Blood wasn't supposed to smell sweet.
The fire alarm blared in the middle of third period.
It wasn't all that dramatic at first. Just that annoying, skull-splitting noise that had everyone groaning at once. Chairs scraped back. Somebody cursed under their breath. The teacher hollered for us to line up, already sounding kind of worn out.
I shuffled out into the hallway with the crowd, my backpack only half-zipped, math notes poking out like I'd actually given a crap this morning.
That's when somebody fell.
It was quick. A shove. A trip. The sharp smack of bone on tile.
The girl, Emma I think, went down hard, her palm scraping the floor as she tried to catch herself.
I winced even before I spotted the blood.
It smeared out thin, way brighter than it ought to be under those buzzing fluorescent lights.
Somebody let out a nervous laugh. Another person gagged.
I backed up without thinking, my stomach twisting. Not from being scared, but from this weird feeling I couldn't put a name to. The air got thicker somehow. Like the hallway squeezed in a bit, and nobody else picked up on it.
"Is she okay? "Somebody?" somebody asked.
Nobody said anything back.
I tried telling myself I was just imagining it when the noise around us got muffled. Not totally silent, but close. Like everything was wrapped in cotton. The talking turned to whispers. The push toward the exits slowed down.
My skin started prickling.
Emma was still down there on the floor, face all pale, eyes big as she stared at her bleeding hand.
"I'm fine," she said, way too fast. "I'm fine, I just..."
She didn't finish.
I don't know why, but all of a sudden I couldn't stop looking at the blood. It wasn't much. Just a scrape. Hardly anything to freak out over.
So why was my chest getting tight?
Why was my heart stumbling over itself?
I swallowed hard and looked up, scanning for a teacher or a nurse, any grown-up. That's when I noticed the boy over by the lockers.
I'd seen him around. Everybody had.
He sat two rows back in English. Never said a word. Never cracked a smile. Always seemed like he was off in his own world.
I didn't even know his name.
He was standing really still.
Too still.
His shoulders were all tense, like he was holding back against something I couldn't see. One hand balled up at his side, knuckles white. His jaw clenched so hard I could see the muscle twitching.
For a second, I figured he was going to puke.
Then he lifted his head.
Our eyes locked.
Something twisted in my gut.
His stare wasn't mean or anything. It was just focused and intense, like he was battling something inside his own head. His breathing looked off. Too slow. Too controlled.
I stepped back without even realizing.
The hallway felt tilted. A little off-kilter. Like gravity shifted just enough to notice.
A teacher finally shoved through the crowd. "Alright, back up. Give her some room."
People listened, but not like they normally would. Not with that sigh of relief or the hurry to bail from an accident. It was slower. Kind of hesitant.
I rubbed my arms, trying to shake off the creepy feeling crawling over me.
You're overreacting, I told myself. It's just blood.
But even thinking that, this strange feeling settled in my chest. Like I was right at the edge of something deep, and it was staring right back.
Emma got helped up. The janitor showed up with paper towels. The whole thing should've been over.
It wasn't.
The boy by the lockers sucked in a sharp breath.
The sound hit me hard.
Before I could even wonder why, I turned right toward him. His eyes , no, not his eyes, I thought quickly , something about them had shifted. The color seemed lighter. Warmer.
"Gold," my brain decided, "which was ridiculous."
That couldn't be right.
He took a step forward.
I don't know why my body moved before my brain caught up. I shifted without thinking, putting myself between him and the girl on the floor like it was no big deal.
The moment I did, his hand shot out.
His fingers grabbed my wrist.
The touch was hot. Way too hot.
"Don't," he said.
His voice came out low, kind of rough, like he forced it out. It shook a bit, not from being scared, but from holding back.
I stared at his hand on my skin, my pulse jumping under his thumb.
"What?" I asked, feeling dumb.
His eyes flicked past me, then back. For a split second, something wild crossed his face. Gone so quick I might've made it up.
"You shouldn't be this close," he said.
Up close, his eyes sure weren't brown anymore.
They were gold.
Not bright. Not glowing.
Just wrong.
The fire alarm finally shut off, leaving the hallway in this awkward quiet.
And for the first time ever, I felt dead sure that whatever just woke up in this school...
It hadn't noticed me by accident.