Victor, Lena, and Bartek break into the abandoned tower on the edge of town and find a strange symbol, hidden writing, and a cloaked figure who seems to know its secret.
At the far edge of town, where the pavement gave up to cracked earth and the road disappeared into a wall of trees, stood the old tower. No one went near it if they could help it. People crossed the street when they passed it, lowered their voices, and kept walking. Victor had noticed that for years. So had Lena and Bartek. That afternoon, with storm clouds gathering low and heavy over the forest, they finally decided to find out why.
They climbed the fence under a sky turning the colour of wet slate. The grass outside the tower was wild and tangled, brushing at their legs as they moved. Every snapped twig sounded too loud. Lena was the first to stop. She grabbed Victor’s sleeve and pointed at the door.
Something had been carved into the wood above the rusted handle: a symbol like an eye trapped inside a star.
Victor stared at it. In history class, Professor Rydel had shown them a sketch almost exactly like that, torn from a manuscript no one had been able to explain.
Bartek frowned, then pushed at the door before anyone could stop him. It gave way with a long, aching groan.
The air inside was cold and stale, thick with dust and the smell of something old enough to have been forgotten. Narrow slits in the stone let in thin bars of grey light. They lit up the walls, and Victor saw that the tower was covered in markings from floor to ceiling - tight rows of symbols, sharp lines, and names written in a language none of them recognised.
Lena stepped closer to one of the engravings. Before she could touch it, a sound drifted down from above.
A creak.
Then another.
All three of them froze.
Heavy footsteps began to cross the floor overhead, slow and deliberate, as if someone had been waiting for them to arrive. A shadow slipped over the stairwell, and the cold seemed to deepen around them. Victor tightened his grip on his torch. Bartek took one step back.
A figure appeared on the stairs.
Tall. Wrapped in a dark cloak. Face hidden beneath a hood.
The stranger moved down one step at a time, and the sound of each footfall seemed to strike the walls of the tower. When the figure reached the landing, it stopped directly in front of them and lifted one hand.
A pale finger pointed at the symbol on the door.
"Are you ready to learn the truth about this tower?" the figure asked in a voice so deep and unfamiliar it seemed to come from the stone itself.