Page 8 of Dead Wolf Rising (Bad Moon Academy 3)

Draco makes a noise in the back of his throat. “I’m sure we’ve been worse places.” The twins share a conspiratorial look, and I wonder what sort of trouble they got into when they were younger. Their mother was probably miserable with the both of them being on the same wavelength, having almost the same thoughts.

“Well, one of the grossest places I’ve ever been.”

Draco runs his hand over the bars of a cell. The metal dinging as his fingers pass. I lean against the cell, glancing around the room again. The lantern is not very bright, but I can see enough to see that the rest of the cells are empty, if not a little filthy. Adler is walking around the edges of the room, his eyes tracking over the bricks.

“There are names on some of these.” He taps a brick in front of him, and Carter heads over.

“Probably the names of the prisoners.”

“A bit morbid,” Everett whispers under his breath. He’s standing the farthest back, not enjoying this escapade in the slightest. I can’t say I blame him, it smells awful down here.

“What’s this?” Adler asks, stopping his perusal and touching the edge of a brick. “A door?” He looks back at Carter, who steps around him to get a closer look.

“Maybe. There’s no handle.” Carter runs his palm over the outline. “There’s nothing about a secret door in the blueprints. I’ve studied them several times.”

“You’ve studied blueprints?” Everett asks. “Why am I not surprised?”

I fight back a laugh, coughing instead, but Brayden and Draco shoot me knowing looks. Lifting a shoulder to sayoops, I go back to listening.

Carter shakes his head. “Of course I have. It’s best to know the layout of our prison. Don’t you agree?”

With a shrug, Everett comes over and leans against the cell, facing me and ignoring Adler and Carter. “It’s possible you’ve stunned Jinx. Maybe she’s not awake. Maybe you’ve drained her of so much energy that she needs to recover and the only way she can recover is by draining some shifters of essence.”

“I thought about that,” I say. “If that’s true, it means we’re all stuck here until she makes herself known.”

He runs his hands over the back of his neck. “Well, it could be worse, right?”

“How exactly do you think it could be worse?” Draco growls, nearly ready to rip his friend’s head off.

“Well, for starters, one of us could be dead.”

Brayden sighs. “He has a point. At least none of us were stabbed.”

“It doesn’t change the fact that we’re stuck here and we can’t get out.” Draco’s lips pull down as he cracks his knuckles.

“Of course, that’s it,” Carter says, drawing our attention.

“What did you find?” Everett shoves off the iron bars and heads over to where Adler and Carter are staring at the wall.

“There are six bricks that are loose.” He pushes one in and grins at Everett. “You can’t pull them out, but you can push them in.”

With a laugh, Brayden lies down. “Should we worry about the foundation?”

Glancing over his shoulder, Adler gives him a firm look. “You’re either here to help or you shut up.”

Brayden bites his lip and closes his eyes, nodding in acknowledgment. “Very well, Daddy.”

Adler scoffs and turns back to Carter.

“All we have to do is figure out the pattern, and I think we can open it.”

“Like probability?” I ask, then wrinkle my nose. “No, that’s wrong.”

“You mean permutation,” Everett says, lifting an eyebrow. “I’m pretty good at math.”

“Exactly. Combination is if the order doesn’t matter, but with locks like these, the order always matters.” Carter runs both of his hands over the door, searching for more loose bricks. “There are only six. It’s not that many possibilities. But it might take a while for us to figure it out.”

“Good thing we have all morning.” Picking up the lantern, Draco carries it over to where we are standing. “Now, let’s get started.”

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