The dean's test

"You love staring"

On hearing Zora's words, I stopped staring at her and awkwardly shifted my gaze to the other side.

"Um....I'm sorry, I just--"

"No, it's fine...you're handsome", she said with a beaming smile.

"Thanks... You're gorgeous too", I replied and smiled back, still staring deep into her eyes.

We started dancing again.

Her cheeks flashed with a bright red tint as I gently pulled her close to me and let her fall into my arms.

She was great at dancing just like I was. I was amazed that she was able to flow with my dance steps.

I tried so hard to not stare at her, but it seemed futile. She was just too breathtaking.

Trying to make it seem less awkward, I decided to start up a conversation;

"So, um...what supernatural being are you?", I asked.

"I'm a dreamer...you?"

I frowned slightly.

"The truth is, I don't really know...for some reason, the headmistress and her assistant are hiding something I can't tell", I replied.

"Oh...so, it's complicated..."

"Yeah...can you by any chance, read minds?", I blurted.

She didn't respond immediately.

Instead, she stared into my eyes for a few seconds, and I could see that they glowed brightly before returning to their normal hue.

"You're Daryn Coldwater, nineteen, an introvert who loves drawing and reading", she said with a smirk.

My eyes glared at her in surprise.

'That's how you figured out what question I was to ask', I thought.

"Yeah", she replied.

She read my mind again.

"That's pretty cool", I smiled.

"Thanks...um, I-I think I like you", she confessed.

My heart raced faster than normal on hearing her words. It felt as if I was in a trance.

"Are you sure? You should think again...", I doubted.

She beamed a smile with her head faced down.

"I'm sure", she said.

I still felt a bit nervous on hearing her words, since it was my first time to hear such words from a girl.

I wasn't even sure of what to say.

"Um...okay, cool...I like you too", I finally managed to say.

"Friends?", she asked.

"Yeah", I smiled.

Our faces moved closer as she fell into my arms again.

We were almost about to break into a kiss, when suddenly...

The whole environment warped into a thick forest. We quickly unhooked from each other in instant surprise.

My gaze swept around the forest, as I tried to comprehend what just happened.

The sky looked grey as if it would rain anytime soon, and the scent of earth after rain couldn't be mistaken.

Rustling sounds were heard as the wind swept a few dry leaves leaves back and forth.

I turned to Zora who maintained a rather calm gesture;

"Where are we?", I asked with a confused frown.

"Uh...no clue"

As usual, I was scared.

I could feel my heart nearly rip through my chest, on hearing a voice out of nowhere.

"This is an escape room test...partners are expected to escape from the rooms where they find themselves", said the voice.

"The dean", Zora murmured.

She was right, the voice sounded like the dean's.

I looked at her with a frown that highlighted my mixed feelings of fear and confusion.

No one expected such a graceful event to suddenly take a turn into becoming a test.

I hated tests!

"Great, we're stuck here forever forever", I complained.

Zora took a deep breath while maintaining her calm, expressionless gesture.

It made me wonder how she even remained calm when I was already freaking out.

Worry flushed down my heart as my gaze swept around the whole place again.

I stopped looking around when I heard her calm voice.

"All right, we can get through this...it's an escape room, so we've gotta find an exit or maybe a key...or something", she said.

"Where do we start from? We're in a thick forest...this place is too vast to search for an exit", I argued.

"Then we'll search for clues or anything that looks like a clue"

Left with nothing else to say, I finally gave into her idea of searching for a clue.

We spent time talking about cool stuff and our normal lives, while scanning the whole place for anything unique.

Suddenly, she stumbled upon a strange looking rock and almost fell; but I was swift enough to pull her up, into my arms.

Immediately she got on her feet, I let go of her, feeling a bit strange within.

"Thanks", she beamed a smile at me.

I raked through my hair with my fingers and smiled back at her.

"Uh...it's okay", I said.

An idea popped into my head, and I bent to the ground to examine the strange rock. I placed both hands on it and applied some pressure on it.

It eventually sank deep into the ground, and a sudden gust of wind brushed away the grasses around the rock.

Some words were engraved on the ground as we could clearly see.

'Where the truth lies'

We both looked in confusion.

"A clue...do you have any idea of what it means?", I asked with a confused frown.

"It should --"

Suddenly, the ground beneath us shook with a heavy rumbling sound. We staggered a few seconds before the quaking ceased.

A large bunch of thick forest vines began to intertwine with each other bit by bit, growing in size until a vine monster was formed.

It was truly massive, and the ground quaked each time the monster took a step forward.

Its whole body was made of thick forest vines, which grew each time it touched other vines.

The vines which formed its huge chest were interwoven to resemble a cage.

It ruthlessly swung its thick vine limbs, destroying everything in it's path.

While frozen in fear, I couldn't help but notice a bright glowing, yellow crystal which served as its heart.

'I don't wish to die this way', I thought.

I quickly snapped out of my frozen state and turned to Zora.

She bit her lower lip, while maintaining her calm composure. I could obviously tell that she was scared, even though she tried to hide it behind the calmness she maintained.

I could tell that she wasn't thinking anymore, on seeing blood which seeped through the little cut on her lip.

I kept on thinking hard to figure out what the clue meant.

"Where the truth lies"

I kept on murmuring the clue, until an idea popped into my mind.

"The truth lies in the heart", I voiced out.

My gaze immediately shifted to the monster's brightly glowing crystal heart.

'Maybe the heart is a key or something', I guessed.

I instantly snapped out of my thoughts when I saw one of the monster's swinging vines heading for us.

My instincts kicked in and I grabbed Zora, pulling her downwards to dodge the ruthless vine.

I guessed it shook her out of her frozen state, since she blinked twice.

"I was thinking, and I figured out the clue...it's--"

"The heart", we chorused.

"We need to get that crystal out of it's chest", I said, pointing at it.

"Yeah, we can use its swinging vines to get to the heart", she suggested.

I frowned.

"What?!....there's no way, it's too risky"

"It's worth a try", she said.

I was still frowning.

The monster's vines swung violently, and there was no way to safely grab one of them. It was just too dangerous to try, so I hesitated.

She suddenly left my side and jumped right in front of the monster.

"What are you doing?!", I yelled.

"I'll distract it, while you swing and grab the heart", she said with a smirk.

'She must be crazy'

My heart pounded heavily on hearing her words, and I was melting in fear.

Of course I wished for an adventurous life, but this...this was too extreme.

'If I can't do this, then how will I ride one a dragon's back one day?', I asked myself.

I took a very deep breath.

"I'll do it", I said to her.

Without any warning she yelled, "HEY IDIOT!"

This drew the monster's attention towards her.

Knowing it was my cue, I hurled myself into the air and luckily caught hold of the long vine which swung towards me.