*Rummage, rummage.*
"Where is it!?"
After what felt like hours of digging through Julius's things, I still hadn't found the map Sylvia talked about. Not that I expected it to be easy, but it was almost morning now.
"There's no more time. I have to go back,"
I grumbled.
I started putting everything I'd moved back in place. As I was about to leave, something on the wall caught my eye, It was a painting of lilies. They symbolized love, purity, fertility, and rebirth. Some even called them the saint's purity.
I walked up to it and stared for a while.
"A saint's purity, huh?"
I muttered, mocking the words.
"What a joke."
I brushed my fingers against the painting and it suddenly fell off the wall.
Behind it was a small hidden compartment, a keyhole carved into the stone. Inside the little space sat an open chest. It looked like someone had forgotten to lock it.
I picked it up, heart pounding, and peeked inside.
A key, the map, and… a pendant?
I squinted at the pendant, flipping it open. Inside was a tiny portrait of two children , a girl with black hair and green eyes, and a boy with white hair and red eyes. They looked around the same age, maybe seven or eight.
"Wait a minute., isn't this Sylvia? And the boy… Julius?"
Sylvia was smiling so brightly, like she didn't have a care in the world. Julius though, he actually looked… warm and kind.
"What's their relationship?"
I whispered, staring at the tiny faces.
"They don't act like this now. Not even close."
My mind raced.
Based on how they are now, I couldn't even imagine them sharing a smile, let alone being this close. And yet here they were!, immortalized in this tiny pendant.
It was visible today that they didn't feel like they had a simple connection. Not just a typical acquaintance thing you see normally either.
Was there something only the two of them knew? Did it have something to do with the dark sorcerers? Did they know the truth and refuse to reveal it?
My head ached from the questions piling up.
Was that book even telling the truth? Or was Lumos messing with me? But… he didn't seem like he was joking...
I squeezed my eyes shut, took a deep breath, and forced myself to calm down. I looked back inside the chest and grabbed the key.
"Maybe this leads somewhere."
I fitted it into the keyhole on the wall and turned it. The stones shifted with a low grinding sound, revealing a narrow passage.
I jumped a little in surprise.
"A secret room?"
I conjured a small flame in my palm and stepped inside.
The room was tiny, windowless, the walls cracked like something had exploded inside. Debris littered the floor, an old lamp, broken bowls, a spoon, random junk scattered everywhere. It looked like someone had once lived here.
Could a person even survive in this kind of place? Whoever stayed here must have lived rough.
Dust hung thick in the air. The whole place felt heavy, like it was still holding someone's memories.
A strange ache settled in my chest. Whoever had lived here must've had a rough life. I felt a pang of pity for them.
I couldn't stand it any longer so I stepped back out and closed the hidden door.
Pulling out the map, I placed a duplication spell , a mid-level magic, good for copying paper, cloth, and other simple materials. Not gold or jewels, though.
I figured Julius would notice the original missing in no time, so I decided it was safer to leave it.
I returned everything to its place, rehung the painting, and slipped back through the portal to my room.
After changing out of my black clothes, I hid the duplicate map under the loose floor tile near my bed.
I then headed to sleep with only two hours left before sunrise.
"I'm gonna be dead tomorrow,"
I sighed, flopping onto the mattress.
And sure enough, the next day I was a drowsy, half-functioning mess all over again that I even got a nag from sir Arthur.