Free After Dark by James Leck, Yasemine Uçar, Marie Bartholomew, Danielle Mulhall

starting after them.
    Unfortunately, Johnny and Lilith had hustled across the room so quickly I was left mostly in the dark and ended up running into a wooden box, cracking my shin. I limped to the side, tripped over another box and fell. I landed sideways on something metal and rolled onto the dirt floor, gasping for air.
    â€œYou okay, bro?” Johnny called.
    â€œNo,” I wheezed.
    â€œHold on a sec,” Johnny said, and the doors opened.
    The slash of light turned into a giant square of sunshine and I saw I was surrounded by boxes, old furniture and stacks of dusty books. The metal thing I’d landed on was part of an old bed frame.
    â€œYou hurt, Charlie?” Johnny said, rushing over.
    â€œI’m good,” I said, sitting up. “I just need to take a breather for a few hours.”
    â€œSuck it up, Chuck,” Lilith called, starting out of the cellar. “Those paint cans aren’t going to move themselves.”
    â€œNeed a hand?” Johnny asked and offered to help me up.
    â€œGive me a second.”
    â€œSure, bro,” he said and went outside, too.
    â€œI’m right behind you,” I called.
    I eased my way up, wincing a little, and was about to head outside when I noticed a wooden trapdoor in the floor a few feet to my left. The dirt around it had obviously been scuffed up recently and the iron ring that was sitting in the middle had a rope tied to it that looked brand-new. I was heading over for a closer look when Lilith arrived with four more cans of paint.
    â€œMove it, Charles,” she said, “or I’m going to make sure all your best buds back at Choke know that you make your little sister do all the heavy lifting.”
    â€œWhy do you think they need a cellar under a cellar?” I asked.
    â€œQuit stalling,” she said, dropping the cans.
    â€œI admit it, Lilith, this would normally be an excellent stalling tactic, but I’m legitimately curious,” I said, but she was gone, and Johnny was on his way in with six more cans of his own.
    â€œWe could use a hand, bro.”
    â€œSure,” I said, adding find out what’s under the cellar to my mental to-do list.
    Saturday, 11:05 a.m.
    After we finished with the paint cans, I went back to my room and changed into some clothes that weren’t drenched in my own sweat. Unfortunately, the only things I had in the ball of dirty clothes I’d stuffed into my bag back at Choke, besides khaki pants and white shirts, were my blue gym shorts and a matching blue tank top, with CHOKE printed across the front in thick white letters. I must have left my sneakers back at school, and I didn’t really want to traipse around in dress shoes and shorts, so I rolled back outside in a pair of worn-down flip-flops I’d stashed at the bottom of the bag.
    â€œLooking good, bro,” Johnny said when I stepped onto the front porch. “Coach is out back. He says calisthenics start in five minutes.”
    â€œSounds good,” I said. “That’ll be a lot more fun than moving paint cans with you two.”
    â€œYou only moved five cans,” Lilith said. She was sitting cross-legged on the front lawn.
    â€œSure, but they were the heaviest ones,” I said. “Plus, I was just getting warmed up. What’s next?”
    â€œScraping,” Mom said, coming outside. “There’s a high-pressure water sprayer in the back of Jake’s truck. Johnny will be in charge of that.”
    â€œWhy does the TV star get the cushy job? Did he bribe you?” I asked.
    â€œYes, and he paid a lot more than you can afford. Where are your shoes, Charlie?”
    â€œI’ve temporarily misplaced them, and I refuse to wear brown dress shoes with shorts — not until after Labor Day, anyway.”
    â€œYou kill me, bro,” Johnny said, laughing as he headed for Jake’s truck.
    â€œHere,” Mom said, handing me and Lilith a paint scraper each.