" Seems like today is our bad day!" Lia said. Both Bella and Lia were shedding invisible tears at their situation when a teacher entered the class. Soon they got busy with their studies.
They had two classes more after their lunch. By the time it ended, it was half-past six. Most of the classes end at this time if students are not attending any extra classes. Bella and Lia walked out of their class along with Rose.
" Do you want to eat dinner now?" Rose asked them as they made their way outside the administration building where their classes were held.
" Yeah, let's go. I'm feeling hungry now." Bella said, massaging her stomach.
" You are hungry 24/7." Lia commented with a chuckle.
" Don't say that. It hurts my feeling, you know." Bella said, making a pout. Lia and Rose laughed seeing her expression.
" Do you know, it's said that dinner in our University canteen is not less than a feast. It's very lively." Rose exclaimed.
" How do you know so much about these things?" Bella asked her, amazed listening to her information.
" When I was little, I saw my brothers and friends going to University. Since I was the youngest, I waited for them at home to come back and listened to each and every detail that they shared." Rose said.
They entered the canteen and their eyes sparkled. The canteen was packed with students laughing and eating with their friends. They made their way toward the food counter.
" It feels like Christmas Eve." Lia said in awe.
" Look at the dishes. I want to stay here for the rest of my life!" Bella stated, her eyes twinkling.
" Don't just look around. Let's help ourselves." Rose said and the trio served themselves the dishes. They all sat at the table and started to dig in.
" Look at this fried chicken! What could be tastier than this!" Bella moaned while savoring the flavors.
" It's tastier than what I had imagined!" Rose said, taking a big portion of her food into her mouth.
" Hey! That's mine!" Lia exclaimed when Bella took a piece of chicken from her plate.
" I'm sorry but I'm too lazy to go back there and take one more piece. Thanks for this." she said and put the chicken in her mouth while Lia looked at her blankly.
They ate their dinner with fulfillment. It was the best thing that happened to them today. Lia put down the last piece of bone on her plate with a satisfactory smile.
" It was amazing." Lia said at last.
" It surely was." Rose said, agreeing with Lia.
" Wish the day could end like this, but sadly, it's not going to. Look at the time." Bella said and Lia checked her watch. Five minutes were left for the hour hand to hit seven.
" I'll have to go now where Sarff asked me to." Bella said and stood up from her seat.
" Then, I'll also start my today's adventure." Lia said and also stood up from her seat.
" All the best for your tasks. I'm sorry, but, I won't be able to help you with this matter. I know that you guys haven't got the hostel rooms yet. Please remember to come out of the University's gate by 9 pm. After that, the gate would be closed and will open tomorrow at 5 am." Rose said and both the girls nodded their heads.
" We will try our best. Thank you." Lia said and the three of them left the canteen after washing their hands.
" I'll see you guys tomorrow." Rose said and waved at Lia and Bella. She walked away, leaving the girls outside the administration building.
" I'll go up now. Good luck." Lia said to her sister, showing thumbs up.
" Good luck to you too. I'll wait for you here if my task finishes earlier." Bella said. Lia nodded her head and went inside the building. Taking the stairs, she went up to the third floor.
When she reached the third floor, she was disappointed since the floor didn't look as what she had imagined it to be. She had thought that she would see a board written 'RESTRICTED AREA', dusty floors, things stacked upon each other, broken lights, etc. Opposite of what she had imagined, this floor was the same as any other floor. The lights were working perfectly, the floor was clean and no mess could be seen.
Lia took a couple of steps ahead, the clicking sound of her boots echoing in the silence. She walked until she reached the second last room on the floor. The door was closed. She pushed the door slightly and the door creaked open. 'Shouldn't the door be locked?' she thought in her head.
She stepped inside the room and was surprised to see that it wasn't just a common room like that she had seen on other floors. It was a bedroom, a princess bedroom. The huge king-sized bed stood in the middle of the room. The room was decorated with ancient sculptures and portraits. Her eyes traveled to each corner of the room, devouring the ancient handwork beauty. Each item in the room was either made up of gold or silver. Lia just wondered how much this would cost in today's market! A few billion for sure!
Not getting trapped in the beauty of the room, she remembered the task for which she had came here. She quickly scanned the room when her eyes fall on the shining ball placed in front of the window. The blue crystal ball looked so soothing, standing upright on a wooden holder, but when Lia saw it, her heartbeat started to beat rapidly. She walked towards the shining ball and stood in front of it.
The curtain of the window was open, allowing the moonlight to enter the room and fall directly on the ball. This made the ball glow more brightly. She slowly raised her hand and touched the ball with her hands. She quickly retreated her hand when she thought that it glowed when she touched it.
" Was it my hallucination?" Lia asked herself when she didn't see any change in the ball. It must be her hallucination. Without pondering over it again, she quickly grabbed the ball and lifted it in her hands.
" I need to get out of here quickly." Lia said to herself and was going to head out of the room when something caught her eyes.
" This painting." she said and walked towards a portrait hung on the wall. A woman was sitting on a throne with a baby in her arms. A man was standing behind her, his hands on the woman's shoulder.
" Why do I feel like I have seen this woman, before?" Lia muttered to herself. The golden hair of the woman was braided and decorated with flowers. The father and baby had the same black hair. Lia couldn't figure out why they all were looking so familiar to her. She walked closer to the painting and lifted her free hand to feel the painting.
" Ah! Now I remember! She is the same woman whose statue is built in the fountain park!" Lia exclaimed when she finally remembered where she had seen this woman.
" Does that mean that this room belongs to that woman? Or her descendants?" Lia muttered to herself. Maybe she can find the mystery of that woman in one of the books in the library.
Letting the curiosity of knowing the woman slide from her head, she tried to focus on the task for which she had come here. She has found the ball and wanted to go away from this floor as fast as she could. She turned around to exit the room when she tripped and landed straight on her face.
" Holy cow!" Lia grunted and slowly sit up. She rubbed her forehead where she got hit.
" Oww!" she winced when she tried to touch the part where it hurt. She felt something wet on her fingers. Blood had stained her fingers.
" Guess my forehead is bleeding. All because of that brat named Ivandrake. Go to hell, you damn leader." Lia cursed him. She turned to look at what she stumbled upon. The red carpet spread on the floor was folded on which she tripped.
She slowly got up from the floor and looked around to see where the crystal ball went when she fell.
" Oh, there it is!" she said and walked towards the foot of the bed where the ball was. She bent down to pick it up when her head started to hurt badly.
" Ah!!!" she screamed and put her hand on her forehead. After a minute or two, the pain eased a little.
" It's bleeding so much. I'll have to put on something when I get home." Lia muttered to herself and quickly grabbed the ball. She didn't want to spend any other minute here. She stood up hurriedly and was going to head out when suddenly Lia noticed that the door was no longer open. She ran towards the door and tried to open it, but, someone had locked the door from outside.
" Hey! Is someone outside? Open the door!" Lia shouted while banging on the door but there was no response.
" What I have gotten myself into because of this stupid ball!" Lia groaned and looked down at the ball in her hands when her eyes went wide. The blue crustal ball was no longer blue in color. It had changed into bloody red. Before Lia could understand what was happening, she felt a sharp pain in her forehead like it was going to burst, and in the next second, she collapsed on the floor.