Yeah, I wasn’t seeing the funny in this one.

“If you could read it without any effort, then it wouldn’t be a very effective punishment, now would it?”

I shook my head. I was beginning to think my new history teacher was two rungs shy of the top of the crazy ladder.

Mr. Corvus fetched a third book from his desk and plopped it down next to the other. This one was equally as large, although it had a normal-looking cover. “This is the translator. You’ll find everything you need in there.”

I reached out and pulled it open, dreading what I would find. As I expected, the book was organized by symbols that appeared as random as the cracks on the gym floor. “How am I supposed to look anything up without knowing how stuff is ordered?”

“The old-fashioned way, I suppose. One by one.”

“Right,” I said through gritted teeth.

This was going to take forever.

* * *

Forever turned out to be three hours. By the end of it, my eyeballs felt as if some tiny creature had been running a vacuum over their surface all afternoon, and I was so hungry my stomach had started to gnaw on itself. As detentions went, this one wasn’t much better than the toilet-cleaning duty. Way to go, Mr. Corvus. The crappy teacher award has got your name on it.

As if he’d heard my sarcastic thoughts, Mr. Corvus set down the book he’d been reading, pulled off his single eyeglass, and then fixed his gaze at me. His one eye was so dark a blue it was almost black, the color like a raven’s wing in sunshine.

“Let me see your progress so far,” Mr. Corvus said.

Dread now pounding in my temples, I picked up the paper with my scrawled notes and handed it to him. I’d written the definition beside every picture after verifying each one three times, and still it made no sense:

Circle

Break

Twelve

Blood

One

Mr. Corvus examined it for a moment and then handed it back. “Nicely done.”

“Really?” I read the words again, wondering if I’d missed something.

“Yes, it’s very close.”

“So what does it mean?”

Mr. Corvus leaned back in his chair and tented his fingers in front of him. “Well, the meaning is so obscure it would take hours for me to explain properly, but I assume you don’t wish to spend those hours.”

I shook my head, although the idea of spending all that time on the stupid thing and still not understanding it irked me. Then I remembered I was dealing with a teacher, and I rephrased the question. “What does it say then?”

Mr. Corvus smiled, clearly pleased as he leaned forward and took the paper back. He grabbed a pen lying nearby then scribbled down a sentence. He turned the paper around so I could see it.

“Only the blood of the twelve can undo the circle,” I read aloud.

Mr. Corvus nodded. “Well, that’s as close to a literal translation as possible.”

“It sounds a little morbid.”

“It is a little morbid.”

I started to ask him what the book was about, but my stomach let out a huge grumble.

Mr. Corvus cleared his throat. “You may go.” He folded the slip of paper with my translation and dropped it into the trash.

Feeling light-headed and more than a little annoyed to see my hard work chucked in the garbage, I turned and headed for the door. It was too late to catch dinner, and I struggled to remember what edible items we had stashed in the dorm. Probably nothing. I could always hit one of the vending machines but the idea of forcing down some of that sugar-free, taste-free crap made me gag.

What I really wanted was a big fat, calorie-packed candy bar. Yep, bring on the sugar rush and the instant—if temporary—relief from my headache and sleepiness. But contraband like that wasn’t easy to get ahold of at Arkwell.

Fortunately, I knew a guy. If I could track him down at this time of night that was. I thought I might be in luck, though. I even felt pretty sure that he would answer the door for me. I hadn’t spoken one on one with Mr. Culpepper—Arkwell’s resident maintenance man and the chief purveyor of black market items—since my short stint in the infirmary after we defeated Marrow, but every time I passed him in the hallways and corridors, the dark, surly look on his face would vanish for a second and a friendly smile would flash across his features.

I decided to try him in the maintenance office first. If he wasn’t there, I would try his secret hideaway out in Coleville Cemetery. We’d end up out there regardless; unless I got lucky and he was carrying around a Snickers bar in his pocket.

As I reached the bottom floor of Monmouth Tower, I turned immediately toward the corridor leading to the tunnels, even though the weather outside was nice enough for walking. The library tunnel alcove was on the way to Barbary Hall, where the maintenance office was located. I’d planned on investigating the crime scene with Eli, but considering how badly today had gone, I wasn’t sure that would happen. It wasn’t likely I would find anything useful, but I wanted to give it a try at least.

When I reached the alcove’s large entryway some ten minutes later, I stopped and stared in at it, trying to reconcile the images from Britney’s dream with the real thing. It wasn’t hard. Aside from some distortion differences, the two visions were a pretty close match. I stepped into the alcove and walked slowly around the pool searching for anything out of the ordinary. Eli was far better at this than me, but I did my best to emulate the methodical way he let his eyes scan back and forth.