Page 214 of The Blairville Legacies

I grinned at her with amusement. She tilted her head and gave me that typicalAre you serious?look.

“I’m trying to help you, okay?”

She sounded more irritated than usual. Something seemed to be stressing her out.

Outside, the wind howled, causing an eerie noise in the empty porticoes of the ancient building.

I automatically pulled my biker jacket a little tighter around my waist. It had suddenly become so cold.

“Do you like him?” I asked Bay, trying to distract myself a little.

She seemed to know immediately who I was talking about because she paused for a moment before continuing to examine the door frame on her tiptoes.

“He’ssoannoying.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Oh, yeah?”

She always said she wasn’t into go-getters.

I’d tried to convince her to flirt with Ezra yesterday at Midnights, but she’d complained nonstop about having a headache.

What a lousy excuse.

“Really.” Bayla sounded annoyed. “And don’t always raise your eyebrow like that. It’s unfair.”

I grinned.

Typical Bay.

Clack.

“Oh my God!” I gasped.

The stone snake moved over the massive lock and finally disappeared into the keyhole.

“What the...”

Bayla and I looked at each other in surprise and I couldn’t suppress my joy.

“Whoever had been the architect of this building,holy shit.”

I couldn’t describe it any other way. Who came up with such creative and yet really unnecessary ideas? Especially as it had looked almost real.

“Your turn,” Bayla whispered, taking another look at the lock.

I took my tools, which were my only memento of Sacramento, and fiddled with the now exposed lock until I heard another soft click.

“Wow, why am I friends with you, you little criminal?” Bayla laughed with amusement, and I couldn’t help but look at her with mock annoyance.

“Come on, withoutme,you would have grown up like a little princess in a glass castle.”

I pushed down the handle and indeed, it worked. The wooden door opened, and a dark room lay in front of us, bathed in the moonlight that shone through the huge windows.

I turned to look at Bay, who only now seemed to realize that she had volunteered to do this.

“Do I have to go in therealone?” She looked at me in remorse.

“We can’t both go in. One of us has to keep watch.”

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