Ashwock Academy ✓

C H A P T E R - E I G H T

"There is a book here that isn't like the others," Trevor concluded. Rafe joined him, and soon they were all throwing the books around, looking for something unique. After a little bit of searching, Rafe reached back into the bookshelf and felt something sticking up. She pulled at it, it swung open, revealing a hidden door. She reached inside and grabbed another piece of paper, and motioned for everybody to stop looking. As she inspected the piece, she realized that it was a page from a book, outlining a ritual.

"Oh no, no no no no no!" Trevor protested. "I am not speaking to demons."

"What other choice do we have if we want to escape?" Rafe exclaimed. Trevor sighed, and she explained everything that it said they needed. One thing was a piece of white string, an unlit candle, somebody to say the spell and stand in the middle. The person in the middle is supposed to say the spell as everybody else holds the same string in a perfect circle around them, and it is supposed to diminish the effects of the dark magic to give them enough time to escape. 

Rafe flipped over the paper and saw the word "brick" scribbled on the back. "Check every brick, any loose one you can find!" She ordered. Teony and Fox took one side while Trevor, Ella and Rafe took the others. After a few minutes, Ella decided to stand on the table on her side to get more bricks, and after trying a few she got a loose one. She took it out and pulled a long piece of white string from behind it.

"I got string!" She called, excited. They all met in the middle and passed the string around, making a big circle. "Wait," She said. "who's going to be in the middle?"

Fear rushed through each of them. They didn't know what would happen to the person uttering the curse, and none of them wanted to be that person. "It should be Fox," Trevor suggested. "he hasn't done much, to be honest."

"Yeah," Rafe agreed. "he hasn't done a lot. Plus, he's the most resistant to the forces."

"Me?" Fox asked angrily. "I am not going there!" He looked at Rafe. "Maybe you should, if you love to help the group so much."

"But she's more vulnerable to it," Trevor interrupted. 

As the fighting continued, Teony rubbed her scar, almost not thinking about what she was going to say. "I'll do it."

They all looked at her, surprised. "Teony, are you sure?" Ella asked in almost a whisper. 

To be honest, she wasn't, but she nodded her head. They thanked her as she nervously walked to the center. Rafe handed Teony the piece of paper, and she started to read the curse aloud.

It sounded like gibberish, but with each new line they felt a strong breeze blow their hair and clothing, and Teony tried not to loose focus. She continued reading the curse and when it was done they heard a click. There was still a light breeze and, without thinking, Trevor let go of the string and reached inside his pocket, grabbing the key. It fit perfectly, and when he turned the doorknob it opened.

"Hurry!" He called. Everybody ran from the room, leaving everything else in the room without thinking. Fox looked at Trevor's watch and started counting down from ten.

"Wait! The book!" Rafe exclaimed and started to run back inside the room to grab it.

Trevor shouted in disagreement and chased after her. Right when she was about to get it he grabbed her hand, pulling her back. "3," Fox said, rushing Trevor and Rafe to get back. They were running now, and right as Fox said the last number they stepped outside and Ella slammed the door shut, keeping it closed by leaning on it. She motioned for the key and Trevor gave it to her and she locked it again. 

They all looked at each other, both stunned and a little scared. Rafe and Trevor were still panting from running, and the rest of them from the fear of losing them. "Is everybody okay?" Ella asked. They all nodded. She then focused on Teony. "You okay?" She nodded.

It was a little moment of silence before one of them spoke up. "So," said Fox. "What now?"

"We go tell the other group," Rafe said directly.

"No," Teony said. "There are more secrets here. We need to know more in order to get out."

They all reluctantly agreed and started walking down the hall to the other rooms.

An hour after the second group escaped, the first group barely found anything besides an extra power source. After that it was just looking around, and most of the doors they were lead to were either studies, libraries and even the indoor swimming pool. Eventually they went to a place they hadn't seen before, a long hallway with a bunch of doorways. Somebody checked each one and looked around in it so see if they found anything interesting. Fletcher's was an abandoned room that looked like a child's. 

He walked inside and left the door wide open so that he wouldn't get locked inside, and checked the dresser. On top of it was a stuffed rabbit that was missing on of its button eyes, and he picked it up. Just looking at the dusty, broken plushie made him think of his mother and he threw it across the room. He didn't exactly know why, but he didn't want to look at it any longer.

Behind him was a bed with sort of drapes around the top, like a canopy. Although they were placed to elegantly, the whole bottom part of the drapes were burned off. The remains were nowhere to be seen. He looked at the child's bedroom, and started to move toward the burned canopy. He picked up on of the pillows, also dramatically burnt.

"Guys!" Raven called. Fletcher dropped the pillow. Everybody came out of their rooms and followed the sound of her voice. When they arrived, Marisa put her hands to her mouth. What Raven was showing them was none other than the trapdoor that she had found earlier that lead to the basement.

"Raven, get away from there!" She shouted without thinking. She quickly tried to hide it by saying something else. "It's probably nothing. Let's go, guys."

"Marisa's right," Fletcher said. "I think it's hidden for a reason." His Norwegian accent swayed with the way he said his words, something that Jackson somehow hadn't noticed yet.

"Which means it holds secrets!" Damien exclaimed, excited. "Go on, then, open it!"

Raven did as he suggested, and even as Marisa tried to convince them that it was a bad idea they did it anyways. As they all went into the basement, she had no choice. She ran from the group and all the way up the stairs to the third floor, somewhere she knew they wouldn't go yet.

Fletcher was the last down the ladder and didn't immediately notice Marisa's absence, for he was far too paranoid. Sure, he was from the start but with the recent events it had drastically grown. He looked around the basement, the four of them barely fitting in it. Jackson's head touched the top of it, sending pieces of dirt sprinkling on his hair along with Damien's, who was right next to him. Raven went over to where Fletcher was standing, noticing the book, but Damien and Jackson were too busy looking around to notice. Fletcher didn't exactly hear what he said but he saw Damien move his lips and Jackson trying to suppress a laugh.

"Guys, focus!" Raven said. She didn't mean to yell, but she needed to show them what she had found. She held the book in her hand, open in the middle to a specific page. "Look what was on the ground. It was flipped to this page." They read over the page, and when Jackson opened his mouth to udder the spell Fletcher put his hand over his mouth, insisting that they couldn't risk anything happening. Raven kept reading past it and gasped, almost dropping the book. The others caught up to where she was reading and gasped as well. Fletcher rubbed his face with his hands, moving all the way up to his hair, Damien putting his hands over his mouth.

Jackson scanned over it again, glad that Fletcher stopped him from saying the rest of the enchantment. Because if he did, someone would have been murdered.

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