The sun had begun to dip when Damon stepped onto the grounds of Oceanic College. The air was cooler here, and the sky above looked clearer than it did in town wide, blue, and endless. The school buildings were tall and white, with ocean-blue roofs that shimmered in the evening light.
He stood still for a moment, watching students move past him in groups. Some laughed. Some dragged boxes. Others already looked like they'd been here forever.
Everything felt… alive.
Too alive.
He adjusted his bag and made his way toward the registration tent. The woman at the desk barely looked up as she handed him a folder and room key.
"Room 208. Titan Hall," she said flatly.
"Thanks," Damon murmured.
Titan Hall was farther into the campus, surrounded by tall pine trees and a strange silence that didn't match the rest of the school. As he walked there, he passed a large statue an ancient-looking figure of a man with a wolf behind him, both gazing toward the mountains.
Damon paused.
The plaque at the base read:
"Guardian of the Moon and the Waters. Balance must remain."
He felt a chill creep up his spine.
Room 208 was on the second floor. The hallway smelled of new paint and dust. He slid his key into the door and stepped in.
One side of the room was already taken a suitcase on the bed, sneakers lined neatly, and a faint scent of cologne in the air. The other side was bare, untouched.
Before he could put his bag down, the door opened behind him.
"Yo," said a voice. "You Damon?"
He turned to find a tall boy with caramel skin, twist-out hair, and a confident grin. He wore a sleeveless hoodie and a chain with a silver claw around his neck.
"I'm Caleb. Your roommate."
They shook hands.
Damon studied him for a moment. Something about Caleb felt… off. Not in a bad way, just familiar, like meeting someone you've seen in a dream before.
Caleb's eyes flicked to Damon's necklace. The old claw his grandmother had given him.
"You got one too," he said, voice lower.
"What?" Damon asked.
Caleb smiled faintly. "Nothing. Just cool taste."
That night, after the lights were out, Damon couldn't sleep. The sounds of the forest outside the window, the occasional screech of night birds… all of it felt amplified. Like the whole school was breathing.
At exactly 2:44 a.m., Damon sat up in bed, gasping.
His chest rose and fell rapidly, sweat clinging to his forehead. He hadn't been dreaming. Or maybe he had but it had felt too real. His veins still tingled. His eyes burned. The moonlight from the window soaked the room in pale silver, and for a split second, his skin shimmered faintly under it. His pupils he saw them reflected in the mirror narrowed like a wolf's.
Then it came.
A howl.
Far off… long… sorrowful. The sound scraped against the night like claws on stone.
Another howl followed, this time closer, more aggressive.
He froze.
From the other side of the room, Caleb sat up too. He hadn't screamed. He hadn't flinched. He just sat there wide awake, like he had been expecting this.
"You heard that too?" Damon whispered.
"I've been hearing it since the day I got here," Caleb said, his voice tight.
Damon threw off his blanket and stood by the window, peering out. The trees beyond Titan Hall swayed in the wind, but nothing moved below. Yet, something was watching. He could feel it. Not with his eyes, but with something older.
"I felt… different," Damon said quietly, more to himself. "Like something inside me lit up."
"You're not imagining it," Caleb replied.
Damon turned. "Then what is it?"
Caleb hesitated, then got out of bed and walked to his wardrobe. He pulled out a small black box and opened it.
Inside was an old piece of parchment.
"This is why I came to Oceanic," Caleb said, handing it over.
Damon took the paper. It was torn, faded, but there was a symbol on it the same wave and moon crest from the statue earlier that day. But beneath it, something was written in sharp, ancient handwriting:
"When the blood of the marked stirs under the light of the moon, the hidden shall rise, and the chosen shall awaken."
Damon stared at it.
"What does it mean?"
Caleb's jaw clenched. "I don't know everything yet. But I think it's talking about us "
Damon took a step back, the old paper still clutched in his hand. His heartbeat thudded in his ears.
"Why do you think I'm one of you?" he asked, his voice sharp. "I don't even know who I am. I've never done anything… supernatural. I've just had these" he hesitated "nightmares. Of werewolves. Of running through forests. Of things chasing me… or maybe me chasing them. But that's all they are. Nightmares."
Caleb's eyes dropped to Damon's chest.
"That necklace," he said slowly. "Where did you get it?"
Damon glanced down. The old silver claw hung on a worn leather cord against his shirt.
The one his grandmother had given him the day he left.
"My grandma gave it to me. Said it was for protection. I don't know anything about it."
Caleb walked closer, eyes fixed on it like it held a secret only he could see.
"I've seen that claw before," he murmured.
"It's part of the old bloodline. They call it the Claw of Silence. It's only passed down to the marked ones descendants of the moonbound wolves. You're not just part of this, Damon… you were born into it."
Damon took another step back, shaking his head.
"I don't want to be part of anything. I just came here to start over not to get dragged into some legend."
"But you can't start over," Caleb said softly.
"Not when something ancient is already hunting you."
Just then, a heavy thud echoed outside the window.
Both boys froze.
Another thud. Closer.
Damon pulled the curtain aside.
At the edge of the forest, bathed in moonlight, stood a figure. Half-human, half-beast. Its glowing yellow eyes were fixed directly on their room.
It raised its head… sniffed the air…
And then vanished into the trees.
Caleb stepped beside him.
"They've found you," he said quietly. "It's already begun."