the drain at the bottom of the pool. It was large and black, large enough for a person to fit through. And that's exactly what it would do tonight.

When I asked why we weren't allowed to drain the pool, Yusuf responded, 'Whenever someone drains the pool, all the pool water goes into the lake. It's a hassle to refill the pool and it always overflows the lake.' In those words, he had told me everything I needed to know about leaving this place.

"So, what's the plan again?" Dane shivered too. I thought it was funny how his nose had already turned red from the cold.

I raised the bag of our belongings. "This is the most important part of the night. This determines if we leave or not."

"Wow. Dramatic."

"I wish it wasn't," I said. It was true. I was happy that I had found a way to escape, but I wish there was never any reason to escape in the first place. I wish there was never any academy to escape from.

"If this bag gets wet, or the phone is damaged, we have no way of looking at where we are on the maps." I was aware that I sounded overly dramatic, but in reality, what I was saying could not be overstated.

Dane nodded. "Wet phone equals bad."

"Exactly. Wet phone: bad."

He nodded toward the drain. "That's it?"

"Yup, only the thing that determines the rest of our life." I put my hands on my hips. "And don't call me dramatic again."

"Could you repeat the plan again?" He asked. "If we have time."

I explained it to him again. It was a good plan.

First, we would empty the pool. A lever at the West end of the pool, with the word 'drain' above it had kindly informed me how to do so. It would probably take about 20 minutes, considering the fact that the pool was nearly Olympic sized, and while the drain was pretty big, it wasn't giant.

After all of the water had been drained, we would jump down to the bottom of the pool. It was only about a 7-foot drop, so, as long as we didn't tumble on the concrete, we would be fine. Next is where it got a little more challenging.

To get into the drain, our only option was to remove the drain cover covering the hole. It was plastic, and from the looks of it, quite sturdy, so we would have to work together to pull it off.

Once we had ripped the cover off of the hole, we would be able to squeeze into the hole. From what I had observed through the window, the lake was about 300 yards from the academy. We would have to crouch, in the drain pipe, for the entire 900 feet. It would be dark and dank and uncomfortable, but once we reached the end, we would be free from this demented academy, finally free and out of the gates.

"What about the guards in the woods?" Dane asked, a little nervousness in his voice, I could tell from the way his voice quivered a bit at the end that he was scared and didn't want me to notice. I didn't want him to hide his emotions from me; we were about to run away together. You have to trust the person you're running away with, at the very least.

"We have tranquilizer darts," I returned, motioning toward the bag.

"5 tranquilizer darts versus 90 guards in the woods?" His voice was riddled with doubt.

I shrugged, though to be honest, I wasn't entirely confident in my plan either. Tonight would either be an epic success, or a major fail. I wasn't ready for the second option, so I entirely didn't think about it. What was the point of doubting? If we failed, we failed. If we succeeded, we succeeded.

"Let's just go."

I walked over to the lever on the other side of the room, and pulled down on it. It was tough. Clearly, nobody had pulled the lever in a while, as it had started to rust over. Eventually, it gave through, and I heard the roar of the drain beginning to do its job.

We sat in silence for the next twenty minutes. We were both as nervous as each other, rightfully so. Around halfway through the pool being drained, Dane sat next to me and put his arm around. Me. I leaned my head on his shoulder. That would help both of us stay warm.

Soon enough, the pool was completely empty, only a few stray puddles left.

Without words, we both jumped to the bottom. I made sure that I had my bag. It was almost more important than my own safety.

We began to pull up on the drain cover. It popped off right away, to my surprise. I had expected the lever to be easy pulling, and the drain cover to be difficult to work with. It had been the opposite way. I prayed for more pleasant surprises.

I volunteered to go down first; I wasn't as nervous as Dane was. Plus, it was my plan. If something went wrong, it was I who deserved the consequences.

Just as I thought, the pipe was tight and uncomfortable, but there was enough room to walk if I squatted down. It smelled strongly of chlorine, but that was about it. Dane climbed down next.

"This isn't that bad," he observed. He gave my hand a tight squeeze, a reassurance that we would both be OK.

For the next ten minutes, we moved along, crouching the entire time. At one point, I thought I was going to have a panic attack. Then, I remembered that I didn't actually suffer from claustrophobia. It was the situation that was freaking me out, not the location.

Eventually, we reached the end. I looked over the edge. Sure enough, the lake was down below about 5 feet. The water was black and inky in the night. Sure, it was cold outside t felt good to breathe in fresh air for once. Even when I was on the balcony at the academy, the air around felt stuffy, as though it was trapped too.

"We'll have to jump," Dane said. He was right.

We both jumped into the water, which was far less cold than I expected and way shallower. In fact, the water only came up to my chest.

As we waded to shore, I kept the bag of belongings up above my head; I couldn't let it get wet.

I was afraid that someone would see us in the lake. All it took was one person to look out of a window and notice two students escaping. If that happened, I didn't know what I would do. Luckily, I didn't have to worry about that. We had already reached the shore.

"Come on," I urged, and we ran into the woods. I looked back. Nobody was following us. There were no guards in the trees. Nobody had seen us from inside the large stone building that was the Ivy Academy.

I was ecstatic, adrenaline bursting throughout my body at different levels. I had escaped, and my sisters and I would finally be reunited. I could taste success in my mouth.

When I looked back at the academy, I felt a plethora of feelings. Mostly bad, but some bitter sweetness. That was the building in which I had my first kiss, my first sexual adventure. I had made my first real friends, and despite what had happened between Scarlett and I, I knew that friendship was a mostly good thing. When I would return back to my normal life, I planned on being more social. Maybe talking more in class, or taking out my headphones on the bus. Life wasn't hopeless.

The trees were beautiful, illuminated by the natural light of the moon, and nothing but. I looked at Dane, who was still on edge. He must've been nervous from our great escape.

I wrapped my arms around him, giving him a tight hug. His body was limp. We were silent.

Until he spoke.

"Sorry, Rhiannon." His voice was calm. What was he sorry about? We had escaped.

I felt something hard and cool on my stomach. I looked down at it, and my heart sunk.

Dane was pointing a gun at me. 

***************

Could you tell Dane was bad all along? Or did he have you fooled, like he did Rhiannon?

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