Maya woke up feeling like she hadn't slept at all. Her head throbbed, her body ached, and every muscle in her neck was tight from sitting up half the night staring at her window.
The glass was cracked open an inch. She hadn't opened it.
A single wet handprint marked the inside of the pane.
She stood frozen, breath shallow, then yanked the curtain shut. If someone wanted to mess with her head, they were doing a great job.
For a second, she thought about going to a teacher, maybe the headmaster. But the memory of his calm smile stopped her. He'd already decided she was "adjusting." No one at Duskmoor was going to believe her.
Classes weren't better.
The hallways smelled faintly of bleach, like the whole building had been scrubbed down overnight. Students walked in silence, faces pale, eyes down. Every door was locked tight; every classroom window covered by thick curtains.
Her first class was history. The teacher, a wiry woman in a black suit, spoke in clipped sentences, voice too calm.
"Lesson two," she said without looking at her students. "The Gates. Markers of safety. Markers of isolation. They are to remain closed."
Maya looked up from her notes. "Markers of isolation"? What kind of school said that out loud?
She glanced around, but no one else reacted. Most kids scribbled in notebooks without looking up. A boy near the back caught her eye, shook his head slightly, and went back to pretending to work.
The whole room felt staged, like a performance.
After class, as she packed her bag, a folded slip of paper fell out.
She didn't remember putting it there.
In jagged handwriting, it read:
You shouldn't be here.
She looked around quickly, but no one was watching her. At least, not obviously.
The cafeteria was full, but the noise was strangely muted, like everyone was eating under a library's rules. She grabbed a tray, sat alone, and tried not to look like she was panicking.
"Move over."
The voice snapped her out of her thoughts. She looked up to see Niko—blue-haired, intense as ever—standing over her with a tray. He slid into the seat without asking again.
Two others joined him.
The redhead—Ti L—sat across from Maya, legs crossed, tray untouched. She had sharp green eyes that felt like they could cut straight through her.
Next to Ti was a tall, broad-shouldered boy with a calm expression and fire in his dark eyes. She recognized him from yesterday. Mountain Rush.
They didn't say anything at first. Just stared.
"So," Ti finally said, leaning forward. "You're the one who saw it."
Maya froze. "Saw… what?"
Ti smirked. "Don't play dumb. You saw him. The man at the gates."
Maya swallowed. "You've seen him too?"
Ti didn't answer. She just raised one eyebrow and looked at Niko.
He spoke calmly, like they were talking about the weather. "You shouldn't be wandering at night."
"I wasn't—"
He cut her off with a look. "Stay near the east courtyard after last bell. If you want answers."
Ti snorted. "Or don't. Might be safer."
Mountain Rush gave Maya a small nod, almost kind. "You'll figure it out."
Then they were gone, leaving her alone at the table with her untouched food and a hundred questions.
By the time classes ended, the sky had turned a murky gray. Rain tapped against the windows, steady and cold. Maya dropped her bag in her dorm room and froze.
Her mirror was cracked.
A thin fracture ran from her reflection's eye down to the corner of the glass, like a tear.
She reached out and touched the crack.
Leave.
The whisper was faint, right in her ear.
Maya spun around. No one was there.
She grabbed her jacket and shoved it on, heart racing. She wasn't staying in that room.
The east courtyard was quieter than the rest of campus. A heavy iron archway loomed overhead, engraved with old lettering she couldn't read. Lanterns flickered along the cobblestone path, their glow too soft to push back the growing shadows.
She spotted them from a distance—Niko, Ti, Mountain Rush, and two others she didn't recognize, all standing in a loose circle near the center of the courtyard. They weren't talking. They were watching something.
She crept closer, heart hammering.
That's when she saw it.
A tall, faceless creature slinking along the edge of the courtyard. Its body moved like smoke, limbs too long, head tilting side to side in sharp, unnatural jerks. Its face—or what should've been a face—was just a blur, shifting like static.
She froze.
Ti had her hand on a sleek black weapon. Niko's daggers glimmered faintly in the dim light. None of them looked afraid. They looked ready.
Maya took one slow step back, but her shoe splashed into a puddle.
The sound was deafening in the silence.
Five heads snapped toward her at once.
So did the creature's.
Its body rippled and stretched, and in a blink, it wasn't at the edge of the courtyard anymore. It was halfway to her.
Maya stumbled back, eyes wide.
Niko moved first, barking an order she couldn't hear over the sudden rush of wind.
The courtyard lights flickered and went out.