A Thriller Academy (Transmigration) - Chapter 5

Now Tao Lesi understood what Aisibi meant by “It’s Anastasia, but not entirely.”

Anastasia’s ghost was not quite the same as Anastasia herself. That was likely the gist of it.

With her own sharp scream, Tao Lesi jerked violently and snapped her eyes open.

The room was pitch black. The rain outside pitter-pattered against the window; what had just happened was merely a dream.

Tao Lesi sat up, gasping for air, and switched on the bedside lamp. The warm yellow light flooded the small room, showing everything as it should be. On Anastasia’s side, there was only a bare mattress—no ghost with a head twisted backward and a body drenched in blood. Tao Lesi touched her forehead and realized she was covered in a cold sweat.

She climbed out of bed to pour herself a glass of water, but after just two steps, she froze.

The dormitory floor was laid with thin strips of deep red wood. Though the color had darkened with age, water stains and grime showed up vividly on its surface.

There, clearly visible on the floor, was a line of dripping, barefoot footprints. Judging by the size, they belonged to an adult woman. The trail led toward the door, which remained tightly shut.

In her dream, Anastasia had been barefoot, and it was currently raining outside. Had she left? Had she found the letter?

Tao Lesi opened the nightstand drawer; the envelope was still lying there undisturbed.

Yet the wet footprints on the floor were undeniable. Someone had entered barefoot and then walked out.

“Is this place haunted?” Tao Lesi asked Aisibi nervously.

“Probably,” Aisibi sounded a bit tense himself, though his eerie electronic voice only made the atmosphere more terrifying. “But it’s quite normal for a school like this to be haunted, isn’t it?”

Tao Lesi pulled a flashlight from the drawer and followed the wet prints to the door. She gripped the handle and pressed her ear to the wood, listening intently. Silence. Gritting her teeth, she threw the door open.

A gust of cold wind carrying the scent of rain rushed in, making Tao Lesi shiver.

The dormitory corridor wasn’t completely dark; a single small bulb persisted at the end of the stairs, providing a dim glow.

At this early hour, the students were all fast asleep. The hallway was deserted.

Tao Lesi clicked on the flashlight and aimed it at the floor. Sure enough, the wet tracks continued toward the stairwell. Where was Anna going? Was what she saw in her dream real? Was Anna currently a human or a ghost?

Tao Lesi kept her head down, following the footprints step by step. Perhaps because she was so focused, her mind began to hallucinate: a vision appeared of Anastasia with disheveled hair and a vacant expression, wearing a blood-stained nightgown, dripping with water as she drifted slowly through the corridor.

As Tao Lesi passed one of the dormitory doors, it suddenly swung open, and a girl poked her head out. The sudden movement nearly sent Tao Lesi’s soul flying out of her body, but the fright snapped her out of her hallucination.

“What’s wrong, Dorothy? Did you have a nightmare?” the girl asked in a worried, frightened tone.

Tao Lesi looked down at the floor. It was completely dry; the wet footprints had vanished.

She turned to look at the girl who had interrupted her. It was the original novel’s protagonist, Shoshana.

Tao Lesi calmed herself and forced a smile. “It’s nothing. I just felt like someone had entered my room, so I came out to check.”

“Heavens, you’re so pale. You must have had a nightmare.” Shoshana reached out and pulled Tao Lesi into her room with such force it nearly tripped her. As expected of a dancer—she’s incredibly strong.

“You’re sleeping here with me tonight,” Shoshana declared. She walked to her bed, lay down, and scooted to one side to make room, holding the blanket open for Tao Lesi.

Seeing no other choice, Tao Lesi lay down as well. Shoshana draped an arm over her. Her breathing was steady and even, which Tao Lesi found strangely comforting.

Shoshana was the complete opposite of Hilda. Hilda was older and profound, like a marble statue hidden behind layers of black silk; Shoshana felt like a warm, youthful breeze.

“When I was little and had nightmares, I’d run to my older sister’s room and have her sleep with me,” Shoshana whispered.

“I don’t have any siblings, so when I had nightmares, I’d find my mother. She was always patient and comforted me with stories. She loved the story of The Wizard of Oz, which is why I’m named Dorothy,” Tao Lesi said. She wasn’t talking about the Dorothy from the novel, but about herself—Tao Lesi.

Tao Lesi’s name really did come from the protagonist of The Wizard of Oz, chosen by her mother. They had always been close, but unfortunately, her mother had passed away from cancer while Tao Lesi was in college.

After graduation, Tao Lesi had found a job in another city, leaving her father behind. Her relationship with him was thin; it felt as though there were no ties between them other than blood.

Her mother’s death had been such a heavy blow that Tao Lesi believed she would never step out from the shadow of that grief for the rest of her life.

Yet, on a rainy night like this, in this fantasy world, in an academy filled with darkness—how could she explain any of this to the foreign girl, Shoshana?

She could only let out a very, very soft sigh, which was instantly swallowed by the sound of rain outside.

Shoshana heard the sigh. Thinking Tao Lesi was still frightened by the nightmare, she suggested: “You should move into my room. Or I can move into yours. I’ll tell the matron, Miss Patil, tomorrow. She won’t object.”

Shoshana’s room was slightly smaller than Dorothy’s and only had one bed. In the original novel, after Anna’s “incident,” Dorothy had moved into Shoshana’s room out of fear (though the book didn’t describe it, the original Dorothy must have had strange dreams too).

It seemed that after moving in, right up until the original Dorothy was silenced, the two had likely shared a bed.

Tao Lesi declined.

“Anna might get tired of her boyfriend and come back one day. If she finds I’ve moved out or that you’ve moved in, she’ll be furious,” Tao Lesi made up an excuse. In her heart, however, she knew Anastasia would never return.

“Alright, but if you have another nightmare, you’re welcome here.” Shoshana sounded a bit disappointed, but she didn’t push further.

“Goodnight, Sue,” Tao Lesi said, using Shoshana’s nickname from the book. She felt weariness gradually taking over—except for the mood-spoiling Aisibi in her head, who insisted on making his presence known.

“Hello, Dorothy. If you intend to romance a character, my sincere suggestion is Shoshana. Look at her—youthful, beautiful, kind-hearted, and not difficult to romance. Are you sure you won’t give it a try?”

Beat it. I’m sleeping, Tao Lesi thought viciously.

The rest of the night passed without further incident.

The next day was another day for Tao Lesi to happily slack off.

She intentionally arrived a few minutes late for class just so she could pass the first-floor dance studio and glimpse Hilda through the glass.

Hilda was wearing a long black dress again today—maybe a different one, but they were all black—covering her strictly from neck to ankle. Tao Lesi realized it was hard to imagine what Hilda would look like in modern fashion.

Before Hilda could turn around and catch her watching, Tao Lesi hurried upstairs.

In the second-floor piano room, Mr. Judith was waiting for her with his pipe. He seemed displeased with her being late two days in a row.

“It seems that in losing a roommate, you also lost your morning alarm,” he said, thinking himself humorous.

“I’m sorry, sir,” Tao Lesi said, placing her folder on the music stand. “But Anna came back last night.”

She kept her eyes fixed on Mr. Judith as she said this. As expected, she caught a flash of panic on his face.

“She came back? Then why isn’t she in class today?” Mr. Judith asked sharply, taking a puff of smoke.

“Anna came back once, rummaging through the room for something. She was in her nightgown and barefoot, looking like she’d come in from the rain. I asked her what was happening, but she didn’t answer. She just opened the door and left again, and she hasn’t been back since,” Tao Lesi said.

She continued to stare at Judith. He took a heavy drag, filling the room with smoke. His Adam’s apple bobbed rapidly as if he were struggling to formulate a defense.

“Dorothy, you must have been dreaming,” he finally said.

“Perhaps I was.”

Tao Lesi didn’t press the matter further. She sat at the piano and began to wrestle with Czerny 740 No. 31. In the gaps between the notes, she could hear the anxious footsteps of the teacher pacing back and forth behind her.

The faculty members here were either witches or their lackeys. Men like Mr. Judith were loyal followers who obeyed every command of the coven.

Judith wasn’t particularly high-ranking, but he clearly knew about Anna’s disappearance. It seemed that for some reason, the witches had decided Anna had to be killed.

Did Anna discover some vital secret?

Regardless, Tao Lesi knew that Judith would report her words to Hilda verbatim.

As her fingers flawlessly executed a rapid arpeggio on the keys, Tao Lesi let out a small, triumphant smile.

She was already looking forward to her accompaniment practice with Hilda after dinner.

“Wow, I’ve realized that you’re actually a bit terrifying yourself,” Aisibi remarked.