Just let me sleep!

Chapter 17

Chapter 17 : Beneath the silence

___________________________

The fire had burned low by the time the children had all fallen asleep.

Or so I'd thought.

I carefully eased Elen's head down onto the table. Her breath was steady, shallow. But she wasn't dead. Around me, the others were sprawled like forgotten toys, half-slumped in chairs, plates still warm, voices still echoing faintly in my ears like a memory that didn't belong here.

But none of them stirred.

Not even once.

I hadn't touched the food. Not because I was cautious, I wanted to try it, but because something about the feast had felt... too perfect, almost too prepared. Like the test that had been waiting for us, and now the silence was the evidence.

Then there were footsteps, measured, not hurried, echoing the room with practised calm.

Willard walked slightly alongside the table, surveying the bodies like he was inspecting an art installation. Cold grey eyes scanned the room before landing, unfortunately, on me once again.

"Well." He said flatly.  "You're not dead, almost disappointing."

I exhaled through my nose. "Give it time."

"I assume you didn't eat anything." He raised a brow.

"No." I replied, my fingers brushing Elen's wrist, checking her pulse again just to be sure.

"Hm. Neither did I."

"Of course you didn't." I met his gaze. "Would've required trust."

He smirked, the corner of his mouth barely twitching. "You say that like it's a flaw."

I didn't answer. What was the point anyway?

The tension snapped only when hurried footsteps echoed down the stairs, followed by a voice I already regretted recognising.

"Wait, am I late?" Alex practically tripped into the room, his red hair tousled like he'd lost a fight with the wind. He froze mid-step as his eyes landed on the scattered bodies. "Okay. Not what I expected."

He jogged toward me, slowing down only when he saw Elen. "Is she..?"

"She's breathing." I said.

His hand reached toward the table. "The food.."

"Don't." Willard and I said in unison.

Alex froze, one eyebrow lifting. "Right. Got it. Poisoned feast, a good old-fashioned magical trap. Totally normal."

"They're not dead." I added quietly.

Alex looked around, then leaned in, whispering to me. "So... do we, like, call someone? Go get help?"

"Doors sealed when the last one dropped." Willards scoffed, meaning Alex walking here, as he pointed toward the thick stairs now flush with the stone wall. "No way out. No windows either."

[When did the stairs seal? I didn't hear a thing.]

"Wait." Alex frowned. "So we're trapped?"

"Looks like it." I mumbled.

"Not quite." Willard murmured, crouching near the hearth of the table now, fingers tracing the outline of a tile. "There's a residual aether signature here. The kind used in containment magic."

"I don't speak cryptic." Alex crossed his arms.

"He means it's not just a sleep spell." I said. "Something's keeping them like this."

The silver-haired boy nodded without looking at us. "There's another layer, something like a hold."

As if on cue, the embers in the lanterns flared, not red, but deeper blue. Cold fire. An unnatural wind curled through the room, and the tiles beneath the table glowed faintly, symbols emerging like frost on glass.

"What is that?" Alex asked, letting his hands down to his sides, taking a step closer to me.

"A runic lock." Willard spoke as he slowly stood, dusting his palms. "Buried beneath the feast. Of course."

He walked over to one of the stone pillars and ran his hand along its base. The runes flickered brighter.

"This was never a dining hall." He said. "It was a vault."

A dull click echoed through the room. One of the walls near the pillar slid aside with a soft grind, revealing a narrow pathway leading into shadows. The kind of darkness that felt alive.

"A secret exit?" Alex asked.

The silver-haired boy didn't answer. He was already moving toward it, conjuring a pale orb of flames above his palm. It hovered beside him like a second eye. Magic.

"I don't like this." Alex said, glancing back at Elen and the others. "We're just leaving them? Are we going to be buried or sacrificed? "

"We're not leaving." I said. "We're looking for a way to bring them back."

"I'm going." Willard said, stepping further into darkness. "You can stay here and wait for the spell to claim you too, if you'd rather."

He didn't wait for a response.

[Arrogant jerk.]

Alex looked at me with an uncertain look in his eyes. "Theo...?"

"I'm not letting him be the only one who figures this out." I muttered.

I laid Elen's wrist gently down and followed the silver-haired boy down into the darkness.

Alex, grumbled something about hating tight spaces, before running after us.

The pathway was narrow. The walls closed in tighter with every step. Cold air licked at our skin, heavy with dust and something like a long-forgotten breath waiting to be exhaled. The walls were ribbed with worn stone arches. Our footsteps echoed too loudly.

Alex conjured a flickering orange flame in his hand. It barely lit the space in front of him.

The silver-haired boy's blue flame floated ahead of us like it knew the way.

Eventually, we reached three tunnel path stretching into the shadows. Each one looked just the same.

"We should stick together." Alex said quickly, clutching my sleeve. "And he should go alone."

"That makes no sense." Willard said while crossing his hands.

"It makes perfect sense." Alex snapped.

I sighed. "We'll cover more ground if we split up."

Both of them turned to stare at me.

"Of course you'd say that." Willard said, arching a brow. "More glory for you if you find the way out first."

"More risk but chance to find the clue too." I replied, stepping past him. "Unless you're scared of the dark."

He said nothing. But the look in his eyes was pure challenge.

Alex groaned and lit a second flame. Now, two flames floated on each of his sides. "Fine. But if I die, I'm haunting both of you."

"I'll go left." Willard said, then paused. He extended a finger towards me, and a sliver of his blue flame peeled off and floated towards me. "Try not to die with it, I don't like waste."

And with that, he disappeared into the tunnel.

I stared at the glowing orb. He didn't think I could conjure my own light, but I didn't bother correcting him. Instead, I turned into the tunnel on the right.

The flame followed.