Chapter 4 The Boogeyman Lives

Every step Lexi took was a testament to the horror she had witnessed. The students gathered around whispering and staring so much Lexi felt like even the walls were watching her.

She trembled, her knees threatening to give up when finally she reached her room and practically threw herself inside, slamming the door shut before leaning her weight against it.

She closed her eyes, her breathing shallow, with no tears left to cry, her chest felt hollow as if the horror had burned out her ability to cry.

From across the room, her roommate turned sharply towards Lexi's arrival, “Lexi?” Belle rushed over, her robes swirling around her ankles as she reached out to grab Lexi’s trembling shoulders.

“Lexi, oh gods, I heard. The whole campus is talking about it. Are you alright?”

Lexi couldn't even speak, as her teeth clicked together rhythmically from the residual shock.

Belle guided her slowly toward the edge of the unmade bed, “Do you want to talk about it?”

It took several long seconds for Lexi to find her voice, “It was horrific Belle.”

The dam broke again, the memory rushing forward as she stared blankly at the wall, her voice dropping to a whisper. “I can't even find the words…

She breathed as fresh, hot tears flooded her eyes, blurring her vision as she looked up at her roommate, her expression completely fractured by a child's confusion at the dark. “How could a human being be so cruel?”

Belle didn't answer. She just sat down slowly beside her, wrapping her arms around Lexi and pulling her tight against her shoulder as Lexi struggled to suppress another wave of tears against Belle's cloak.

After a few minutes, Lexi pulled back, wiping her cheeks. Her eyes were wide and fixed on the closed door as if the threat were already standing outside it.

“They said the Mage of Ruin dwells within our very walls. I believe it. I think disaster is coming for all of us.”

Belle reached out, gently squeezing Lexi’s hands. “Whatever it is, the Academy won't let an outside army just slaughter us…we'll be safe.”

Lexi gave an uncertain nod, wanting desperately to believe what wasn't convincing at all. Belle then leaned forward, pressing a kiss against Lexi's forehead before she rose to smoothen her skirt.

“I have to get to the advanced alchemy lecture,” Belle said, gathering her books from the desk. “The Magisters haven't canceled the afternoon block yet. I'll be back in a few hours, okay? Just lock the door behind me and try to rest.”

×××

Days bled into one another, and the facade of the Academy began to crack. It was becoming obvious to every student that the High Magisters had grown utterly distressed.

The grand courtyard where the boys were killed remained locked down, the afternoon advanced blocks were constantly cancelled without explanation, and the senior faculty members were perpetually missing, locked behind the doors of the council chamber where emergency meetings were held.

For Lexi, the waking world was bad enough, but the dark was  even worse because every time she closed her eyes, the nightmares found her but this time, she didn't see the soldiers anymore; she saw the Mage of Ruin.

Unable to sit idly in her room while the clock ticked toward a possible doom, she decided she was going to find out if the Mage Of Ruin actually lived.

On one of those late nights, where Lexi sat huddled over a pile of loose textures and faded historical scripts she had smuggled from the common rooms, behind her, Belle stepped out of the washroom, a damp towel wrapped around her shoulders.

She looked over Lexi's shoulder and sighed. “Are you seriously still onto this thing?”

Not looking up from the pages, Lexi answered, “Why wouldn't I be? Everyone's life is at stake, Belle.”

“You worry too much,” Belle said, walking over to her own bed and shaking out her damp hair. “There's no danger coming. If we were actually in real trouble, the entire academy would have been evacuated by now.”

Lexi turned sharply in her chair with her quill between her fingers, “Whether or not tragedy befalls us, Belle, they are not evacuating this school. They would make us stand and fight because that is exactly what they've trained us for. We are the elite bloodlines.”

Belle rolled her eyes, unimpressed by the lecture as she continued drying her hair with the towel, her voice dripping with boredom. “Fine. If you're so worried about a myth, you should just go to the library. God knows anyone barely visits that place anyway. You might actually find something useful instead of staring at those useless common-room pamphlets.”

Lexi froze, the central library! Of course.

In all her panic, in all her searching through the dormitory records, she hadn't even thought of that.

The next morning, the moment her introductory theory class let out, Lexi didn't even bother returning to her dorm to drop off her satchel as she walked frantically straight across the central grounds and toward the library.

But when she reached the grand entrance, she found the doors shut. She grabbed the iron ring handle and pulled, but it didn't budge.

“Locked?” Lexi muttered out loud, looking around the empty, shaded colonnade before knocking but no one came to answer.

Then she thought to herself that maybe the old librarian had probably overslept, or perhaps the tension on campus had disrupted his morning schedule entirely.

Unwilling to walk away when she was this close, she decided to skirt around the side of the foundation and try the back door.

To her surprise, the door was slightly ajar.

As she pushed the door open and stepped into the cool, dust-scented shadow of the history stacks, two voices drifted from the aisle directly ahead.

One was a younger male voice, and the other was a low, dry, older rasp. Lexi slowed her footsteps, creeping closer behind the massive partitions before she could even reveal her presence.

Through the gap in the shelves, she spotted the transfer kid she’d noticed around assembly a few times standing right in front of the old librarian and clearly they were in the middle of a heated argument.

“It was very stupid of you to go charging like that.” Clovis growled.

Chadwick glared back.

“What was I supposed to do?”

“More importantly, how were you able to sense his presence?”

Chadwick shrugged. “I couldn't see him, but I felt his mental energy. Whispers of his thoughts.”

Clovis stared at the boy in contemplation.

“What?”

Clovis sighed.

“I don't trust you.”

Chadwick threw his hands up in frustration and yelled, “Yeah, like I'm going to tell the whole world Mr. Dupond is the infamous Mage of Ruin!”

Lexi’s heart stopped dead in her chest as her satchel slipped from her fingers and hit the floor.

“What?” she breathed out, drawing both men's immediate attention.

Chadwick's eyes went wide with panic as he locked eyes with her, his face turning pale as ash. “Oh, no.”

“T-that’s impossible,” she said despite herself, instinctively taking a step back, her eyes and fingers twitching as the reality of the nightmare slammed into her.

The boogeyman is the old librarian?

But she didn't have time to dwell on the revelation that she confirmed from their reactions.

She immediately spun on her heel, sprinting back towards the exit with one thing in mind: to reach the Grand Magister, to tell the council, to save the school from its impending doom.

But she didn't even make it three paces when a hand clamped violently around her mouth, pushing her scream back down her throat.