Sophie Parker's POV
The whole walk behind the school felt wrong.
Not scary wrong.
Just… strange.
Ryan walked ahead of me like he owned the entire place, hands in his pockets, not even bothering to check if I was following him.
"Hey!" I called out. "Slow down, Mr. Class President. Not all of us know secret routes behind the school."
He stopped and glanced back at me.
"That sounds like a you problem, Miss Rude."
I rolled my eyes. "You really need new nicknames."
"And you need better manners."
I crossed my arms. "Says the guy who refused to tell me his name five minutes ago."
Ryan smirked.
"That was before I realized you might be useful."
Useful?
I stared at him. "Wow. Thank you. I feel so honored."
"Don't get emotional about it."
"I'm not emotional!"
"You sound emotional."
"I AM NOT—"
Ryan suddenly stopped walking.
So suddenly that I almost walked straight into him.
"Ow—" I rubbed my forehead. "What is wrong with you?!"
He didn't answer.
Instead, he pointed forward.
And that's when I saw it.
Behind the main school building stood a huge stone wall completely covered in ivy. The vines had grown thick and wild, twisting over the bricks like they had been there for years.
Maybe decades.
I frowned.
"This place looks abandoned."
Ryan looked at the wall carefully.
"It probably is."
The air here felt colder somehow.
Or maybe that was just my imagination.
Suddenly the words from my letter flashed in my mind.
The ivy hides what your eyes ignore.
My eyes widened.
"Wait."
Ryan looked at me.
"What?"
"My letter."
He raised an eyebrow.
"The ivy hides what your eyes ignore."
For a moment neither of us spoke.
Then Ryan stepped closer to the wall.
"Well," he said calmly, "let's see what your eyes have been ignoring."
Before I could reply, he grabbed a bunch of ivy vines and pulled them aside.
Dust and tiny leaves fell to the ground.
Nothing.
Just old bricks.
Ryan moved another patch of ivy.
Still nothing.
I sighed. "Maybe it's just some stupid prank."
Ryan didn't respond.
He pulled aside another thick layer of vines.
And then he froze.
"Sophie."
His voice had changed.
"What?"
"Come here."
I walked closer.
"What did you find now? A spider? Because if it's a spider I swear I'm leaving—"
My words stopped in my throat.
Hidden behind the ivy was an old iron gate.
Not just old.
Ancient.
Rust covered the metal bars, and the hinges looked like they hadn't moved in years.
The vines had grown around the edges, almost like nature itself was trying to hide it.
My stomach twisted.
"Was this always here?"
Ryan shook his head slowly.
"I've studied here for years."
"And you never saw this?"
"No."
That was somehow worse.
I stepped closer to the gate.
The metal looked cold and rough under my fingers.
Then I noticed something strange.
"Ryan."
"What?"
"The lock."
He leaned closer.
And then his expression darkened.
The lock was on the inside.
I frowned.
"That makes no sense."
Ryan crossed his arms.
"You're right."
"If the lock is inside…" I said slowly, "…that means someone locked it from the other side."
Silence settled between us.
The wind rustled through the ivy leaves.
For the first time since coming to this school, I felt something crawl down my spine.
Ryan suddenly crouched down.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Looking."
"For what?"
"This."
He brushed away dirt from the bottom of the gate.
Carved into the metal was a strange symbol.
A circle.
Two lines crossing inside it.
Like two paths intersecting.
Or…
A pair.
Ryan stared at it longer than expected.
"You've seen it before?" I asked.
He hesitated.
"…Maybe."
"Maybe?"
"I'm not sure."
I opened my mouth to ask more questions, but something else caught my attention.
Scratches.
Right next to the gate.
Small words carved into the metal.
I leaned closer to read them.
And my heart skipped a beat.
"Ryan…"
"What now, Miss Rude?"
"Read this."
He stepped beside me.
The scratched message read:
"Truth sleeps below. Only the unbroken pair may wake it."
Neither of us spoke.
Then Ryan looked at me.
Then at the gate.
Then back at me.
"Well," he said quietly.
"Looks like we're stuck together."
I groaned.
"Great."
Ryan smirked.
"You love it."
"I absolutely do not."
But somewhere deep inside me…
I had the strange feeling that this was only the beginning.
And that whatever waited behind that gate…
Had been waiting for us..