All the next day in class Miss Hayoung kept giving me strange looks when she tought i wasn't watching. And the more she did, the more i wondered what she knew about classroom 44. Maybe it was something she didn't want to tell us, or wasn't allowed to tell us, or what was scarier, something she didn't want us to find out.

         When the final bell rang that afternoon, Miss Hayoung and the other students left the room. I peered round the door to make sure everyone had gone. "All clear!" i called as we snatched up our bags and headed for the stairs to the fourth floor.

         We ran past the deserted library and down to the end of the corridor. There was no sign of the caretaker. Zico stopped and tried the door to classroom 44. It was unlocked.

          "Maybe it's a trap," he whispered.

          "There's only one way to find out," Ukwon said grimly. He pushed open the door and without a sound, we followed him inside, our chests tight with terror.

         Classroom 44 was exactly how we'd left it. Nothing had changed. Our footprints in the dust hadn't been disturbed. The mysterious message was still on the whiteboard.

HELLO UKWON

"Eyra, keep watch by the door" i ordered. "If you see anyone coming, let us know!"

        Ukwon, Zico and i made our way across to the whiteboard. Ukwon looked around for the broken marker pen and found it under a desk. He knelt down and picked it up. "Are you ready?" he asked. Without warning for an answer, he walked up to the whiteboard and wrote:

HELLO MISS WYDRE

A chill crawled across my flesh as i waited to see what happened. One minute passed, then two minutes. Nothing!

           "I don't get it" grunted Ukwon. "Why doesn't she answer?"

           "Maybe she's busy" I said

           "Maybe the caretaker scared her away" Zico wondered aloud

           Something cold touched my arm and i jumped. I spun around to find Eyra, her eyes wide b with excitement. "We're doing it the wrong way" she whispered urgently.

           "What do you mean?" scowled Ukwon.

           "Well, when Miss Wydre writes us a message, the letters are the right way round for us to read them," Eyra explained. "but if she's on the other side of the board, and you want her to read your message, you'll have to write it backwards!" 

           We all stared at Eyra, our mouths hanging open like stunned fish. Then Ukwon snapped his fingers. "You're brilliant, Eyra!"

            He pulled a tissue from his pocket, wiped off his first message and started again.

We held our breaths, staring at the whiteboard , and our heartbeats were so loud in our ears we didn't hear the softsound bahind us. Eyra let out a squeal and pointed. Words were writing themselves on the board:

YOU ARE IN GRAVE DANGER