What Lies Below

“I’m bored.” 

Isabelle’s freckled face pops into view, blocking the textbook in my hands. 

“Personal space.” I remind the tall blonde, craning my neck backward to create some distance between our faces. She giggles softly at my reaction but backs up. 

“Let’s do something!” The tone in her voice gives the simple suggestion a whole new meaning; something I’m quite used to when it comes to Isabelle.

“It’s raining...” I reply, knowing damn well that’s not what she meant. 

She scoffs, her button nose scrunching in mock annoyance. “Not outside!” She crosses her arms neatly across her chest. “I meant, like, do something here in the school.” 

I close the book in my hands slowly, unsure of what to expect next and half-afraid to inquire. Isabelle is good for crazy, half-baked ideas that usually get us into trouble.

“Okay...what then?” I dare to ask.

She positions herself at the edge of my bed, long legs propped up over the wooden posts. 

“Let’s go down into the old dungeons.” She dares, green eyes twinkling with mischief. 

Now I’m intrigued. 

I sit up, tossing the leather-bound book I’d been studying to the side. It thuds heavily onto the duvet. “I’m in. But...how are we getting past the enchantments?” I question, thinking to the large double-doors guarding the entryway. Knowing Lady Lomavès, they’ll be difficult to penetrate.

“Well, I’ve been doing some research...and I think I found the spell they used to lock up the passageway, which also gave me a counter spell to undo it.” She hardly misses a beat with her response, clearly anticipating that I’d ask. 

Isabelle pulls a folded piece of paper from her pocket and hands it over. She watches impatiently as I skim over the lines. 

“And this’ll work?”I glance back up toward my best friend. Her face mirrors my excitement. 

“I don’t see why not.” She shrugs. 

“Well then...” I stand, straightening my skirt. 

“Let’s do this.”

————————————————

“We should’ve probably tried that spell before we came down here.” I observe, watching as Isabelle fumbles clumsily with the lock. After several failed attempts to open it magically, she’s now attempting to pick the keyhole. 

I snort loudly as she gets thrown backward once more. 

“Did you really think you could open a magic lock with a bobby-pin?” 

She flips me off and then turns back toward the door, hands on her hips as she thinks. 

“Why don’t we just try to teleport ourselves past the doors?” 

Isabelle sighs. 

“I thought of that too...” She bites her lip in frustration, brow furrowed. 

My suggestion is an obvious one. But risky. Teleporting could get us seriously hurt, or even killed, depending on the kind of magic used to seal the door. And even if we do get in, there’s a good chance we won’t be able to teleport back out. 

“I might be able to help with that.” 

We both jump as a figure appears out of the shadows of the stairwell. 

Dirty-blonde hair and blue eyes atop a tall, lanky frame. 

Asher Lomavès. 

He smiles impishly at the pair of us as he approaches. 

“I hope you’re here to help.” Isabelle is the first to speak. “I’d hate to have to throw you around again.” Her words hold a true threat. 

I struggle to keep a straight face, remembering how she’d tossed him to the side without lifting a finger the last time he tried to interfere with one of our adventures. 

“That was a cheap shot.” He scowls. “But I do know how to get through those doors. And I’ll tell you...if I can come.” He looks directly at me as he says this, his expression softening. I can feel my cheeks grow warm under his gaze. 

Isabelle groans. 

“Fine. But no flirting.” Her complaint is a teasing one. She’s used to us by now. 

She steps to the side, allowing him access.

“The Three Musketeers.” I joke, earning a glare from the tall blonde to my left.

Asher laughs and steps forward, rubbing his hands together as he surveys the mahogany doors. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly to center himself. 

“Stand back.” He warns, not breaking his contact with the energy around the door frame. We do as he says without question, linking our arms as we step backward. 

He breathes in again, his aura expanding; mixing with the deep colors surrounding the entry.

I watch in awe as every breath pushes him further into the dense magic before us. He’s only a year ahead of us in his studies, but his ability is far beyond anything that can be taught at the academy. His magic is deep-rooted in centuries of pure, old-world witches and warlocks. It can’t be learned. 

After a moment the doors begin to shake. The spell that’s protecting them is weakening, deteriorating with every parting of his lips. 

And then...a soft click.

The three of us stare, unsure of what to expect, as the centuries-old doors open slowly. 

————————————————

“Uhh...ready?” For once, Isabelle sounds nervous. 

I don’t blame her. 

This adventure seemed lighthearted and fun until just now. But watching the heavy doors open before us, knowing that we’ve managed to unlock a pathway that’s been locked for longer than we've been alive, is...unnerving.

We take a collective breath and step, side by side, through the doors. 

The hallway is damp, the sound of water dripping onto cement the only disturbance in an otherwise deafening silence. We stand, huddled together, observing the dark path before us. 

Asher is the first to speak. 

“I guess we should start in then...it could be a long walk.” His hushed words do little to reassure me. But he’s right. This is what we wanted. There’s no use in turning back now.

I sigh and take a single step forward. “You’re right. Let’s, uh...let’s go.” 

I glance back toward Isabelle who looks paler than usual. She says nothing, only nods in agreement and steps forward as well. We grasp hands again and begin our journey far underneath the school.

Our collective footsteps disrupt the quiet atmosphere as we brave the tunnels, keeping close to each other. Not much has changed in our surroundings and we’ve made our way at least a mile or two beneath the school. It’s beginning to feel fruitless. 

“What if this is just an old tunnel?” Asher voices my thoughts. 

“There’s no way.” Isabelle replies, peering around the dimly-lit corridor. “Not with the way they had it locked up.” 

She’s right. And I’m not sure if that makes me more excited for this adventure or more terrified of what may lie at the end of this path. But I keep these thoughts to myself and continue on, anxious for many reasons. 

“I think we’re almost at the end.” I point ahead to an obvious widening in the corridor. We all look at each other with a nervous grin, but our paces quicken. 

As we near what seems to be a large room at the end of our path, a slow moaning sound begins to hum through the thick air, becoming more prominent with each step. Instinctively, I grab for Asher’s hand. He squeezes lightly, attempting to comfort my worry. 

Isabelle moves closer, our shoulders bumping roughly in her haste. I grab for her hand as well as we continue forward. 

Reaching the final portion of the long hallway, the moaning grows louder, but it’s still nearly impossible to make out where it’s emanating from. The room ahead is completely dark. 

“M-maybe I should go first.” Asher offers, pulling his hand free of mine. “You know...just in case.” He looks as nervous as he sounds but I appreciate his bravery.

I grab his hand, holding it more firmly this time. 

“No. We’re doing this together. Right, Isabelle?” 

She looks about as scared as he does but nods. “Exactly. Three Musketeers, right?” She attempts at a joke, but the tremor in her voice gives her away. 

Our grips on each other’s hands tighten considerably. We step, finally, into the widened area of the corridor. And, just like that, the room is alight. 

Hundreds of torches are instantly aflame, bringing the entire room into a bright orange glow. I step back, reflexively and observe the stone walls. They go on even further than the path we just walked. 

The incessant moaning becomes more prominent now, turning nearly into a low scream coming from the desiccated bodies riddling the low portion of the walls. 

Vampires. 

Thousands of them chained in neat rows, spaced only inches from each other. Their ages range from small children to the elderly, in no particular order. It’s as if they were caught and stored here to rot.

“Asher...” I struggle to tear my eyes from the devastating site. “Does...does your mom know about this?” 

I’m afraid of the answer. 

Not many people here know that I’m half vampire, half witch. And by not many people, I mean only Isabelle and Asher. But, looking around this dungeon, it’s becoming increasingly obvious that keeping it a secret may have been the smartest thing I’ve ever done. 

Asher gulps loudly, clearly as disturbed by this discovery as I am. 

“I honestly don’t know.” He whispers. “However...” His blue eyes travel slowly across the near-graveyard before us. “She is the one who put the spell on the door we opened.” 

His words make it clear. 

Lady Lomavès is holding vampires hostage under the School of Darkness. 

Suddenly, the deafening sound of alarm horns echoes through the air. 

“We need to go...now!” Isabelle grabs for my arm, turning back toward the path we came through. 

I struggle to pull myself free. “We can’t just leave them like this.” I can feel tears well in my eyes. These are my people. Trapped like animals. 

“This is wrong.” I sob.

Asher grabs my arm firmly, pulling me back toward the pathway we’d come through. 

“I know it is. I promise I had no idea what was down here.” He looks as distraught as I do. “I promise we will figure out a way to save them. But we need to get you out of here. Now.” 

We take off back toward the mahogany doors, reaching them in record time. 

Asher quickly pulls us through and turns back to seal them. 

“Normally, I’d be able to redo the spell my mom put on them, but we don’t really have time.” He’s sweating profusely as he weaves his own magical binding around the frame. 

The spell takes only moments to complete, but there’s no guaranteeing it will hold like the prior one. We all know that.

“I thought I made it clear that there were to be no students down here.” 

We jump, turning to face Lady Lomavès herself. She eyes us suspiciously. 

“Sorry, mom. We were just fooling around.” Asher scratches at the back of his neck nervously.

“We couldn’t even get through the doors.” His lie is flawless.

She only grunts in response, clearly not convinced. 

“Y-yeah...we were just bored, but we couldn’t get through.” Isabelle adds, looking sheepish. “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.” 

Silence falls between us as she glares down, waiting for one of us to crack. We remain stony-faced and silent, fearful of what she might do if she could prove that we’d gotten through the doors behind us.

“Very well...see that it doesn’t.” She surveys the door once more, before resting her eyes directly on me. 

“But believe me when I say that what lies beyond those doors is far more dangerous than you may know.”