Page 32 of Haunting the Deep

Susannah sits bolt upright. She puts her hand on my arm. “Stop.”

We all look at her. Usually Alice is the one telling me to stop talking.

Alice scans the room, which is quickly filling with students. Mary looks out the windows.

Susannah squeezes my arm. “Something’s off. Let’s talk about this later.”

Susannah’s face looks focused and serious, like someone is giving her important information from the next room and she has to strain to hear it. Alice and Mary might be used to her reading people, but I’ve never been around when she’s had a “feeling,” or whatever it is. It’s unsettling.

The bell rings.

Mrs. Hoxley claps her hands together to quiet us. “It’s not Friday; it’s Thursday. Look alive, people. Blair has an announcement to make about the Spring Fling.”

Didn’t we cover this on Monday?

Blair makes her way to the front of the room with an uninterested-looking Matt. His hands are full of small white slips of paper. Blair flashes the class a toothy smile and grabs the top one from the stack. She hands it to the first guy in the row nearest the door. “These are raffle tickets. Everyone should write their name on one. And at the dance, three names will be chosen for prizes.”

Blair hands four raffle tickets to me. I take one and pass three of them back.

“Third prize is a homework pass,” Blair continues. “Second prize is a dinner for two, andfirstprize…”

An approving murmur ripples through the room, and everyone hangs on her words.

“First prize is asur-prise.”

I can’t deny that I would love to get my hands on that homework pass.

I examine the raffle ticket. There’s a drawing of a ship, with “RMS TITANIC” printed above it. The drawing looks familiar, like I may have seen it somewhere before. Maybe something from my homework? I write my name on the blank line labeledPASSENGER.

The guy behind me leans forward and hands me the signed raffle tickets from our row.

To my left, Susannah drops her pen. It rolls to the floor and she grabs her desk. Her head droops and she squeezes her eyes shut.

“Susannah?” Alice and I both say at the same time.

“Is something the matter, Ms. Martin?” Mrs. Hoxley asks.

“Water,” Susannah squeaks. She looks like she’s beyond nauseated.

Alice stands up. “I’ll take her to the bathroom.”

“I’ll help her,” I say.

“I think you’d better,” Mrs. Hoxley says, and all eyes in the room are glued on us.

Alice and I hoist Susannah out of her seat.

Blair wears a smug smile, and Alice glares at her. We push through the door, leaving the whispering students in our wake.

“What the hell is going on?” Alice asks.

“Everything looks like it’s swaying—the people, the desks, the walls,” Susannah says as we guide her to the bathroom.

“You look like you’re going to throw up,” Alice says.

“Worse. The floor was rippling under my feet like it was made of water.”

“Is it still happening?” I ask.