Page 14 of Gothikana

Well, that wasn’t cryptic at all.

She watched him disappear into the thicket and shook her head, turning away from the lake toward the woods entirely when, for the first time in ages, another voice came to her on a whisper.

‘Help me.’

It was light, almost gentle, and definitely feminine.

‘What the hell?’ she muttered to herself as a chill made its way down her spine. Something ugly left its residue on her tongue as she thought of the voice, something wet and slimy and terrible. Corvina stilled for a long moment, letting her eyes rove over the entire view — a placid dark lake, woods on the other side, grey skies, and a thin mist coating the water.

‘Help me, please.’

The residue thickened.

She’d heard a few voices throughout her life, Mo’s being the most prominent of them. They had never left that coating on her tongue. Whereas his voice had left her with the scent of sandalwood, this one smelled of decay and rotten flesh. She didn’t understand why.

Keeping her head down, she hurried back to the woods and jogged through the trees, heading in the direction of the castle, her sensesjarred because of the alien voice. Was it her subconscious? Was she imagining it? And if so, why? Was it because of the spooky tales of the castle?

Questions revolved in her mind as she left the thicket behind and climbed the incline up to the tower to get ready for her classes.

The same group of guys she’d seen sitting on the stairs with Troy on her first day were sitting there as she walked up, laughing about something. She recognised one of the boys from her class amongst them, Jax.

‘Little romp in the woods?’ Troy asked good-naturedly, wiggling his eyebrows. Still a bit shaken from the voice, Corvina tipped her lips up in a smile for the boy who’d only been nice to her.

‘What do you mean?’ she asked, trying to distract herself and ignore all the boys looking at her all at once. Her natural shyness, when faced with so many gazes, made her want to run off.

‘Well…’ Troy grinned. ‘Mr Deverell came out of the woods, which isn’t anything unnatural. But you came out a few minutes later all flustered. So, one plus one?’

It took Corvina a second to realise what he was implying. Her face grew warm, the tips of her ears burning at the idea that she and the man she was most definitely feeling lust for had done something so forbidden in the woods.

Troy chuckled lightly. ‘Relax, Purple. I’m just messin’ with you.’

Jade was right. He was an asshole.

Rolling her eyes at him, she simply walked around the group to the tower to the sound of his laughter. She would’ve said something had he been alone, but she was a bit rattled, and all the boys together in one place only made her more nervous.

The tower that housed her room was as beautiful as everything else in Verenmore. It was one of the three tall towers that housed the girls, one less than the four where the boys resided. The interior of her tower was all different kinds of dark woods — some polished and classic, some unpolished and raw. The foyer had nothing but a reception area with a small table, a chair that was always empty, and on the wall, a huge painting of the lake she had just seen with a bridge. There was also a little box with a few folded papers. Jade told her that was where any issues with the housing were left in writing and someone from the admin wing collected it every week. There was a small chandelier fitted with electric lights on the high ceiling, and the staircase leading up to the right.

Corvina headed to the stairs and climbed up to her level. The corridor was busier now than it had been when she’d left, girls preparing for their morning, some chattering, some quieter, going to and fro from the common bathrooms at the opposite end of the hall.

‘Hey, freaky eyes?’ a voice called out from the stairs.

Corvina paused in the corridor, not turning, knowing exactly who it was. Roy Kingston, the beautiful senior from the third level who exuded more confidence from her pinkie than Corvina did from her entire body. From what Jade had told her, Roy had come from a reallyshitty foster home where she had been sexually assaulted. It had hardened her and made her a bitch to anyone who didn’t fit in with her. Corvina was on that list.

‘Did I just spy you coming out of the woods with a teacher?’

A few girls in the corridor stopped, looking at Corvina with surprised glances. Corvina took in a deep breath and turned to face the blonde beauty.

‘I don’t know what you saw, Roy,’ she told her loudly, knowing the girls were listening for the slightest hint of something wrong.

‘You didn’t come out of the woods with Mr Deverell then?’ Roy asked, folding her hands over her ample bosom, still in her pyjamas.

Corvina blinked. ‘Not that it’s any of your business, but no.’

Roy tilted her head to the side, considering Corvina with light eyes. ‘You probably missed it because you’re new, so I’ll give you the courtesy of telling you. Student-teacher relationships are not allowed at Verenmore. One hint, and you’ll be thrown out. That’s the way things work on this campus.’

Corvina stayed silent, slightly annoyed at the other girl and her tone but keeping it quiet.

‘If I were you, I’d watch myself.’ Roy parted with that, going back upstairs.

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