Eternal Fire

Chapter 28

I balanced the books in my arms as I made my way through the library. In no way were they heavy, but my breasts were making the stack uneven, threatening to make them fall. I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket. It was most likely Joseph sending photos of him, Mirio, Kylen, Reggie, Jocelyn, and Azazel enjoying dinner without me. I would have been done with this a lot sooner had the librarian not made me put the large stack of books I had gathered for my research on the school, back in the exact spot I had found them. It took me a little bit to put everything back due to the fact I had gathered over twenty books. I then booked it out of the library to the dinning hall. 

"Quit running," One of the students who became a full warrior yelled at me. "I'm missing dinner," I yelled back, not caring. I'm starving, and I refuse to be away from food any longer. I got my food quickly before sitting at the table. "About time slow poke," Joseph said as he leaned back in his chair, his arm going behind Jocelyn, resting on the back of her chair. I rolled my eyes, "It's not my fault Ms. DuBoise doesn't like me." "She doesn't like anyone," Reggie told me, trying to make me feel better.

"She doesn't like Cleo because she broke one of the tables," Joseph said with a chuckle. I rolled my eyes, "It was an accident. It's not easy controlling this much strength. It's easier to use it than it is to hold back." Our conversation ended when Bella and Daisy came over to our table. Everyone stiffened and gave them cold looks. "Can we help you ladies," Kylen asked them politely. "I came to talk to you," Bella said, looking directly at me. "Privately." Her tone was cold and serious. She wasn't in the mood to mess around, that much was clear. 

"Not happening," Jocelyn said while crossing her arms. I then stood, "Let's go then." "Cleo," Jocelyn said in shock. "She knows what's she doing," Azazel told her. I gave him a soft smile before following her out of the dinning hall. "This better be good if I'm missing dinner," I told the two, while looking about, ensuring we weren't being followed. Neither said anything as we walked down the halls till we got to an older part of the castle. The halls were colder despite the warmer temperatures in the rest of the school. 

"The change in temperature is due to air coming from the under ground tunnels below the school," Daisy explained to me. "They tried many methods to warm this part of the school up, but nothing they tried worked." "We're here," Bella announced, turning to a brick wall. "Tell me, what do you notice?" I looked over the wall, then looked around the rest of the hall. I then looked at the floor by the wall. Like the rest of the school, this hall was filled with art and other wall hangings, but this wall was free of any form of decoration. On the floor in front of it dust and dirt was gathered as if it had fallen off as if it was knocked off. 

"How did you find this," I asked Bella. "I followed one of the new warriors here," She told me. "He's new here and he walked through the school like he knew it like the back of his hand. With all the weird shit going on, I figured you'd want to know. Now come on." She then began to search the wall until there was a click and it opened. 

She gestured, "Warriors first." I pulled my gloves out of my pockets and went to step inside. "And what do you think you're doing," Mirio asked, dropping the shadow veil around him and the rest of my friends. "Waiting for you to drop that veil so we could all go inside," I told him before going in. 

Once we were all inside the door slammed shut behind us, and Daisy made an orb of soft light appear. We walked quietly down the hall till it opened up and three halls appeared. "Everyone, stand back," Bella told us. We did as she asked and a glowing, three dimensional map appeared, "We are here." She said pointing to the glowing cluster of dots. She then pointed to a black dot, "This is the room I followed that warrior into." She then pointed to the yellow stars, "These are entrances around the school. I haven't had the chance to see if any of the Houses have entrances that lead to these tunnels." "When did you have time to find make this map," Jocelyn asked her. "Look, the school has been thrown upside down and soon, your allies will be limited. A darkness will soon be rising and it will take over," Daisy told us instead. "We don't like each other, and that's fine, but you need us," Bella said, while throwing her hair over her shoulder. 

Azazel and I were too busy studying the map as they began to bicker. "What's this," I asked simply, while pointing to the various purple areas. "Parts of the tunnels that had collapsed," Bella replied. "You're not really considering having them join us are you," Kylen asked me. I nodded, "Bella's map gift is handy. Plus we don't have any healers on our side yet. And they're right, we need all the help we can get." 

"What's this," Azazel asked her, pointing to a blue dot. "That is what I was wanting to show Cloe," Bella said. "Although it looks pretty close, it took an hour for me to get from there, to here. So be prepared for a walk." She then eyed the stilettos Jocelyn was wearing and the heeled boots I was wearing. Daisy was wearing a pair of cute Vans and Bella wore a pair of black combat boots. "I'll be fine," I told her as Jocelyn used her magic to change her shoes to a pair of running shoes. "Let's get going, shall we," Jocelyn said with a smirk. 

After walking for an hour we came to a large dome shaped room. It was an armory. Ancient weapons hung on the walls, preserved by magic. Bella then went over to another wall, "This leads to just outside the school walls." She pushed on a brick and it swung open. "Great, we have an escape route if shit goes south, but how are we going to use it if there isn't any tunnels from the Houses," Reggie asked us. "I didn't say there aren't any, I just haven't found them. It took as an hour just to get here, it took me much longer to find this place. It was Daisy who found the escape hatch." "Healers have the ability to sense life, be it people or plants," Daisy explained  to us. "I could sense the forest above us, and it was strongest in that spot." 

"How long do you think it would take you to find them," I asked Bella. "It would be much easier to find the entrances in the Houses than it would be trying to find them from in here. This place is a labyrinth, with so much of it left unexplored," She replied to me. "Did you get a good look at the Warrior who came here," Mirio asked her. "It was that one with the weird accent," She replied. 

"Tilson," We student warriors replied in unison. "So what do we do from here Captain," Azazel asked me. "We begin preparing for shit to go south," I told him then turned Mirio and Kylen. "Think you two can seal the room so that only us and those we trust can enter?" "It'll take some preparation but we can do it," Kylen said while Mirio nodded. I nodded, "We need to find the entrances from the Houses so we can get as many out of here as possible." "Yeah, but once we evacuate, where would we go," Jocelyn asked me. "And how would we get there," Daisy asked next. 

"We can turn the other end of the tunnel into a portal," Mirio answered. "We would need to research into areas we could go," I told them. "We can't do that until we're sure of our allies," Azazel added in. "We don't want to lead everyone into enemy territory on accident." I looked at my watch and began to curse, "We're not gonna make it back to the House before curfew." 

We all ran out of the room, back to the entrance of the tunnels. It was past curfew by the time we got out. "By now they've already checked roll," Kylen said as he looked at his watch. "Anyone got any ideas," Mirio asked. "Yeah, that you all explain yourselves," A voice said, that had us all turning to see Captain Roarick Holmes. Luckily it was Lex and Jeff with him and not Tilson. "Well...." Kylen said, trailing off helplessly. Roarick smirked, "You ladies will have to face your own punishments at your Houses." He said to Jocelyn, Bella, and Daisy. "You lot though, will be given a chance. You have to race each other back to the House. The last one there will be the only one punished." He looked at his watch, "And....Go!" Joseph, Reggie, and Azazel shot out of the hall at top speed. It was between Mirio, Kylen, and I. I had a bad feeling about this. 

Kylen, Mirio, and I were running towards the House when Kylen used a spell to make the ground disappear from under Mirio and I. I let out a scream of surprise as I fell. I groaned when I hit the ground with a thud. Mirio didn't hit the ground through. He was holding on to the edge of the hole and hoisted himself out. I climbed up to my feet and channeled the strength in my legs, before jumping up to catch the edge and pull myself up. I saw Mirio and Kylen running, almost there.  I didn't have the energy to use my strength to propel myself forward, plus it would mess up the ground and I don't want to get into trouble for that. I ran, trying to catch up to them. I noticed the other students in the windows, watching us. I noticed Azazel, Joseph, and Reggie in the doorway. I glared at my boyfriend who had betrayed me. He had the strength to hold me as he shot out of the hall, but no. Instead he left me behind! He will surely be paying for it, I thought as Kylen and Mirio crossed over the threshold of the House. 

"Fuck you guys," I grumbled when I got there. "Especially you." I said while pointing at Azazel who scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "You're the Captain, you got to take one for the team," Joseph said and I rolled my eyes as I began to head for the stairs. Take one for the team, my ass.