The clock ticked slowly past midnight, and a restless silence settled over Veil High as Ava sat in her room, feeling the pull of something powerful yet unnameable beneath the surface. She couldn’t shake the vision of the hidden passage, the dark corridors she’d glimpsed in fragments. It was as if the walls of the school were calling to her, whispering secrets she was meant to uncover. Every creak and rustle in the empty hallway made her skin prickle with anticipation.
After hours of indecision, she finally rose from her bed, her heart pounding. She wrapped herself in a dark cloak, hoping it would keep her concealed in the shadows. She slipped out of her room and crept down the quiet corridors, each step amplifying the silence around her. She moved swiftly, retracing her steps to the forgotten door she’d seen in her vision, hidden behind a heavy tapestry at the far end of the school.
When she reached it, she hesitated. The air around the door was thick and still, like it hadn’t been disturbed for years. Gathering her courage, Ava pushed it open, revealing a narrow staircase spiraling downward. The air grew colder with each step, carrying a faint, earthy scent that reminded her of old, forgotten tombs.
She descended into the darkness, her eyes adjusting to the dim glow of ancient torches lining the walls, their light casting eerie, flickering shadows that danced around her. The deeper she went, the more the passage seemed to twist, as though the walls themselves were alive, guiding her deeper into the heart of Veil High’s hidden history.
At last, Ava reached the bottom of the staircase, where a massive door awaited her. It was carved with symbols she recognized from her dreams and visions—the same intricate patterns she’d seen in the hidden chamber and in the journal she’d found. They seemed to pulse faintly, as though charged with a strange energy. She took a steadying breath and pushed the door open.
The room before her was immense, more of a cavern than a chamber, filled with relics that seemed to hum with an unseen power. Statues lined the walls, each one depicting a figure cloaked in shadows, their faces carved with expressions of solemn purpose. In the center of the room stood a large, circular stone altar, etched with symbols of the founders—figures who had built the school on something deeper than stone and brick.
Ava stepped forward, her eyes roaming over ancient artifacts displayed in glass cases. There were faded scrolls, books with cracked spines, amulets bearing unfamiliar symbols, and paintings of scenes from a time long forgotten. Her fingers brushed over a small dagger encased in glass, its blade glinting even in the low light. As she touched the glass, a faint image flickered in her mind—a ritual of some kind, blood binding two figures together. The image vanished, leaving her fingers tingling.
Drawn by an unexplainable force, she wandered deeper into the chamber, where a large, ornate mirror stood in an alcove. The mirror’s frame was gilded with intricate carvings of ivy and roses, a strange, almost unsettling beauty that demanded her attention. She approached it slowly, her reflection growing clearer as she came near. But as she looked closer, Ava realized that the reflection was wrong—this was no ordinary mirror.
In its glassy depths, she saw herself in the same cloak she wore now, surrounded by the members of the Circle of Shadows. They were all standing in a circle, their faces shadowed yet familiar. Kael was beside her, his face drawn in concentration, and to her left was another figure—Ethan, his eyes narrowed with distrust. Behind them, Lila’s gaze was distant, wary. But what unsettled her most was the unfamiliar figure that lingered on the edge of the vision, a face half-hidden in shadow.
In the reflection, Ava was performing a ritual, her voice chanting words she couldn’t recognize, yet she could feel the power of them vibrating through her body. The mirror seemed to pull her into the vision, surrounding her with the scene until she felt as if she were there, reliving the moment. As her reflection continued the ritual, she felt her heartbeat slow, her senses sharpening. She saw herself drawing a knife from the altar and turning to the group, each of them watching her with an intensity that bordered on reverence.
Then, the vision shifted, and her attention was drawn to the figure who had been standing in the shadows. The stranger’s face grew clearer, and Ava’s heart sank as she recognized the expression of betrayal etched across their features. The figure stepped forward, revealing a silver mark on their hand—a mark that glowed faintly, mirroring the symbols on the chamber’s altar. The light seemed to swell, overtaking the image in the mirror, until all Ava could see was a blinding glow.
The vision shattered, and Ava stumbled back from the mirror, her breathing ragged. Her fingers gripped the edge of a nearby display case as she steadied herself, heart pounding with a mixture of fear and exhilaration. She tried to shake off the feeling of the ritual, the weight of betrayal that had hung in the air.
As the echoes of the vision faded, she became acutely aware of how silent the chamber was. The shadows seemed to close in around her, pressing in on her as if they, too, had witnessed the vision in the mirror. She knew that what she’d seen was more than just a vision—it was a warning, a glimpse into something that was yet to come.
Ava stepped away from the mirror, trying to make sense of what she had seen. The ritual, the group around her, the mark of betrayal—it was all woven into the secrets of Veil High, secrets she was only beginning to unravel. The figure in the vision, with their gaze heavy with betrayal, had been someone she trusted, someone close. She couldn’t shake the feeling that the mirror had shown her a piece of the truth, a truth hidden deep within the school’s foundations, waiting to be uncovered.
With one last glance around the chamber, Ava slipped out, retracing her steps back through the dark corridors and up the winding staircase. The air seemed thicker, heavier as she ascended, and by the time she reached the surface, the first light of dawn was casting a faint glow over the school grounds.
As she returned to her dorm, slipping inside quietly, she felt the weight of the night’s discoveries settle over her. She knew that whatever she had seen was only the beginning, a warning of what lay ahead. The Circle of Shadows, the betrayal in the mirror, the ritual she was destined to perform—they were all pieces of a larger puzzle, one she was now irrevocably tied to.
Collapsing onto her bed, she closed her eyes, her mind spinning with questions she couldn’t yet answer. She knew she would return to the passage below, drawn by the call of the secrets it held, even as she felt herself slipping further into the shadows that surrounded Veil High.
YOU ARE READING
Secrets of Veil High: The Awakening (BOOK 2)
Fantasy"Those who seek the truth must be willing to face the darkness."
