Jill Brooks and The Three Runes

Secrets In The Shadows

Jill's heart thudded loudly in her chest as she and Maria stepped deeper into Miss Nettleberry's classroom. The air inside felt thick, almost as if the room itself was holding its breath. The silence was suffocating, and every creak of the floor beneath their feet echoed loudly in the empty space.

Miss Nettleberry's desk stood at the front of the room like a stern sentinel, untouched since her disappearance. Jill could almost picture her sitting there, her sharp eyes watching every move they made, waiting to catch them breaking one of her many rules.

"This place gives me the creeps," Maria whispered, her eyes darting around the room. "It's like she's still here, watching us."

Jill nodded, feeling the same uneasy sensation crawling up her spine. But they couldn't let fear stop them. They had to find out if Miss Nettleberry had left anything behind that could help them. Something had to explain the relics and why Mr. Thorne was so desperate to get his hands on them.

"Let's start with her desk," Jill said, her voice hushed.

The two of them moved cautiously toward the front of the room. Jill reached out and gently opened one of the desk drawers. It slid open with a soft creak, revealing a neatly organized collection of pens, paperclips, and other ordinary school supplies. Nothing unusual.

"Anything?" Maria asked, peeking over Jill's shoulder.

"Not yet," Jill replied, moving on to the next drawer. This one was filled with old notebooks, their pages yellowed with age. She flipped through them quickly, but they all seemed to be lesson plans and attendance records—nothing that hinted at magic or hidden relics.

They worked in silence for several minutes, searching through the drawers and shelves, but found nothing out of the ordinary. Jill's frustration grew with each passing second.

"Maybe we're looking in the wrong place," Maria said after a while, glancing nervously at the door. "What if she didn't keep anything important in here?"

Jill didn't want to admit it, but she was starting to wonder the same thing. Miss Nettleberry had been strict, but she was also smart. If she had known about the relics and the danger they posed, she wouldn't have left anything so obvious in her desk for just anyone to find.

"There has to be something," Jill muttered, her eyes scanning the room. "We're missing something. Think about it—Miss Nettleberry was a witch, right? She wouldn't just leave important magical stuff lying around."

Maria wrinkled her nose. "You mean, like... hidden?"

Jill nodded slowly. "Exactly. Maybe she used magic to hide it. We have to think like her."

Maria looked skeptical, but she followed Jill's lead as they began searching the room with fresh eyes, looking for anything that seemed out of place. They checked behind the chalkboard, under the desks, even inside the cupboards. But everything looked as ordinary as ever.

Jill's frustration was reaching its peak when she suddenly noticed something strange about one of the walls near the back of the room. It wasn't much, just a slight difference in the paint, as if a section of the wall had been repainted more recently than the rest.

"Hey, come look at this," Jill said, waving Maria over.

Maria frowned as she joined Jill by the wall. "What is it?"

Jill reached out and touched the wall, running her fingers over the smooth surface. "This part of the wall looks different. Like it's been covered up."

Maria's eyes widened. "Do you think it's hiding something?"

"Only one way to find out," Jill said, pulling a ruler out of her backpack. She carefully tapped the ruler against the wall, listening for any hollow sounds. When she reached the middle of the section that looked different, the sound changed—it was faint, but it was definitely hollow behind the wall.

"There's something behind here," Jill whispered, her excitement growing.

"How do we get to it?" Maria asked, looking around as if expecting the wall to suddenly open on its own.

Jill bit her lip. They couldn't exactly knock down the wall, but maybe there was another way. She stepped back and examined the area more closely. Her eyes landed on a small crack near the bottom of the wall, almost invisible unless you were looking for it.

"Look!" she said, crouching down to inspect the crack. "It's like a hidden panel or something."

Maria knelt beside her, her eyes wide. "Do you think you can open it?"

Jill nodded. "I think so."

She slid her fingers into the crack and gave the panel a gentle tug. At first, nothing happened, but then the panel shifted slightly, revealing a narrow gap. Jill pulled harder, and the panel slowly slid open with a soft grinding sound.

Behind the panel was a small, dusty compartment. And inside, resting on a velvet cloth, was a thick, leather-bound book.

Jill's heart skipped a beat as she reached inside and carefully lifted the book out. It was old—very old—and the cover was embossed with strange symbols she didn't recognize.

Maria gasped. "Is that...?"

"I think so," Jill whispered, brushing the dust off the cover. "It must be Miss Nettleberry's."

The book felt heavy in her hands, as though it held secrets far too powerful for an ordinary person to handle. Jill hesitated for a moment, her mind racing with thoughts of what the book might contain. But they had come this far—they couldn't turn back now.

She opened the book to the first page, and her eyes widened as she saw the writing. It wasn't in English. In fact, it wasn't in any language she recognized. The letters were strange, looping symbols that seemed to twist and shimmer on the page, almost as if they were alive.

"Can you read it?" Maria asked, peering over her shoulder.

Jill shook her head. "No... but I think this is it. This is what we were looking for."

Maria's eyes were wide with wonder. "Do you think it has something to do with the relics?"

"I'm sure of it," Jill said, her voice barely above a whisper. "This is Miss Nettleberry's book of magic."

Just as the words left her mouth, a sudden noise echoed through the empty classroom—the sound of footsteps approaching from the hallway.

Jill and Maria froze, their hearts pounding in unison.

Someone was coming.

Jill quickly shoved the book into her backpack and closed the hidden panel, her hands shaking with fear. They had to get out—fast.

Without a word, the two girls hurried toward the door, slipping out of the classroom just as the footsteps grew louder. They darted down the hallway, their hearts racing, not daring to look back.

As they ran, Jill couldn't shake the feeling that they had just uncovered something far more dangerous than they had ever imagined.

And now, they weren't the only ones who knew about it.