Later that night, after they all parted ways, Jacob and Mark walked Kael home. They'd stayed quiet about it the whole evening, but the moment they turned the corner, Jacob burst out laughing so hard he doubled over.
"Bro—THE CEILING?!" he wheezed.
Mark was clutching his stomach, tears in his eyes. "I swear, Kael, you're hopeless. Hopeless! You looked like a deer in headlights the entire time."
Kael groaned, dragging his hands down his face. "Don't remind me. Please. I'm never leaving the house again."
"Relax, man," Jacob said between laughs, patting his shoulder. "At least you made her laugh."
"Yeah," Mark added with a grin, "shame it was at you, not with you."
The two of them laughed harder. Kael just groaned again, muttering under his breath, Oh my God, I'm doomed.
When Kael finally crawled into bed, still haunted by Jacob and Mark's endless teasing, he rolled onto his side and sighed. His mind refused to settle Clara's laugh, Mia's smirk, Selira's whisper, Aimee's face all spun in a carousel that wouldn't stop.
Then it happened.
A sudden warmth pulsed through his wrist. Kael sat up sharply.
"The hell—?"
He shoved his sleeve up. For a moment just a flicker there it was. A faint, glowing crystal sigil burned into the skin behind his wrist. Its shape was intricate, like a spiral of runes woven into a single symbol. It pulsed once, twice then faded as if it had never been there.
Kael stared, his heart hammering. "What… what was that?"
He rubbed the skin hard, but there was nothing left. No mark, no scar. Only the memory of that glow and the heat still lingering in his veins.
I can't tell the guys about this, he thought immediately. Jacob and Mark would laugh it off, call it some stress hallucination. And the last thing Kael needed was more teasing fuel.
So he clenched his wrist under the blanket and tried to sleep, but his heart kept pounding.
.....
The next day at school, his nerves were on edge. Every sound in the hallway made him twitch. Every glance at his wrist made him sweat. And worst of all every time he thought of Aimee, that same heat stirred faintly in his arm, as if the sigil wanted to glow again.
He walked into class with Jacob and Mark flanking him, both chatting about last night's outing. Kael barely heard them. His eyes were already scanning for her.
Aimee.
She sat two rows ahead, sunlight catching the soft strands of her hair. She was talking quietly to a friend, her face half-hidden, but just that was enough to make Kael's chest tighten.
He froze in the doorway, his breath caught.
"Yo, Kael," Jacob said, nudging him. "You good? You look like you saw a ghost again."
Mark smirked. "Yeah, man. Don't pass out on us in the hallway."
Kael snapped back, forcing himself to move. "I'm fine. Just… tired."
But inside, he wasn't fine at all.
He was desperate. Desperate to talk to her, desperate to know why every time he looked at her, that strange mark under his skin seemed to stir.
He sat down, drumming his fingers on the desk, his eyes flicking toward Aimee then away, then back again.
What's happening to me? And why… why does it feel like i'm connected to her?
Kael sat at the back of the classroom, chin buried in his palm, eyes glued to Aimee's back. His heart thudded like a drum every time she tilted her head or brushed her hair over her ear.
Today… today he would do it.
He would talk to her.
No more running. No more freezing like an idiot.
But his stomach twisted 'how?
He gripped his desk tighter.
No, if I try like this I'll just embarrass myself. I'll probably choke on my own name.
That's when Selira's smirk slithered back into his mind like a shadow.
Her low voice teasing in his ear: "Before we continue… there are two lessons. And after that, Kael, there are bonuses."
Kael's face heated up instantly.
"Ghhhhh—!" he muttered under his breath, pressing both hands against his cheeks.
Jacob looked over. "Yo, you good?"
"Yeah, yeah totally fine! Just… uh… math." Kael forced a laugh, though there wasn't a single number in front of him.
His mind, however, was burning.
Mia… oh God. I... I kissed Mia. By accident! No. Nope. Forget it. Forget it ever happened.
He slumped forward, hiding his face.
If I'm gonna do this right… if I'm going to stand in front of Aimee without my brain exploding… I need Selira's training. She's the only one who knows how to handle this kind of thing.
Kael swallowed hard.
But that bonus she mentioned…
His mind flashed to her pressing against him, the teasing curve of her smile, her voice dripping with seduction.
"The bonus… th-that bonus…" Kael whispered, sweat sliding down his temple.
Mark tapped his desk from the side. "Bro, why are you sweating like you ran a marathon? The test hasn't even started."
Kael nearly jumped. "I-it's nothing! Shut up!"
He leaned back in his seat, staring at the ceiling, muttering like a man on the verge of collapse.
Alright. That's it. I'll go to Selira. I'll take the lessons. I'll survive whatever fiery hell she throws at me. I'll… close my eyes if I have to! Yeah. Close my eyes and survive.
But then, his lips trembled into a weak grin as he remembered her whisper: "And after that, there are bonuses."
Kael slammed his forehead on the desk.
"Oh my God. I'm doomed."
The room was quiet except for the soft shuffle of papers. Mia leaned in, sliding a small pile of class files toward him, her voice low and firm.
"Here. You'll mark these parts. Don't mess it up this time, Kael."
He blinked, looking up at her tired but determined expression. Normally, he'd complain. Maybe whine a little. But today? He just nodded dumbly and started scratching notes on the page.
Because truth be told his mind was already elsewhere.
The click of heels against the floorboards sliced through the silence. Kael lifted his head and nearly fell out of his chair.
The new teacher again.
Her blouse, white and fitted, clung to every line of her figure. Her skirt rode high against her thighs, each movement flashing a sliver of skin that made Kael's pulse spike. She adjusted her glasses with one long finger, her violet hair tied neatly back, not a strand out of place.
Kael's throat went dry.
"Oh my…" he muttered under his breath, sinking lower in his seat.
"Why does temptation keep falling straight at me?"
Mia glanced sideways at him. "What did you say?"
"Nothing! Mmh nothing at all!" He scribbled frantically on the file, the pen almost tearing through the paper.
But it didn't matter how fast he wrote. His eyes kept betraying him, flicking up toward the board where she stood, each curve of her body outlined like some kind of divine trap.
"Class," the teacher said, her voice smooth, rich, like silk wrapping around Kael's ears. "We will be having a test. Tomorrow."
A groan rolled across the students, but Kael didn't even register the words. His brain was a storm of panic and fire.
A test? Who cares about the test? Look at her—no, don't look at her, Kael! Oh God, what is happening to me?
His pen dropped to the floor with a sharp clink. He bent quickly to grab it, just to hide his face, muttering into the desk:
"I'm cursed. That's it. I'm actually cursed."
Kael bent quickly, fumbling with his pen, cheeks burning. The floorboards seemed like the safest place in the world until he felt it.
A pair of eyes.
Sharp, knowing, lingering.
He dared to glance up, just once, and froze. The teacher was staring straight at him from the board, her violet eyes hidden slightly by her glasses but still cutting through him like a blade. Her lips curled, not quite a smile, but something dangerously close to it.
Kael's stomach flipped.
Oh no. She saw me… she definitely saw me.
Then, without a word, she shifted her books against her chest and walked away, her heels echoing down the hall. The sway of her hips was the last thing he saw before the door closed behind her.
The silence shattered instantly.
"Bro, did you see her?"
"Man, that woman is fire!"
"I swear she's not a teacher she's a model pretending."
The class filled with laughter, chatter, whistles, and jokes, but Kael just sat there, forehead pressed into his palm. His heart was still hammering.
He exhaled hard, muttering under his breath.
"Why is this happening to me… every single day?"
When the bell rang and the class finally dismissed, Kael didn't linger. He pushed through the chatter, through the curious eyes, through Mia's suspicious glance, and went straight for the door.
His thoughts weren't on Mia, not on Aimee, not even on the mysterious glow of Mark's sigil the night before.
No. His mind had landed on one person.
Selira.
If he was ever going to survive this madness this storm of temptation and confusion he needed her training. He needed to know the next step.
He clenched his fists, jaw tight.
"Enough running. After class… I'm going to her. I don't care what happens."