14 by Peter Clines Page B

down the hall and up the stairs.
    Veek sighed.
    “What’s the big deal?” asked Nate.
    “She’s scatterbrained and she doesn’t take anything seriously. She’s going to get us caught.”
    “You don’t know that.”
    She snorted and turned her attention back to the double doors.
    A moment later Xela tromped back down the stairs. One of her tuxedo smocks hung over her Batman shirt. In one hand was a bright red flashlight. In the other was a mid-range, solid-looking digital camera. “You don’t think there’s anything bad in there, do you?”
    “We don’t know what’s in there,” Veek said. “That’s why we want to look.”
    “But it’s safe to look, right?”
    “No,” said Veek, “it’s incredibly dangerous. I’m almost positive there’s a crossbow on the other side of the wall waiting to shoot anyone in the eye the moment they look through.”
    “Bitch,” said Xela. It wasn’t an insult, just a statement. “You hold the flashlight. You hold me,” she said to Nate. “I take the pictures.”
    “Works for me.”
    Veek shined the flashlight over the heaters. “I’m fine with it.”
    Xela squeezed in next to Nate and climbed onto one of the heaters. He held out his arm for balance and she grabbed his wrist. She stepped to the next heater and it rocked under her foot. The noise sounded like a drum in the small room.
    “Careful,” said Veek. She flicked the light down briefly to the base of the heater and the shadows in the room went mad.
    “Keep the light steady,” snapped Xela. Without letting go of Nate’s arm, she took a quick step to the third water heater. He leaned forward to stay with her. The second heater rumbled to a halt beneath their arms.
    “You okay?” asked Nate.
    “Fine,” said Xela. “Just fine.” She lowered herself to her knees and then slid onto her ass. She stretched her legs back toward him, setting her sneakers against the wobbly heater. “I think I can lean down from here and get the camera by the hole.”
    “Let me shift my grip.” He twisted his arm and they seized each other’s wrist.
    “Much better,” she said.
    “All set?”
    “I think so. Hey,” she said, glancing back at him, “isn’t the boiler room where Freddy Kruger always hung out?”
    “Yeah, I think so,” said Nate. “Why would a nubile, young exhibitionist like yourself be worried about that?”
    “Bastard.”
    “Down you go.”
    She leaned to the side and stretched her arm down between the farthest heaters. Her head and shoulders vanished between the tanks. Veek saw a glimpse of blue hair between two of the tanks and shined the light at it.
    “Not quite close enough,” Xela called back. “Can you get three or four inches closer?”
    Nate forced himself into the gap between the heaters by him. A pipe tugged at his jeans. He leaned forward a little more and let his other leg rise up to balance him.
    Xela’s grip loosened and she let her fingers slide from his wrist to his palm. “Got it,” she said. “Just give me a minute.”
    There was a faint click and a burst of light came from between the water heaters. There was a faint scrape and a grunt from Xela. Nate felt her shift on his arm. Then there was another click and a more subdued flash. She set the camera off four more times and then her fingers tightened on his. “Up,” she called.
    He pulled and she swung back up into view. There were cobwebs in her hair and the tuxedo shirt was streaked with dust and grime. She let Nate guide her back over the wobbly heater and she jumped down next to him.
    “Well,” she grinned, “was it good for you, too?”
    “You tell me.” He nodded at the camera as they stepped out into the hall.
    “Can we see them now?” asked Veek.
    “See what?”
    Oskar was in the hall, staring at them. His eyes shifted to each of them in turn. They stayed on Veek the longest. After a long moment of silence, he asked, “What were you doing in there?”
    Nate tried to think of something, but his mind