Sera's POV
I woke up choking.
My hands clutched at my throat as invisible fingers squeezed the air from my lungs. The darkness in my tiny room pressed down like a heavy blanket. Sweat soaked through my nightgown. My heart hammered so hard I thought it would break through my ribs.
This was the third time this week.
I forced myself to breathe slowly. In. Out. In. Out. The choking feeling finally faded, leaving me gasping on my narrow bed. My whole body shook.
Something was very, very wrong with me.
I held up my right hand in the moonlight streaming through my window. Normally, when a Veil Keeper called their magic, a soft blue glow would appear in their palm. It was as natural as breathing. We learned it when we were five years old.
I whispered the words. "Show me."
A black spark flickered across my skin. It felt like ice and fire at the same time. I yelped and shook my hand, making the dark magic disappear.
Blue was normal. Black was not.
Black magic meant corruption. Black magic meant death. Black magic meant you were turning into something evil.
My stomach twisted. I pressed my hand against my mouth to keep from throwing up.
A knock on my door made me jump.
"Sera?" My roommate Mira's voice came through the wood. "Are you okay? I heard you cry out."
"I'm fine," I lied. My voice cracked. "Just a bad dream."
"Okay. Get some more sleep. We have training at dawn."
I listened to her footsteps fade down the hall. Then I buried my face in my pillow and tried not to cry.
The Tower of Echoes had been my home since I was six years old. Twelve years of learning to protect the Veil between our world and the dark creatures beyond it. Twelve years of friendship and training and becoming strong. Now everything was falling apart.
I couldn't tell anyone. Not even Mira, who had been my best friend for ten years.
Three Veil Keepers had died in the last month. Their bodies were found drained of all magic, empty shells with frozen expressions of terror on their faces. Everyone was scared. Master Aldric locked down the Tower. No one could leave. Guards patrolled every hallway.
The worst part? I had been near each death.
I was studying in the library when Marcus died two floors above me. I was eating breakfast when Thea's body was discovered in the garden outside the dining hall. I was practicing in the training room when they found Jorin dead in the storage closet next door.
People were starting to look at me funny. They whispered when I walked past. They stopped talking when I entered a room. Yesterday, my friend Owen crossed to the other side of the hallway to avoid me.
They thought I was the killer.
But I wasn't. I couldn't be. I was losing magic, not stealing it. Every day I felt weaker. Every time I tried to cast a spell, that horrible black spark appeared. Something was eating me from the inside out, and I didn't know how to stop it.
I didn't sleep for the rest of the night. When dawn came, I dragged myself out of bed and put on my gray training robes. My reflection in the small mirror looked terrible. Dark circles under my eyes. Pale skin. Messy brown hair.
I looked like a ghost.
The breakfast hall buzzed with nervous energy. Fifty Veil Keepers sat at long wooden tables, but the room felt empty. There used to be seventy of us. Three were dead. The others had been sent away to different assignments before the lockdown started.
I grabbed a piece of bread and an apple. My stomach churned, but I needed to eat something. I looked for Mira at our usual table.
She wasn't there.
Instead, she sat with a group of older students on the far side of the room. When our eyes met, she quickly looked away.
My heart sank. Even Mira was avoiding me now.
I sat alone and tried to eat. The bread tasted like dust. Across the room, people stared at me and whispered behind their hands. My face burned with shame and anger.
I didn't do anything wrong. Why wouldn't anyone believe me?
"Sera." A deep voice spoke behind me.
I turned to see Master Aldric standing there. He was tall and thin with a long gray beard and cold blue eyes. He had run the Tower for thirty years. Everyone respected him. Everyone feared him a little too.
"Come with me," he said. "Now."
My appetite vanished completely. I stood on shaky legs and followed him out of the breakfast hall. Every eye watched us leave. The whispers grew louder.
Master Aldric walked quickly through the stone corridors. His black robes swished with each step. I had to jog to keep up. We climbed three flights of stairs to his office at the top of the Tower.
He opened the heavy wooden door and gestured for me to enter. His office was round with windows on all sides showing views of the forest below. Bookshelves lined the walls. A large desk sat in the center.
Two guards stood on either side of the desk. Their hands rested on the swords at their belts.
My mouth went dry. "Master Aldric? What's happening?"
He closed the door behind us with a quiet click. The lock turned. We were trapped inside.
"Sit," he commanded, pointing to a chair facing his desk.
I sat. My hands gripped the armrests so hard my knuckles turned white.
Master Aldric walked around his desk and sat down. He folded his hands and studied me with those cold eyes. The silence stretched on and on. I wanted to scream.
Finally, he spoke. "Sera, where were you last night between midnight and three in the morning?"
"In my room. Sleeping. Why?"
"Can anyone confirm that?"
"Mira was there, but she was asleep. Master Aldric, please tell me what's going on."
He reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a small object. He placed it on the desk between us.
It was a silver pendant. I recognized it immediately. It belonged to Lucas, one of the older Veil Keepers. He never took it off. His grandmother gave it to him before she died.
"We found Lucas this morning," Master Aldric said quietly. "Dead. Just like the others. Drained of all magic."
The room spun. Lucas was dead. Sweet, kind Lucas who helped me study for my exams. Who made everyone laugh with his terrible jokes. Who wanted to become a teacher someday.
Tears filled my eyes. "No. No, that can't be..."
"We found this pendant in your room, Sera. Under your bed."
My head snapped up. "What? That's impossible! I've never seen that pendant before! Someone must have put it there!"
"That's what someone who's guilty would say."
"But I'm not guilty!" My voice rose to a shout. "Master Aldric, please, you have to believe me. I didn't kill anyone. I would never hurt Lucas. He was my friend!"
Master Aldric's expression didn't change. He nodded to the guards. They moved toward me.
Panic flooded my body. I jumped up from the chair. "Wait! Please!"
"I'm sorry, Sera. But until we figure out what's happening, you're confined to your quarters. You're not to leave for any reason. Guards will be posted outside your door."
"You're arresting me?"
"I'm protecting the other students. If you're innocent, we'll discover the truth. If you're guilty..." He paused. "Then the Council will decide your punishment."
The guards grabbed my arms. Their grips were tight enough to bruise. They pulled me toward the door.
"I didn't do this!" I screamed. Tears streamed down my face. "Please! Someone is setting me up! Master Aldric, please!"
He turned away from me and looked out the window. "Take her away."
The guards dragged me out of the office and down the stairs. Students pressed against the walls to watch. Their faces showed fear and disgust. Some looked satisfied, like they had been waiting for this moment.
My world was ending. Everything I worked for, gone. My reputation, destroyed. My friends, turned against me.
When we reached my room, the guards shoved me inside and slammed the door. I heard the lock click. Heavy footsteps stood watch outside.
I collapsed on my bed and sobbed until my throat was raw.
Hours passed. The sun moved across the sky. No one came. No one brought food or water. I was alone.
As darkness fell, I heard voices outside my door. The guards were talking to someone. I pressed my ear against the wood to listen.
"—orders from Master Aldric himself," one guard said. "No one enters. No one leaves."
"What about food?" That was Mira's voice. She had come after all.
"She'll eat tomorrow. Maybe. If she's lucky."
Silence. Then Mira's footsteps walked away.
I slid down to the floor and hugged my knees. More tears came, but I had none left. I was empty.
That's when I felt it.
A pulling sensation in my chest. Like invisible hooks had caught inside my ribs and were yanking me forward. The black mark on my hand started to burn. I looked down and gasped.
The mark was glowing. Spreading. Black lines crawled up my arm like living vines. They moved under my skin, reaching toward my heart.
I tried to scream but no sound came out.
The pulling grew stronger. My body lifted off the floor. I floated in the middle of my room, arms spread wide, as the darkness consumed me inch by inch.
And then I heard it.
A voice. Deep and ancient and full of hunger.
It whispered inside my head: "Finally. The seal is breaking. Soon you'll remember everything, and then the real fun begins."
The darkness covered my eyes. The last thing I saw before the world disappeared was my door exploding inward.
Someone was coming.
But were they here to save me or finish what the darkness started?