The Academy: Book 2 by Chad Leito Read Free Book Online Page A

face. “I don’t want to follow him, I don’t want to follow him,” Asa whispered. He hadn’t moved an inch from the stool on which he sat.
    The tunnels leading up to the secret compartment were narrow and dark. And Asa hadn’t been up there in weeks: Teddy could have added some trap for him.
    He doesn’t need a trap. He’s undergone such intense mutations that I’m no match for him.
    Suddenly, an image of Teddy laughing two weeks ago bombarded Asa—his teeth barred, his face red from cackles as he spoke:
    … just to drill you and Charlotte’s…HAHAHA!...heads off. And kill you, you know? Just take my drill and…WHAHAAHA!...over with…
    And then today, those jaundiced and unfeeling eyes staring at Asa as he said:
    I agree with you Asa. I think that you’re the reason they’re here.
    Asa was breathing very rapidly, and he was beginning to sweat. “And if he gets rid of me, Teddy won’t be the freak who’s friends with the murderer anymore.”
    The reasons to leave, to walk out the door and not follow Teddy up into the compartment ( it’s like following a lion into a den ) were almost overwhelming. But then, a calm voice of reason rose from the back of Asa’s mind:
    I’ve been going through a hard time. The things that I saw on the back of King Mountain have hurt me. They’ve scarred me. I can’t let this make me paranoid. I can’t allow this to jeopardize my only friendship.
    Reluctantly, Asa stood and walked over towards the bathtub. Though he was still benefitting from the strength boosts he received after climbing the back of King Mountain, his legs were shaky beneath him.
    Asa stepped onto the lip of the bathtub and looked straight up. Where ceiling should have been, there was a tunnel carved into the stone. Asa paused, took a deep breath, and then began to climb up. The stone was cold against his hands, and when he reached the top, he was looking straight ahead into a connected tunnel that dipped down and was full of cold water. Asa thought about how when they created the secret compartment they decided to have the initial entrance be through a water tunnel above the bathtub. This was so that someone investigating the dwelling would think that it was nothing more than a water storage: it wasn’t uncommon for the students to carve out a high place in their dwelling so that they could fill it with snow that would become usable water when it melted. Asa thought his secret compartment was well concealed: The tunnel grew black and dark before sloping upwards to the safe room.
    WHAHAAHA !...over with…
    Asa shook his head and tried not to meditate on his fears concerning Teddy. He lifted his body, legs still shaking, up above the water tunnel. After taking a deep breath, he pierced through the water and began to pull himself forward.
    Completely submerged, Asa army-crawled forward, his eyes open wide. Because the tunnel was so small, a proper stroke was impossible. Once Asa had entered the tunnel with his hands above his head, he did not have enough room to bring them down by his side while in the tunnel. Kicking softly, he slowly crawled forward in the confined space. Though his eyes were open, he soon was not able to see; each step he crawled forward with his numb hands brought him deeper into darkness.
    He moved on and on, until his surroundings were pitch dark. He supposed that Teddy might not have yet lit a candle in the secret compartment, and there was only one small lantern lighting the dwelling: it makes sense that it’s this dark. It’s not a trap.
    Unsure if it would even be possible to back up if he had to, Asa continued on in the dark. His lungs were beginning to feel tight, but he wasn’t yet ready to exhale his air supply.
    Teddy’s spent the last two weeks up here. Alone.
    Crawling onward, Asa saw a dim, yellow light coming from an opening on the top of the tunnel in front of him. Scolding himself for worrying about nothing, Asa crawled until his head was sitting under the small