Devil’s Enthronement

TWO || DETENTION (II)

THE DEVIL’S ENTHRONEMENT: THE AWAKENING OF THE SIX

By three thirty, Kiara had decided that detention was the stupidest punishment ever invented.

“This is ridiculous!” She slapped the textbook on her desk shut and the ‘thud’ echoed around the quiet library.

She looked around the library and at where Dylan was seated. He had his legs crossed on the desk with his hand folded across his chest. His head was tilted back and a small book on his face to block out the lights.

Kiara was infuriated by the sight she beheld. She gritted her teeth and huffed.

He was the reason they were stuck in detention yet there he was, sitting like he had no care in the world.

“Are you happy? You have to be happy at least that you have successfully made someone as unhappy as your heart.”

Dylan didn’t reply. His head was still tilted back without any movement.

“Are you asleep?” She huffed again. “Of course you would be asleep. All you ever do is cause trouble and sleep, without a single care about anything.”

Her chair scraped loudly over the floor as she tried to stand up. She stuffed her textbook in her back and walked over to where Dylan sat.

“It’s now three thirty, let’s arrange the books already so we can leave here by four.”

Dylan still didn’t move nor respond.

“Prescott. I promise you, I will report you to Ms. Kate if you don’t wake up.”

When he still didn’t answer, Kiara quietly walked over to where he was seated. She held her breath as she pinched the bridge of the book and lifted it off Dylan’s face.

A pair of blue bright eyes glared straight into Kiara’s face.

“Sweet peaches!” Kiara yelped and staggered backwards.

Dylan stood up immediately and snatched the book off Kiara’s hold. “You cuss like a five year old.”

Kiara’s brows furrowed immediately. “You have been awake all these while and you chose to ignore me? Why did you pretend you were sleeping when you actually heard me well?”

Dylan ignored her and walked over to the section of the library where books were scattered all over the floor. The books were old, like something that had been abandoned and forgotten for a long time.

“Where are we meant to put these books?”

Kiara walked up to him and crossed her hands over her chest. Being that she was about five foot seven and half and Dyaln was about three and half inches taller than her, Kiara had to look up at him to address him.

“Why are you always picking on Ashley? Is it because she’s smaller and weaker than you are? Do you think picking on girls makes you more man-”

“Christ, Hunter, do you even think to just shut up?! Fuck! You talk too much all the damn time.”

Kiara’s mouth fell open. For a few seconds, she simply stared at him, her mind running through the things she wanted to say to him.

Decided it was better to let things be, she scoffed. “Excuse me.” She pushed past him and started walking back to her seat.

“Are you not going to help me with these books?” Dylan turned away before the words could leave his lips. He crouched beside the pile and began picking up the scattered books one after the other.

Kiara rolled her eyes and walked back. “Fine.”

She crouched beside him and picked up a dusty brown book. The book was so worn that what had once been written on it was impossible to read.

She tried to wipe the dust away with her palm but nothing happened. “Where would this go?”

“Aren’t you the smarty pants here, figure it out.” Dylan replied without looking up at her.

“Asshole.” Kiara muttered under her breath. Dylan heard it but he decided to remain quiet.

The library remained unusually quiet as they continued sorting through the books. The ticking of the clock and the creaking of the old shelves that came once in a while the only thing disrupting the silence.

After a while, Kiara picked up another book.

That one was different. It was visibly thicker and larger than the other ones. The book was bound with dark leather, though it had faded with years, she could tell the leather was of a good quality. Strange marking were carved into the leather.

“What sort of book is this?” She tried to read the markings as she stood up.

Dylan looked over. “What?”

“This book. What do you think it is?”

Dylan turned his face away. “An old book. Just like the rest. Put it down and get back to work.”

Kiara ignored him. “But can’t you see how different it is from the rest. Don’t you want to know what it’s about?”

Dylan huffed and walked over. “Fine.” He took the book from her.

He could feel the smooth leather in his hands. His eyes skimmed through the markings on the cover before he reached to touch it.

A strange chill ran through the room the moment his fingers touched the cover. It wafted through them in a quick yet soothing speed.

“Did you feel that?” Kiara took a step closer to Dylan as her eyes danced through the room.

The library was significantly larger than every other building in the school being that it was an old structure.

“Feel what?”

“That. The cold breeze?”

Dylan looked around. “Must have been the air conditioning.”

“That did not feel like the air conditioner.” She took another stop closer. Dylan eyed her curiously.

He slowly opened the book. A small paper danced in the air as it fell out before kissing the floor. Kiara picked it up immediately. She searched the front and the back, nothing. It was bare.

She looked at Dylan and shook her head. He continued with the book.

The pages had a yellowish brown color and were brittle. Kiara leaned closer as Dylan dusted off the pages.

“What language is that?” Kiara asked.

“Aren’t you the one meant to know everything, Nerd?”

“Can’t you just behave for a minute?”

Dylan turned to the next page, it was just as the last one. Random alphabets were thrown together to make words they couldn’t comprehend. He flipped through the pages.

“Wait.” Kiara held his hand and he slowly turned back to a few pages behind, near the middle of the book.

There was a drawing. Two figures stood at the mouth of a cave each holding a torch. Inside the shadows of the cave, what looked like a burning creature was painted.

It looked burnt with long horns and sharp claws and eyes drawn in large circles.

Kiara shifted closer to Dylan until her uniform brushed his. “This is written in English.” She pointed to the text below the drawing.

“Read it out.”

She looked up at Dylan and swallowed thickly.

“When the darkness rises,” she shuddered. “When the darkness rises again, they shall come forth and stand against the demon.”

Dylan’s brows narrowed. Kiara continued.

“They shall not seek the light; the light shall find them.”

A cold silence passed through them. Kiara gritted her jaw. Dylan turned the next page. The book continued in the strange language.

“This doesn’t make sense,” Dylan started searching through the book from the first page again, slower this time. “Why would only that text be written in English and what language is this?”

“Wait.” Kiara stopped Dylan again. This time, Dylan saw it too.

It was another drawing but upside down. Dylan turned the book around and the image came in view.

Their eyes met. “Is that…”

“Riskwood High.” Dylan answered.

The drawing was old but there was no mistaking the building.

The intricate design of the entrance gates, the first building that stood in the middle of the compound with its high roof and clock tower that stood by the side. There was no mistaking it.

“This is our school.”

“There is another text in English.” Kiara said and began reading out loud.

“‘The first awakening: the book shall lay where the awakened are confined together waiting for the hour when they are forced to seek it.’”

“I don’t understand.” She added. Her face turned pale.

Dylan slapped the book shut immediately. “There is nothing to understand. This is nothing, we saw nothing.”

Kiara took a step back in a shocking realization. “Is this about us? This is what happened to us.”

“Come off it, Kiara. It’s nothing.”

“We were confined together. We waited till three thirty before we started arranging and we didn’t ask to find the book.”

“We were sorting through old book, of course we would have found something strange.”

“So you believe me, you agree that this is strange.”

“No.”

A harsh breeze rushed through the library, slapping the windows of the building. The bulbs flickered for some seconds before stabilizing.

“Dylan,” Kiara whispered through her teeth. “It’s about us.”

The clock in the library chimed. Kiara looked at it immediately.

“Dylan, look at the clock.”

The hands of the clock were far from what they had seen it earlier.

“Fuck!” Dylan muttered and forcefully dropped the book and it fell to the floor with a loud thud. “When did it get to six? Fuck. We need to leave. Now.”

“But- what about- what about the book?”

“Forget it.”

“We can’t just- After everything we jus-”

“Hunter,” Dylan grabbed his bag from his previous position. “Let it go.”

His voice was hard and stern. Kiara dragged her lower lip in between her lips and looked at the book one more time. She pressed her eyes shut and turned away.

Dylan looked at the book and turned to Kiara. “You will tell no one about this.”

“Why? This is weird, I need to let someone know or I’ll go crazy.”

“You don’t know what it is talking about. It’s not real.”

“You don’t know that for sure.” Dylan kept quiet. “Exactly.”

“Kiara. Don’t mention this to anyone. I will text you and we will talk about it. For now, keep your mouth shut.”

She nodded. And they started leaving.

The book remained where Dylan had dropped it. But just as they passed through the door, the book moved, like something underneath it breathed.

The old shelves creaked quietly and the lights flickered off.