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"Wait, that enchantment murders people?" Damien asked, nervous.

"Look for yourself," Raven said, pointing to the page that was open. In fancy, cursive handwriting was one paragraph written after the enchantment;

"If you said that enchantment aloud, then dark magic has spread around you, and most likely found a host. Just remember than no harm can come to you from the dark magic unless the dark magic possesses you or possesses someone else. Now that you have seen how that works, I have listed ways to get rid of it, if it's not too late."

"Oh my god," said Fletcher, realizing something. "I think I know how Jessica died."

"Somebody said this curse," Damien caught on.

"And the magic found a host that helped kill Jessica," said Jackson. Raven gasped. Somebody had been possessed with dark magic at Ashwock.

"Wait, how did you find that page?" Damien asked Raven, suspicious.

"It was flipped to that page when I picked it up!" She protested.

"Likely story."

Fletcher watched as they went back and forth, and realized something. "Wait, what about Marisa?"

They all looked around, but Marisa was nowhere to be seen. They all started to worry, and climbed up the ladder, Raven still holding the book on her hand. Once they were all out of the trapdoor they looked around, hoping Marisa was somewhere close by. To their disappointment, even after they called out her name she was nowhere to be found. They looked across almost the whole first floor, and eventually gave up.

"Guys, she's not here," said Jackson. "Probably on the second floor."

"No," Damien said. "If she wanted to be alone she wouldn't be on a floor that people were looking on." They all realized what he meant and ran up the stairs that they hoped would lead to the third floor and what they found was one last entrance to the second floor. Hopelessly sighing, they went back down and turned a corner, finding one last spiral staircase.

How many stairs are there?  Damien thought. They all ran up and, to their relief, found the third floor. They ran through the hall and checked the second door, which held a small couch and a small girl with straight blonde hair.

"Marisa, we need to tell you something. It's about something we found in the cellar," Damien said, the first into the room. Fletcher and Jackson followed him, Raven still behind.

"Oh no, is everybody okay? I told you not to go down there, the book could be dangerous." She looked at everybody, nervous.

"Yeah, everyone is-" Fletcher stopped. "Hang on, we didn't didn't mention a book."

Marisa started to sweat. "Yeah you did."

"No, he didn't," Raven said, barging on. She was carrying the book, and showed it to her. "You couldn't have seen it from where I was."

Damien gasped. "You've been down there before! That's why you ran away, and how you knew about the book!"

"And why it was already flipped to that page," Fletcher said quietly. "You said the curse that set the evil loose. That's why Jessica's dead, you killed her."

Marisa sighed. "Alright, I said it but I didn't kill her! I swear!"

"Yeah, but you released the magic in the first place." Fletcher was getting upset, and started to lash out, even if he didn't mean to. "If it wasn't for you, Jessica would be alive and Mr. Barla would still be here! We wouldn't be trapped in this hell! And now, people are dying because of what you did!"

Marisa was shocked by his words, but not as much as Fletcher was. He never lashed out, but he got so mad at that moment that he couldn't help it. Marisa set something loose that could possibly kill him and everyone else in the academy.

"Wait, didn't the book say something about the magic needing a host?" Damien asked. Everybody froze, thinking about who it must have been.

"Okay, I promise it's not me," Raven assured. She knew people would be pointing fingers at her again, and she wanted to make sure that at least that group believed her. "please believe me."

"I believe you," Marisa said, hoping that that would make the group forget that she said the curse. Of course, she was wrong.

"How do you know, huh?" Jackson asked, getting angry like Fletcher. "You said the enchantment, who's to say that you haven't done anything else?"

"Jackson," Raven whispered, shoving him a little.

"Please, I didn't mean to!" Marisa begged, close to tears.

Fletcher felt a hint of guilt for lashing out and even though was still extremely angry, he didn't say anything else. Jackson glared, but like Fletcher, didn't speak. Damien looked at his watch and his eyes went wide. "We need to get to the other group, we were supposed to meet up two minutes ago. They'll think something happened."

Marisa, glad that somebody changed the subject, agreed and started to run down the stairs, the rest of the students following her. Luckily they weren't too far from the front, the only tiresome part about it being all the stairs they had to climb down, and they got there in about a minute, only to find the other group already sitting in the seating area, glad to see them again.

"Phew, we thought you lost your way!" Ella exclaimed. They all ran up to the other five students and Rafe held the book in her hands, curious when she saw that Raven had the same one.

"Where'd you get it?" She asked.

Raven looked at the others, wondering what to say. Marisa shook her head but the others nodded, and when she didn't say anything Jackson stepped up. "We found it in a basement, and it was flipped to a page you might want to see."

Ella gasped, already knowing why Marisa was so anxious. "Don't say it," Fletcher said immediately. They listened and Trevor, the first person to finish reading, looked up. 

"Why was it on that page?" He asked.

"Because someone flipped to it," Damien explained. 

"That's how Jessica died," Fox whispered.

"Who?" Rafe asked. 

"Marisa," Jackson blurted out of nowhere.

"Please don't get mad at me," Marisa begged.

"I'm not," Teony reassured. Marisa gave her a small smile. Sure, Teony was upset and a little annoyed at her ignorance but she wasn't going to scream at her. It just wasn't her nature. But the others thought differently.

At first, Rafe yelled like Fletcher and Jackson, and Marisa bit her tongue to keep from crying and Teony stepped it, backing up Marisa. "Guys, she didn't mean to. I bet you would have done the same."

"But Rum and Jessica could be alive right now," Fox replied. "Don't you see? We're doomed! There's no way out, and you all know it."

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A/N

Woah, nine chapters! I really love writing this story, and how much you guys like it and how much you are commenting! So, I want your theories.

How do you think they are going to get out?

Who do you think is possessed by dark magic?

Who do you think is going to die next, or maybe who you think will survive? (It's less than ten. Just so you know)

I would love to hear what you think! ;)

-Puffin