The hallway was empty when Elias returned the next afternoon.
That alone was strange.
Blackwood Academy was never truly quiet not even after last period. There were always echoes of footsteps, distant laughter, doors closing somewhere far away. But today, the silence felt deliberate, like the school was holding something back.
Mara arrived a minute later.
"You came," she said softly.
"I said I would."
She smiled at that,not wide, not dramatic. Just enough to warm the cold air between them.
The Closed for Renovation sign still hung crookedly on the wall. Elias reached for the door before he could change his mind.
The handle was warm.
He froze.
"Do you feel that?" Mara whispered.
He nodded. The hum surged through him, stronger than ever. It wasn't painful but it wasn't gentle either. It felt like recognition.
The door opened without a sound.
The room beyond shouldn't have existed.
From the outside, the wing ended here. From the inside, the space stretched far wider than the building allowed. Tall shelves curved upward into shadows, filled with old books, artifacts, and objects Elias didn't have names for. Symbols glowed faintly along the walls, pulsing in time with his heartbeat.
Mara stepped in slowly. "This isn't… normal."
"No," Elias said. "It's familiar."
That realization unsettled him most of all.
As soon as he crossed the threshold, the hum settled no longer chaotic, but focused. The symbols brightened. One of the shelves shifted, sliding aside to reveal a narrow desk at the center of the room.
On it lay a single book.
Its cover was dark, unmarked
Except for a symbol etched in silver.
The same symbol Elias had been drawing absentmindedly for years without knowing why.
Mara looked at him sharply. "You've seen that before."
He swallowed. "Yes."
The book opened on its own.
Pages flipped, stopping at a single line written in careful script:
"Those who listen will be answered."
The room exhaled.
Elias felt it then
Not just around him, but inside him. A pressure behind his ribs, steady and powerful, like something had finally found the right place to rest.
"I think…" he began, then stopped. Words felt inadequate.
Mara moved closer, close enough that he could feel the warmth of her presence. Not overwhelming. Grounding.
"You don't have to explain," she said. "Just don't shut me out."
He looked at her then,really looked. The way her eyes stayed calm even as the impossible unfolded. The way she chose to stand beside him instead of stepping back.
"I'm scared," he admitted quietly.
She didn't laugh. Didn't dismiss it.
"Me too," she said. "But I think this place has been waiting for you."
"For us," Elias corrected before he could stop himself.
Her breath caught—just slightly.
"Then we'll face it together."
The symbols along the walls flared once, brighter than before, as if in agreement.
Somewhere deep within Blackwood Academy, something ancient shifted.
The school had opened its first door.
And it would not be the last.
*End of the chapter*