The lights went out.
Adeline didn't move.
For three seconds, the room was completely silent.
Then Tricky screamed.
"Adeline!"
"I'm here."
Adeline reached for her sister, pulling her out of bed.
"Stay behind me."
"But—"
"Tricky."
Something in Adeline's voice made her sister stop arguing.
Adeline's eyes adjusted to the darkness.
The stranger was gone.
She could still feel their presence, though.
A faint coldness remained in the room, curling around her skin like invisible fingers.
"Where did they go?" Tricky whispered.
"I don't know."
Adeline moved toward the window.
It was open.
Cold night air swept into the room.
She looked outside.
Nothing.
Only the dark courtyard and the distant towers of Vampire de Witch.
"Did you see who it was?" Tricky asked.
"Not clearly."
"What did they say?"
Adeline turned around.
"They said I wasn't sent here to study."
Tricky went still.
"What else?"
"They said my quest had already begun."
Her sister's face changed.
Adeline noticed immediately.
"You know something."
Tricky looked away.
"Tricky."
"I don't."
"You're lying."
"I'm not."
"You've been terrible at lying since we were children."
Tricky sighed.
"I know why you were sent here."
Adeline stared at her.
"What?"
Tricky hesitated.
"I didn't want to tell you."
"Apparently everyone knows something except me."
"It's not like that."
"Then tell me."
Tricky lowered her voice.
"Before we came here, I heard Mom talking to someone."
Adeline's expression hardened.
"What did she say?"
"She mentioned an old prophecy."
Adeline's stomach tightened.
"What prophecy?"
"I don't know everything."
"Tricky."
"I heard the words blood, magic, and heir."
Adeline remembered the book in the library.
The forgotten heir shall awaken.
Her pulse quickened.
"Did she mention me?"
Tricky didn't answer.
That was answer enough.
Adeline walked toward the window again.
"So they sent me here because of some prophecy?"
"Maybe."
"That's not good enough."
"I know."
Adeline looked at her sister.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I was scared."
Adeline's expression softened.
"Of what?"
"Of what would happen if you found out."
Tricky swallowed.
"They've been looking for someone like you for a very long time."
Adeline stared at her.
"Who are they?"
"I don't know."
A loud bell suddenly rang through the school.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Tricky's face went pale.
"That's not the normal bell."
Adeline listened.
The entire school seemed to have gone silent.
Then footsteps echoed in the corridor.
Lots of them.
Students were leaving their rooms.
Doors opened.
Voices whispered.
Adeline moved toward the door.
"Stay here."
Tricky grabbed her arm.
"Absolutely not."
"I'm going to see what's happening."
"And I'm coming with you."
Adeline sighed.
"Fine."
They stepped into the hallway.
Students were gathering near the stairwell.
Someone shouted from below.
"The west gate is open!"
Another voice answered.
"That's impossible!"
Adeline looked at Tricky.
"What does that mean?"
"I don't know."
They followed the crowd downstairs.
When they reached the entrance hall, Adeline immediately sensed something wrong.
The enormous doors leading outside were wide open.
Cold mist rolled into the school.
The teachers were gathered around the entrance.
And standing among them was Azreal.
Ezekiel, Remy, Pierre, and Drake were beside him.
Azreal looked toward the doorway.
Then his eyes landed on Adeline.
For a moment, neither moved.
Ezekiel noticed.
"You're here too."
Adeline folded her arms.
"Apparently."
"Did you hear the bell?"
"Hard to miss."
Remy looked toward the open gate.
"Something got inside."
Pierre shook his head.
"Or someone."
Drake's expression became serious.
"We should find out who."
The headmaster appeared at the top of the staircase.
Silence fell instantly.
"Everyone return to your rooms."
A student raised a hand.
"What happened?"
The headmaster's expression remained calm.
"Nothing you need to concern yourself with."
Adeline almost laughed.
Whenever adults said something wasn't your concern, it usually meant it was exactly your concern.
She glanced at the open doors.
A strange symbol had appeared on the stone floor.
A circle.
Inside it was a crescent moon crossed by a jagged line.
Adeline's chest tightened.
She had seen that symbol before.
In the book.
And on the woman's drawing.
Her hand moved instinctively toward her chest.
Azreal noticed.
His gaze followed her hand.
"You recognize it."
Adeline looked at him.
"No."
"You hesitated."
"I was surprised."
"That's not what your face said."
Adeline glared.
"Do you always interrogate people?"
"Only suspicious ones."
"Then you must be very busy."
Ezekiel chuckled.
Azreal ignored him.
He stepped closer to the symbol.
A faint shadow appeared around his feet.
His demons.
One emerged from the darkness.
Then another.
They moved toward the symbol.
But instead of crossing it, they stopped.
Their heads turned toward Adeline.
Again.
Adeline's stomach dropped.
Azreal noticed.
So did Ezekiel.
One of the demons slowly lowered itself.
Almost like it was bowing.
Adeline took a step backward.
"Get away from me."
The demon didn't move.
Azreal stared at it.
"What are you doing?"
The demon hissed.
Then it vanished.
The headmaster suddenly stepped forward.
"Azreal."
Azreal looked at him.
"Sir?"
"Take your friends back to your dormitory."
Azreal frowned.
"But—"
"Now."
Azreal glanced at Adeline one last time.
Then he walked away with the others.
Ezekiel looked over his shoulder.
"Come on."
Azreal followed.
Adeline watched them disappear.
Tricky touched her arm.
"Adeline."
"What?"
"Your eyes."
Adeline blinked.
"What about them?"
"They changed."
Adeline quickly looked away.
She could feel it.
The hunger.
The magic.
Both were awake.
And somehow, the strange symbol on the floor had triggered them.
She clenched her fists.
"Nobody can know."
Tricky nodded.
"They won't."
But neither sister noticed the figure standing high above them on the balcony.
The stranger from Adeline's room.
Watching.
Waiting.
And smiling.
Hours later, Adeline sat alone in the library.
She had waited until the school was quiet before returning to the restricted section.
The book was exactly where she'd left it.
She pulled it from the shelf.
This time, the pages opened immediately.
The same drawing appeared.
The forgotten heir.
But something had changed.
Words slowly appeared beneath the picture.
The heir will enter the school under a false name.
Adeline's breathing stopped.
Another line appeared.
She will carry two bloodlines.
Her fingers trembled.
Then the final words appeared.
And the key to awakening her power will be found among demons.
Adeline stared at the page.
Demons.
Azreal.
His demons had recognized her.
She slowly closed the book.
For the first time, she wondered whether meeting Azreal had anything to do with the reason she had been sent to Vampire de Witch.
And somewhere deep within the school, something ancient awakened.
Something that had been waiting for Adeline to arrive.
The quest had begun.
And she was already standing at its center.