Chpater 35

"I still don't understand why you trusted him." Oliver looked at the boy accompanying them with suspicion.

Their conversation about the psychologist's death had shifted to the topic of the map they found. The girls were sure Erik was on their side; they couldn't reject him, especially since he turned out to be Oliver's older brother. They trusted him and had decided he would help them find where the uranium was hidden.

"Just trust him, Oliver," Sara urged, pulling at his gaze. She felt awkward around her friend after confessing in front of everyone that she loved him. At that moment, Oliver looked very surprised, but — surprisingly — had not brought up the subject again.

Erik stood in front of the door and nodded toward it. "I'm convinced this is the place," he announced, glancing at the map in his hand.

The others exchanged surprised looks at the door behind which they had often been found. Sara was the most frequent visitor. Laura had only been there once, when Simon tried to save her. She hated the place because it reminded her of the death of someone she loved.

"Are you sure the uranium's located right there?" Sara's voice trembled. She couldn't believe it. This room held so many memories — it was where she and Alan were first locked up while fleeing the General. It was the witness to her first kiss.

"Wouldn't it be better to check it out?"

"But this room is small… I've been there many times and didn't see anything suspicious…"

"Do you think uranium is in the cantina?" he asked with amusement, glancing at Sara from the corner of his eye. "Of course not. Just let me check it out…"

He carefully looked around to make sure no one was following them. The General was still not in the building, so their task was easier. He went inside, followed by the others. Oliver was last, closing the door behind him. There was no light, so Laura told herself spiders were crawling all over her and started screaming. Oliver smacked her on the back of the head to calm her down. He told everyone to be quiet before they attracted more trouble.

Erik felt along the walls to find the switch. After a long moment, a noise sounded. Sara asked if everything was okay. He replied that he'd found a metal flap under a cover at the bottom of the wall. Opening it, he realized there was a passage leading to another room. Sara felt apprehensive about the mysterious place.

Oliver summoned courage and went in first, showing no fear. Laura and Erik followed close behind. Sara stayed at the back, afraid to join them. They urged her on, but only when footsteps echoed outside did she have no choice but to enter the narrow tunnel. She closed the trapdoor behind her and noticed the passage sloped downward. She slipped behind her friends and soon spotted a light.

When they reached the very bottom, they realized the place was underground. A medium-sized stone sat in the center, and on top of it rested a brightly glowing test tube. Sara was certain it was uranium-235, the fissile material used in atomic bombs.

She realized the psychologist had lied to her. Alan had been right — she shouldn't trust him.

Erik was also affected by the man's long-spun lies. He trusted him like no one else, having known him since childhood. He was the one who took care of him and Oliver after they lost their parents. So why had he deceived them? Had greed changed him that much?

"How did my grandmother manage to hide uranium here? How did she know about this place?"

She looked around the room. There was no other way out; the narrow tunnel was the only passage. Her attention was caught by a wooden box in the corner. Hesitantly, she walked up and opened it. Inside, she noticed the jewelry the psychologist had mentioned.

"Look," she said, turning to the others. They gathered around, and Laura excitedly grabbed a heavy, precious necklace, hanging it around her neck.

"Do you like glow sticks?" Erik dove into the box, ignoring Oliver's gaze. Inside, he found a gold ring with a red diamond. He grabbed Laura's hand and slipped the ring onto her finger. "Can we consider this our engagement? This ring's probably worth more than your house, so you can't say no." He winked at her. Laura snorted disdainfully but kept the ring. It was beautiful, and she had no intention of taking it off.

"Laura, put it back in the box," Sara ordered, but Laura ignored her and turned away. "The ghosts aren't happy. This is theft."

"They're dead anyway; they don't need it anymore," Laura claimed, raising her hand to admire the red diamond on her finger. "I always dreamed I'd get something like this from the man who'd be the love of my life."

Erik smiled slyly.

"From now on, we have to be especially careful. We've discovered where the uranium is. If this information reaches the General…"

He looked carefully at the others.

"What do you want to do with it?" Oliver pointed at the test tube.

"There's nothing we can do for now. We just have to keep the fact that we know the location of this dangerous substance a secret."

"If it comes out…" Laura started, swallowing hard. "We'll be in great danger. We'll die."

"Therefore, the four of us must trust only ourselves. We know a secret that could lead us to destruction."

Oliver looked at Erik for a long moment. As he recalled diving into the pond and the memories of being waterlogged as a child came flooding back — he was sure he was calling his name in his mind, shouting it, desperately crying for help.

"However, I don't know if it was a good idea for us to come here," Sara said, not taking her eyes off the test tube.

"We had to find out if the uranium talk was true. Now at least we know the truth and what we're up against."

Sara flinched. She was terrified at the thought of what would happen if this substance fell into the General's hands…

*

They looked around the room and carefully searched it, only to realize that someone had taken the psychologist's body. Silence fell over the office. The situation was becoming increasingly disturbing.

"The body was lying right here," Erik said, pointing to the bloodstains on the floor. Sara's attention was drawn to a handicapped man who was banging viciously on the glass.

"Someone was here before us. He took care of the body while we were searching for that place. We should have come here first."

"And what would you have done with him? Planted him dead in an armchair?" Laura tried to joke, but it wasn't the right moment.

"Can you guess who took care of the body?"

"The one who killed him," Oliver snorted contemptuously. "Alan replaces his grandfather with dignity."

"Something doesn't sit right with me here... if the psychologist was on their side, could he have killed him?"

"He did it for you." Sara saw Oliver's jealousy flare up again, so she ignored his provoking remarks.

Sara felt anxious. She was puzzled by the General's sudden departure from the building, as well as the Director's disappearance. She hadn't seen him for a long time. Besides, did he already know about her son's death? A strange, apprehensive silence hung over the center.

Something was wrong...

"Am I the only one who feels like most people aren't in the building? It's as if things are slowly spiraling out of control... Should we check it out?"

"I noticed that too," Oliver said, looking at her. "And I don't mean the other students, but the Nazis. There have been fewer and fewer of them lately."

Sara glanced at the man banging on the glass. He looked desperate to convey something critical to her. She could see it in his eyes. He knew the truth. He couldn't speak, but whined loudly, as if begging her to come closer. So she did. She stared into his eyes for a long moment, wondering what had happened to this man, why he suffered so much.

Laura looked at him distrustfully. She shuddered, remembering that he was the main reason Simon had died. If they hadn't run from him... Simon wouldn't have fallen to his knife.

Sara decided to go inside and stopped the others who wanted to accompany her. She assured them she would be fine — the man behind the glass wouldn't harm her.

The man turned his back on them and focused all his attention on Sara's face. Suddenly, he ran to the table and grabbed a blank sheet of paper. With a red marker, he began drawing a map. Sara realized it was the same drawing Oliver had found in the pond.

He patted his chest, signaling that it was his work. Sara was shocked when it occurred to her that he was the one who had thrown the map into the pond — because he knew the location of the uranium and the jewelry. That was why he was so important to those people. They tortured him and held him captive here, desperate to extract information from him.

The teenager couldn't understand how this was possible. Sometimes, sick people turned out to be smarter than healthy ones, but this all seemed unreal.

How could he have thrown the map into the pond if he'd been detained here the whole time? How had he found out about that place?

What Sara didn't know was that he had been involved in a car accident as an adult, which caused a brain injury. She had no idea that he'd once been a healthy boy who was locked up here by his parents. Because he had always been different from his peers, he was ridiculed and ostracized. His parents were ashamed of him. They locked him up in the center, claiming he was dangerous and they couldn't deal with him.

Many times, he hid from peers who hated him for his appearance. The cantina had become his refuge. One day, he discovered a passage there that led to the place where the uranium was hidden. He told no one. He was locked inside. Furthermore, he disposed of the map, throwing it into a pond guarded by ghosts — hoping that one day a hero would come to end it all.

*

Julia stood over the bodies lying in the underground chamber. She carefully studied the dead faces as the boys joined her.

"I don't know if I'll ever be able to live with such a conscience..." she whispered.

"You didn't kill them. You just helped," Alan said, placing a hand on his chest. "I'm the one who has to live with the sin."

"But we all have our fingers in this. Together, we planned the director's murder. Do you think we're innocent because of that?" Julia looked at Matthew and caught a flicker of fear crossing his face.

"We'll rescue them from this hell," Matthew said firmly. "All we have to do is get rid of the ringleader when he comes back to the building. Then we can leave. All of us."

Alan lowered his gaze.

"Are you okay?" Matthew studied him closely as Alan sighed deeply. "I know you're worried about her, but do you think she'll ever forgive you for your despicable behavior?"

"From her perspective, I completely understand her," Alan answered quietly. "So I'm not counting on a miracle. Sara doesn't know that joining the General was the plan all along. She thinks I'm the same as him. Maybe she's right? After all, I killed people in cold blood, and that means something, right?" Julia and Matthew said nothing. Both remained silent. "I couldn't control my anger. I got carried away by jealousy of Oliver and treated her badly. I don't deserve forgiveness. The most important thing is for Sara to get out of this place. I'll do everything to protect her — even if it costs me my life…"