The wind on the roof was freezing. Lina sat on the cold shingles and pulled her knees to her chest.
She closed her eyes and tried again. She thought about the old stone bridge. She thought about the metal box they buried. She thought about Kai sitting next to her in the sun.
She tried to hear his laugh.
Nothing.
She knew he had laughed. She knew it was a good sound. But the memory was just a blank space in her head. It was like reading a page with the words torn out. It made her chest ache with a dull, heavy pain.
Mira sat close to her and gently took her hand. "I am so sorry, Lina," Mira whispered.
Lina opened her eyes and shook her head. "It is okay. I would do it again. I just... I wish I could remember how it sounded."
They stayed on the roof until the sun started to come up. Then, they climbed down the iron fire escape. The academy halls were dry and quiet. The black water was trapped in the old pool.
They slipped into an empty classroom on the second floor. Lina sat at a wooden desk and rested her head in her hands. She was so tired. Her stolen voice felt like dry sand in her throat.
The classroom door creaked open.
Nia slipped inside. She locked the door behind her. She looked terrible. Her uniform was covered in thick gray dust, and she had a small cut on her cheek. But her eyes were wide and bright.
"I found you," Nia said, breathing hard. "I have been looking everywhere."
"We had a bad night," Lina said softly. Her voice rasped. "What happened to you?"
Nia walked over to the desk. She pulled a piece of old, crumbling paper from her pocket. "I went back to the moving room. I found a hidden drawer under the pedestal. It had the Founder's original blueprints."
Seren leaned forward. "The blueprints for the cage?"
"Yes," Nia said. She smoothed the paper out on the desk.
It was a map of the academy. But underneath the school, it showed the deep black lake. In the very center of the lake, there was a drawing of a giant iron wheel.
"The magic is just the door," Nia explained, pointing at the wheel. "This is the physical lock. The Founder built a machine to keep the thing beneath the stone trapped. But a machine needs a key."
Lina looked at the map. "Where is the key?"
Nia tapped a small drawing near the edge of the map. It looked like a long, silver pin. "The Founder hid it inside the academy. The notes say it is kept in the Room of Echoes."
Seren gasped. She covered her mouth with her hand. "The Room of Echoes? That is just a myth. The older students say it is where the first echoes were trapped."
"It is not a myth," Nia said firmly. "And we have to find it. If the thing in the lake gets the key, the cage breaks forever. But if we get it, we can turn the lock. We can seal the water away for good."
Lina stared at the drawing of the silver pin. A small spark of hope lit up in her chest. They finally had a plan. They had a way to fight back.
But then she tried to remember Kai's laugh one more time. The empty space in her mind ached again.
She had to find the key. She had to fix this, before the countdown reached zero, and before she lost any more of herself.
To be Continued
© Kishtika., 2026
All rights reserved.
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you did, leaving a Power Stone or a review would be a huge help in growing this story. Thank you for your continued support!
Next Chapter Summary for Chapter 116: The group searches for the mythical Room of Echoes, but Seren's power begins to act up, drawing them into a trap set by the False Kai.