Free Neverland Academy by Daelynn Quinn Page A

stopped. “Finn, is that you?”
    The
scraping got louder. It sounded eerily like the sharpened blade of a knife
against concrete. Daphne heard a musical laugh echo over the walls and felt
instant relief. Even though she’d just met him, it seemed typical of Finn to
frighten her and then be so amused about it. But the laugh was joined by
another and she knew neither of the laughs belonged to the boy who brought her
here.
    “There
she is! Get her!” a brassy voice rang out like a thunder crack.
    Daphne
had enough time to see three shadowed faces and a glint of light reflection off
a huge dagger before she turned and bolted back the way she and Finn had come.
The ache in her legs and feet disappeared under the adrenaline forced through
her veins. She saw a wall rising up to meet her and quickly dashed to the right
before slamming face first into the bricks.
    Behind
her, Daphne could still hear the cackling of the boys. Were they the boys Finn
had told her about? His friends? Maybe she should stop and talk to them,
explain why she was here. But she kept picturing that dagger that one of the
boys clutched. What if they wouldn’t wait for her to explain? What if they were
the types to act first, ask questions later? These weren’t the mature,
responsible types—that she was sure of.
    Daphne
approached an intersection. Which way had Finn led her? She would berate
herself later for not paying attention, if she made it out of here alive. Right
now she had to keep moving. Daphne turned right.
    She
kept running, trying to pick up the pace, but fatigue was setting in quickly.
Daphne had never been very athletic, apart from the handful of fistfights she’d
gotten into on a weekly basis. She hadn’t even attended her P.E. class in the
last two years, opting to skip it to hang out with her friends in the school
parking lot where they smoked weed and drank Schnapps out of emptied juice
boxes. She would never admit that her parents were right about her friends, but
at this moment she did wish she’d used that P.E. time more wisely.
    Daphne
came upon another intersection. This time she turned left and followed the
tunnel until she came upon another wall. The tunnel veered right. At the end of
the tunnel was a rope ladder, dangling from darkness above. Daphne knew this
was not the ladder she had come down. But Finn said there were other entrances
to the tunnels. Maybe this was one of them.
    By
the time she’d placed her left hand on the ladder, the boys had caught up with
her. She fumbled on the ladder trying to gain her footing, but every time she
lifted her foot, the rope swung to the side and she’d miss the rung. Finally,
she’d caught hold and flew up the ladder at lightning speed. Just when her eyes
crossed the threshold into the ceiling she could go no further. Her foot was
stuck on something. She flashed the light down and saw a hand grasping her
ankle. She pulled and kicked violently, but instead of kicking it away, she
felt herself yanked downward. She hit the ground with a thud and pain radiated
from her backside up her spine.
    Still
breathless from running, Daphne was too tired to even stand up. She huddled in
the corner, staring through her hair at the boys who were watching her. They
had lights glowing from the foreheads that hurt Daphne’s eyes, but she could
still see their faces. There were five of them altogether. And they looked like
starving lions. And she was a fresh carcass.
                
     
                   

 
    Chapter
Eight
    Welcome
To Neverland
     
                
    The tip of the razor-sharp dagger held
by the thick boy with shaggy brown hair grazed Daphne’s chest, just below her
neck. He pulled away quickly, but not before breaking the skin. A small bead of
blood hung to the surface of her skin.
    “She
doesn’t look like a cop,” Shag said, looking back toward the others. The girl
was frozen in the corner, small as a rag doll, and visibly shaken.
    “She
could