After what happened yesterday, Star felt it was needed to find a different place to be alone. She didn't mind, though. Better be outside in the sunshine rather in a dark hallway filled with spiders.
She hurried down the school courtyard, passing students eating lunch at picnic benches or under shady trees. For once, she was early to lunch, and she was trying to find somewhere to hide before all the students came out.
Out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly caught sight of a low hanging tree bending over a bush. From afar, it might've looked ordinary. With its leaves danced in the mellow wind, and innocent looking bush leaning against it. But to Star, it looked like some sort of... barrier.
She shook her head. That was an odd way of thinking of it. But what if...
Doubt crowded in her head as she walked up to the bush. Making sure nobody was watching, she pushed a few branches out of the way. Surprisingly, they were light and very easy to move, as if it was made for that purpose. Hesitating, Star looked both ways before she crawled through the small opening.
A small clearing greeted her. It was surrounded by trees and tall bushes so that the place was closed off, but sunlight still shone through. You could just see the puffy, white clouds passing through the blue sky, blocked by glittering, green leaves.
It was a perfect spot to write, Star thought as she sat down. The grass was soft, and the light shone right on her notebook. She smiled and took out her pen to write. But before she could finish her first sentence, a sudden faint, melodic sound floated through the air.
She lifted her head, pricking her ears for the sound. It came again. Somehow it reminded her of a... violin?
The sound was coming from behind a bush. She pushed them aside, but it didn't seem like a bush at all. There weren't any roots! It was... artificial. Star frowned. This was getting stranger and stranger by the moment.
Pushing the bush to the side, she came face to face with a wide, gaping hole that was dug deep into the ground. It's edges formed a smooth, perfect circle. There was no way it could've been made by accident.
Now that the bush was aside, she could hear the violin clearer now. Should she investigate? Who was playing the violin anyway? What was this hole even doing here?
She looked down, only to be greeted with darkness. But... surely there wasn't anything to lose. Without thinking, she threw her legs into the hole and jumped.
For a moment, she was falling, and the wind whistled in her ears as she plunged downwards. Her hair shot upwards, eyes squeezed tight. Star braced herself for the fall, but to her surprise, she landed softly. Opening one eye, she found herself on a pile of leaves, which had broken her fall. It was as if someone had prepared it for her...
Ahead of her, a sort of underground tunnel stretched in front. Star found herself walking through, tracing her fingertips against the walls. It was as if she was on a real adventure! Like the heroes in all the fantasy novels she had read... What if this was her destiny?
Don't be silly, Star. This is reality. Not another fantasy you whip up.
It seemed that the tunnel was leading her somewhere inside the school. But where? Was it a secret room that had a sort of weapon inside? A forbidden meeting place?
The violin was as clear as ever now. The person playing it had burst into some sort of song. It had a spooky vibe to it, and Star felt a shiver crawl down her spine at the strange melody. She was starting to regret this.
Soon, the tunnel curved upwards, and she began to climb. Her head hit something solid above her, and she looked up to see a trapdoor. Curiously, she opened the trapdoor with a slow creak, and the violin playing stopped. She looked up to see...
"YOU!" The two shouted at the same time. Bright, traffic yellow eyes met Star's hazel brown ones.
"How did you get in here?!" the girl hissed. She hid the violin behind her back.
"I'd ask you the same question, Laura," said Star smoothly. Her eyes flicked over the same black hair and outfit. "There was some sort of... tunnel that led me here from a clearing."
"Huh," said Laura shortly. "I didn't think anybody knew of this classroom. But then again, I didn't think anybody would dare go into the Summoner's Hall. Turns out I was wrong... Both times."
"Were you playing the violin?" Star asked, glancing at the bow peeking from behind Laura's back. She groaned.
"Well, yeah. But it's none of your business," Laura added sharply.
"I didn't know you could play," Star remarked. Laura scoffed as she brought out the violin again and resumed playing. Star looked down to see a piece of paper that looked like sheet music. She picked it up, but Laura quickly snatched it away from her.
"You should leave now," she said. "It seems that I'll have to find a new place to try, because you keep barging in. So I suggest you scarper now."
"I'm not leaving until you tell me what you're doing," said Star, crossing her arms.
"Again, it's none of your business," answered Laura coolly. She placed the sheet music on her stand and started where she left off. Frowning, Star stepped closer, and then realized she had stepped on a soft cover. She bent down to examine it.
"Huh... What's this?"
Star held it up to her eyes to see that it was a notebook. She opened the cover and found pages and pages of handwritten notes. Skimming through it quickly, she realized it was an ongoing story of two girls stuck in a magical world. Star sat down to read through it carefully.
The protagonist, Emmy, was a quiet, plain spoken girl. Once she had realized she was stuck in the unfamiliar world with her best friend, Amelie, she was quick to suggest that they figure out a way to return back.
Amelie, on the other hand, seemed to have a more keen personality, with confident eyes and a sharp tongue. She wanted to stay in the world. The two had a heated row about it for what seemed like hours.
But all of the sudden, they had treaded upon a mysterious notebook, with an old leather cover and golden clasp. A star surrounded by a circle marked the front cover. It was filled with magic and power, and would have possibly been the solution to the two girls' problem.
Unfortunately, Amelie had grown too power hungry. She had the thought to use the book to conquer the magical world. She could be ruler of all the mystic lands - from the shimmering, blue seas to the edge of the rolling hills and snowy white mountains. Emmy, seeing Amelie's evil will, stole the book from Amelie and hid it somewhere nobody knew of.
Amelie had been searching for the book ever since.
Star leaned against the wall, smiling. The vocabulary, the flow, the creativity, had all popped from the notebook and sucked her inside the story. She was enthralled. The writer clearly had worked hard on it. Perhaps someday she would be able to write something as magical as this...
"Have you seen this?" she asked Laura.
"No...." Laura shrugged, eyes still on the sheet music. "This place is an extremely old, abandoned classroom, so you'll probably find a bunch of old junk lying around."
Now that Laura mentioned it, Star gazed around and began to pick up details she hadn't noticed before. A dusty chalkboard was pinned against the north wall, with chipped desks and chairs facing its way. The chalk was broken in half, and hundreds of thousands of stacked boxes leaned against the walls. All of them were coated in a fine layer of dust, and were bulging of who knew what.
But despite Laura telling Star to leave, she didn't. Instead, she took out her pen from her pocket and started writing in the notebook. It was a shame the writer had left the story unfinished. Maybe Star could let some of her own writer's touch continue the story and finish it...
Laura didn't tell Star to go, and nor did she move. Instead, Laura kept on practicing, drawing out smooth melodies from the violin, and Star kept writing. They didn't speak for forty minutes, when the bell rang for the next classes.
Star stood up, brushing dust off her legs. The story still wasn't finished, but she felt accomplished. She had finished a good chunk of writing, and couldn't wait to write again.
She made her way to depart to the tunnel and leave, but Laura made no move to go. Her eyes were closed, and Star realized she had started an incredibly creepy tune on the violin. It sent shivers down her spine.
"Could you stop?" she asked. "C'mon. The bell rang, and you'll be late for class."
Still, Laura didn't show any sign of stopping. The further she progressed through the piece, the more eerie it became. The hairs on Star's arms were rising.
"Seriously, stop!" she shouted. But the music had risen loudly, and there was no turning back. She stood, transfixed, as she watched Laura's fingers travel up and down the strings. The bow moved smoothly, never pausing for a rest.
Just as the song was about to end, Star suddenly felt the book in her hands warming.
She yelped and dropped it as it burned her skin. The book was smoking, and it flipped open all by itself. And if Star wasn't mistaken, it seemed to be... glowing.
"STOP!" she yelled at Laura. Whatever she was playing... It seemed to be making this book glow. But Laura continued. The piece was getting more and more frantic. She could sense the energy radiating off the walls.
The book was definitely glowing now. To her horror, she watched as the words from the pages peeled off and swirled together to create a mini tornado.
No... not a tornado.
It was forming a figure...
A woman...
Laura ended with a long, dragged note. At the same time, the woman turned solid and turned to face them...
A/N: Uh... yeah, sorry for not updating for a week. I feel super guilty about it ;v;
Hope the long chapter made up for it though!
I blame school for everything.
I really hope you enjoyed reading. I spent a lot of time on this story so far, so I'm hoping you guys like it! <3