Chapter 2:

Registration

The huge gate looked very dark and haunted, it was also very weird as behind it, they could only see smoke, thick and dark.

Out of the blue, an old man walked over to them, wearing a dirty, wet, rough overcoat, looking like a beggar. He had a stick in his hand that supported his steps. Sam looked at him and was very suspicious that how can someone be here in such a deep jungle.

"Be very cautious. Do not tell your real identities no matter what." Valerie whispered to them.

Understanding her concerns they all nod while Devin snorted. The old man, noticed Devin's expression and smirked.

"Kids. How come you're here, on a high mountain in deep forest?" The old man asked in a deep growling voice.

"We just came to explore but then encountered some leopards on the way. So to find a shelter to spend the night, we ended up here." Devin replied casually.

Alaric and Mabel wanted to beat him up for spitting out everything, Callie and Sam were also in rage, but Valerie signaled them that it was alright. The old man's smirk widened in a creepy way, and he walked forward.

"Ah... So you want to spend a day here?" He said, walking closer.

"If we can..." Devin said.

"Oh, sure you can~ but, do you know what Sheol The Ivory Tower means?" The old man asked.

"We don't want to know, just tell us we can stay or not?" Devin said, growing impatient.

"Alright, come in, I'll take you to meet someone, they will tell where you can stay or not." The old man said.

All six gave each other wary glances but decided to walk along. Callie and Mabel held closely onto Valerie, Alaric and Sam also stayed by her side as she was still injured. Devin on the other hand, kept walking forward.

As the passed through the gates, a dark and uncomfortable feeling surrounded them, it was so foggy that even seeing one's own hands seemed difficult.

Mabel's POV:

This place is very dark, I don't like it at all, and that old man, he... he is literally so creepy. It's all because of Devin that we got stuck here and now, even Valerie agreed to get inside this spooky place, and what's with its name?! Sheol stands for Hell, how could anyone name a place as 'Hell'... how is Devin so eager to go inside.

Clinging onto Valerie, we walked in through the fog. Soon a big building came in view, the old man took us inside it. The interior was luxurious as we all looked at each other in shock, as we were led to an office. The head chair turned around, revealing a gorgeous looking lady with a very creepy smirk.

"Oh~ Who do we have here?~" The lady spoke, looking at us as if we were meals.

"These kids want to stay here for today." The old man told that lady with a smirk.

"Of course~ why not. Well, myself Richa, the principal of this school~" She said very arrogantly in a rich Australian accent.

We were all stunned to hear that this dark place was a school. Then it clicked in our heads, 'The Ivory Tower' means University or High-school in earlier times. Just as we were about to say something, Richa pulled out a form from her desk and placed one in front of each one of us. The form only asked for four things, name, age, gender and signature. This was when we remembered Valerie's warning from earlier, 'Don't reveal your real identities no matter what.'

"Well, well, since you'll be staying here for the day, just register your names, so we have a record." Richa said.

Being dumb as ever, Devin filled in the form instantly. While we all looked at Valerie, she again reminded us not to reveal our identities and just fill in a fake form. We all understood, I wrote my name as Julie along with a fake signature and referred my age as 19, a year older than what I actually was. Sam was, Olivia. Alaric was, Thomas. Callie was, Kate. And Valerie was, Isabel. We all looked at Devin, hoping he had entered a fake name too. He laughed awkwardly before speaking.

"I wrote Jacob..." His voice was hesitant.

We looked at him suspiciously but then believed what he said. The registration was done, and now Richa took us towards her dorm area and gave us a room with two partitions, one for boys, the other for girls.

Olivia (Sam)'s POV:

Richa showed us the room, and to be honest, we were quite pleased with it. We first helped Isabel (Valerie) sit on the couch as she was injured. Richa finally noticed it and immediately called over a nurse who bandaged her properly and also helped her change into fresh, comfortable clothes that Richa gave.

"Oh sweetie, since you're injured, I'll advise you not to go out after 7PM." Richa said to Isabel.

"Why?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. Every night, from 7 PM to the next sunrise, we celebrate Foul Play." Richa spoke darkly.

"What is Foul Play?" Isabel asked coldly.

"Time when everything is allowed, without any rules." Richa replied vaguely.

Isabel just nodded, but something was going on in her head for sure. While Jacob (Devin) seemed excited to explore this so-called Foul Play. But to be honest, hearing that everything was allowed, and no rules, I was a little excited too.

Guess we're in for some fun...

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