Vallen: The Marking (Vallen series #1)

Chapter 32

We had been told that the west wing was stable enough to remain standing, but no one was allowed to walk through it. I hadn't even been near it since the fire. Some builders came from the village to help repair it, but they weren't allowed to do it during school hours, so that our education may continue without any disturbance.

It was still entirely deserted, the workers had not arrived just yet. I could tell that they had definitely started already, most of the floorboards were already replaced, but the walls remained blackened by the flames.

The door to the storage room was gone, and so were all the papers that used to be inside. The room smelled absolutely horrible, like burned plastic. I remembered seeing loads of pens stored in here as well, but they were now just a heap in the corner of the room.

The small door was entirely intact. In fact, it looked like the flames got nowhere near it. All of a sudden I thought that maybe I should wait for Alaric. If someone put a spell on the door that kept it from being burned they have to be very powerful. Maybe they put other deterrents on it as well.

There really was no way of knowing. I inspected the door from all sides, but it still looked like just a regular door to me, maybe just a bit small. There was no glow over it or a big arrow saying 'Don't touch it!'. It was just a wooden door. I didn't even know if the word 'spell' was in the Vallen dictionary.

I used my foot to open it. The moment it touched the doorknob I flinched, convinced that I was going to get electrocuted. But nothing happened, it just swayed open, without making a rackett of sound this time.

I crawled through it and started making my way down the stairs. It again didn't look like the flames made it passed the door. I paused for a second when the wooden floor turned into stone, trying to see if I could hear something. I could faintly hear the roaring of the river, but other than that it was dead quiet, aside from my own breathing.

With my heart beating loudly in my chest, I opened the final room. It was left absolutely untouched by both the flames and the man. The weapons were still neatly stacked up, the paintings still looked at me with envious eyes, the river still roared. I was wrong.

I knew in my heart that it was a good thing that I was wrong, but it just made so much sense in my head. Sure most of the teachers are very strict but who would hate them enough to burn them alive? Also wouldn't that person have made sure that they couldn't leave their rooms? And who was that man with the scrolls? None of it made sense.

I checked the entire room. So much had happened since the last time I was here that I didn't remember all of the paintings and scrolls. I couldn't tell if any of them were missing. That was until I reached the far end of the room, to the most valuable painting of all, was gone.

A sharp pain started at my right ear and made its way through my head to my left ear. It felt like I had been shot through the head, which I couldn't have been because then I would have to stop thinking and breathing, and I was definitely still doing that.

The pain went down my throat to my lungs. It felt like needles grew inside of them. Like every time I breathed I was slowly punctuating my own lungs. I knew what was happening. I was dying.

"No." I breathed out, clutching my neck with both my hands. Breathing hurt, not breathing was impossible. I was in the most secluded part of the castle, no one could help me here. I glanced back at the empty wall, it was almost mocking me. I found what I was looking for, but at what price?

Had the man been a human? Was he the reason why my lungs were filling up with needles? I had never heard of a human disease that did that, but then again I hadn't been around any humans in a while.

I sunk down to my knees, I could feel the needles grow. It felt like they were starting to poke through my skin, especially around my tattoo. I checked to see if there were actually any, and that's when I noticed it.

My tattoo was glowing. Like, full-on radiating blue light where the black lines used to be. I had seen death up close before, but she never had a glowing tattoo. Maybe I shouldn't have touched that door, maybe he put a trap on the empty wall.

I looked around frantically, trying to see if there was someone here with me. I looked and looked, until I died.