They met once again in Allison Groves's dorm room after classes. Shannon had told her mother that she would be staying late for the same reason she had the night before. Again, there was no question. Again, it was accepted. Allison, Caleb, Ginger, Jared, and Dexter did not meet with their teachers. No one was the wiser to what seven eleven- and twelve-year-olds were about to do.

They made it to the dining hall without incident. There had been a handful of students in the West Wing lounge, but none of them paid the group any mind. Most other students had long since disappeared into classrooms to meet with teachers. The dining hall was deserted, as the group had known it would be.

"Well, here we are," Dexter said as the seven of them walked inside the room. There was a dull sound of running water coming from the kitchen. "Now what?"

Allison shrugged. "Look—"

"If you say 'look around' I swear to God I'll break your arm," Dexter warned.

"All right, I won't say it," Allison said, holding her hands up in a gesture of placation. There was an amused glint in her eyes.

"This might sound morbid," Shannon said, ignoring the two of them, "but where exactly was Diane Merriweather, Ollie?"

"Over there," Ollie said quietly, pointing vaguely towards the middle of the right side wall.

Shannon followed Ollie's finger, walking slowly over to where the girl was pointing. The floor and wall were bare; there was not a solitary remnant of what had happened here only a handful of days ago. A chill went down Shannon's spine. It was just like nothing had ever happened. Diane Merriweather had never even existed.

"You sure it was here?" Shannon asked, not truly doubting Ollie's judgment.

"Yeah," Ollie said, coming up beside her. "It was here." She put a hand out and placed her palm flat against the wall. "'Find us.'"

Shannon traced her forefinger along the juncture of the floor and the wall. The ground felt cold. Behind her, Allison, Caleb, Ginger, Jared, and Dexter were roaming about the room. She could hear their soft voices as they talked about things she didn't catch. Ollie stood still at her side, looking sadly at the wall.

"Do you really think the vampires are here in the school?" Ollie asked.

"I don't know," Shannon responded. "I think they might be."

Ollie nodded, looking around the dining hall like she expected a vampire to pop up out of nowhere. To be fair, Shannon wasn't entirely certain that that wouldn't happen.

"I hate to rain on your parade," Dexter said, "but I really don't think there's anything in here. Maybe we should—"

He was cut off by the sound of the door creaking. Shannon looked over in surprise to see the door from the entry hall opening slowly. Someone gave an aborted exclamation—Shannon wasn't sure who—and then all seven of them were rushing towards the staff table. Shannon dove behind one of the high-backed chairs just as the door swung all the way open.

Initially, Shannon could not tell who it was. The table blocked her view. Deciding to risk it, she stuck her head inches above the top of the wood. She was surprised to see a girl in a white nightgown, gliding slowly through the room like a ghost.

"Is that...Tuly?" Ginger asked from Shannon's right.

"She's supposed to be in the infirmary," Allison whispered.

"Well, I guess no one told her that," Jared said.

But there was no mistaking it: it was Tuly Lewis, making her way sluggishly through the room like she was underwater. She obviously hadn't seen or heard any of them; she did not so much as glance their way. As Shannon and the others watched, she walked over to where Shannon and Ollie had just been. Where Diane Merriweather's body had been.

"What's she...?" Allison's half-formed question died as it left her lips. Tuly came up to the wall and stood right in front of it, only inches away. With the same slow, tired movement of her trek over, she raised a hand and put it flush against the wall. Like all the strength had left her, she sagged, leaning her forehead against the wall.

For perhaps an entire minute, nothing happened. There was only silence as Shannon and her friends watched Tuly. The girl stood so completely still it seemed she wasn't even breathing. Shannon banished that thought as soon as it came. The stillness went on for so long Shannon debated approaching the girl. And then, out of nowhere and under Tuly's hand, a large, gaping hole appeared.

"How did she do that?" Ginger asked in awe.

With labored movements, Tuly slipped inside and was lost to the darkness. In just seconds, the hole had once again disappeared.

Shannon looked to her friends and found her surprised expression mirrored on their faces. After a moment of hesitation, they emerged from behind the staff table, rushing over to where Tuly had been. Haphazardly, they all felt along the wall, but it was solid. The hole was not there.

"What did she do?" Caleb asked.

Ollie groaned. "Oh man, Shannon was right."

Ollie brought her hands up to cup her cheeks. She looked much like she had the day before: miserable, scared, and agitated.

"What do you mean?" Ginger asked, putting a hand on Ollie's arm.

"It's concealed," Ollie said. "There must be something here—some secret passage or something—and it's concealed. I bet that's where the vampires have been the whole time."

"Concealed?" Shannon asked. "You mean that thing you were telling me about—where something's there but it's not?"

"Yeah," Ollie said mournfully. "It's almost like taking something out of existence. It's still there, technically, but you can't see or feel it. There's no way of knowing it's there."

"Well, Tuly obviously knew that gaping hole was there," Jared pointed out.

"Shouldn't the teachers know about it, though?" Ginger asked. "You know, if it's some sort of secret passage."

"Maybe," Allison said. "But the school's old. Who knows who put this thing here. And if it's been concealed this whole time..."

She ran a hand over the wall almost reverently.

"But how do we get the hole to come back?" Dexter asked. He looked around. "Does anyone have any kind of experience with concealment?"

"The Hopps Prison in Madison is concealed," Ollie said weakly. "The whole building. I went there once with my dad."

Six sets of eyes settled on her. She flushed. "What?"

"How did you and your dad get in?" Allison asked.

"I don't know...my dad made a door appear," Ollie said.

"So you've seen someone unconceal something," Jared said. "Or whatever you want to call it."

"Well, yes," Ollie said, "but that was years ago. It was before Alfie died."

"But you can do magic," Jared pressed, an excited fire beginning to burn behind his blue eyes.

"Well, yeah, but—just little stuff!" Ollie protested. "I can't—I don't know how—what do you want me to do?"

"I don't know," Jared said, "do something magical!"

Ollie looked at him incredulously. Her mouth opened and closed as she tried to find something to say. Strange half-sounds came from her throat, little more than vowel sounds. Her hands were out in front of her, palms up, as if asking a question.

"Look, I hate to put pressure on you," Caleb said, saving Ollie from having to come up with a response, "but I don't know if we have a choice. Tuly just went down there, and I'm pretty sure that's not good."

Ollie groaned.

"It can't be that hard," Shannon said, not believing a word she said. "I mean...what was Tuly doing? She just had her hand pressed up against the wall. Here."

Gently, she took Ollie's hand and held it in her own, her palm pressed against the back of Ollie's. She brought their joined hands up towards the wall, laying Ollie's palm flat against it.

"Shannon, do you know what you're doing?" Allison asked doubtfully.

"Shush," Shannon said. "What do you remember about the time you went to the Hopps Prison with your father, Ollie? What did he do?"

"I-I don't know," Ollie said, frowning. "I remember he...he knelt down and put his hand to the floor. He closed his eyes and eventually a door appeared."

"He didn't say anything?" Shannon asked.

"I don't think so," Ollie said. She cocked her head to one side and squinted her eyes, looking closely at the wall. "Maybe..."

Ollie closed her eyes and brought her other hand up next to the first. She bowed her head, leaving her forehead just a hair's breadth away from the wall.

"Should I do a chant or something?" Jared asked. "Do you think that would help?"

"Shh," Ollie said, the noise shooting harshly from between her teeth. She pushed her hands more firmly against the wall. Shannon looked at her for a moment, then looked back to the wall. She pictured the hole as she had seen it when Tuly was standing there, she envisioned it appearing before her. Ollie's hand was chilly under her own. "Come on, come on." Ollie squeezed her eyes shut tighter and spoke under her breath. "I know it's there."

Shannon held her breath. She thought perhaps the wall underneath her hand was thrumming, but maybe Ollie was just shaking. Ollie's face was contorted; she looked almost like she was in pain. The skin of her hands was stretched taut over bone as she pressed against the wall. For what could have been an eternity, nothing happened. The dining hall wall was still a wall, same as it ever was.

And then a dark black hole stretched underneath Shannon and Ollie's hands.

"Hey-hey!" Jared said. "Neat!"

"Nice job, Ollie," Shannon said, grinning at her. Ollie blushed.

"You helped," she said, sending a shy smile back. Shannon rolled her eyes and shook her head but didn't say a word.

"What is this?" Ginger asked, stepping closer for a better look. It was nearly impossible to see anything; Shannon couldn't even tell if there was a wall anywhere on the far side. For all she knew, it could just be an endless black hole.

"One way to find out," Jared said, coming up to her side. He had a bag slung over one shoulder ("I come prepared!" he'd asserted), and he dug around in it, producing a flashlight. "What would you people do without me?"

"Lead the way," Allison said, sweeping an arm out and gesturing to the dark hole in the wall.

Jared flicked the flashlight on. Dust danced in the beams of light. Shannon could see better now, but only just. It seemed that the hole was walled off on the right and on the far side, but to the left there seemed to be an open space. Straining her eyes, Shannon could see that there appeared to be stairs leading downwards.

"This has been here the whole time and no one knew," Caleb said in amazement, craning his neck to look around.

"You guys sure you want to do this?" Shannon asked. She looked at each one and they each looked back at her.

"Don't give me the time to think about what I'm doing," Jared said, and he stepped into the hole in the wall. Slowly, the others followed him, until only Ollie remained in the dining hall, staring at the hole with wide eyes. Jared looked back at her. "Ollie, are you coming?"

"Yeah," Ollie said, and didn't move.

"Ollie, you're just standing there," Jared said.

"Yeah," Ollie said, nodding.

"Ollie...?"

"Okay, fine," Ollie said. She hurried after them, gnawing anxiously on the inside of her cheek.

Only seconds after the seven of them entered the hole in the wall, it disappeared. They could no longer see into the dining hall.

"Oh, boy..." Allison said under her breath.

"Well, no one will ever find our bodies," Jared said casually.

"Are we still sure about this?" Ginger asked. She looked at the stairs—the bottom of which could not be seen—with a look that was both scared and disgusted. The space they occupied was narrow; there was barely enough room for all of them.

"No," Shannon said. "Who wants to go first?"

Jared and Ginger ended up leading the party. It made the most sense; Jared had the flashlight and Ginger would be the most useful in case anything happened because of her gift. Ollie and Dexter went behind them, and Shannon, Allison, and Caleb brought up the rear. Pressed uncomfortably close together, the seven of them began to descend the stairs.