Chapter 104: The Lantern Room (Contd)
The dust was still thick in the air, glowing faintly in Ethan’s flashlight beam. None of us moved at first. It was like the room itself was holding its breath after Damien vanished into the dark.
Elena broke the silence, crossing her arms with a scoff. “Well, that was cute. Real Bond-villain energy. Drop a creepy name, blow out a lantern, poof into the night. Bravo. Standing ovation.”
“Shut up, Elena,” Aidan growled, scanning the shadows. His blade was still drawn, muscles tight like he expected Damien to leap back out at us.
“I’m just saying,” she continued, her tone sharper now. “We came all the way down here, risked our necks, and for what? A name. Selene. That’s it. I’ve had fortune cookies more informative.”
“That name isn’t nothing,” Echo said, her voice calm but edged. “Names have power. He gave us one. That means something.”
“Or it means he’s messing with us,” Elena snapped back. “He’s got you eating out of his hand, Echo. Did you even notice the way he looked at Roxanne? Like she was some kind of chosen messiah? I don’t trust him.”
“Neither do I,” Aidan said. His eyes flicked to me. “But that doesn’t mean we ignore him. Selene… whoever she is, we need to know.”
Rhea shifted uncomfortably, clutching the journal tighter. Her voice was quiet, almost lost in the dark. “The name’s in here.”
We all froze.
“What?” I asked.
She nodded, opening the journal with trembling fingers. “I wasn’t sure before, but… I’ve seen it. One of the old Harbingers wrote about a Selene. A woman who didn’t guard the seal—she hunted it. Someone who wanted the power for herself.”
“Of course,” Elena muttered. “There’s always one who goes rogue. Every Netflix fantasy series ever.”
“This isn’t a show,” Rhea said sharply, surprising all of us. Her eyes shone in the flashlight’s glow. “It’s real. And if Selene’s here now… that means the stories weren’t just warnings. They were predictions.”
I rubbed my temple, my heart hammering too fast. “So let me get this straight. Gregory. His sister. The Creed. Now Selene? How many enemies am I supposed to juggle at once before I lose my mind?”
Ethan looked up from his laptop, his glasses catching the light. “If it makes you feel better, technically they’re all pieces of the same puzzle. Layers of an old war, resurfacing now.”
“That doesn’t make me feel better,” I muttered.
“Didn’t think it would,” he admitted.
\---
Aidan finally lowered his blade, though his shoulders stayed tense. “We shouldn’t be arguing down here. This building is too open. Too exposed. If Damien found us, others can too.”
“Agreed,” Echo said. She hadn’t taken her eyes off the staircase.
But Elena wasn’t done. “No. Hold on. We’re not just going to brush past this, right? Damien shows up, drops a name, and vanishes like he’s Batman. And we just… go home? What if this Selene chick is watching us already? What if Damien’s leading us straight to her?”
Ethan raised a hand. “Counterpoint: if Selene is real, if she’s moving pieces against the Creed, then Damien might be our only link to her. We can’t afford to cut him off.”
“Or he’s stringing us along,” Elena shot back.
“Both can be true,” Echo said quietly.
That shut us up. Because she was right.
\---
We finally made our way back up the creaking stairs, each step echoing in the emptiness. By the time we reached the broken front doors, I realized I hadn’t loosened my grip on my knife the entire time.
Outside, the fog was even thicker, swallowing the campus in pale white. The streetlights buzzed faintly, halos of weak light cutting through the mist.
“I hate this place,” Elena muttered. “Remind me again why we didn’t just enroll in an online college program? No fog, no ghosts, no hybrid cult meetings.”
“Because online classes don’t hide ancient secrets,” Ethan said dryly.
“Neither do they get you murdered by creepy golden-eyed boys,” she shot back.
He sighed. “Can you stop talking for five minutes?”
“Can you stop breathing for five minutes?” she retorted.
I caught Aidan’s faint smirk before he forced it away.
\---
Halfway across the courtyard, Echo suddenly stopped. Again.
Everyone froze.
“What now?” Elena whispered, her crossbow half-raised.
Echo tilted her head. “We’re not being followed this time.”
“Great. That’s… good news, right?” Ethan asked nervously.
She shook her head. “No. It means whoever was following us before doesn’t need to anymore.”
Rhea’s voice wavered. “Because they already know where we’re going.”
The silence that followed was heavier than any fog.
\---
Back at the dorms, we collapsed into the common room like soldiers dragging themselves home from a battlefield. The lantern room hadn’t given us answers—just more questions. And one name. Selene.
Elena threw herself on the couch. “Okay, so what’s the plan? We pretend to be normal students again while some ancient goddess of doom stalks us across campus?”
“That’s exactly what we do,” Aidan said firmly. He paced the room like a caged wolf. “We blend in. We observe. We wait for Damien—or Selene herself—to make the next move.”
“That’s not a plan,” Elena argued. “That’s a recipe for ulcers.”
“Ulcers or not, it’s survival,” Echo said.
Ethan finally set his laptop on the coffee table. “I’ll start digging. Student records, faculty files, anything that even remotely mentions Selene. If she’s embedded herself here, there’ll be a trail.”
Elena groaned. “Fine. But if we’re doing this undercover college thing, I’m not sharing a dorm room with Ethan. He alphabetizes his socks.”
“They’re easier to find that way,” Ethan muttered.
“They’re socks, not files in a cabinet,” she snapped.
I pressed my fingers to my temples. “You two are going to be the death of me.”
Aidan sat beside me, his voice low enough only I could hear. “No. They’ll keep you alive. Even in all this.”
I looked at him, searching his face for certainty. But all I found was the same storm I felt inside myself.
Selene.
The word burned in my mind.
Who was she?
And why did it feel like she already knew me?