Leuthold Preparatory | ✓

Chapter Five

The Theater

Mi Na was helpful in explaining the rules, more helpful than Liam who told him to refer to his handbook, which was, by itself, less helpful than Liam. 

Noah ended up with Mi Na in the grand library stacking books and holding carts in place for her as she explained:

"You can't do things when most students will be out and about. You can't mop the floor when students will be around--safety hazard or something. You can't really do much of anything. Which means that you won't be getting any sleep tonight."

Noah had sighed at the idea. He was brutally low on energy, his knees felt as though they were rattling. Without his phone, he couldn't help but fret what his mother was doing. By the time night rolled around and those that were punished remained on campus (which was only four of them, including Noah), he was nearly grateful to climb the steps and find a mop and bucket waiting for him. It even looked unhappy to see him, but he guessed that it was better than staring at his darkened ceiling and fretting what his parents were cursing him with.

He had never mopped a floor in his life. He had a maid that came once a week, when he was a child, he had helped her with her cleaning; now he saw that she was only letting him play with her and that he was only making a bigger mess as each time he swept the mop along the ground, it left strange lines and he frowned deeper at each pass.

There was a church bell nearby, Noah realized partway into his mopping of the corridor. He could hear it ring every hour. He was losing even more hope when each hour ticked by and he grew more and more tired until it was so hard to focus on his task he didn't know whether or not he was doing well. He thought he was getting pretty good at mopping the further down the hallway he went, seeing the marble shining in the moonlight and low burn of the lights that were mounted to the ceiling high above him.

Noah turned down a hall and saw nothing but a single set of doors at the end. The hall was short and labeled "Mitte Rechts" in bold letters that spread across the doors, breaking only where the word did. He huffed as he realized that this was the hall Mi Na had meant all along. He had left his blazer in the last corridor, his shirt sticking to his chest and back as he pulled his mop and bucket along towards the doors, he had learned that it was easier not to walk through his own mopping only minutes ago.

He had scrunched the water out of the mop, a disgusting task that made him curl his nose at the sight of the dirtied water that he then was supposed to spread on the floor. He did not place his mop on the ground, however, hearing the stroke of piano keys inside sidetracked him.

Noah checked his watch on his left wrist and saw that it was past two in the morning, the moonlight streaming in through the cross-iron windows on either side of him. He leaned closer to the doors; he was a bit startled as he confirmed that he was hearing music, a slow rhythm of piano notes. He recognized it as the same tune Liam had been humming.

In his curiosity, Noah carefully turned the elegant handle to one of the doors, hearing it open silently, he looked inside to see that he was indeed looking into the balcony of a theater. Red, velvet seats were darkened by the night, a single skylight streamed in the moonlight far above, all that filled the air was the soft tune that was being played.

Noah left his bucket and walked further inside, stopping as he heard a voice begin to sing. It was beautiful and distant, he could hardly make out words but heard the singer stop and swear. 

Noah heard a small clang on the keys before the tune started back up again, solidly playing again and he began to approach the edge of the balcony, keeping low as it seemed that someone was rehearsing but Noah had thought he was the only student left in the entire castle.