Mumbersons and The Blood Secret, The by Mike Crowl, Celia Crowl

spilling wine and dropping whole cakes off their plates. The shrieking and laughing made the children’s nerves jangle.
     
    ‘I knew there was magic going on here,’ said Olivia.
     
    This wasn’t the sort of magic Billy wanted to be involved with. ‘It’s time to go,’ he said. ‘We’ve seen enough.’
     
    Olivia agreed. They crept towards the door, although it was unlikely they’d be heard with all the noise in the other room. Billy looked out into the corridor to make sure Lavitch, or any other security guards, weren’t around. Olivia checked as well. They tiptoed as fast as they could along the corridor, glancing over their shoulders to make sure no one was following them, and snuck down the stairs.
     
    But when they reached the foyer, they saw the shadow of a large figure darken the outside of the revolving doors. And then the person to whom the shadow belonged appeared. He had his back to the doors, as though he was waiting for someone to arrive.
     
    It was Lavitch.
     
    ‘The Sick Bay!’ said Billy. ‘Come on.’ He raced down the corridor hoping they wouldn’t set off any alarms (though when he thought about it, the women hadn’t caused any alarms to go off), and pushed his way through the Staff Only door. Lights flickered on automatically as he and Olivia ran down the stairs into the basement.
     
    ‘I hope there’s no one down here,’ said Olivia, stopping suddenly. She held herself tight against the corridor wall, and stared back and forth. ‘How will we get out?’
     
    ‘Trust me,’ said Billy. He’d remembered something about the Sick Bay from the other night. He’d noticed that the key to the exit door - the one that led to the outside steps - was sitting in the lock. It had a large green tag on it. He hoped it was still there.
     
    They ran to the Sick Bay door. It was unlocked, which was a relief. He carefully pushed open the door, hoping Slaggard wasn’t waiting.
     
    Empty!
     
    They ran to the exit door where the key was still sitting in the lock. Billy opened it and held the door open for Olivia to come through. But she bent down and picked up something that had caught her eye.
     
    ‘Hurry up!’ said Billy, trying to get her out the door. ‘What are you doing?’
     
    ‘I’ve seen something.’
     
    ‘I need to lock the door behind us.’
     
    ‘Lock it,’ said Olivia, ‘and throw away the key.’ She was more interested in inspecting what she’d found.
     
    ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea,’ said Billy. ‘Let’s hide it here.’ He pointed to one of the flag stones that made up the steps from the basement. It was loose. ‘We’d better both remember where it is, in case we need it again.’
     
    After hiding the key they ran up the steps. Billy stopped suddenly, and as always, Olivia banged into him. ‘Watch out!’ he said. He’d looked up to see where the security cameras were. There was one immediately overhead, but as long as they stayed close to the wall it wouldn’t see them. They needed to be careful of the one that picked up the bushes and trees hiding the mini-door in the wall.
     
    They crept along the outside of the Extension again. There were only two cars in the park now. They had just reached the part of the wall opposite the trees and bushes when they heard men’s voices coming from inside the building. They were on the other side of a nearby door and were coming closer.
     
    ‘We’ll have to run for it!’ said Billy. They raced towards the bushes and scrambled in under them, breathing hard. The men came out of the building, and one of them said, ‘What was that?’
     
    ‘What was what?’
     
    ‘Saw something out of the corner of my eye, a dog, or a rabbit. Went racing across the yard.’
     
    ‘Dunno. Suppose animals get in and out of here sometimes. When no one’s looking.’
     
    The men strolled towards their cars. ‘Yup. Security’s not what it’s cracked up to be.’ They laughed, got in their cars and drove towards