Ashwock Academy ✓

C H A P T E R - S E V E N T E E N

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The eight students walked down the hallway, reaching a door that they hoped lead to a room full of books. Rafe stood back, confused. "Wait, weren't we going the library on the second floor?"

Teony shook her head. "No, this is the one I meant."

"I think we should split up and go to both," She suggested. The others shook their heads.

"We've learned our lesson from splitting up!" Damien exclaimed.

"Yeah, do you want us all to die?" said Raven.

"We don't have much time before the dark forces get everybody here, we have got to take risks if we want to survive," Rafe said with no second thought.

Jackson sighed. "She's right. We don't have forever. Four of us will go here, four of us will go to the one on the second floor." Everybody else reluctantly agreed, and Fletcher and Teony walked into the room without question. Raven and Trevor joined them, and the rest walked away from the door and up to the second floor. 

Rafe and Jackson hurried up the stairs, Damien and Ella behind. They didn't know why they were in such a hurry, but they tried to catch up. Ella quickened her pace and they were almost on the second floor when a sharp pain came into her head. It was quick and faded away fast, and she held her hand to her head, trying to make it go away. She hoped nobody noticed, but Damien did.

"Are you alright?" He asked her. She was surprised by his comment, since they had never really spoken before, and she looked at him.

"Yeah, I'm fine," She said. "Just nervous."

He nodded, trying to relate. "I get it. It's scary right now, knowing that one of your friends is a murderer."

"Not just that," She started, but trailed off. She didn't know how to explain her fear at that moment, especially to somebody she didn't completely trust. She didn't even know how to explain it to herself. It was just... there. She started walking faster, suddenly craving the desire to be alone and leaving Damien behind.

Confused, Damien sighed. He didn't know what he had done wrong or why Jackson and Ella didn't want to talk to him but tried to shake it off, continuing to trot up the stairs like a horse. Even if he tried, however, he just couldn't wipe the thoughts out of his head.

Ella held her hand to her face, starting to feel it becoming more and more hot. She was afraid she was coming down with something, and wanted to tell the others but kept silent. She knew it was all in her head, the fever, the headache, everything. Her brain was just trying to give an excuse for her to rest and forget about everything that was going on but it wasn't fooling her. 

She knew herself, and she knew what was in her head and what was real.

Or at least, she believed that she knew. She wasn't really sure anymore.

They all reached the top floor, and Rafe looked around for the library. When she found it, she opened up the door, revealing a library as big as a basketball court. The room was lit up so bright it hurt their eyes. There were books of all different colors and sizes, organized by what didn't look like any specific order at all. They didn't even have a place to start. They needed need anybody to say anything to split up and individually look for something about Ashwock.

And no matter how hard they looked, they couldn't find anything that they were looking for.

***

"We shouldn't have split up," Teony whispered to herself as they walked into the room. The room was stacked head to toe with books, not a single bookshelf in sight. It was the perfect place to hide something, seeing how big of a mess it was.

"We didn't have a choice," Fletcher said, and Teony was alarmed that he answered. Trevor stared at the two, unable to understand what they were talking about. He suddenly wished he had went with Rafe's group, the one person he could understand well. 

"Just, look around for something about Ashwock," Raven said. The others nodded and Trevor, following everybody else's movements, nodded as well. They looked at the piles of books, rummaging around through them and trying to find one about their academy. There were some very strange titles, and they all tried to ignore them and focus on what they were looking for.

Trevor picked up books one by one, throwing them behind him if they didn't interest him. Fletcher, who didn't like making messes and didn't want to miss anything, inspected each one thoroughly and placed it down in a pile like they were before, also avoiding Trevor's flying books, a little annoyed at his carelessness. Teony did similar to Fletcher, flipping through the pages to get a decent idea of what it was about, so it took her much longer. 

Raven, on the other hand, did no strategies that the others did. She wasn't looking for a book about Ashwock, and instead looking for some type of journal or handwritten script that might give her a clue on who Theodore was. He seemed much too mysterious and hidden to be written about in a published book.

It was like they were digging for buried treasure. With every new book that didn't match, Trevor grew even more frustrated to the point when it was hard for him to control where he threw the books. Teony stayed calm and silent, knowing that there must be an answer somewhere in that room. 

Raven pushed through the books, skipping all of the unimportant titles and scanning her eyes for something that looked old and worn. She waited for the jackpot moment, and finally, she found it.

"Guys, you have to see this."

Her hands reached for the torn up book that was hidden by the other ones, and as soon as she felt the smooth, familiar leather she knew that it held all of the answers to the questions she had. She lifted it up, showing everybody the third copy of The Effects of Dark Magic that they had found at that school.

"Why do we always find this book?" Fletcher asked as Raven flipped through the pages. And right as she did, something stuck out.

"It's not just the book this time," She said. "It's notes as well. Whoever owned this obviously had things they wanted to add." She showed everybody the red pen, and she went to the page they had seen earlier. When she found it, they saw red marker all over the page with warning notices, half of the spell being crossed out so that nobody could say it.

"Somebody has common sense," Fletcher whispered, but nobody else noticed. Raven continued going through the book, Teony watching what was written and reading it extremely close, sure not to miss anything. Once she got near the back half of the book, Teony stopped her by putting her finger down. Everybody stared, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she looked at her finger and the others followed her look and read what was on the page in their heads.

This will be my last entry. My studies have been compromised, and I feel as if I put my faith in the wrong person. It is dangerous, my studies, but I have left all important information about it in this book, correcting Alfred's mistakes from when he wrote the book. I don't know who is reading this, or if anyone even is, but since you are let me tell you something. Ashwock Academy is older than you might think, much older, and since this book is property of the school it can never leave. That means you are there now. The only way to leave is to collect all of the keys in the school and make sure no magic follows you. Even if it's a sacrifice.

And remember, you can't trust anybody.

That's what my mistake was.

Theodore Huberson, 1821-1873

Everybody gasped as all the lights the lights in Ashwock Academy went out, making the school dark as night.

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