Chapter 41: Catch Up

Chapter 41: Chapter 41: Catch Up

As the dawn drew nearer, all three of them dressed and waited for the first light of sunrise. Just as the sun began to rise in the east, orange hues crept into view and reflected off the circular windows, which were already angled to focus on the clock. The moment the first rays struck it, all the sunrays reflected to the wall clock, bathing the huge wall clock in bright light. Its minute and hour hands accelerated, lapping circle after circle with hard, rhythmic thumps. Then the clock face swung open like a door.

"Oh look, it’s a secret path," Melli said.

"It looks like a cave," Elena added.

The passage beyond was a rough cave, steps descending into darkness, lit by mana crystals set into crude holders on either side. Unlike the elegant lamps of the Emberfell dorms, these served only to give light, not beauty.

"Let’s go." Elena and Xavier stepped forward into the hidden path. Melli hesitated for a second, then followed, drawn by the confidence on Xavier’s face. They had taken only a few steps when the clock-door sealed shut behind them, cutting off any return.

"Looks like we can only go forward," Xavier said.

"We’ll have to find another way back," Melli answered, a little nervous.

They descended the stairs. When the steps ended the cave continued, and they pressed deeper. "I don’t have a good feeling about this," Melli murmured.

The mana crystals grew farther apart, leaving lengthening stretches of darkness between them. Soon the crystals vanished entirely. They walked in near-blackness, Elena holding a small illuminating spell at the tip of one finger—just enough light for the next step—while the three of them kept hold of each other’s hands and moved slowly.

At last the cave opened into a large chamber. The instant they entered the chamber, candles throughout the room lit themselves one by one, filling the space with warm, flickering firelight. All three of them gasped.

In the center stood a statue of a beautiful woman, her hands locked tight around a box. Her stone body was carved with full, heavy breasts, deep cleavage, and soft curves that still looked almost soft enough to touch. Xavier was certain the box held the next piece of the pendant. He tried to ease it free, but the stone grip would not yield. He didn’t force it and risk breaking the statue’s arms; they still had no exit, and he would not rush into a mistake.

"Elena, that’s your cue," he said, nodding at the diary at her waist.

"Oh, can I try?" Melli asked, excited.

"Sure, go ahead." Elena handed her the book and explained how it worked. Melli channeled a thin thread of mana, focused on where they were and what they needed, then opened the pages.

The visage of the lonely woman finds pleasure in pain.

If something drips in the candlelit room, make it rain.

Elena and Melli read the riddle twice and still could not fully make sense of it. They understood that the "lonely woman" was the statue, but the rest remained unclear.

"How can a statue feel either pleasure or pain?" Melli asked.

"I don’t know," Elena said. "It doesn’t make sense."

To Xavier the meaning was clear: the statue was a masochist.

"Girls, pick up the candles," he said.

"Do you understand the riddle?" Elena asked.

"Yes. Just do what I do."

Each of them took a candle. They approached the statue. Xavier raised his high and tilted it so the melting wax dripped onto the stone body—onto her exposed shoulder, the deep cleavage between her full stone tits, her face, her arms. Elena and Melli followed, six streams of hot wax falling at once, a rain of molten heat across the statue’s carved breasts and soft-looking curves.

A smile curved the statue’s sorrowful mouth. Her hands shifted, releasing the box and turning upward to present it on open palms.

"So the statue finds pleasure when hot wax drips on her body?" Elena asked.

"Yeah... it still doesn’t make sense," Melli said.

Neither girl had stepped into the world of masochism the way Lilith or Miss Incinerator had, and Xavier had no intention of introducing them to it. He preferred them exactly as they were—innocent and naughty—and meant to keep them that way.

Elena lifted the box from the statue’s hands. This one had no lock. Inside lay a crescent-shaped fragment of the pendant. Xavier drew out the piece already hanging at his throat. Elena brought the new crescent close; the two pieces snapped together like magnets, forming a complete circle with a hollow center.

"That was easier than the last time," Elena said.

"We needed the diary and the knowledge that this was part of a larger puzzle," Xavier answered. "In that sense the difficulty was fair enough."

"Now we have to find a way out," Elena said.

"Should we try pulling its hands down, like in those mystery novels?" Melli suggested, already moving forward.

"Yeah, like that would work," Elena said with a laugh, amused by Melli’s earnestness.

Melli pulled the statue’s hands downward. A grinding sound rose from the far side of the chamber, and another cave-like passage opened, stairs leading upward.

"Looks like that actually work," Xavier said, teasing Elena.

They climbed the mana-crystal-lit steps. After a while daylight appeared ahead.

The stairs delivered them onto the ground at the edge of the western garden behind Dawncrest dorms. A statue of a similar woman stood just in front of the hidden opening. Melli went ahead and pulled its hands; the statue slid sideways and sealed the passage completely.

"How did you know to do that?" Elena asked.

"It’s pretty cliché," Melli answered. "In most of the mystery novels."

"I need to read more mystery novels," Elena replied.

"And you should spend some time actually attending lectures," Xavier said. "I know you’ve been skipping them to study that diary up and down. Now that we know the trick, you don’t have any excuses left."

"Then who will find the treasure?" Elena asked.

"Don’t worry about it." Xavier plucked the diary from her waist. "No more diary for you. Catch up on your lectures. I’ll keep it until then."