I knew it would have been a good idea to get some sleep, but I really couldn't. The nervousness I had managed to suppress earlier began to rise again as the clock ticked towards the time we had agreed to meet Celeste. Luckily, I was at least able to find some solace and peace in my girlfriend's arms. I only hoped that tonight wouldn't be the last time I could enjoy this comforting feeling.
«Let's go,» Sophia whispered after what seemed like a very short time.
We walked out of the room, hand in hand, looking carefully left and right. It wasn't against the rules to go out at night, but if someone had seen us walking at such a late hour, they would have been suspicious. So we took great care not to be followed as we made our way to the girls' bathroom, which was on the opposite side of the school in the classroom corridor.
Fortunately we didn't encounter any problems. The school was completely deserted and thankfully the guards stationed at the door preventing access to the top floor didn't have a good view of the well-lit entrance hall. When we reached our destination, we quickly went inside, slowly closing the door behind us, trying to make as little noise as possible.
Once we had both breathed a sigh of relief, I used my wand to make some light. It looked like we were alone, but Sophia checked every single stall, just to make sure there wasn't a guard silently waiting to ambush us.
«I hope Celeste doesn't take too long, I want this to be over before any of the professors have a chance to wake up,» I murmured, leaning against the wall.
«Don't worry Liz!»
My scream of fear echoed through the bathroom before Sophia could put her hand over my mouth. My heart was pounding wildly as I looked at the corner of the room, near the sinks. Celeste was there, smiling at me, very amused by my reaction.
«A-are you fucking crazy?» hissed Sophia. She had managed to avoid screaming, but I could tell from her tone that she was as bewildered as I was.
«It's alright, I put a muffling spell on the door, as you may have noticed from the way Liz's musical voice echoed around,» she said with nonchalance
«Th-That doesn't mean you had to try and give us a heart attack!» I gasped after Sophia had finally released me from her grip.
«Sorry! But I had to make sure my little secret spell was working properly!» she said. But I could tell from her smile that she was not sorry at all.
Soon though my annoyance gave way to curiosity.
«That spell... you were completely invisible! That's crazy!»
«That's not entirely true, Liz. It's not a real invisibility spell. If there is such a thing, it is definitely out of my reach, because I had to sweat blood to make this one work.»
«But then... how?»
«It works by reflecting the light around me in a strange way. It's rather rough, and if you'd been looking straight at me in a well-lit room, you'd definitely have noticed me. But for sneaking through some dimly lit corridors it should be fine,» she explained to me, «I'll show you how it works tomorrow if you want, right now we have to get to work!»
Celeste opened the door to the closest stall and waved Sophia inside.
«I'm going to levitate you up there, Sophie. Give the ceiling a light tap, please. I'll fix the barrier when we get back, so try not to damage it too much!»
«Are you sure Skylark won't know it's been broken?» I asked worriedly as my girlfriend complied and climbed onto the toilet.
«It's fine, don't worry, it really just seems like an ordinary protective barrier to me, unlike the crazy stuff that defends the floor of the entrance hall.»
«Alright...»I murmured, not really convinced, as Sophia was lifted into the air at Celeste's wand command. Soon the tip of her sword touched the ceiling. Sophia moved it in a circular motion, as if drawing something.
«It should be done,» she said.
«It looks like it,» Celeste said, lowering her back to the floor, «alright, I'll go first, Liz! I think we're going to turn up in a corridor and not in Skylark's shower, but still... I'll activate the cloaking and muffling spells as soon as I'm out!»
I nodded as she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. I raised my hand in her direction and whispered:
«Levitate.»
Just like Sophia, Celeste's slowly rose into the air. When her head reached the ceiling, it went straight through. Not being able to see her upper half, I could no longer control my spell very well, but it felt like she was also doublecasting it to drift in the right direction.
Soon she was completely out of sight.
«Elizabeth...» Sophia began.
«I know, I'll be careful. If a guard shows up, don't do anything stupid, ok?» I said, wrapping my arms around her neck.
«Don't worry, I'll just get them to take a nap.»
I gave her a quick kiss before letting her go. Without looking back I went into the stall and closed my eyes.
"I'll do whatever it takes to come back to you."
I clenched my fists, trying my best to concentrate as much as I could. Doublecasting while using Phase Shift wasn't going to be easy, but I wasn't going to end this night stuck halfway inside the ceiling.
«Levitate,» I whispered again, and then, «Phase shift.»
The familiar sensation of being dropped into icy water sent shivers down my spine, but my mana didn't tremble.
"This... is strangely easy," I thought as I began to move through the solid stone.
Maybe, after all the hardships I had gone through, I had actually managed to improve as a mage.
"It kind of hurts that Skylark's game is serving its purpose."
Soon I felt myself emerging into a new environment. When I was about halfway through, I heard Celeste say.
«Almost there, Liz.»
And just like that, I was out, this time with my skirt fully intact. I opened my eyes and found myself in a dimly lit corridor. Looking at the portraits on the wall, I faintly remembered being here on my last visit to the second floor. Something was off though. It was almost as if I was looking at my surroundings through a very thin veil of water.
"It must be the effect of Celeste's spell."
«We should be able to talk safely as long as we keep our voices down. Just don't scream. The muffling spell is much weaker if it is not cast on solid walls,» Celeste whispered.
«Just don't try to scare me like you did before and I won't.»
But I could see from her face that I had no reason to warn her. Celeste had gone into her serious mode. I could imagine what was going through her mind. Even though we had her spells to protect us, we still had to tread lightly. Who knew what horrors awaited us up here if a traitor really had tipped off Skylark.
"At least, thanks to Celeste, he shouldn't know that we'll be here tonight. But he might still have taken some precautions."
«Should we get going?» I asked Celeste, trying to speak as quietly as possible.
Celeste motioned for me to wait. At my inquisitive look she replied:
«I'm doing what I should have done the last time we came up here, if I hadn't been such a crybaby. I'm checking for defensive spells around us, give me a minute,» she whispered.
«Alright.»
Part of me wanted to help her, but I didn't want to risk anything bad happening. I really had no idea what advanced magic barriers were capable of. For what I knew, probing them with my mana without caution could have set off an alarm.
"Better leave this to a professional," I thought, looking at Celeste who was now standing still with her eyes closed.
My gaze soon moved to the end of the corridor. As the minutes passed, I began to fear that a whole platoon of guards would descend upon us. But the second floor remained in deep silence till Celeste spoke again:
«Alright. I have a pretty good idea of what we should be looking for now,» she said giving me a confident look.
«What have you found?» I asked, hopeful.
«The rooms around us have the same kind of protection as ours. That's normal, since the professors likely sleep up here. But there's something strange. The ceiling is extremely well protected, just like the floor of the entrance hall.»
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"The ceiling..."
What was the weakest point of the Academy's defences on the first floor was the strongest on the second. Why did they cut corners down there and go all out up here? There could only be one reason. What they wanted to protect was...
«A third floor!» I exclaimed.
«Shhh!» Celeste hissed with an angry look that rivalled one of Sophia's.
«You're right though,» she continued after I gave her an apologetic smile, «I know it's been a long time, but if you remember what the school looked like from the outside, it was clearly a 3 storey building!»
"That's right... I've been locked in here for so long that it had slipped my mind."
«So, on this third floor...»
«There must be a teleport seal that leads to the underground part of the school! Or maybe there's a very long starway. Either way, we need to hurry and find a way to get up there!» said Celeste.
"A way up there..."
«The roof! Since the ceiling is so well defended here, we could go down from up there instead!»
My idea seemed to pique Celeste's interest, but after a moment's thought she shook her head:
«There's no way they haven't thought of that!» she said.
«You say that... but we just sneaked into the second floor using one of their oversights!» I countered.
«You may be right or... maybe not. Maybe they've concentrated all their defences on the third floor because they know there's nothing of value down here. Either way, we'll have to check later. For now, since we are up here, we should do our best to find the real entrance. There must be one, after all the guards used it!»
«You're right, let's get on with it,» I said.
While we were on the second floor it couldn't hurt to check. I really doubted the guards were phasing through the roof to get up there. Just like Celeste had said, there had to be another way in.
But as we slowly made our way through the corridors of the second floor, I realised that we really had no good leads.
«What if the entrance is in Skylark's room or something?»
«Thinking like that will get us nowhere,» Celeste replied dryly.
"She's right, I'm letting my innate ability to always think of the worst outcome get in the way."
Clenching my fists in concentration, I began to expand my mana. Very carefully, I began to examine each of the doors on our sides, looking for enchantments.
«I'll check the doors Celeste,» I said, «concentrate on the ceiling again, maybe we can find a weak spot or something.»
«That's the spirit!» she whispered, giving me a little nudge.
"That's a no, and so is that one over there."
Every door seemed to be locked by the same mysterious force that protected our rooms.
"All these rooms... there aren't enough professors to fill them."
The first time I had been up there I had no way of checking if anyone was living in them, and the second time the whole floor had been emptied, making it impossible to know either.
"I suppose the guards sleep here too. When I discovered that there was an underground section, I thought for sure that there was going to be barracks down there, but..."
I stopped. The door on our left did not seem to be blocked by any kind of magical barrier. I poked Celeste in the arm and pointed towards it. After nodding, my friend cautiously approached it, waving her wand and whispering. After a few seconds, she looked at me as she grabbed the handle.
«Alright, let's go,» she said before opening it and entering the room.
As I followed her I couldn't help but feel disappointed. It was the same classroom that myself, Sophia and Amy had surveyed the last time. I didn't waste any time, though, and closed the door behind me, making sure to make as little noise as possible. After I had done that, Celeste pointed her wand at it again.
«Alright, I closed it. If anyone approaches, we'll hear them coming and we can hide again,» she said as the tiny veil around us dissipated.
«I don't think staying here is going to do us any good. This is the strange looking classroom we told you about during the first alliance meeting, Celeste.»
But my words didn't seem to faze her enthusiasm.
«You were in a bit of a hurry last time, weren't you? Maybe you missed something,» she replied, looking under one of the desks.
«You're right,» I said, doing the same, «sorry for always being a downer.»
«It's okay, I think being pessimistic can be helpful sometimes. Don't worry though, I always try to see the glass half full.»
«Of course you do.»
We made quick work of the desks and benches and moved to the bookshelf at the side of the room.
«Is this where you found the book Skylark wrote?» asked Celeste, moving her glowing wand over the worn covers.
«Yes, it's this one,» I replied, pointing to the huge volume entitled 'Advanced Magic Theory'.
«I see. From the titles, these books don't sound like anything you'd find in a normal school. Anyway, we should have a look. Maybe there's a secret passage behind the bookshelf!»
«Do you think we are in some kind of old school mystery novel or something?» I asked, raising an eyebrow.
Nevertheless, I helped to take all the books out of their shelves and to go through them quickly. After all, we were grasping at straws. Predictably, nothing came of it.
But there was one last place to check.
«Any idea what this stuff could be used for?» I asked, picking up and examining one of the ominous looking tools on the desk.
«Looks like a syringe... playing doctor maybe?» said Celeste, looking at the strange contraption of glass made of glass spheres in front of her.
«...»
Somehow, the idea of this stuff being used by Skylark for some kind of strange kink was even more sinister than a human experiment. I put down the syringe with a sigh:
«What now?»
But Celeste, bent under the desk, didn't answer me.
"What's wrong with her?"
«AH!» she suddenly shouted, making me do the same.
«Can you fucking stop doing this?!» I yelled, grabbing her arm.
«Oh, sorry! I cast the muffling spell on the room anyway, so it's okay!»
«It's not!... why did you scream?» I asked, pressing a hand to the left side of my chest.
"I swear, every moment I spend with this girl shortens my life span..."
But I barely had time to formulate that thought when Celeste said:
«I found something.»
Her tone was serious. Bending down at her side, I discovered that what she had found was what looked like a magical seal, inscribed under the desk.
"What...? Was this thing there last time?"
Sophia had told me that she had looked in every corner of the room, could she really have missed something so conspicuous?
"No way... but then..."
Could it be that it had been drawn recently? But for what purpose? It certainly wasn't a teleport.
«Celeste, what does it do?»
«Only one way to find out.»
Before I could warn her not to, her wand had already touched it.
«Are you out of your mind?!»
«Don't worry, I doubt something this small can be dangerous.»
But as she said it, the room around her began to shake.
"Great..."
Luckily we were not buried under a shower of rocks. Instead, in the corner of the room, a staircase began to emerge from the wall, just as a passage began to open in the ceiling.
«Did you say something about old school mistery novel?» asked Celeste.
But there was the same dumbfounded expression on her face that I was sure was on mine.
«This... was way too easy,» I muttered.
«I think so too. Do you want to go back for today and talk about it with the others?»
I was about to agree when something inside me lit up. Curiosity? No... it was much more than that. Something told me that the truth I had searched for so long was waiting for me at the top of those stairs.
«No. If Skylark knows we're here and is inviting us upstairs, we're already trapped. This is a one-time chance, we have to move forward.»
«Well said!» chirped Celeste as she started walking towards the newly opened passage.
"It didn't take much to convince her... looks like she wanted to go up herself after all."
«Besides, that seal might have always been there. Maybe it was hidden by a spell last time,» she said looing up the stairs.
«I guess...»
If the staircase we were ascending was frequently used, it made sense that its entrance was easily accessible. But I still couldn't shake the feeling that we were being steered through a predetermined path like lab rats. But as I had said to Celeste, there was no point in retreating now.
The new environment we emerged into was a small room lit by a pair of torches. Three doors opened on each side of the room. Just by looking at them and the walls, I could easily tell that the atmosphere on this third floor would be different from the rest of the school. Instead of the pompous marble walls decorated with tapestries and portraits, we were looking at cold grey stone bricks. And rather than the elegantly carved mahogany doors, we were faced with ones made of rough wood.
«Pick your poison, Liz,» Celeste said.
«Why do I have to choose...?... Fine, let's go right.»
«'Aight! Just give me a second.»
My friend approached the door and pointed her wand at it, just as she had done before.
«All clear.»
«No security measures?» I asked, stunned.
«None.»
Things were getting stranger by the minute. But as we entered the room, I understood why this particular room was unprotected. What we had in front of us looked like a normal dining room. Although smaller than the one on the first floor, it was still quite large, enough to seat about 100 people.
"That's a lot more than the guards and the professors put together..."
But an abnormally large dining hall wasn't exactly what I was hoping to find on the mysterious third floor of the Academy.
«Should we check this place out as well?» I asked Celeste.
«No, we're running out of time. Let's check out the other rooms first, we can always come back here.»
Back at the starting point, Celeste started probing the central door. Just like last time, there was no magic barrier defending it.
"Please let it be an exit" I thought as I followeder inside it.
I immediately realized my wish was not going to be granted. But that room was definetly way stranger the previous one.
«What the hell is this?!»
The room was circular and sloped towards the centre, with four flights of stairs leading up to it. Between them were a multitude of chairs, accompanied by small desks. These surrounded the centre of the room, giving a good view of it from all angles.
Straight in the middle was what appeared to be a table made of hard stone. At its ends were shining chains, whose purpose was instantly obvious to me. To complete the ominous picture, near the stone table was a smaller, wooden one with the same strange-looking tools on top that we had seen in the classroom below.
«This doesn't look like a nice place,» muttered Celeste as she descended the stairs towards the centre.
«Is this where... they experimented on Aldric?» I asked, knowing the answer.
Celeste pointed her wand at the creepy looking stone bed.
«It's safe, we can get closer.»
And so we did. I was horrified to see that, along with the strange syringes and beakers, there were other tools on the little table: tiny scissors and scalpels.
«I knew things were bad... but this is...»
«Look, there's a cabinet in the corner,» Celeste said, pulling me out of the pit of despair I was about to fall into.
Near the cabinet was another desk, identical to the one under which we had found the seal.
"This room, more than a laboratory... looks like another classroom."
Were people observing whatever torture Aldric had been subjected to?
«Fuck me!» cursed Celeste, looking into the cabinet, «There's way too much stuff in here for us to check today...»
«We have to at least try...»
«Do you think whatever is in these papers will help us escape?» asked Celeste, turning to me.
«I don't know, but we've only got one room left, so we might as well check some of this stuff quickly. We should have at least an hour before even the early birds think about waking up.»
«Alright... I actually wanted you to convince me, because I'm very curious too. Like I said, great minds think alike,» Celeste said with a slight smile.
As I helped her carry a huge folder full of files to the lectern, a smaller book caught my eye.
«Let's start with this one, since it's small,» I said, grabbing it as well.
«Sure!»
As she turned the first page, we were immediately greeted by a photo of a girl our age.
«Robin Arton... Role: candidate.. this is like the Aldric file!» exclaimed Celeste, giving me an excited look.
«Yeah, it must have come from here... I don't remember ever seeing this girl around, so these must be the older students' files.»
«You're right!» said Celeste, quickly flipping through the pages. As she did so, it quickly became clear that the students smiling at us from them were not our classmates.
"But they died here anyway, just like them..."
I was about to tell Celeste to close it when her hand stopped moving and she suddenly looked petrified.
«Celeste what-»
But when I looked at the page she had stopped on, everything became clear: a girl with piercing green eyes and long black hair was staring at me from it.