NOVEL NEXT Chapter 37: Makeshift
Nicholas entered the room, watching as the two boys, Olaf and Benjamin, looked at him nervously. They stood stiffly at one end of the room, eyeing each other before handing Nicholas the two bed sheets they had tied togather into a makeshift rope.
Nicholas secured the sheet around his waist. Benjamin, whose normally jovial face was now pale and tight with concern, paced near the window, glancing nervously at the moonlit courtyard below. Olaf stood by the bed, arms crossed, his scowl as sharp as his words.
“You’re insane,” Olaf hissed, his voice low but brimming with frustration. “Do you even hear yourself? ‘Jumping in through the window of the professor’s office’? You should've been in the evning instead of going to his house— what is it that you want to find anyway? I know the principal wont let you out but just to show him up you want to jump an entire floor? What kind of stupid excuse is that?”
Nicholas didn’t answer immediately. He tugged at the rope, testing the knot. It held firm. “It’s not an excuse,” he said finally, his tone infuriatingly calm. “It’s what I’m doing.”
Deep down, he knew there was no other way. If he wanted to leave, truly leave, he would have to do the impossible. The castle was no mere building—it was a fortress, built to keep out intruders and keep in its prisoners. He knew every stone and shadow of it, every creak in the floorboards, every glint of iron on the locks.
The dormitory doors were locked, as they always were. And not just with one key—there was a grander door, heavier, layered in iron, that sealed them in further. At the top of the stairs, a caretaker always sat, specially scanning the narrow corridor for signs of trouble. But that was only the beginning. Even if he could slip past the caretaker, even if he could unlock the doors without a sound, there were the halls—dim, maze-like in the dark.
And should he navigate all that—should his feet find the worn steps of the main floor—there would be the final hurdle: the doors and windows. Each one locked and bolted. He’d seen the bolts himself set on both sides. To smash a window might be an option, but the sound would carry like a thunderbolt through the quiet night, summoning a dozen guards before he could so much as catch his breath.
This wasn’t the first time he’d had to come or go in secret. He had bribed guards before and once even persuaded Ferguson to turn a blind eye. But this time was different. This time, no one would help him. This time, he was alone.
And he knew—oh, how he knew—that the challenge didn’t end with leaving the castle. If, by some miracle, he made it past the stone walls and the bolted doors, the hardest part would still lie ahead: surviving what waited outside the castle. He knew he had to try out every failsafe that was set by the security council and he feared what was out in the open, more than what was in the castle walls.
“And why, exactly?” Olaf demanded, his hands gripping the edge of the windowsill. “You don’t actually think this is going to work, do you? The castle’s a fortress, Nicholas. You said so yourself!”
Nicholas glanced at them, his face unreadable. “Because it’s the only way,” he said as he stuffed the map into his pocket, picking the lamp that was set on Olaf's study. He had brought nothing more. The only things he was taking were for just in case, since he didn’t trust himself to execute an escape plan in time.
Olaf let out a harsh laugh, shaking his head. “The only way? How about staying put and letting this all blow over? Or, I don’t know, not breaking into another place after what happened with Orson?”
“Do you think I haven’t thought of that?” Nicholas snapped, his calm veneer finally cracking. “Do you think I don’t know how ridiculous this is? But staying here isn’t an option. I’ve made my decision.”
Nicholas had no idea what to do afterwards, his plan started inside the walls of the office.
“And what if you fall?” Olaf asked, his voice quieter now, almost pleading. “What if you don’t make it?”
Nicholas turned back to the window, staring down at the dizzying drop. The moonlight glinted off the glass of the professor’s office below, a tantalizing beacon that seemed both impossibly close and maddeningly far. “Then I fall,” he said, his voice resolute.
Olaf groaned, running a hand through his hair. “You’re going to get yourself killed, and for what? Some ridiculous attempt to prove you can outsmart the whole castle?”
Nicholas gave him a faint smirk. “Maybe. Or maybe it’s just about proving it to myself.”
Olaf stepped forward, grabbing Nicholas’s arm and forcing him to meet his glare. “Listen to me. You’re not invincible, no matter how much you want to believe it. This isn’t bravery, it’s stupidity. And I’m not going to stand here and let you—”
“Then don’t,” Nicholas interrupted, his voice cold. “I didn’t ask you to stand here. I asked you to tie the rope. If you can’t do that, step aside and let someone else.”
The room fell silent, the weight of Nicholas’s words hanging heavy in the air. Finally, Olaf moved toward him, knotting the rope securely around the bedpost. “This is a mistake,” he muttered under his breath, his hands trembling slightly as he worked.
“Maybe,” Nicholas said, his tone distant. He tested the rope again, satisfied with its strength.
Benjamin shook his head, muttering curses as he stepped back, arms folded tightly across his chest. “You’re on your own after this, Vials. Don’t expect me to bail you out when this blows up in your face.”
Nicholas didn’t respond. He climbed onto the windowsill, gripping the rope tightly as he stared into the abyss below. The night air was cold against his skin, sharp and unforgiving. He held the lamp in between his teeth, it's warm handle illuminating the grey brick walls as he hovered over it.
“Godspeed,” Olaf said softly, though the words were laced with doubt.
Without another word, Nicholas stepped off the ledge, the rope biting into his hands as he began his descent. Above him, Olaf and Benjamin watched in silence, their faces pale with dread. Whatever happened next was out of their hands.
And as he looked down at the window he was seriously thinking that he would lose grip on the rope before he could make it onto the window. There was no stopping him now. Decisions had been made.