Brandon clamped one hand over her mouth and the other arm around her waist and began to drag her away from the buildings and into the grassy, tree-filled part of the Millard grounds where Nicky had spent so much time exploring the other day.

Hooray for irony, Nicky thought sarcastically. The kid was stronger than he looked. But what in the world was he doing? And what had happened to everyone else? Was no one seeing this guy drag her across the school grounds?

Suddenly he dropped her, grabbing her wrists so she wouldn't escape. They were at the far edge of Millard territory, near the brick wall. They were also behind a row of bushes, well out of sight of anyone back at the school.

"What are you doing to me?" Nicky hissed. "Are you Sister Justina's official torturer or something?"

He let go of one wrist and delivered a powerful blow to the side of her face. "Never!"

Nicky glared at him and jumped to her feet, furious. "Who the hell do you think you are?" she yelled into his face. "Okay, I make one little mistake. One … little … stupid … mistake! And you get on my case about it and drag me out here to some secluded area to do who-knows-what to me and then you punch me in the face! And you wonder why I think you're in cahoots with Sister Justina! You are the meanest, cruelest little jerk I've ever met!"

Having finished this tirade, she flopped to the ground again, more than a little worn out. She glanced at the boy who, to her surprise, looked stunned.

"I'm sorry … I didn't mean it … I don't normally hit girls, you know … it's just that you made me so mad … I absolutely hate Sister Justina … I couldn't help it … I mean I just wasn't thinking … oh. … oh." Realization slowly began to dawn on his face. "Okay, well like I said, I'm sorry."

Nicky looked at him, amazed. "Well, well. I think we understand each other now! Except for I still don't understand why you brought me out here in the first place."

Brandon sighed. "A lot of us … friends of mine … were slightly pissed off at you. I was just supposed to scare you, make you afraid to ever cross Sister Justina again. I suppose it didn't exactly work."

Nicky laughed. "No, I was scared. Up until you hit me. Then I was just really angry."

"Hah, for a second there you scared me. I'll think twice before I ever make you mad again."

"Was it really that bad?"

Brandon grinned. "Of course not. But it was close. So … you want me to walk with you back to your dorm?"

This routine again, Nicky sighed inwardly. "Oh, um, I'm not going there. I actually live in the old chapel with my family."

"Really? I didn't know someone had moved in there already."

"Yeah."

"Awesome. Now I really want to come see it." He paused. "Can I?"

"Sure," Nicky said, relieved that the boy was actually a decent human being. "Let's go."

"Wow … they really fixed this place up," Brandon said as Nicky led him into the living room/nave of her new house.

"Yeah, they did." Nicky sighed, outwardly this time. "But I find it creepy. I mean, this whole place is creepy."

"Heh, I won't argue with that. I've been going to school here since kindergarten and I still find it weird."

"It's more than weird, though," Nicky insisted. "There's something about this place … I don't know what to call it … I don't like it though."

"It's okay. If you did like it here I would start to worry."

Nicky looked at him and laughed outright. "You know what? You're okay. And here I thought you were a total lowlife."

"It's okay … I thought you were an idiot. Or at least they did."

"Who's they? Oh, and you can sit down, you know." Nicky motioned to one of the giant stuffed couches arranged tastefully about the room.

"I don't know. I keep getting the feeling that your furniture would, I don't know, eat me or something."

Nicky ran around behind the couch and crouched low. "Beware of the cannibalistic couches! RAWR!"

Brandon raised an eyebrow. "I'm scared now."

"Nicky? Is that you down there?" a voice called from upstairs.

"That's my mother," Nicky explained to Brandon. "Yeah, Mom, it's me! Who else would be yelling about cannibalistic couches?"

"Wait a minute," said Brandon. "If they were cannibalistic, wouldn't that mean that they just ate other couches?"

"Oh. Point taken. Then they're anthropophagistic couches or whatever … but that doesn't alliterate!" Nicky complained.

Faith, meanwhile, had reached the bottom of the stairs. "Oh, hello," she said to Brandon, shooting Nicky a go-ahead-and-introduce-me-already look.

"Oh yeah … Mom, this is my friend, Brandon Richardson. I just met him like ten minutes ago. Under rather odd circumstances. Anyway, he wanted to see the house."

Faith laughed. "Hi, Brandon. You can go ahead and let Nicky show you around. I have to go talk to Mandey some more. She didn't really like her first day of school."

"Neither did I," admitted Nicky. "But I met some great people … well, two, anyway … so don't switch me out just yet."

"Okay." Faith smiled at her daughter and went back upstairs. Nicky waited, then began to climb the stairs herself, motioning to Brandon to follow her.

"So yeah, this is my room," Nicky said, opening her door. "It's bound to get a lot messier after I've lived in it awhile."

"Wow … haha … I haven't seen an actual bedroom since the school year started. Just so you know, you're lucky. Dorm rooms suck."

"How many people you have to share with?" Nicky asked.

Brandon laughed. "The entire male eighth-grade population."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Like I said. It sucks."

"No kidding," Nicky remarked, closing the door to her room again. "Well, anyway, this here is the locked room." She jiggled the handle to prove its locked state. "I haven't had time to figure out how to get into it yet, but my curiosity is killing me. I would say let's do it right now … but Katriel's waiting, so I'd better hurry up."

Brandon stared at the door. "Wow … you know anything about this room?"

"Nah," Nicky shrugged. "Sister Helen said it's always been locked. Typical pithy grown-up explanation."

"Pithy?"

"Eh … short. Not nearly detailed enough to satisfy my curiosity. You see, I actually try to use my Quest vocab words."

"Quest?"

"It's a program for smart kids that existed back at my old school. In my old life. Where there weren't mysterious locked doors and crazy evil nuns and my classmates didn't live in crappy dorms and I didn't live in a creepy old chapel."

Brandon was unsure of how to interpret her tone of voice. "So … do you miss it then?"

"Of course I do. Not too much though. This is the most excitement I've ever had. I love mysteries, and this place is full of them. But that doesn't mean I bear any love for the place itself though. Well, anyway, the only place you haven't seen is the other downstairs that apparently you can't get to from the downstairs that we just came upstairs from."

"Now I'm totally confused."

"So am I. But I'll show it to you anyway. Plus it's got a way outside, and I'm sure Katriel's probably thinking I died or something by now."