The Devil's Labyrinth Read Free Page A

they were closing in on Ryan, and directly behind him he could almost feel Frankie Alito trying to get a peek over his shoulder at the history test the class was working on. Ryan stiffened, knowing Alito was expecting him to slump just low enough at his desk to give the other boy a clear view of his answers, and as he thought about what Alito and his friends might do to him after school if he refused to let Frankie cheat, he felt himself starting to ease his body downward. But just before Alito could get a clear look, Ryan heard his father’s voice echoing in his head:
    It’s time to be a man.
    Instantly, Ryan sat straight up, determined that for once Alito could pass or fail on his own.
    Then he felt the poke in his back. He ignored it, not shifting even a fraction of an inch in his seat.
    Another poke with what felt like Alito’s pen, harder this time. Ryan kept his eyes focused on the test in front of him, but shrugged his shoulder away from Alito’s pen point.
    “Gimme a look, geek,” Frankie whispered, punctuating the last word with another, harder jab.
    “No way,” Ryan muttered, straightening even further in his chair and hunching over his paper, trying to stay out of Frankie’s reach. He glanced up at the teacher, but Mr. Thomas was busy at his desk, a stack of papers in front of him.
    “Last chance,” Alito said, and Ryan felt another poke. But this time it was down low, just above his belt.
    This time it wasn’t a pen point.
    And this time his body reacted reflexively. Ryan twisted around just in time to see the flash of a blade.
    The kind and size of blade that meant business.
    “Now!” Alito hissed, jabbing the point of the knife hard enough to make Ryan jump.
    Ryan yelped as the point dug into him and the teacher’s head snapped up.
    “Something wrong, McIntyre?” Mr. Thomas asked from the front of the room.
    Suddenly every eye in the classroom was on Ryan.
    “No, sir,” Ryan said. “Sorry.”
    Mr. Thomas stood up and came around his desk.
    “Really,” Ryan said. “It wasn’t anything.”
    The teacher advanced down the aisle, his eyes never leaving Frankie Alito, and came to a stop next to Ryan.
    “Really, it was nothing, Mr. Thomas,” Ryan said, praying that Alito had at least been smart enough to slip the knife back in his pocket.
    “Both hands on your desk, Alito,” Thomas commanded. Ryan kept facing directly forward, not wanting to see what was going to happen next.
    “What’s that?” He heard Mr. Thomas ask.
    “Nuthin’,” Alito answered.
    “Hand it over,” the teacher said.
    Ryan could almost see Frankie Alito glowering, but then the teacher spoke one more word, snapping it out with enough force that Ryan jumped.
    “Now!”
    The tension in the classroom grew as Alito hesitated, but when Mr. Thomas’s gaze never wavered, he finally broke and passed the switchblade to him.
    “Thank you,” Thomas said softly. “And now you will go down to the office, where you will wait for me. I’ll be there at the end of the period, and you will be out of school for the rest of the year, even if we decide not to press charges, which I can assure you we won’t. You’re through, Alito.”
    His face twisted with fury, Frankie Alito got to his feet, jabbing an elbow hard into Ryan’s shoulder.
    “I saw that, too,” Mr. Thomas said. “You’re only making it worse.”
    Alito shrugged and walked to the door, then paused before opening it. He turned his eyes, boring into Ryan, and then he smiled.
    It was a smile that sank like a dart into Ryan’s belly.
    “Okay. Show’s over,” Mr. Thomas said, breaking the uneasy silence that had fallen over the room. “Back to your tests. You have only ten minutes left.”
    But for Ryan, the test was already over. He stared at the questions that still remained, reading them over and over again, but no matter how many times he read the words, he couldn’t make sense of them.
    It wasn’t enough that he had to worry about his mother and Tom