CHAPTER 6: THE MAP BENEATH BLACKTHORNE
1081 Words
Rain hammered against the dorm windows while Lyra stared at the map in her trembling hands.
COME ALONE BEFORE MIDNIGHT.
The words seemed darker every time she read them.
Sera paced nervously across the room.
“You are absolutely not going.”
Lyra looked up.
“And if this is connected to my mother?”
“It’s obviously a trap!”
Nova sat on the desk spinning a pen between her fingers.
“It’s definitely a trap,” she agreed casually.
Sera pointed dramatically at her.
“Thank you!”
Nova shrugged.
“I didn’t say she shouldn’t go.”
Sera nearly lost her mind.
“What is wrong with both of you?!”
Lyra looked back down at the map.
A hidden route stretched beneath the academy grounds. Red ink circled an area labeled EAST TUNNELS.
The same place Nova mentioned earlier.
The same place where Locker 316 supposedly used to exist.
Her pulse quickened.
Every strange thing happening since she arrived seemed connected to those tunnels.
To her mother.
To The Circle.
And somehow…
To Caius Mercer.
“I need answers,” Lyra said quietly.
“You need survival instincts,” Sera argued.
Nova hopped off the desk.
“She’s going anyway.”
Lyra sighed.
“Probably.”
Sera covered her face dramatically.
“I’m going to die from stress before graduation.”
A loud c***k of thunder shook the room.
The lights flickered briefly again.
Everyone froze.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then Nova narrowed her eyes slightly.
“Do you guys smell smoke?”
Lyra sniffed the air carefully.
Faint.
But there.
Something burning.
Sera noticed it too.
“Oh no.”
Suddenly alarms exploded through the hallway.
Students shouted outside.
The dorm door burst open and several girls ran past screaming.
“Fire!”
Lyra rushed toward the hallway immediately.
Smoke drifted through the corridor ceiling near the far stairwell while teachers yelled instructions at students.
“It’s the science wing!”
“Move quickly!”
Panic spread instantly.
Students crowded the stairs trying to escape the smoke.
Nova cursed softly.
“That’s not accidental.”
Lyra looked at her sharply.
“You think someone started it?”
Nova gave her a look.
“At this point? Obviously.”
Another loud alarm rang through the academy.
But beneath the noise…
Lyra heard something else.
A whisper.
Very faint.
“Lyra…”
Her body went still.
That voice again.
Soft.
Female.
Familiar.
She turned quickly.
Nothing.
Only frightened students rushing through the hallway.
“Did you hear that?” she asked quietly.
Sera looked confused.
“Hear what?”
Nova studied Lyra carefully now.
“You okay?”
Before Lyra could answer, the emergency lights suddenly turned red.
Not normal red.
Dark red.
The hallway became bathed in bloody light.
Then every alarm stopped at once.
Silence crashed over the academy.
Students froze.
Teachers looked confused.
And over the speaker system, a distorted voice echoed softly:
“Welcome back.”
Fear swept through the hallway instantly.
Several students screamed.
The voice continued.
“Locker 316 is waiting.”
Then the speakers died completely.
Silence.
Nobody moved for several seconds.
Finally one teacher shouted,
“Everyone back to your dorms now!”
Students obeyed immediately.
Fear controlled Blackthorne Academy now.
Real fear.
Back inside Room 217, Sera locked the door three times.
“I officially hate this school,” she announced.
Nova sat near the window thoughtfully.
“Someone hijacked the school system.”
Lyra placed the map carefully onto the bed.
“You think it’s The Circle?”
Nova’s expression darkened slightly.
“I think The Circle wants you underground.”
Sera looked horrified again.
“Please stop saying underground like we’re in a horror movie.”
Too late.
This already felt like one.
Lyra studied the old photograph again.
Her mother standing beside the boy who looked exactly like Caius.
The similarity was impossible to ignore now.
Same eyes.
Same face.
Same expression.
Unless…
An uncomfortable thought entered her mind.
Twins?
Brothers?
No.
Something else felt wrong.
She grabbed her phone quickly and searched Caius Mercer online.
Almost every result connected him to the Mercer family empire.
Rich.
Powerful.
Untouchable.
Then she found an article from years ago.
THE MERCER FAMILY TRAGEDY.
Lyra opened it immediately.
Her breath caught.
A black-and-white family photograph appeared.
Mr. and Mrs. Mercer standing beside two young boys.
Twins.
One was clearly Caius.
The other—
Looked exactly like him.
The caption underneath read:
CAIUS AND KAEL MERCER, AGE 8.
Lyra frowned.
Kael Mercer.
The article continued.
The younger twin, Kael Mercer, died in a drowning accident at Blackthorne Academy nearly ten years ago.
Her stomach twisted.
Died at Blackthorne.
Suddenly the photograph from the envelope made horrifying sense.
The boy beside her mother was not Caius.
It was Kael.
The dead twin.
“What?” Nova asked, noticing Lyra’s expression.
Lyra slowly turned the phone toward them.
Sera’s eyes widened instantly.
“Oh my God.”
Nova leaned closer.
“Well,” she muttered. “That’s deeply disturbing.”
Lyra looked back at the old photograph.
Her mother knew Kael Mercer.
Maybe closely.
Maybe dangerously closely.
And if Kael died at Blackthorne…
Maybe his death was connected to everything happening now.
Another thought hit her suddenly.
“What if Kael didn’t drown?”
Nova looked at her carefully.
“You think he was killed?”
Lyra remembered the message written on Julian’s shirt.
SHE REMEMBERS NOW.
Maybe someone believed Lyra knew the truth already.
Even if she didn’t.
A soft buzz interrupted the room.
Lyra’s phone again.
Unknown Number.
Her pulse jumped.
She opened the message carefully.
TICK TOCK.
Then another appeared instantly.
COME BEFORE THEY STOP YOU.
Attached beneath it—
A live photograph.
Taken outside Room 217.
Just seconds ago.
Sera gasped loudly.
Nova rushed toward the door immediately and yanked it open.
The hallway outside was empty.
Completely empty.
But near the floor sat something small.
A silver key.
Nova picked it up carefully.
Numbers engraved on it.
316.
The room went silent.
Sera whispered shakily,
“There’s no locker 316…”
Nova slowly looked up.
“Maybe there used to be.”
Lyra stared at the key in Nova’s hand.
Then at the map.
Then at the clock on the wall.
11:26 PM.
Almost midnight.
A terrible feeling settled inside her chest.
Something was waiting for her beneath Blackthorne Academy.
Something that already knew her name.
And somehow…
It had been waiting a very long time.
- Writer
