POV: Rory Hale

The first thing I noticed when I woke up wasn't the pounding in my skull. It was the silence.

Too normal. Too incorrect.

The classroom looked precisely the same as before the teacher scribbling calculations, students chatting about homework, Tyler flinging paper balls across the room. Like nothing had occurred. Like the lights hadn't exploded. Like time hadn't stopped. Like Kael Draven had never existed.

But his voice still echoed in my head.

Remember my name... because I'm the only one who can keep you alive.

By the time I stumbled home, my nerves were raw. My stepfather's pickup was already in the driveway, crooked as usual, like he didn't care if it blocked half the street. The peeling paint on our modest yellow house made it look worn, much like me.

I promised myself I'd sneak upstairs before he noticed me, but the second I opened the door, voices filled the living room.

Not his voice.

Strangers.

I froze, hand on the doorknob. Three people in dark suits stood in our living room. They looked strange here, too sharp against the sagging couch and beer-stained carpet. My stepfather, who generally seldom saw anything, was sitting straighter than I'd ever seen him, jaw tightened.

One of the strangersa woman with glossy black hair twisted into a tight bun, turned as if she had been waiting for me. Her smile was chilly and piercing.

"Rory Hale."

I was tense. "Who are you?"

"You'll know soon enough," she said effortlessly. "We're here on behalf of Obsidian Academy."

I blinked. "Obsidian what?"

Her smile didn't falter. "An institution for the gifted. And you, Miss Hale... are gifted."

A bitter laugh split from me before I could stop it. "You've got the wrong girl."

"No, they don't." My stepfather's voice was gravelly, yet certain. He didn't look at me, only rubbed the back of his neck like he'd been carrying a secret for too long.

I stared at him. "You know them?"

His eyes eventually met mine. For once, he looked... scared. "Rory, they've been waiting for this. For you."

My stomach flipped. "What are you talking about?"

The woman approached closer, her heels clicking on the bent wood floor. "We don't have time for hesitation. You've already been marked." Her gaze slid to my arm. "You felt it today, didn't you?"

My blood went cold.

The bright rune. The freezing classroom. Kael Draven's warning.

I pulled my sleeve down. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Denying it won't change what you are." Another agent, a tall man with black eyes, eventually spoke. His voice was low, powerful. "Your kind doesn't belong here. And if you stay, you'll destroy yourself and possibly others."

I shook my head, backing away. "This is insane."

But my stepfather's voice stopped me cold.

"You have to go, Rory."

I turned on him, betrayal scorching my chest. "You want me to leave with them? You don't even know them!"

His expression was steely, but guilt flickered in his eyes. "I know enough. Your mother... she knew this day would come."

The words hit me harder than a slap.

"My mother?" My throat clenched. "What does she have to do with this?"

"She was one of them," he mumbled, glancing away. "Not... human. Not entirely. She intended to inform you when you were ready, but then she..." His voice broke off. He didn't finish.

Grief and anger twisted inside me. "So you're saying she lied to me my whole life?"

"She protected you," he snapped, then quieter, "I thought I could protect you too. But I can't. Not from this."

The woman stepped forward again, her tone like steel wrapped in silk. "Rory, you need to come with us. Obsidian Academy is the only place you'll be secure. The only place you'll obtain answers."

Answers. The word scraped at me.

Kael's warning lingered in my head. Don't trust anyone. Especially not the ones who smile at you.

And yet... my stepfather, who never cared about anything, was nearly urging me to go.

I put my arms about myself, whispering, "And if I don't?"

The tall man's eyes tightened. "Then you won't survive the month."

A chill raced down my spine.

The third agent, silent till now, crept closer. He was younger, maybe mid-twenties, with dark blond hair and disconcerting blue eyes that didn't blink often enough. When he spoke, his voice was nearly a whisper.

"She's the Marked One."

The other two froze. My stepfather paled.

My heart thudded so loudly it blotted out everything else.

"What?" I demanded, but no one answered.

The woman flashed the younger agent a stern glance, but the words were already carved into the air like a curse.

The Marked One.

And I had no notion what it meant.

Rory's world tilts again as the agents close in, her stepfather requesting she leave, and one frightening revelation hanging in the air

She is the Marked One.

POV: Rory Hale

The car halted so suddenly I almost smacked my forehead on the window.

"This is it," the woman in the black suit stated casually, like she wasn't throwing me into the jaws of something I didn't understand.

I lifted my eyes and my chest clenched.

The Academy wasn't a school. It was a monster with stone skin.

Gothic spires rose against the stormy sky, their sharp edges piercing into the clouds. Black iron gates curved with symbols I couldn't read. Mist clung to the broad woodland surrounding it, thick enough to cover anything wolves, shadows, maybe even bodies.

My pulse was hammered. "This looks like a haunted castle, not a school."

The tall man's mouth twisted in a humorless smile. "That's because this place doesn't teach the living. It trains survivors."

My throat is dry.

I murmured, "And if I don't survive?"

The younger agent with the disconcerting blue eyes leaned closer, too close. His breath ghosted over my ear. "Then you'll be food."

I flinched, but the woman silenced him with a harsh glare before opening the car door. "Rory Hale. Welcome to Obsidian Academy."

I went out, my sneakers crunching on gravel, and immediately felt stares. Everywhere.

Students congregated in bunches beyond the gates, all clad in dark uniforms that appeared far too beautiful to be human. Their eyes caught the weak lightsome gleaming faintly gold, others crimson, a few even silver like flaming stars.

I grabbed my bag strap closer, whispered under my breath, "Stay invisible. Just... stay invisible."

But invisibility was impossible here. I felt like prey dropped into a den of hunters.

A voice behind me ripped through the air. "She's here."

The crowd parted as someone walked ahead.

My breath hitched.

He was lovely in a way that was crisp, like glass. Tall, lean, hair like liquid silver spilling to his shoulders. His complexion was pale, too pale, but not sickly luminescent, almost gleaming under the storm clouds. His eyes were a striking shade of crimson, and when they rested on me, it felt like being stripped bare.

The woman's tone shifted, official now. "Lucien, this is Rory Hale. She'll be joining us."

Lucien's lips twisted in a slow, deadly smile. "So the rumors were true."

I swallowed. "What rumors?"

He didn't answer. He only stepped closer, his gaze fastened on me like I was the only heartbeat in the entire institution.

"You shouldn't be here," he muttered. His voice was satin and venom at once. "But gods, I'm glad you are."

My knees trembled. "Why?"

His smile deepened, displaying the edge of something too keen to be human. His breath stroked my cheek when he leaned in, muttering low enough only I could hear.

"Because I can taste you already."

I froze, blood turning to ice.

He pulled back slowly, eyes glinting with hunger, and for the first time in my life, I grasped what actual danger felt like not fists, not sadness, but someone who looked at you like you were a meal.

The woman cleared her throat. "That's enough, Lucien."

But his crimson stare never left mine.

My heart thundered, but I forced my voice to work. "If you touch me"

His laugh was soft, dark, and menacing. "Oh, little mortal. You don't even know what you are."

The word mortal shattered on me like lightning.

I wanted to yell at him, deny it, and demand answers. But the world spun anew, heavy with shadows and murmurs.

Kael's admonition echoed in my head: Don't trust anyone. Especially not the ones that smile at you.

And Lucien was smiling.

As Rory's skin prickles with invisible fire, Lucien tilts his head, crimson eyes blazing into her soul.

"You're the Marked One," he whispers. "And that means you belong to me."

The door creaked open, and for a second I thought maybe the wrong room had been assigned to me.

The walls were painted a deep shade of gray, velvet curtains pouring down like shadows. Candles flickered even though no one had ignited them. And sitting on one of the two beds was a female with fire-red hair, combat boots still on, and a sneer carved over her face like she'd been anticipating me.

"Well, look who finally made it," she replied, flinging her hair over her shoulder. "The new girl."

I halted in the doorway. "This is... my room?"

"Unless you plan to sleep in the hall," she added, arching an eyebrow. "Name's Maya. Maya Cross. And you're Rory Hale, the one they won't shut up about."

My chest tightened. "People are already talking?"

She laughed, low and harsh. "Honey, you walked into this place glowing. Of course they're talking."

I froze, clutching my bag tightly. "Glowing?"

Her smirk softened, just a little. "Relax. I mean metaphorically. Sort of. Everyone here smells power. Some of us more than others."

I shifted uncomfortably. "I don't have power."

"Sure," Maya answered, reclining back against the headboard like she had all the time in the world. "Keep telling yourself that. Maybe it'll even come true."

POV: Rory Hale

I dropped my luggage on the empty bed and sat down cautiously, the mattress squeaking beneath me. "I didn't ask to be here."

"None of us did," Maya answered swiftly, a flicker of something unpleasant in her voice. "But you'd better get used to it. Because once you walk through those gates, you don't get to leave unless they want you gone."

Her remarks stabbed deeper than I wanted to admit.

I murmured, "So I'm trapped."

Maya leaned forward, eyes keen, her voice softening to almost a whisper. "Call it what you want. Prison. Academy. Hell clothed as a palace. Doesn't matter. Just learn soon, Rory, or someone else will teach you the hard way."

Silence stretched, heavy and stifling.

I attempted to push back, to sound braver than I felt. "Why do you care what happens to me?"

For a moment she didn't answer. Then she smirked again, but it didn't reach her eyes this time. "Because I like having roommates who survive."

Her gaze flicked to the door just as it opened without warning.

Kael stepped inside.

My chest locked quickly. His storm-gray eyes found me, unblinking, and my heart smashed against my ribs. He looked like he hadn't slept in days, shadows carved under his eyes, jaw stiff.

Maya's smirk widened as she arose. "Well, this is fun. I'll give you two some privacy."

Before I could stop her, she was gone, the door clicking shut behind her.

Kael didn't move closer at first. He merely stood there, the air in the room crackling with his presence.

Finally, he continued, "You shouldn't have come here."

I was tense. "You think I had a choice? They dragged me."

His jaw clinched. "You don't understand what this place is. What it does."

"Then explain," I snapped, the frustration flowing out before I could stop it. "Because all I've gotten are riddles and whispers and people looking at me like I'm" My voice cracked. "Like I'm prey."

Kael's gaze flashed, something sinister in his demeanour. "That's because you are."

The words hit like a razor.

I muttered, "Why me?"

He took a step closer, his voice dipping low. "Because you're different. Because something in you calls to every creature in these halls. And if you don't figure out what it is, one of them will kill you before you can."

My throat clenched, but I forced the words out. "And what about you? Are you going to kill me too?"

For the first time, his eyes softened, storm clouds splitting with something I couldn't define.

"No," he muttered. "I'm trying to save you."

The air between us grew heavier, pushing us closer even though my body shouted to run.

I shook my head, asking, "Why should I trust you? You won't even tell me what you are."

His jaw stiffened. "Because if you don't trust me, you'll trust someone worse."

We stood in silence, the candles flickering as if sensing the stress. I wanted to detest him, to toss him out and slam the door, but the truth was written in his voicefear. Not for himself. For me.

I muttered, almost breaking, "I just want a normal life."

He drew closer, his eyes seeking mine. "That life is gone. The sooner you embrace that, the sooner you'll survive."

My chest heaving, my hands trembling. Without thinking, I reached out to balance myself on the nightstand, but my fingers brushed his hand instead.

The moment our skin met, his body jolted fiercely.

His eyes opened, searing pain blazing across his face, and he staggered back like I'd burned him.

I gasped, bringing my hand to my chest. "What just happened?"

Kael's breathing went ragged, his hands squeezed so hard I thought his knuckles may crack.

He shook his head, backing toward the door. "Don'tdon't touch me again."

"Why?" My voice shattered. "What are you hiding?"

He halted at the door, shoulders stiff, his voice low and gruff.

"Because if you touch me again, Rory... you might kill me."

Rory looks in disbelief as Kael slams the door behind him, leaving her shaking in the flickering candlelight, the echo of his warning hanging in the air:

Why would my touch pain him... unless I'm something far more dangerous than I ever knew?

The first thing I noticed was the smellsmoke.

It clung to the gym walls before anything had even started, faint but acute, like the air was warning me. I swallowed hard, standing at the outside of the circle as students filled the room. Their eyes sparkled too brightly, their smirks too keen, their gestures too inhuman.

"First combat training," Maya muttered near me. "Don't faint. They'll eat you alive."

I attempted to laugh, but it came out cracked. "Thanks for the pep talk."

Her grin was evil. "You'll thank me later. Or not."

The Headmistress entered long black robes, eyes like shards of obsidian. Every voice is quiet.

"Today," she stated, "you will test your strength. Power is the only language Obsidian Academy understands. If you cannot speak it..." She let the silence extend, her lips curling. "You do not belong here."

My throat clenched. The words weren't for everyone. They were for me.

The bouts began. Students clashed with flashes of magic and strength sparks, claws, shadows streaming across the gym floor. I could barely breathe watching it.

Then his name was called.

"Darius Draven."

He stepped forward, towering and golden-skinned, muscles coiled with lethal ease. His eyes burnt molten amber. The voices around me were electric.