Claws (9780545469678) by Rachel Mike; Grinti Grinti Page A

again,” Jack said behind her.
    Before she could talk herself out of it, Emma picked up a large rock and hurled it through the window. The glass shattered with a crash, splinters tinkling as they fell to the floor inside. Emma brushed away the broken shards on the windowsill, then pulled herself up, reached through, and unlocked the window. She crawled into the classroom, then held the window open for her cats. They leaped in after her.
    â€œWe’re in. This way,” Jack said, leading them down the hall.
    Emma glanced through other doors as they passed. Most of the classrooms weren’t in nearly as bad a shape as the one they’d climbed in through, but only half of them seemed to get any regular use.
    There were posters on the walls, but not like the ones at Emma’s school. These posters were all about crags. One was a drawing of a troll — completely bare, all clay and stone and gemstones — wearing a fireman’s helmet and carrying a child from a burning building. “We All Have A Place!” the caption declared. Emma couldn’t remember ever hearing about trolls working as firemen. Another poster showed ratters proudly wearing business suits: “It’s Great To Be Normal!” The artist had left out their massive teeth so they didn’t look as scary as the pictures on CragWiki.
    They came to a stairwell. Thick, gnarled trees had taken root in several places. Emma picked her way carefully down into the school’s basement, and found herself in a large room piled high with old desks and chairs and rotting sports gear. Past the piles of junk were pipes and boilers and electrical boxes overflowing with worn-looking cables that had been patched several times over. Wires ran into the walls and along the ceiling.
    â€œHere we are,” Jack said. He padded over to the pile of sports junk. “Just on the other side here. You’ll have to do a little digging.”
    Somehow, Emma had imagined that finding Helena would involve less digging through moldy basketballs and more magic. So far the only thing magic had gotten her was being kicked out of school. She flexed her hand again, extending and retracting her claws. It felt natural now. In fact, the thought of not having claws felt unreal. Like thinking about what it would be like to lose an arm.
    She tossed aside bats and balls until she reached a large hole in the wall that led away into the darkness. Thick bundles of black power cables ran from the basement into the tunnel. The ratters must be stealing electricity from the school.
    â€œI’d feel better about going in here if we could use our magic for real,” Fat Leon said quietly.
    â€œI’m sorry,” said Emma. “I’m trying.”
    â€œYou might succeed sooner than you think,” Jack purred.
    The tunnel was made of dirt, and was so cramped that Emma had to crawl as she followed Jack. It angled down slightly and turned often. Even with her beginners’ night vision she felt nearly blind, but it was only that there was nothing to see except roots. They were everywhere around her, some growing into the tunnel itself. The air smelled like sewage, and Emma heard a trickle of water over stone, though the ground was mostly dry with just a few puddles of what looked like brackish rainwater.
    The cramped tunnel opened up into a large sewer system. Emma stood and brushed off her jeans.
    â€œDo the ratters live in the sewers?” she asked, trying to breathe through her sleeve. It didn’t really help. “Doesn’t the smell bother them?”
    â€œThe old sewers just happen to run underneath most of the forest,” Jack said. “We’re probably near Old Downtown.”
    But the smell of sewage and ratter was still overpowering.
Helena better appreciate this,
Emma thought.
    â€œBut see those cables?” Jack said. “That’s how the ratters feed their machines to get their precious information. They hardly