Whispers of Worlds Beyond: A Series-Chapter 154: Orchestral Symphony [19]

"Move," Jarek muttered as the room buzzed with tension.

The first years turned to look at him. His usually chill expression was unusually serious as he stepped forward toward the sealed door.

"Jarek, don’t- " Adrian started.

"I’m not gonna wait for someone else to get hurt trying to open this thing," Jarek said, cracking his knuckles. "Just let me try."

Sevan stepped aside, curious. Morrigan and Ivara flinched as Jarek squared up in front of the door like he was facing down an opponent. With one solid breath, he drew his arm back and...

CRACK!

The sound echoed like a cannon blast. His fist slammed into the center of the door.

The hinges groaned in protest then snapped. The entire door detached from the wall and slammed to the floor of the common room in one piece, dust flying into the air.

For a split second, everyone was still.

Then Hanako blinked. "He… he actually broke it?"

Rupert stared at the door like it personally offended him. "What the hell?"

But the real surprise was what came next.

As the dust cleared, they all saw that the path beyond the now-doorless frame was open.

The shimmering magical seal that had looked like a barrier was gone. No, it had never applied to the whole doorway. It had only been a ward on the act of opening the door itself. Now that the hinges were gone and the door no longer functioned as a door, the magic failed. Professor Pippa must not have magicked the whole door in a hurry.

Adrian blinked, stunned. "Wait… that actually worked?"

Jarek looked mildly smug, even as he flexed his hand and winced. "Told you. I figured the spell was bound to the door’s mechanics. Not the threshold."

Rupert looked at him like he’d just revealed himself as some long-lost genius. "How did you think of that?"

Jarek shrugged. "I just thought of it, kinda like a strategy."

"Wow... You really did use your brains for once. I mean, you still kinda used your fists as your brains but... I mean it did work."

Hanako laughed softly. "Well, that was one very effective strategy."

Adrian didn’t waste another second. He pulled on his jacket, turned to the rest, and said, "Let’s go. Every second we waste is another Amihan and Aiden are out there alone."

Sevan turned back to the rest of the students still lingering in the common room, most of them too stunned to move. The moonlight spilled across the floor, faintly illuminating the broken door and the determined expressions on a few faces.

"We’re going," Sevan said. "But I’m not dragging anyone who doesn’t want to risk it. Step forward if you want to join. The rest, just please don’t say anything."

There was a brief silence, then Adrian stepped forward without hesitation. "Obviously."

Jarek cracked his knuckles and smirked. "Wouldn’t miss it."

Rupert sighed. "We’ll get in trouble anyway. Might as well be useful."

Morrigan hesitated for a heartbeat, then stood beside Ammonn. "I’m coming. She’s my roommate and my bestfriend. I’m not just going to sit here. I said a lot of things to her and about Emmeranne so I best help."

Ammonn gave a firm nod. "Me too."

Hanako stepped up, surprisingly resolute. "She always helped others. Now it’s our turn."

Ivara didn’t speak, but she stepped forward with a firm look on her face, her bow already slung over her shoulder.

Sevan took a breath and nodded at the seven around him.

"Alright. The rest of you stay here. If anyone else goes missing, don’t follow- get a professor immediately."

A few of their classmates nodded, some looking torn, others scared out of their wits.

"Here’s the plan," Sevan continued, taking a small crystal rune from his pouch. It glimmered faintly in the moonlight, etched with soft golden lines.

"Adrian, Jarek, Rupert, and I will head west through the courtyard and check the terrace paths. The rest- Ammonn, Morrigan, Ivara, and Hanako- you go east. Start by checking the garden paths and the lower balconies. If we don’t find them in an hour, we meet back here."

He turned to Ivara and handed her the rune. "Use this only once. It’s not fully charged with solar energy, so we’ve only got one communication pulse. Activate it if you find anything. Got it?"

Ivara nodded silently, cradling the rune like it was fragile glass.

"Stay out of sight," Adrian added. "If anyone sees you, play dumb or run."

The eight exchanged glances. Then, in a silent agreement, they split. Adrian lead the westward group with confident strides, while Ivara led the others down the opposite corridor, their shadows melting into the halls of Genvah under the cold moonlight.

As Adrian led his group through the dimly lit hallways, he suddenly stopped at a curve in the corridor and gestured for the others to slow down. The torches on the walls flickered, casting erratic shadows across the old stone. Sevan, Jarek, and Rupert quickly closed in around him.

"We’re not going through the main halls," Adrian said, voice low. "Too many patrols."

"Then where are we headed?" Jarek asked, eyes narrowing slightly.

Adrian glanced over his shoulder, then approached the wall just past the old painting of the Soleil crest. "Here."

Rupert frowned as he watched Adrian feel along the stones until his fingers pressed into a barely visible crack. A moment later, with a soft rumble, a narrow section of the wall clicked and swung open, revealing a hidden passageway cloaked in dust and stale air.

Rupert blinked. "Okay, that’s sketchy. Where did you get that?"

Adrian stepped inside first, motioning for them to follow.

"Lopt gave it to us."

There was a pause. Jarek raised an eyebrow. "Us?"

"Aiden, Sevan, and me," Adrian said curtly as he pushed the hidden door wider. "Back when we followed Emmeranne the first time."

Rupert looked unconvinced. "And you just… trusted Lopt?"

"Me? No. Them? Yeah," Sevan replied, brushing past him, "but we took what we could get. And it worked. These passages go around most of the main halls and courtyard intersections. No patrols, no alarms."

Rupert sighed as he followed them in. "Right. Trusted informant, secret tunnels, sounds completely fine. I’m sure this’ll all go great."

Adrian smirked in the dark. "If you’re scared, you can stay behind."

Rupert rolled his eyes. "I’m here, aren’t I?"

The hidden passage sealed behind them with a soft hiss of stone sliding into place. The narrow path ahead was lit only by the faint orange flickers of Sevan’s candle that he brought.

"Let’s move," Adrian said, already heading deeper into the cold, winding dark.

Inside the narrow passageway, the stale air wrapped around them like a second skin. The silence was heavy, save for the occasional scuff of their boots on the stone floor and the quiet rustle of the old parchment Sevan held in his hands. His brows were furrowed as he angled the map toward Adrian’s light.

"If Amihan went out and Aiden heard her," Sevan began, squinting at the route lines, "then chances are, she’s searching for Emmeranne. And if Emmeranne really is trying to hide, she wouldn’t risk staying in the academy. She’d leave."

Jarek frowned. "But where would she run?"

Adrian didn’t answer, but Rupert clicked his tongue and crossed his arms. "Even if you’re right, how are we supposed to get out? We’re right next to the forest, and according to the history books, there’s no exit passage out of Genvah. Headmaster Kairos had the place sealed off from the outside."

The group went quiet.

Rupert continued, "There’s no recorded tunnel in or out. They made sure no one could escape once they were inside. That’s the entire point of the enchanted borders."

They stood in the narrow space, surrounded by rough stone and tangled thoughts. Adrian took the map and scanned it again under the flickering flame.

"Wait," Sevan said suddenly, nudging Adrian with his elbow. "The one Lopt used. The passageway. Remember when we trained with him? He got us out using that tunnel."

Rupert gave him a flat look. "That’s exactly what I’m saying. There shouldn’t be one."

Sevan shrugged, looking unimpressed. "Well, we did use it. I’m not saying it makes sense, but it exists."

They huddled together, eyes scouring the aged, ink-drawn lines of the passage map Lopt had given them. They flipped it, turned it, even checked for hidden folds. But the section Sevan described - the tunnel that led them out during training - wasn’t there.

"It’s not on the map," Adrian muttered. "This thing’s supposed to be complete seeing that Lopt used it, but it’s not even marked."

"Why would Lopt give you a map that’s incomplete?" Jarek asked.

Rupert muttered under his breath, "Why would Lopt give you anything that isn’t suspicious?"

Adrian didn’t answer right away. His mind was already whirring, trying to connect invisible threads.

"Let’s just find that tunnel," Adrian finally said. "Whether it’s on the map or not, we’ve been through it before. That means it’s real."

"Right," Sevan nodded. "It was near the painting of that woman in a purple dress. That hidden latch under the baseboard."

Adrian stuffed the map back into his coat. "Then let’s move. If we’re lucky, they haven’t gotten far."