Adam

I was full of energy and bubbling excitement when we walked to the parkour in the morning. Lucas bounced up and down with every step, sharing my excitement, even if it wasn’t exactly for the same reason.

“I can’t wait to start,” he said, picking up his pace, forcing me to fall into a run. I was already out of breath when we reached the enormous parkour spreading out in front of us, a lot bigger than I expected it to be.

“Wow, Samuel must have invested tons of money into this,” I said.

Lucas nodded, a broad smile on his face. “It was one of his biggest investments. He said it would be a great place to train and learn how to move and fight in the field.”

“Interesting you say that, considering I have never seen this place for training sessions before.”

“You can sign up for extra training three times a week. They use this parkour then,” he said, grabbing my arm. “But we can use it whenever, so come on. Let’s go!”

He dragged me down the path, and I nearly stumbled over my feet as I tried to look around to find the initial reason for coming here. I spotted a large building further west and stopped in my tracks, causing Lucas to stop, too. He looked at me, his brows furrowed in question.

I pointed at the enormous tower in the distance. “Is that the guest quarter?”

Lucas turned around, nodding. “Yeah, that’s the one.”

“I see,” I said, trying to think of a reason to get closer to the building without seeming suspicious, but for now, I joined Lucas for a few rounds of stretching. I didn’t expect a lot from the training session here, just a few casual rounds in the parkour. Little did I know, Lucas would turn into a drill sergeant.

After he decided it was time to stop, I was sweating out of all the pores in my body, and my staggering breaths barely filled my tired lungs enough to feel comfortable. Black dots danced in front of my eyes as I laid down flat on my back, my head spinning.

Lucas took off his shirt and sat down next to me, smiling. “That was a great workout.”

I groaned. He barely looked out of breath, and he probably only stopped because I was about to pass out.

“And you said you need to train your stamina and strength,” I wheezed.

He laughed. “I never said I didn’t have any, just that I needed to get better.”

“Whatever you say, dude.”

Lucas stood up, putting his shirt back on. “I will grab us some fresh, cold water. I’ll be right back.”

He took the empty water bottle out of my hand, my tongue sticking to the roof of my mouth. I hadn’t even realized I had emptied it already because I was still feeling extremely thirsty. When he was out of sight, I got on my feet, my muscles screaming under the weight, but I had to take the chance to check the guest quarters.

Every step hurt as I hurried to the tower, my lungs aching with each breath. The sun burning on my skin didn’t make it any better, either. It was further than I expected, and a lot higher, too. When I finally reached it and looked up, I could barely see the windows up there.

With my last focus, I planted a weak spell on the wall, and let it crawl up the wall to the top, listening to any sound inside. There were a few voices in the middle of the tower, but they sounded like they belonged to scholars. Only when I reached the top, I heard quiet sniffling, but the spell was too far away from me now. I couldn’t hear anything properly, let alone make out if it was Sophia’s sister or not. But I couldn’t risk putting more strength into the spell, as I didn’t want anyone to see my signature through the walls. I quickly dissolved the spell and hurried back to the parkour, already seeing Lucas roaming around the place.

“There you are,” he said when he spotted me, and threw the bottle of water towards me.

I caught it, but it almost slipped through my fingers. I fumbled with the lid and took a huge gulp, enjoying the cold water running down my throat.

“Thanks!”

He smiled. “No problem. I was worried you vanished into thin air, though.”

“Sorry, I roamed around the area, looking around a bit. I haven’t been here before. That tower is massive.”

A frown spread over his face as he looked toward the tower. “Something feels odd about that tower. Kinda wrong, you know?”

I looked back at the building, my stomach dropping. There could be Sophia’s sister up there, crying alone at the top of it. I wish I could get her out of here right now, but sadly, it wasn’t so easy.

“It seems very dubious, that’s for sure.”

Lucas leaned closer to me. “Some scholars claim there is a ghost living inside the tower. Sometimes they would hear screams during the night.”

A shiver ran down my spine. “Why a ghost? Why are they so sure, whatever or whoever is up there isn’t alive anymore?”

He shook his head. “I doubt Samuel would trap someone up there.”

I wanted to laugh at the bad joke, but stopped myself. I was sure Samuel would be able to do even more horrible things than that, but he would disagree with me, anyway. The less he knew, the better.

“And why would a ghost be trapped up there?”

Lucas leaned back on his heels, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his pants. “Some assume a visitor killed himself in the room centuries ago. The mentor who used to own this compound was quite the tyrant. Who knows what he did to the poor man visiting?”

So, Samuel wasn’t a tyrant, then? I was glad I could finally see him for who he was, and wasn’t tainted by the blood trance anymore.

“Maybe something bad happened in the past then,” I said, wanting to end the topic. Lucas didn’t seem to know more, and pushing him for more information might seem suspicious. One thing was for sure, though: someone was inside that tower, and I was almost convinced it was Sophia’s sister.