Without thinking, she immediately stood up from where she sat, took her bag and left the hall, going towards the door.
People were going out of the hall one by one to their dormitories, but Marinelle followed the other door to see who it really was.
Immediately she passed through the door, the door was locked shut from inside, she wasn't aware as she still kept moving forward determined to find out if it was Sage.
As she kept going she saw that she was going deeper into the woods. The hall was situated at the far end of the camp, also at the back of the hall was a very thick and wide forest.
The forest was being used by the higher ups leaders at the camp for training the students sometimes in martial arts, no one was allowed to go there without permission or supervision.
The more steps she took, the farther she got into the forest, she kept walking and walking going real deep.
Beads of sweat tickled down from her forehead to her chin, she'd been walking for quite some time and she hadn't seen the likes of any living thing around, just rustling of leaves and far away howls at intervals.
She stopped for a moment to catch her breath, she plopped down resting her hands on her knees panting heavily, she looked back and gasped.
She was far away from the camp ground, she looked around trying to remember where she came out from, all she could see were just thick shrubs and tall trees.
She was completely lost, she didn't remember to mark any landmark that could help her on her way out.
She was in a dilemma, she was very deep into the thick forest.
Everywhere was dark, the tall trees covered lights from filtering into the forest. Even though it was broad daylight.
She could still find her way around, she looked around and tried to go in a particular direction hoping to come out to the camp ground, in the end she only got deeper and farther into the forest.
She reached for her phone in her pocket to make a call but there wasn't any signal.
She started regretting why she ventured in this entirely stupid quest in the first place. She sighed in frustration not knowing what to do.
"Hello, can anyone hear me?" she shouted at the top of her lungs.
Her voice just echoed with no response.
"Hello!! Is anyone there" she tried again all to no avail.
She was so frustrated, tired and hungry, worst of all the sun was setting, giving the forest a more shadowy look. She became very afraid.
She really didn't want to spend the night in an unknown forest having the knowledge that her life could be in danger and the fact that they were dangerous beasts lurking behind some corners.
She walked a little more further looking for a place to sit and rest, after walking for some time, she found a rock, she quickly walked over and sat on it.
She heaved a sigh and rested her back on the nearby tree. She was so tired, her legs, neck and back were sore.
She regretted ever stepping out of the hall into that forest, she looked up to see the sky, it was a little bit impossible to see as the forest trees were so tall and thick.
She heaved a sigh and looked around, all she could see were just tall trees and thick shrubs all around her.
She sat there for a while staring into space when all of a sudden her mind went back to the welcome address given to them by those strange looking women.
In a flash, Marinelle quickly remembered something: the robes they wore looked exactly like the ones that she saw Vesper, Sage and the other girls wearing.
She couldn't point out what was wrong but she knew that there were dark things about the sorcery camp, she could feel it.
She just hoped that she was safe, she was genuinely scared when she saw those heavily armed body guards.
She remembered going out through that door just because she saw a sage's silhouette. Was she being lured here on purpose?.
But who would do that?She wasn't really known or hasn't caused trouble yet, so why'll she be the target.
She immediately shrugged off the idea of her being lured there on purpose. She started questioning her sanity even though she was sure of what she saw.
Just a few days into camp and she was already questioning her sanity twice, she was genuinely tired and frustrated, she didn't know if she was just seeing things or they were real.
She was genuinely afraid, she stood up from where she sat, she was determined to find her way out of the forest, she couldn't just sit there and wait without doing anything.
She had to help herself get out of there before any other thing. She started walking down, she came across a pink plant, her eyes lit up with hope.
She remembered passing a pink plant on her way into the forest. She quickened her pace and started walking faster, hoping that she was almost at the camp ground.
She ended up coming out to a large space, she was at the center of the forest and on the other side was a thicker forest.
More thicker and darker than the one she was in, she came out of the forest to the large space in the middle.
She looked down and saw that there was no grass where she was standing, it was a well polished marble floor, she peered closely again and realized that she was standing on some sort of drawing.
She moved back a bit to understand and see what she was standing on clearly.
It was a large pentagram with a circle around it.
It was carved and permanent on the floor, the drawing seems oddly familiar, like she had seen it somewhere before.
She closed her eyes and tried to recall.
She then remembered!!
She had seen it in different places, she had seen it in her auntie's house just in front of the fireplace.
She has seen it in Sage's house in the middle of Sage's room, she saw it where Sage and those girls were doing their ritual, it was right below them.
P
She also saw it in the middle of the podium at the hall. This drawing looked very unique and special, it was almost everywhere.
She didn't really realize that it actually meant something until now.
She looked around and saw dried candle waxes in the edges of the pentagram, she vividly remembered seeing candles at the end of the pentagram when she saw those girls.
She gasped in realization, was it what they were doing here too? Did sage come out here for their meeting?.
She looked ahead and saw a bowl, it was made of clay and sitting in the middle of the pentagram.
She felt that same dark sensation she felt about sage's and vesper's little meeting right there.
She was moved to peek at what was inside.
She looked around to make sure nobody was looking, then she walked to the middle, bent down and was about to pick the bowl when she heard someone say.
"What do you think you're doing?"
Her heart sank and she froze on the spot.