For a few moments, the outside air seems almost…peaceful. Perhaps it's been the threats and difficulties that you've just had to come through, but there's something about the school grounds, whatever you know about them, that feels quiet, tranquil…even pleasant.
Then, some distance away, but still audible to the point of insistence, you hear a bellow of, "…TAKE YOU TO THE FUCKING CLEANERS, YOU BIG BASTARD!! WHERE'S YOUR SPORTS KIT?!"
"Well," Romilly says matter-of-factly, "that's where your gym teacher is, so we should probably go in a completely different direction."
There's no resistance to this suggestion. Mr. Simmons is clearly on your side, or is at least on the side that presents him with the opportunity to physically assault students who have been placed in his care, but there's something about the roar of gym teacher-flavored aggression that makes heading in a different direction extremely appealing.
You head around to the left side of the school, hearing the screaming gradually fade away behind you. The grounds, apart from that piece where the screaming is happening, seem quiet.
As you move through the darkness of the school grounds, it seems that your plan has, so far, been a good one. There's neither sight nor sound of any of your fellow students, who you suppose must be rather occupied with Mr. Simmons and his apparently endless supplies of physical abuse.
Then, without any warning, or even a polite hint, you walk smack into a solid barrier.
Rubbing your nose, you stare at what looks, to you, like empty air. But you did hit something: the pain in your nose cartilage is proof enough of that.
You reach out a hand, and you feel a…surface brush against your fingertips. It's not like any solid surface you've felt before—not that you've come into contact with many invisible surfaces—but the closest thing to a comparison you can think of is as if someone had smeared a single slab of marble with some sort of oil.
"Damn," Sonia comments, reaching out to feel the surface herself. "Magical barrier." She shrugs. "No wonder they weren't guarding this part." She shrugs. "There might be a way around it."
"Or maybe a weakness that we could spot?" Romilly suggests, peering in the general direction of the invisible surface.
"Um…guys?" This comes from Val, who is several paces behind you, her back to the rest of your group. "It…it seems to have…sort of circled around us. Like, it's back here, too."
"You mean we're trapped in here?" Max demands, staring about him as though he might be able to make out the invisible walls. "Just like that?"
"Just like that," Michelle agrees, her own palm against the wall. "We literally walked right into it."
You gaze around you, trying to see the very walls that hold you prisoner. Every second you spend trapped here is a gift to Renzfal; you can't afford any delays. What are you going to do?