39. Wooden tablet.

It was a long night and Christopher could not help doing anything else apart from tossing and turning.

He was woken up with a text on his phone saying he had only thirty-six hours to return the missing plaque. The treasure hunt exam was canceled and no one was bothered about any of the exams as that was not even the most pressing issue on the ground.

His friends offered their help which he refused, but Evangeline and Sarah wouldn't let him be. They were so adamant and he couldn't stop them.

Sarah texted him to meet her at the convergence hall point.

While walking to the hall, he got a lot of weird and uncomfortable looks.

He was frustrated.

“Hey,” Sarah started.

“Tell me everything.”

“Huh,” he answered in confusion.

“Tell me everything that happened yesterday.”

He narrated every single thing from where he was in the private training room to where he was captured in the garden of life.

He also explained how a mask was placed on his face to overpower him. He suspected that there must have been something in the mask because it weakened him completely, which prevented him from defending himself.

Sarah listened with rapt attention until he was done and then Evangeline spoke.

“Do you suspect anyone?”

“Zane,* he answered boldly.

“Why?”

“He has the same height and almost the same body build as me.”

“Where is the build?” Sarah smirked.

“Not the time for jokes Sarah,” he frowned.

“I'm sorry,” she muttered sincerely.

“Let's go,” Christopher started.

“To where?” both Evangeline and Sarah asked but he didn't reply.

They continued walking until they got to the old pine door from yesterday.

He opened the door and even Sarah and Evangeline were stunned by its beauty.

Maybe because they didn't get a closer look when they first visited it during the orientation ceremony.

Anyway, they were mesmerized by its beauty.

Evangeline couldn't stop touching everything and anything she came across so she continued walking around despite Christopher’s warnings.

While placing her hands on the wall, her hands touched a piece of wood which instantly illuminated the room.

Evangeline got scared and ran back with quick instincts.

Purple colored lights filled the atmosphere and Christopher could feel something.

He turned around in an instant.

“What's wrong?” Sarah asked now getting scared.

“Are we getting attacked by some beasts?”

“Relax you have a wild imagination,” he answered her.

“Don't blame me,” she defended.

Christopher knew this was familiar. He thought long and hard until it hit him.

“Yes”

“The aura”

He went back to the same spot Evangeline was.

He looked at the wood carefully and realized that it was more of a switch.

He pulled it up which made the lights go off.

He took them down again and the lights came on again. He then left it in the middle.

In doing that, the wall formed a demarcation and it opened.

The whole place was covered with old curtains and it looked creepy.

There were three rooms protected by three giant doors and inscriptions showing danger ahead.

“Christopher,” Sarah’s voice shivered.

“Are you sure this is safe?”

“We’ll have to see.”

“No we can't,” she replied.

“This is why I didn't want to bring you and Evangeline along.”

With that, Sarah kept quiet. She must have been upset as she was only trying to help, but he was on edge already.

He used his energy to push on one of the doors with all his might. It took a part of his strength away but that didn't matter.

As he entered the door, he was welcomed with a beam of light that was bright enough to make one go blind.

"What is that?” Sarah questioned.

He could feel it even more strongly now.

Without knowing what came over him, he sat down on the bare floor and began to dig with his hands.

Without asking any questions, Sarah and Evangeline joined him.

“There it was in all of its glory.”

It was a small wooden tablet that had engravings even Christopher couldn't understand on it. It seemed as though the engravings were made with precious stones because they shone so much.

“Yesss,” Christopher shouted in excitement.

“We found it,” Sarah rejoiced along.

“Thank goodness, finally” he breathed as relief washed over him.

“Let's leave now,” he spoke and she nodded.

They had exited the room already before they realized that Evangeline was nowhere to be found. He must have been so lost in his excitement that he didn't notice.

“I will find her,” Sarah volunteered.

“Just keep it safe.”

He nodded and she left.

Even though she was scared, she probably had a feeling that Evangeline took the door to one of the other rooms.

She did what Christopher did and opened the door.

Christopher was outside waiting for quite a couple of minutes and there was still no trace of them.

Now getting impatient, he decided to go in himself but they both appeared out of nowhere.

“Big bro….” Evangeline started but Sarah instantly gave her a look that made her keep quiet.

“What's wrong?” It's nothing she spoke up

hurriedly before Evangeline could say anything else.

He shrugged it off and they left.

Christopher was able to hide it in his clothes as he didn't want to bring any attention to himself, not like he could avoid it.

He walked straight to Mr Coniel's office while Evangeline and Sarah waited for him outside the building.

Just when he was a few steps away from his office, he could hear loud noises.

“What was going on?” He thought to himself.

He was about to knock on the door when he heard Derrick’s voice.

“How you can do that to him?”

“Can you imagine how he must be feeling right now?”

“How would he even find it?”

“Since when did you start caring about the boy?” Mr Coniel asked.

“I know he will find it.”

“I told you already I have a good reason for this.”

“I'm just trying to test him.”

“No, you are implicating him.” Derrick defended.

“We both know that the boy is no ordinary boy. I want to see how far he can and will go.”

“But still this is too extreme,” Derrick argued.

“You won't go against me,” Mr Coniel sneered.

“I won't, I'm just telling you what I think the truth is.”

Seeing that the noise had subsided, Christopher made a mental note as to whether he should still go in or go back.

While contemplating, he could hear footsteps.

He hurriedly left there and hid himself.

Derrick came out of the door and left.

Seeing that the coast was clear, he went back to the door and knocked on it.

“Come in,” he heard Mr Coniel say and he turned the door knob.

He walked in and found him seated on his chair as there was a pile of files on his table.

For a moment he was dumbfounded, now seeing him in person after realizing what he did broke him. Mr Coniel was nice to him so he did not understand why he felt the need to frame him.

“I found it,” he spoke, finding his voice.

“Really?” He asked his face lighting up.

“Thank you,” he said.

“You are forgiven already,” he spoke again.

If Christopher didn't know better he would have been fooled by him.

He left his office forcing a smile and went to meet Sarah and Evangeline.

“What's wrong Big bro?” Evangeline asked noticing his downcast expression.

“I was framed and guess who was behind it.”

“Mr Coniel.” This made both Sarah and Evangeline shocked.

“He hid it and made it look like I stole it because he wanted to test me.”

“What?” Sarah exclaimed.

“That can't be.”

“Oh yes it is the truth” Christopher spoke with so much anger.

“I thought you suspected Zane. Do you think they did it together?” Sarah asked.

“I don't know.”

“Then how did he come about the footage, Evangeline asked.”

“I don't know,” he shouted, beginning to get irritated.

They paused for a moment until Sarah broke the silence again.

“There is something I'm yet to understand though.” Sarah started again.

“Zane is a top student and he is not a first-year student, so how come he participated in the swordsmanship exam?”

Christopher stopped to think for a moment before speaking.

“Well maybe he failed the exam before, he shrugged.”

“That can't be, he's a top student,” Sarah answered again.

“According to what I know, he broke the rules when he took the exam last time.” Evangeline cleared her throat and continued.

“How?” Christopher asked.

“He came in with a foreign weapon.”

“What was it?” Sarah asked.

“A pen knife, I guess he wanted to win desperately.”

“Although I heard his opponent was much stronger than him, that was why he resorted to trying to harm him but he got caught and was banned for two years from taking the exam.”

“That's why he had to take it with us.” Evangeline finalized.

“How do you know all this?” Sarah cocked a brow wondering where she got so much information from.

I have my ways, she smirked.

*****

He had finally finished everything and the Treasure hunt exam ended up being annulled. Christopher was not surprised since he already knew it was planned.

At least he found the plaque so he got to remain at the academy.

As much as he wanted to try to find out if Zane was involved, he didn't want to dig deeper so he let sleeping dogs lie.

Now seeing a clearer picture of everything ahead, the day ended on a good note for him.