POV: Aria
The subway station shouldn't exist.
I check the address three times, but my phone insists I'm standing in front of an abandoned entrance that was sealed twenty years ago. Yellow tape crisscrosses the doorway. A faded sign warns: CONDEMNED - DO NOT ENTER.
I look around. The street is empty at 6 AM, except for a girl about my age dragging a designer suitcase toward the same entrance.
"You're going to Elysian too?" she asks, not waiting for an answer. "Thank God. I thought I had the wrong place. This looks like where people get murdered, not where elite students catch rides to prestigious academies."
Before I can respond, she ducks under the yellow tape and disappears into the darkness.
I hesitate. Every horror movie starts like this.
My phone buzzes. The same unknown number from last night: Go.
I take a breath and follow.
Inside, the darkness swallows me whole. I can't see anything. My hands find rough concrete walls, and I shuffle forward, trying not to trip.
Then I see light ahead—not normal light. Purple and silver, swirling like liquid.
The tunnel opens into a massive underground platform. At least thirty students stand in clusters, all holding suitcases, all staring at the same thing.
In the center of the platform, a circle of light hovers in mid-air. Purple and silver energy spirals inside it, crackling with power that makes my teeth hurt.
"First time?" someone asks.
I turn. A boy with dark curly hair and an easy smile stands next to me. He's holding a tablet instead of a suitcase.
"Is it that obvious?" I ask.
"You're gripping your bag like it might run away." He grins. "I'm Marcus. Third year. They make us upperclassmen help guide newbies through the portal."
"Portal?" My voice squeaks.
"Oh, you thought Elysian Academy was just in another city?" Marcus laughs, not meanly. "No, it's in another dimension. Hence the whole secret subway entrance thing."
Another dimension. Right. Because my life wasn't weird enough already.
The portal pulses brighter, and the air pressure changes. My ears pop.
"It's opening!" someone shouts.
The circle of light expands, growing until it's tall enough to walk through. Through the swirling energy, I catch glimpses of something impossible—purple sky, floating towers, stars visible in daylight.
My hands start tingling again. Not now. Please not now.
"First group, let's go!" Marcus calls. "Just walk through. It feels weird but won't hurt. Probably."
"Probably?" I repeat, but he's already herding students forward.
The girl with the designer suitcase goes first, stepping through the portal and vanishing in a flash of light. Others follow, one by one, disappearing into the impossible.
I should run. This is insane. Portals aren't real. Other dimensions aren't real.
Except my hands glowed last night. And I made the power go out just by being angry. And that mirror cracked without anyone touching it.
"You coming?" Marcus asks. "It's okay to be scared. Everyone is their first time."
I grip my suitcase tighter and walk toward the portal.
Up close, it hums with energy that makes my bones vibrate. I can smell something like lightning and honey.
I step through.
Reality breaks.
Everything spins. Colors that don't have names flash past my eyes. I'm falling and flying at the same time. My stomach lurches. I can't breathe, can't think, can't—
Solid ground slams into my feet.
I stumble forward, gasping. My suitcase drops from my numb fingers.
"Whoa, steady there!"
Hands grab my arms, keeping me upright. A girl with bright purple hair and more piercings than I can count is grinning at me.
"Portal travel hits different your first time, huh? I'm Ivy! You look like you're gonna puke. That's normal. Don't worry, you get used to— Oh wow, are you seeing this?"
She spins me around.
My breath catches.
We're standing on a stone platform at the edge of an island—an actual floating island suspended in a purple sky. Ancient towers pierce through clouds that glow with their own light. Stars sparkle overhead even though it feels like daytime. Everything hums with magic so thick I can taste it.
Below us, a massive lake stretches out, its water shifting between black and silver. And across the lake—
Elysian Academy rises like something from a dream. Stone buildings older than anything I've ever seen, connected by bridges that shouldn't be able to stand. Towers spiral into the sky. Gardens float between levels, defying gravity.
"Insane, right?" Ivy is still talking. "I've been here two weeks already—early admission thing—and I still stare at it every morning. Oh! Boats are here!"
She grabs my hand and pulls me forward before I can process what's happening.
Dozens of boats wait at a dock—except they're not normal boats. They're made of crystal or glass or something that shouldn't float. And they're moving on their own, no oars, no motors.
Ivy drags me into one. The moment we sit, the boat glides away from the dock, smooth as silk.
"So, what House do you think you'll get?" Ivy asks. "I'm betting Sovereign for me—I've got royal blood somewhere way back. You look like maybe Celestial? You've got that whole mysterious, possibly-magical vibe."
I have no idea what she's talking about. "Houses?"
"Oh man, they really don't tell newbies anything, do they?" Ivy launches into an explanation about five Houses, magical bloodlines, and sorting ceremonies, but I'm only half listening.
Because as we cross the lake, the water beneath us starts glowing.
Not just glowing—responding. To me.
Silver light spreads from our boat in ripples, growing brighter with each second. Other students in other boats are pointing, staring.
"Um," Ivy says, her constant chatter finally stopping. "That's not normal."
The water is shining so bright now it's almost blinding. And I can feel it—the same energy from last night, the same power that made the lights explode, building inside me.
"Make it stop," I whisper.
"Make what stop?" Ivy asks.
The academy looms ahead, massive gates opening to receive us. But I can barely see it through the light.
Every boat on the lake is glowing now. The water, the sky, even the air itself seems to shimmer with silver energy.
And it's all coming from me.
"Uh, new girl?" Ivy's voice is tight. "What are you?"
I don't have an answer.
Our boat reaches the dock. The moment I step onto solid ground, the light vanishes like someone flipped a switch.
Everything goes quiet.
Hundreds of students are staring at me from the courtyard. Not curious stares. Shocked stares. Scared stares.
A woman in elegant robes approaches, her face unreadable. "Aria Blackwell?"
"Yes?" My voice shakes.
"Come with me. Now." She turns without waiting. "The Headmistress has been waiting for you."
"Waiting?" I repeat. "But I just—"
"For eighteen years," the woman interrupts. "She's been waiting eighteen years."