Chapter Forty-One

There had been a secret pathway in the tower all along! Somehow, part of her was frustrated at herself for not realising this sooner. The tower had always seemed bigger from the outside. Whenever she was inside, it seemed so small, like there were more rooms that she could not see. Now, a secret room had appeared in front of her.

She stopped in front of the secret pathway, lips pursed and mind in full concentration. She would have to explore it, and find out what was inside. For some reason, she refused to believe that she was put here because there weren't any other dormitories in Ravenspire. There had to be a reason. A reason that involved Gabriel.

She was about to step foot into the pathway when the events that happened in the other tower struck her. Feeling silly, she backtracked to her room and took her phone with her, then returned to the secret pathway. She clicked the phone flashlight on and the steps lit up before her. The battery was full.

She descended the stairs step by step, her lungs filling with short breaths. The air in the pathway was stale and there was a thick layer of dust in the air. It was certain that it had been way too long since someone used the pathway. She continued to descend, and descend, and descend.

Until she stopped in her tracks. She breathed heavily, tired from the exercise. She tapped on her phone and it woke.

Three hours had already passed!

What? Three hours? How could that be? How far down did this pathway go? Why were there three hours worth of stairs? And she had not even reached the bottom! It didn't make any sense. What kind of wizardry was this?

But she continued to descend. And descend. And descend. The next time she clicked her phone on again, it told her that another hour had passed. Her forehead was slick with perspiration, and she was tired.

That was it. She had to make a tough decision right then and there. It was too late to continue and she did not want to be trapped somewhere when her stomach was growling and she had yet to eat her first meal of the day. She had to be more prepared next time, and so she turned back and ascended the stairs.

When she reached, it was past midnight and she could hardly feel her feet. She pried her shoes from them and they were red with blood underneath her skin. She sighed, completely exhausted from everything. Returning to her room, she ate and drank like she had been starved for years. Then she went to sleep, but not before she set an alarm for early morning.

By the time she had woken up again, the sky was still dark and she began preparing for another trip down the secret pathway. She packed a bag full of drink and water, including several other necessities. When everything was ready, she played the melody on the piano again and the pathway opened up.

She descended the stairs. And this time, she did that for well over 6 hours. But there was no end in sight. The tower seemed like it had a life of its own, like it had been enchanted with a curse. She continued to descend until another hour was up and she couldn't go any further. So she turned back and ascended the stairs.

But while she ascended, something weird happened. She was at the third hour when out of nowhere, the steps ended in a wall. She put her hand on it and pushed, but nothing happened. She was sure she did not take any turns and only went back where she came from, but there was this wall. She descended again, before ascending once more and this time, the path was clear.

But when she ascended to the fifth hour, the steps split into a crossroad. There were two sets of stairs in front of her, even though there had been no such thing before. She wracked her brain on the stop, wondering which set of stairs to take when she decided to take the one on the left. She ascended and finally, the pathway opened back up to the familiar area outside her room.

When she was about to sleep that night, she couldn't take her mind off what happened in the pathway. It made utterly no sense. Was the tower alive? How could it change like that? Was there some sort of alchemy, some sort of sorcery?

The next morning, she awoke, determination firm and motivations high. She prepared well again and this time, took multiple spools of string with her. She taped one to the outside of the pathway, then descended the stairs. She would not get lost again.

She sped up this time as she descended the stairs. One hour passed, two, three, six, seven. She attached the ends of the spools of wire with more spools of wire and it unwound and unwound until finally she hit her ninth hour and ran out of wire. She put it on the ground, stared at it blankly for a while before she decided she was going to move forward.

She continued to descend. Then she hit her tenth hour.

She laid her foot on the final step, her flashlight opening up to flat ground before her.

She was at the bottom.

She moved forward, her phone flashlight in her hands. It was a tunnel that opened up to darkness. Her footsteps echoed off the wall and as she approached the other end of the tunnel, she began to hear disturbing noises.

Sounds like grinding, squishing. Like someone was cooking minced meat.

She continued walking, and her flashlight hit a metal cage that separated her from the other side. The sounds were very loud now and she had no idea where they were coming from -

Then she dropped her flashlight down.

Crouched on the floor was a haggard naked body, spine showing against the skin on its back. It was twisting, turning and twitching. Its hands were also moving, moving towards its mouth.

Its head snapped back, and the child stared at Lucianne with beady eyes that were all black. She looked feral, with her dirty hair frizzing everywhere as she shoved pile after pile of dirt into her mouth and chewed. She bared her fangs and hissed at her.

Lucianne froze on the spot.

Then the child began to sprint towards her on all fours.