After that night I couldn't stop thinking about Room 13.
Not just because of the chair with my name on it. Not just because of the photo that might be there.. Because of what Maya said.
"I'm a victim too.. Look what happened to me."
What the Ember Core didn't finish saying.
"Lina is—"
What is Lina?
I sat on my bed staring at the ceiling. Lina was already asleep beside me. Her warm hand was open beside her face like always.
I wanted to ask her. About the basket on my grandfathers doorstep. About her past that she never talked about. About what my grandfather hid.
Every time I opened my mouth the words wouldn't come out.
Not because I was scared.. Because seeing Lina asleep I remembered something. My grandfather said Lina was safe. Lina was a victim.. I believed him.
I wanted to believe him.
I closed my eyes.. Sleep didn't come.
---
Two nights later I went back to Room 13.
I didn't mean to. I was just walking, without a plan. My feet took me there.. Maybe I had wanted to go back all along.
The third-floor hallway was dark. No lights on. Only moonlight from the window at the end of the hall casting shadows on the floor.
The door to Room 13 was open.
Not half open like before. Fully open. Like someone had opened it.. Like the room itself was inviting me in.
I stood at the door. The scar on my hand pulsed softly.
"Go in."
The Ember Cores voice. I ignored it.. My feet moved on their own.
I went in.
The room was the same as I remembered. Gray stone walls. Black tile floor. One window on the side open, night wind coming in with cold.
But the chair in the center—it wasn't empty.
On the chair there was a box.
The box was small. About the size of my palm. Dark wood, black. No carvings. No symbols.. I knew—I had seen a box like this before.
The same as the Ember Core box. The same as the box found in my grandfathers wall.
Smaller. Simpler. Like something placed there on purpose. Like something waiting for me.
I walked closer. My hands shook as I reached for the box.
The box wasn't locked. The lid opened with a touch.
Inside was not a treasure. Not a letter.
A photo.
The paper had turned yellow. Its edges were wavy from moisture.. The image was still clear.
Two people stood in front of the Academy gate. The same black iron gate I had walked through weeks ago.. The gate looked newer. Shinier.. In front of it two young men smiled.
One of them—my grandfather.
Young. His hair still jet not white as I remembered. His face not yet lined with wrinkles. His eyes bright, without the weight I saw in them before he died. He smiled widely his arm around the shoulder of the man beside him.
The man beside him—
Bayu.
Also young. His long black hair loose not tied back like now. His face not as sharp. No scars. No marks.. His eyes—black. Ordinary black. Not the glowing yellow I saw now.
He was smiling in that photo. A smile I had never seen on his face. The smile of someone who hadn't lost anything yet.
I turned the photo over.
My grandfathers handwriting. Slanted left. Hurried, like always.
"Bayu and me before everything changed. He didn't know what would happen to him.. Did I.. If you're reading this Kael—find him. He's the one who knows where the second artifact is hidden."
I read it again. Twice. Three times.
The second artifact. Aegis.
Aldo mentioned it. The second Genesis Artifact, the one my grandfather tried to hide. The one Ouroboros was searching for.
Bayu knew where it was.
"That's the photo."
I turned around.
Bayu stood at the doorway. His black robe almost blended with the darkness of the hallway behind him. His yellow eyes glowed faintly like embers burning slowly.
I hadn't heard his footsteps. I didn't know how long he had been standing there.
"Your grandfather kept it " he said. His voice was heavy. Like always.. There was something there. Something I had never heard before.
A fragile sound.
"I didn't know " I said.
Bayu walked in. His steps were slow like he didn't want to disturb the dust on the floor. He stopped beside me. His large hands—to summon lightning—took the photo from me gently.
He looked at it for a time.
I saw something in his eyes. Not fire. Not lightning. Something else. Something that dimmed the glow for a moment.
"Before all of this we were friends " he said. "He taught me about the artifacts. About Ouroboros. About what to believe."
He handed the photo back to me.
"Now I'll teach you one thing."
His yellow eyes looked straight at me. No smile. No friendliness.. No hostility either.
"About the second artifact. About what happened in the Mariana Trench. About why your grandfather never came from there as a human."
I felt cold.
"What do you mean?"
Bayu didn't answer. He walked to the window. Opened it wider. Night wind came in carrying the smell of the sea from away.
"The Mariana Trench " he said, "is not a place. It is a door. A door to something than humans. Older than the artifacts. Older than anything we know."
He turned around. His eyes glowed.
"Your grandfather opened that door.. He couldn't close it."
"What's behind that door?"
Bayu looked at me. His yellow eyes—for the time—looked like human eyes. Not because the color changed.. Because of what was behind them.
Fear.
"You'll see for yourself, Kael. Because you have to go. To take the artifact. To close what your grandfather opened."
He walked to the door. Stopped at the threshold.
"Three days. Prepare."
"Wait—"
"I'll tell you everything later. About the expedition. About what happened at the bottom of the sea. About what changed my eyes."
He looked at me one time.
". Tonight you've had enough. Rest. Tomorrow you'll start learning what it means to carry a family curse."
He left.
I stood in Room 13 alone. The photo of my grandfather and Bayu was still, in my hand. The paper felt warm.
Outside the window the wind carried the smell of the sea. I had never lived near the ocean.. That smell felt familiar.
Like something that had been waiting for me for a time.