Read Online Neverland Academy by Daelynn Quinn - Free Book Online Page B

hundreds of eyes. Somebody could be in one of those
windows watching right now. What was she to do? Finn wouldn’t take her home and
there was no way she’d find her way back by herself. Besides, she didn’t want
to go home. But she really didn’t want to go down that black hole either.
    “Daphne.
Trust me. I would never do anything to hurt you. We’re friends, right?”
    Daphne
stared at his outstretched hand and, knowing she didn’t really have a choice
anymore, she took it and lowered herself into the hole. As she dangled, her
foot caught hold of something—a ladder rung—and she continued
climbing down on her own until her feet touched the hard surface below.
    Daphne
shut her eyes and then opened them again, confirming that there was no light at
all down here, not like the moonlight, which illuminated the ground above. She
couldn’t even see her own hand in front of her face. She closed her eyes again,
trying to shut out the horrifying images her imagination was conjuring up: huge
spiders crawling along the root infested walls, roaches and rats racing across
the floor, slime dripping from above. She opened her eyes again and eagerly
waited for her companion. “Finn?” she called out.
    A
brilliant white light flashed in front of her, blinding her. She fell back,
raising her arms to shield her eyes, but it was too late. Now she was seeing
bright red spots in her vision.
    “Sorry.”
Finn laughed. “I didn’t want to turn it on until we were well out of sight and
the hole was covered.” Finn held the flashlight away and took Daphne’s hand in
his. “Come with me.”
    Daphne
rubbed her eyes vigorously to remove the spots, but they would remain, slowly
fading as they followed the brick-lined tunnel ahead. As her vision began to
return to normal, Daphne took in her surroundings, which were simple, yet
dismal, and not entirely the horror she’d imagined. The walls were barely wide
enough to cater her and Finn side by side. The ceiling was low enough she could
reach her hand up and touch it. Along all the surfaces grew cobwebs and every
now and then Daphne swore she could see some tiny creature scurry away from the
light. The air felt damp and musty and though she would never admit it, she was
too scared to reach out and touch the walls to see if they were wet.
    “What
is this place?” she wondered aloud.
    “Old
slave tunnel,” Finn said matter-of-factly. “Back when this place was built, the
owners were sympathizers with abolitionists. They owned slaves themselves of
course, being the south, but it was more for appearance and social pressure
than anything else. They actually built tunnels under the property to house
runaway slaves. You know the Underground Railroad, right?”
    Daphne
nodded. When Finn remained silent she realized he couldn’t see her and said,
“Yes.”
    “This
was a major thoroughfare along several routes. James Tanner knew that if he
hadn’t owned slaves, his surrounding neighbors would be suspicious of him. To
own such a large plantation and not own slaves was unheard of back then. So
since he had to have slaves, he put them to good use and hired them to help the
others hide and escape. Believe it or not, most of the staff here are descended
from Tanner’s original slaves.”
    “He
sounds like he was a good man,” Daphne mused.
    “Yeah,”
Finn sighed. “Apparently he was the last ‘good’ one of Trappe’s ancestors to
have existed. It all went downhill from there.”
    “What
do you mean?” Daphne asked. She knew there was something disturbing about the
current headmaster, and that one of his ancestors was a little crazy, but
that’s it.
    “James
Tanner lived a long life. Long enough to see slavery abolished. Since he was so
good to them, his ‘slaves’ even chose to stay here and work for him when he
opened the academy, rather than try their luck up north. After all, it’s not
like things were all that great for them once they were freed, right? When he
finally