Demigods at Rookwood

Chapter 13

Ivy

The girl sat smiling, in the middle of the room, surrounded by candles. She was as pale as a ghost.

Before I could stop myself, I screamed.

I slammed my hands over my mouth, realising what I had done. If anyone heard me..

The girl stood up, and started walking towards us.

I backed away, holding the candle out in front of me, like it would protect me.

Scarlet's eyes were wide and Ariadne was staring in horror. The exchange students didn't seem too worried. In fact, they looked like they'd seen worse.

Then my twin held out her hand.

We all froze, fixated on what was happening. I dropped the candle, which fizzled out.

The girl took Scarlet's hand.
"She's real," Scarlet whispered.

The air rushed out of my lungs like a reverse vacuum cleaner.
Not a ghost. There's no such thing as ghosts.

"H-Hello?" Said Ariadne, taking a step forward. The girl just nodded at her.

"Hi" said Hazel to the girl. She smiled at the girl. The girl's smile seemed to grow wider slightly, but she still wasn't talking.

I tried to steady my heartbeat and looked around the mysterious room. The girl had the most beautiful long blonde hair, but it was bedraggled, like it hadn't been brushed for a while. She was wearing a jumper and a dress that both looked a bit too big on her.

The room she was in was bare except for the candles, a makeshift bed that was in the corner of the room, and old trunk, and....

"Scarlet" I said. "Look"

My twin's eyes followed mine to the back wall.

"Oh my..."

Above an old tapestry that was heaped on the floor, the wall was full of writing, the words going from the bottom of the wall all the way up to the the ceiling.
Every second line was written in weird looking symbols, that looked almost like something I'd seen before, but couldn't understand.

"Did she do that?" Asked Ariadne grabbing my arm.
The girl just stared, with seemingly cautious eyes.

Part of me wanted desperately to look, but the other, much bigger part of me, desperately wanted to turn and run.
"We need to get out of here" I said, tugging my twin's sleeve. "We need to tell someone about this" I looked back  at the exchange students.
Neither my twin nor the exchange students were budging. They were looking at the wall and the writing and taking in the words. Even Ariadne was also still and unmoving, looking dumbstruck.

This is all wrong, I thought. If I had to drag my sister and the exchange students out of there one by one, then I would. Who knew who or what this girl was or what she was capable of...

The girl shot out her arm and pointed at me. Her eyes bored into me like she was reading into the depths of my soul.

I couldn't stand anymore of this. But as I turned to run..

I smacked into Violet for the second time.

"No!" She cried out. "No, no NO! You're not supposed to... this is..."

I stumbled backwards, while Violet backed up into the doorway. Before I could even think, she burst in to tears.

"V-Violet?" Said Ariadne.
"Violet?" Said Reyna.
"Violet?" Said Scarlet.
"Violet!" Whispered the strange girl.