Epiphany

Chapter 41 Part 1~A

All I could hear was the sound of my feet stamping on the steps, accompanied by the screams echoing in my head at my current situation.

He killed him!

This was embedded in my brain.

A teammate killing the other wasn’t something I expected at all and definitely not now. Not when I thought things were finally starting to work out.

Then something came to me, ripping my brain cells apart.

He's working under Edward.

It was forbidden in this place for someone to kill the other, unless, of course, he had power. Edward confirmed this fact to me earlier.

Ryder didn’t have power—in fact he was also hanging on a thin rope like the others, he was put in this group for a reason—so he had to have burrowed some power from someone.

Edward.

He was helping him. This was the only explanation in my mind. He gave him permission to do so.

And now he was coming for me next!

I let go of the handrail and my ears perked up when I heard several grunts. I caught sight of the boys as I made a sharp turn to run down the corridor. One was on top of the other and was attempting to press the dagger into the other’s face. The other was clutching the wrist of the person holding the dagger a few centimeters away from his face, trying to push the dagger away.

He was still alive!

If that wasn’t good enough. I noticed the person who clutched the other's wrist, which held the weapon, had brown hair.

As I slipped into Chase’s room and shut the door, the knots in my stomach loosened a lot. And, much to my chagrin, I couldn’t find the key to his room.

I would’ve gone into the room I slept in, but the window was barred, so the room was out of the question.

I swiveled around to check the window out and to my utter horror, it was also barred.

“No, no, no,” I whispered, taking a step backward.

It shouldn’t be! I screamed internally. Why?! Gunther’s window was different. Their rooms should be the same!

At this point, after everything I’d been through, I was convinced that no matter what I did or where I went, something bad would happen.

My hand tingled as I had the urge to break something. If I could just break the damn bars with my hands.

I bit my inner cheek in frustration and turned to face the door. I could still switch rooms. I still have time.

I turned the knob and before I had the chance to peek past the door, I closed it shut. Someone was running up the stairs. I then cursed because I might have closed it a little too loud for a nearby person to hear.

I pressed both my right shoulder and right ear against the door to try to figure out how far the footfalls on the stairs were and to stop anyone from opening the door.

But all my ears could hear was the pounding of my heart and that left me peering through the keyhole. I froze as I perceived some movement. I wanted to straighten my back and apply more pressure on the door so no one could push it open, but I was afraid if I moved a single limb, the person would hear.

It was safer to stay motionless and not risk my limbs cracking with a single move, because if he heard it, it would be as easy as peeling off a banana to open the door. It wasn’t locked after all.