The bell echoed through Virelia like a wound in the air.
Kat froze on the chapel steps, her breath misting in the fog. James swore under his breath, Aria clutched her bag tighter, and Sage's candle sputtered violently in his hand. Junior stood still, his eyes fixed on the cathedral spire in the distance.
"That wasn't the school bell," Aria whispered.
"No," Sage said grimly. "That was the cathedral's midnight bell. And it hasn't rung in over a century."
The silence that followed was worse than the sound itself. It pressed against them, heavy and suffocating, as though the city itself was waiting for their reaction.
Kat forced herself to speak. "We need to move. Standing here makes us targets."
James gave a shaky laugh. "Targets for what? Ghosts? Possessed principals? Or the fog itself?"
"Don't joke," Sage snapped. "Humor feeds fear."
"Humor feeds survival," James shot back, though his voice cracked.
Kat cut between them. "Enough. We're leaving. Now."
---
They walked quickly, sticking close together as they left the chapel grounds. The fog seemed to follow, curling around their ankles, whispering against their ears. Kat swore she heard her name once—soft, drawn out, like a sigh.
By the time they reached the main road, her nerves were frayed.
Junior finally spoke. "That bell… it wasn't random. It was a signal."
Kat turned to him. "A signal for what?"
"For Vandal," he said. His voice was low, almost reverent. "The bell was part of the original seal. If it rings, it means the spirit is awake."
Aria's face went pale. "So it's free?"
"Not fully," Sage said. "But it's stirring. Testing its reach."
James groaned. "Great. So we're basically living in a horror movie. What's next, blood raining from the sky?"
Kat almost smiled at his sarcasm, but the weight in her chest was too heavy.
---
The next morning, school was buzzing with rumors. Students whispered about strange dreams, about shadows moving in their rooms, about the cathedral bell that no one admitted hearing but everyone somehow knew had rung.
Kat sat at her desk, staring at the chalkboard, her mind elsewhere.
Junior slid into the seat beside her. He looked worse than yesterday—dark circles under his eyes, his hands trembling slightly.
"You didn't sleep again," she said quietly.
He shook his head. "Every time I closed my eyes, I saw it. The scroll. The shadow. And…" He hesitated. "And you."
Kat blinked. "Me?"
"You were holding the scroll. Just like in the mirror."
Her stomach twisted. "It's trying to get in our heads."
"Or it's showing us the truth."
Before she could respond, Mr. Whittingham entered the room. His smile was wide, too wide, and his eyes swept the class like a predator scanning prey.
"Good morning, students," he said warmly. "I trust you all slept well?"
Kat's skin crawled.
---
At lunch, the group gathered under their tree. The courtyard was unusually quiet, as though the entire school was holding its breath.
Sage spread his notes across the grass. "I've been studying the fractured seal. Vandal doesn't just feed on fear—it feeds on connection. Bonds. The stronger the bond, the more power it can draw."
Aria frowned. "So… friendships? Families?"
"Exactly."
James groaned. "So we're basically a buffet."
Kat glanced at Junior. He was staring at the ground, jaw tight.
"What aren't you telling us?" she asked.
He looked up slowly. "The scroll didn't just respond to me. It recognized me. Like it knew my blood."
Sage's eyes narrowed. "Your bloodline?"
Junior nodded. "My mother was part of the original order that sealed Vandal. She never told me much, but… I think I was meant to guard it. Not release it."
Kat's heart skipped. "So you're tied to this thing by blood."
Junior's gaze met hers. "Maybe we both are."
The words hung between them, heavy and unspoken.
---
That night, Kat couldn't sleep. She sat by her window again, staring into the fog. The city lights flickered faintly, swallowed by the mist.
Her phone buzzed. A message from Sage: Meet me. Urgent.
She slipped on her hoodie and crept outside. The streets were silent, the fog thicker than ever. Sage was waiting by the corner, candle in hand.
"It's spreading," he said without preamble. "The imbalance. The wards around the cathedral are weakening faster than I thought."
Kat rubbed her arms. "What do we do?"
"We prepare. And we watch each other closely. Vandal will try to divide us."
Kat hesitated. "Sage… Junior said the scroll recognized him. Like it knew his bloodline."
Sage's expression darkened. "That makes sense. His family was tied to the order. But if it recognized him…" He trailed off, studying her face.
"What?" she pressed.
"Then it might recognize you too."
Her chest tightened. "Why me?"
"Because you're not just a vessel, Kat. You're something more. And Vandal knows it."
---
The next day, the tension in school was unbearable. Lights flickered in the hallways. Lockers slammed shut on their own. A girl fainted in the cafeteria, whispering about shadows in her dreams.
Kat and her friends met in the library after classes. Junior spread his notebook across the table, filled with sketches of runes and fragments of text.
"There's a pattern," he said. "The seal wasn't just one scroll. It was three. The cathedral holds one. The chapel held another. And the third…" He tapped the page. "It's missing."
Sage leaned forward. "If the third seal is gone—"
"Then Vandal was never fully contained," Junior finished.
Aria's voice trembled. "So what now?"
Kat looked at each of them. "Now we find the missing seal. Before Vandal does."
James sighed. "And here I thought high school was supposed to be boring."
Despite the fear, Kat smiled faintly. James's humor was the only thing keeping them from unraveling.
But as she glanced at Junior, she felt the weight of his earlier words pressing on her chest.
Maybe we both are.
She didn't know what it meant yet. But she knew it mattered.
And somewhere, deep in the cathedral, the bell began to stir again.