I had slipped into a nightmare.
That was the only explanation for the horrifying scene before my eyes. Perhaps my victory over Sam had been an illusion and the dark abyss that had surrounded me was now filling my mind, tormenting it with terrible visions.
How could this be the real world after all? This was such a cruel outcome that I felt my stomach turn with the urge to vomit.
The body of Jen Corbain, lifeless in the arms of her best friend Annette, almost unrecognisable because of the curse marks, was the sign that Sam's heroic sacrifice had been in vain. Instead of the one life that should have been lost in this vile game, two had been taken. But it wasn't just Sam's group that was going to pay a price.
I saw Celeste, standing by my side, cover her mouth with her hand, a look of horror on her face. She was probably thinking the same thing I was: with Jen's death, Penny had now slipped to the bottom of the rankings and, with Sunday's elimination looming, there was no way she could catch up with Annete, the student above her. In other words, the time we had to find a way to activate the magic circle on the third floor had been reduced to just four days. Suddenly our backs were against the wall.
"This is awful... but how is it even possible?"
Looking at the terrible marks on Jen's skin, there was little doubt that a curse had been the cause of her death. But... how had she been cursed? Such perverse incantations were extremely rare in the present day. Ancient dungeons were about the only place you could stumble across one, due to the forgotten rituals used to seal their treasures. Apart from that, what the common folk usually referred to as curses were just a creative, malicious use of ordinary magic. But, of course, we had come into contact with one during this game. The one that was supposed to kill Sam.
"But... he didn't have any marks on his body!"
The shock of seeing that haunting expression on his face had not made me think about it at the moment, but the state of his body was certainly not what you would expect from the victim of a curse. The wound on his neck looked like it had been caused by an explosive spell. But that wasn't the main issue at the moment. Even if the game's curse behaved strangely, one thing was certain: there was no way it could pass from Sam to Jen. The last person to touch the poor boy had been Celeste, and I was the last one to leave the room with Nicole.
"But I touched her and checked that she didn't have it on her... and even if she had somehow found a way to occult it, she went back to her room... she couldn't sneak into the courtyard without passing in front of us!”
With these thoughts swirling in my head like a hurricane, I stood there petrified, still hoping that somehow this was just a bad dream. But, as usual, there was someone who always stood firm when everyone else faltered. Sophia took a step forward, a tense expression on her face, and approached our classmates, still intent on screaming Jen's name in desperation. She walked up to the imposing guy called Ian. He was as white as a ghost and looked like he was about to faint. Sophia put a hand on his shoulder and said in a gentle but still firm tone:
«I need you to tell me what happened.»
The boy turned towards her, looking confused, as if he hadn't understood what she had said. But Sophia didn't relent: he grabbed his other shoulder and forced him to look straight into her eyes, despite their huge height difference.
«Please, you have to tell me what happened, for Jen's sake too,» she said again.
This approach seemed to work as Ian opened his mouth only to close it again. But after nodding, he finally managed to speak.
«I... don't really know,» he said in a trembling tone, «we were all waiting for... the end. But just as the time was up, Jen suddenly started screaming... that's when it happened. Those... marks started to appear on her body and-»
His voice trailed off into nothingness.
«Did someone touch her? Or cast a spell? Did someone come in here just before it happened?» Sophia pressed him.
Ian shook his head. Sophia sighed and, releasing him from her grasp, said in a softer tone:
«Thank you.»
She then turned to me and gave me a worried look. Her actions had finally managed to bring me out of my shocked state, and after taking a deep breath, I tried my best to make sense of the situation.
"It seems that everything happened right at the end of the game... but no one touched her or anything, so, unless there was another invisible curse floating around, this can only mean one thing."
The curse had found its way from Sam to Jen without them coming into contact. How had that happened? I could only think of one possibility. The wound on his neck clearly pointed in that direction.
"What if... Sam died before the curse took him out?"
Skylark had said nothing about what would happen in that kind of situation. Perhaps, if the host died the curse would simply be passed on to another random student.
"But then, how did Sam Rover die?"
He was alone in the room. Unless...
"No, I really should stop suspecting her."
Even if Nicole had somehow managed to kill him in the few seconds that had passed between me and her leaving the room, the timing wasn't right. It didn't make sense for the curse to take several minutes to choose a new host, so that meant Sam must have died just before Jen, right at the end of the game. But this didn't necessarily mean my theory was wrong. After all, my time at the Academy had taught me that nothing was impossible.
"An innate power like Chloe's, one that can kill at a distance... does anyone between us have one?"
While I was following this train of thought, Sophia came back to us with a frown on her face.
«What do you think?» she asked me and Celeste, who also seemed to have regained her composure.
«I-»
Before I could give her the explanation I had come up with, a distraught voice interrupted me:
«Sam... is he alive?»
It was Andrea. She had gotten up from Jen's side and was slowly approaching us with tentative steps, a glimmer of hope in her tear streaked face. I could understand why she was asking that question. If Jen was the one who had died with the curse, she had every reason to believe that Sam might still be alive. Unfortunately, reason was not something that existed in this gods-forsaken academy.
We didn't even have to answer. Andrea dropped to her knees, clearly reading the answer in our faces.
«NO! WHY?!» she screamed, pounding her fist on the grass of the courtyard.
Before I could think, my body moved on its own. I ran up to her and took her in my arms. I expected her to push me away. Even leaving aside our previous bad blood, I was the one who had indirectly caused Sam's death. But after freezing for a second, Andrea didn't resist, she leaned on my shoulder and clung to my shirt. Perhaps she hoped to feel a trace of her lost loved one on me, his executioner. Or maybe she could see from my face, now also streaked with tears, how much pain his death had caused me. So, as she began to cry desperately, I held her close and tried my best to comfort her. Perhaps it was the last thing I could do for Sam.
«He... must have died before the game was even finished. That's why the curse went to someone else,» Celeste said in a bitter tone behind me.
«I-I thought so too,» I replied, trying to hold back my sobs while still hugging Andrea.
«I guess we all agree, but... that means someone between us is capable of killing a person that is alone in a guarded room. A bit like Chloe did back in October,» Sophia stated.
It seemed we had all come to the same conclusion. But I couldn't really be happy about the way the Academy had trained us to think deductively.
«Who would do such a thing?» cried Andrea, pulling away from our embrace and sniffing.
«I-»
«It's clearly one of you!»
The person who had shouted these words was Annette. She stood up and pointed a shaking finger at us.
«It wasn't enough to kill Sam?! You had to kill Jen too?!»
She really wasn't making any sense, but I couldn't really blame her for acting irrational considering what had just happened. Celeste seemed to think the same, as she didn't reply as harshly as I thought she would:
«This development doesn't help us at all... now one of our friends is last in the rankings. I know it's horrible to say, but keeping Jen alive so she could die on Sunday instead of Penny would have been the best outcome for us,» she explained calmly.
«You... are awful!» Annete snapped, clearly at a loss for words at Celeste's rational response, «maybe... maybe you'll just kill us all before-»
«Stop Annete.»
I turned in surprise to Andrea, who had spoken in that firm tone. Even she was still crying, but I could see that she was trying to control herself. But I wasn't the only one who was stunned:
«Andrea-» Annette began, but Andrea immediately cut her off.
«I know. But it's like Fitzroy said, they don't get anything out of this,» she explained, wiping away her tears with her sleeves.
Annette looked at her in disbelief. I could understand why: Andrea, the girl who had been most hostile towards us, was now taking Celeste's side.
«But-»
«No buts. I know how you feel, but Sam would never want us at each other's throats r-right now.»
"She... she's so strong!"
Even as her voice cracked at the end, I couldn't help but be impressed by her resolve to uphold Sam's beliefs. If I'd lost Sophia, I'd never have been able to keep my cool like she was managing to.
"This... this is your legacy, Sam. You inspired this person with your character." I thought, remembering the last words I had said to him.
"A hero... a real one. I will do my part as well now!"
«Let's find who did this, Andrea. For Sam and Jen's sake,» I declared, placing a hand on Andrea's shoulder, «as you said, my group gained nothing from this. And of course yours doesn't either. That can only mean one thing...»
«There is a traitor among us,» Andrea finished for me, grabbing my hand and squeezing it firmly.
This was the last proof we needed. The terrible outcome of this game, which was going to cause incredible pain to both our alliances, could only have been brought about by a student actively working against us and sabotaging us.
"I was naive... it's just like Sophia said this morning, the traitor was always going to use this opportunity to hurt us."
But strangely, it was Sophia herself who raised an objection:
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«But... isn't this odd? If the curse randomly targeted one of us when Sam died... wasn't the traitor in danger of dying as well?»
«That's...»
«Not what happened, Miss Thornton.»
This time it wasn't Andrea who finished the sentence for me. It was a voice whose sound was enough to make me tremble with rage. We all turned towards the door, which we hadn't noticed open in the middle of our conversation. Skylark closed it carefully behind him, almost like a predator trying to make sure his prey didn't hear him.
«You!» I yelled, gritting my teeth.
I wanted to shout at him. I wanted to summon the mana within me to burn him to a crisp. Unfortunately, none of these options were good ideas. At the moment, Skylark was the only one who could clear up the situation. Of course, if the traitor was working with him, he'd probably try to avoid telling us the truth. But as much as I hated him, what I had found out about my power today confirmed that the old mage really wasn't the type to lie outright.
«What do you mean?» asked Sophia, stepping in front of him, almost as if she wanted to prevent me and the others from foolishly attacking him.
Skylark, strangely enough, didn't offer one of his usual smiles, instead he surprisingly bowed his head a little:
«First of all, I should apologise. The Academy prides itself on being fair and clear in its tests, so-»
«Stop the bullshit and tell us what you want,» Celeste stopped him before I could.
The old professor raised his head, his lips now curled:
«Miss Fitzroy, if your father heard you talking like this, he would be very displeased,» he replied in a mocking tone.
«Feel free to tell him and add a fuck you while you're at it,» Celeste retorted dryly, «what are you pretending to apologise for?»
Skylark didn't seem offended by her harsh tone and explained;
«The rules. I probably should have told you what would happen if someone died while under the curse, it might have prevented the unfortunate situation you're in now,» he said calmly, as if we'd just found a badly worded question in an exam and not lost two of our friends.
Fighting the urge to punch him, I blurted out:
«So we were right, it really did happen, he died and the curse was passed on to one of us. But why did you tell Sophia that it wasn't the case, then?»
The smile on Skylark's face grew wider, giving me a bad feeling.
«It's simple. What Miss Thornton got wrong is the term 'randomly'. The curse couldn't just move to any one of you. It had to be someone it had already come into contact with! A bit like an animal looking for a familiar nest.»
These words sent a shiver down my spine.
"Someone the curse had already come in contact with..."
The thought of Death blowing its cold breath on my neck without me even noticing was downright terrifying.
"Me, Celeste, Wilhelm and Jen were the only ones that came in contact with the curse, I think... so I had a 25% chance of dying without being able to do anything about it!"
Probably sensing what was going through my mind, Sophia took my hand in hers. I squeezed it gratefully.
«Do you realise what it means to admit that Sam didn't die from the curse?» Sophia asked Skylark, glaring at him.
The old mage looked at her with a clearly fake look of surprise. My girlfriend sighed and said:
«Your stupid rules, the ones you pretend to care about. He was alone in a room, there was no way for anyone to challenge him to a duel, which means someone killed him outside of one, breaking the rules. So what are you going to do? Are you going to tell us to find the culprit like last time?»
Sophia was right. This time, there was no way for Skylark to avoid his responsibility to uphold the rules and still maintain his stupid, holier-than-thou attitude about fairness. Unlike Chloe's first murder, there was no way for him to get away with saying that Sam could've died in a regular duel. But I could tell from his expression that Skylark had something up his sleeve.
«Absolutely not, Miss Thornton. Believe me, if I could, I would definitely punish the culprit,» he replied without losing his usual composure.
«What do you mean, if you could? You mean you don't know who it is? You are obviously monitoring us during these awful tests of yours!» I snapped.
Of course, it wouldn't have been possible to cover the whole school with a continuous clairvoyance spell, especially with all the barriers that were usually in place. But I knew for sure that he was, at least, keeping an eye on us during his trials. After all, during his visit in the infirmary, he had revealed to me that he knew what had happened in the dungeon.
Skylark scoffed theatrically:
«Of course I know who the culprit is, like I said I take the rules very seriously,» he said just to pause a little, obviously preparing to drop some kind of bombshell on us, «but I can't punish them... because they're already dead.»
"UH?!"
I saw Celeste turn towards Jen's lifeless body. Of course, that was the first person you would think of. Another possibility was one of our other companions or Jonathan, who were not in the room at the moment. But there was one last possibility... the most horrible and awful one.
"No... why?!" I thought, looking into Skylark's icy blue eyes, narrowed with malice.
«It was a suicide. Sam Rover blew his own neck off right at the end of the game. Poor guy, the tension of waiting for his execution must have got to him and made him snap.»
«NO!»
I was not the only one who had shouted that two letter word. Andrea looked at Skylark with an expression of pure hatred. Celeste grabbed her shoulders just in time to stop her from throwing herself at Skylark:
«HOW DARE YOU!» she screamed, trying to free herself, «HOW DARE YOU INSULT HIM LIKE THAT!»
I stepped in front of her, intending to protect her in case Skylark tried to attack in retaliation:
«Sam would never have done that. He was one of the bravest people I have ever known. He put his life on the line for his friends, knowing full well what that meant. He faced death with a smile. Are you telling me that he would go mad right at the end, after everything he endured in life? Don't fuck with me! I know how despicable you are, but at least this time shut your fucking mouth!!» I shouted, pointing my wand at him.
Skylark didn't seem to be shaken by my outburst. He reached out with his wrinkly hand and used it to lower my wand.
"Bastard..."
The old man knew I wouldn't risk attacking him.
«Now now, Miss Belvoir, I thought I made it clear that I would only be honest with you,» he said with a sigh.
Then he snapped his fingers, startling us all. This time, however, there was no light coming down from the ceiling to reduce any of us to ashes. Instead, 4 small birds suddenly appeared in the air.
"Familiars?"
The birds began to spin, forming a circle in the air. In the centre, a silvery substance started to form, expanding until it formed a square, almost like a portrait hanging in the sky of the courtyard.
«What are you...?»
But I didn't get to finish my sentence. An image had appeared in that square. An image showing a bird's eye view of what was clearly the magic training room. And Sam was there.
The boy was standing still. He was looking at his hands, as if he was thinking deeply about something.
And then it happened.
He pulled out his wand and pointed it at his neck and...
"No..."
«Don't look!» Celeste screamed, trying to cover Andrea's eyes. But it was too late. With a splatter of blood, Sam fell to the ground, obviously lifeless.
Screams of despair echoed through the courtyard as the magical portrait disappeared. I couldn't even open my mouth. It was too much.
"This... it can't be... it must be an illusion..."
But something inside me told me clearly that it wasn't. The Academy was, after all, an endless pit of despair. No matter what, we'd keep falling down into it, sinking deeper and deeper each time.
But just as I was about to succumb to hopelessness like everyone else, a clear voice spoke in my ear.
«Don't believe him, Elizabeth. Remember who Sam was.»
Sophia's words were a ray of sunlight in a storm-tossed sky.
"Of course... even if he shows me this shit... I still can't believe Sam would do such a thing! He was dying anyway! Why would he kill himself and ruin his own plan?"
«This doesn't prove anything!» I shouted, clenching my fists.
«Miss Belvoir... I just showed you what happened, are you saying I'm trying to trick you with an illusion?» Skylark asked, raising an eyebrow.
«I don't know how you did it! But Sam would never have killed himself. He was a true hero, one who never wavered. Right, Andrea?» I said, turning around.
I saw the blonde's eyes widen in surprise. For what I had just said clashed with the clear images we had just seen. It had no basis in reality, it was, as usual, one of my idealistic rants. But if this was our reality, one in which Sam's inspiring efforts were meaningless... I was going to reject it, even if I had to throw away reason.
«...That's right!»
Andrea nodded and freed herself from Celeste's grip to take a step towards Skylark.
«Even if you show us this stuff, I still don't believe you!» she yelled.
Skylark scoffed and shook his head:
«Looks like Miss Belvoir's irrational behaviour really is contagious. Well, you can delude yourself if you want. But this is the school's official stance, and as such I'll consider the situation resolved.»
With that he turned to leave, but before he did I was sure I saw a glint of irritation in his usually haughty face.
After the professor left the courtyard, a tense silence fell between us. Even with my intervention, it was clear that we were all clearly shaken by what we had seen. I wanted to say something to Andrea and her friends, after all I had promised Sam I would do my best for them. But before I could, an iron grip closed around my wrist and I was suddenly dragged towards the exit.
«Sophia, what-?»
«We'll be back soon!» she announced to a confused Celeste.
Once we were out of the door, my lips were suddenly closed with a kiss.
«MPH?!»
"Did Sophia drag me here just to make out after everything that happened?!" I thought, trying my best not to lose myself in that sweet kiss.
But when my girlfriend pulled away, I saw that her eyes were moist.
«You... were fantastic, Elizabeth! Skylark was clearly trying to destroy everyone's morale, but you showed him!» she exclaimed, taking my hands in hers.
«It's all thanks to you... you were amazing as always,» I murmured in reply.
«And that's because you're by my side!» she said, stroking my cheek.
"I guess... I was right. We are each other's strength after all."
«But... what now? I know what I said, but I really don't think that Skylark showed us some fake images back there,»I asked.
Sophia nodded:
«I think so too... but that scene doesn't prove that Sam actually killed himself!»
«What do you mean?» I asked, confused.
«Even if it is technically a suicide... maybe Sam didn't kill himself of his own free will!»
"...!"
«You mean an innate power made him do it!»
Sophia looked at me worriedly:
«I don't see any other alternative. Of course, there is the possibility that Sam had a side to him that we didn't know about because we barely knew him, and that he cracked under pressure and behaved irrationally. But... it's just like you said, I really want to believe he was the hero you said he was. Andrea seems to think so too,» she said with a sad smile.
«Sophia...»
I hugged her tightly. But when I looked at her face, I saw that her expression had only darkened.
«Elizabeth, I can't shake the feeling that this whole game has been set up just to punish us for what we did this morning.»
«...you're right...»
We had finally found a lead to get out of here. But now the time we had to find a way to activate the magic seal had been cut to a mere four days by Jen's death and Penny slipping to last place."
«It... seems a bit too convenient,» I said slowly.
«Right? This outcome is so bleak, it feels like Skylark just decided it had to be this way. Of all the 14 people, Jen dying is the one that puts the most pressure on us,» Sophia said, biting her nails.
"Between all 14 of us... wait, that's not right!"
«Sophia! How could I not have thought of this before!?» I exclaimed.
She looked at me confused.
«What are you talking about?»
«Remember what Skylark said? The curse could have gone to anyone who'd been in contact with it before. But... that means that Celeste and I would have risked dying!»
Sophia's eyes lit up and she exclaimed!
«Skylark definitely doesn't want that!»
Both Celeste and I were someone Skylark wouldn't want to kill by accident. We were too valuable a plaything for him.
«So... maybe he made the traitor kill Sam with their innate power and when the curse was about to be passed on to someone, he directed it at Jen... but I guess that would mean he lied to us...»
Was I really going to believe that shitty, perverse old man? I didn't want to, but all the evidence bizarrely pointed to Skylark really being true to his mantra of always telling the truth.
But Sophia didn't seem to share my hesitation, he jumped and grabbed my hands again:
«You're a genius, Elizabeth!»
«Huh?!»
«Remember what he said: 'What Miss Thornton got wrong is the term randomly.' And then he just said that the curse could only pass to someone who came into contact with it, he never said that in that case the choice would be random!»
«FUCK! You're right!»
"Crafty old bastard..."
But there was something else that didn't fit into this theory of ours.
«But, if his plan was to do all this to kill Jen and put us on the timer while covering his tracks, that means he had to find a way to make sure Jen got the curse... so why didn't he just give it to her in the beginning?»
Sophia was silent for a second, but then said slowly:
«Maybe... because he had another way of making sure she got it! One that would still give us the curse at the beginning and cause us all those moral dilemmas!»
"A way...!"
«Jonathan!» I exclaimed.
«That's right. He's the one who suggested to Sam that Jen should hold the curse during the duel, remember? He got the Demon card, which gave him some bargaining power. He also realised that he could hide his card, even though he didn't seem as clever as someone like Celeste!»
«And since he wasn't in either group, he would have less scruples about working against us!» I concluded for her.
We exchanged a sign of agreement, and we both started running towards the west wing.
«Do you think... he's the one who made Sam kill himself?» I asked, panting a little.
«It could be... maybe he has some kind of mind control power! We should be careful. But... Elizabeth... what if there are multiple traitors? What if Jonathan just paved the way for the mole in our alliance to act?» Sophia asked as we darted through the entrance hall.
I could only remain silent at this question. Until now, we had assumed that there was only one student working with Skylark. I had never considered the possibility that there might be two.
"But if that's the case... we'll just get Jonathan to sing for us," I thought, clutching mywand with such force that it hurt.
When we reached the west wing, we started looking at the room plaques to find his name.
It was like walking through a graveyard as we passed the bedrooms of so many dead people. It only took us about three minutes to find his.
Jonathan Von Basque
The door was closed, and when I tried to put my hand on the handle, I found that the magical defences had been reactivated after the end of the game. But of course that wouldn't stop us.
I readied my wand as Sophia unsheathed her sword. In a flash, she sliced through the door's hinges and gave it a kick. As the door fell forward, I half expected Jonathan to scream in horror and fire a spell at us, but after it slammed to the floor with a huge BAM, the room remained silent.
«Jonathan, we know you're in there, come out!» I shouted, pointing my wand at the dark entrance of the room.
No response. Suddenly, a terrible sense of foreboding gripped me.
«Light,» I murmured.
A little ball of flame lit up in front of my wand and floated into Jonathan's room.
That's when we saw him.
Jonathan Von Basque was hanging from the ceiling. When the light shone on his face, we saw that it had turned a shade of purple, and his eyes looked as if they were about to pop out of their sockets.
My mouth opened in a silent scream as I realised that the man I'd thought would give us some answers would never speak again.