I walked back to the dorm alone.
Kieran had vanished after we stepped out of the administrative building and he dropped the fact that Avelar was the first lycan king
I stood alone in the cold with only the weight of what we’d seen, and done, pressing down on my shoulders. It was strange. When I’d been with him, it was like he’d blocked the worst of it out. I hadn’t realized until now that even his presence could feel like a shield, whether he ant it to or not. But now that he was gone, everything ca flooding back in brutal waves.
The mont I stepped into the feral dormitory, it hit .
Grief. Guilt. The suffocating silence of absence. It clung to the walls, soaked into the air like blood that refused to wash off.
I dropped onto my bed, curling on my side. I wanted to sleep. I needed it. But the mont I shut my eyes, the faces ca. Callum’s bloodied, terrified expression. The feral girl clutching torn Lycans’ uniform fabric. Adrian, shaking and furious, haunted by mories of a sister who reminded him of .
I turned. Then turned again.
And again.
My mind wouldn’t shut up.
The list. Astrid’s list of the dead. So were truly gone. But so, Selene Ashthorne, Elise, a few others, they were alive. So why were their nas there? Was it a list of deaths past... or deaths planned?
And then... the secret room.
I sat up in bed, pressing my hands against my face. The carvings, the ancient scribbles, the strange symbols that whispered sothing long forgotten. I didn’t know the language, but the markings stirred sothing in my gut, like I should know them, like I was missing sothing.
But what haunted most was that na.
Maeryn.
I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Kieran had said the male in the carving, Avelar, was the first Lycan king. His ancestor. The founder of the academy. Avelar Draven Valerius, that was his na.
Then who the hell was Maeryn?
Why was her na written beside his in the wall carvings? Why did it sound so.... familiar?
I’d never heard it before. Not in my waking life. But sothing about it felt like a heartbeat echoing in the back of my mind
I laid back down, staring at the cracked ceiling.
The whispers in my head weren’t stopping.
Maeryn.
Maeryn.
Who are you?
And why can’t I stop hearing your na?
....
The blaring of the academy siren tore through the silence, yanking out of what little rest I’d managed to scrape together. My body ached, stiff from a night of tossing and turning, but there was no ti to lie still and mourn in the safety of my thoughts. Today was the burial.
Callum’s face flashed in my mind, his shy grin, his broken body.
Today, we’d give them peace, the peace that was denied of them while they still lived
I dressed in silence and t Elise and Felix at the dorm entrance. No words were exchanged. There was nothing left to say. The pain was raw, and it draped over us like a heavy, black veil. Together, we walked through the academy grounds, the weekend air too quiet, the skies too gray, as if the world itself knew what was ant to happen today.
We reached the hospital quickly. The hallways slled of sterile coldness and blood beneath the scent of antiseptic. We headed straight for the morgue. Felix opened the door.
And froze.
I walked past him, only to stop cold.
Empty.
The room was... empty.
Every tal drawer was wide open. Hollow. Every single body, gone. No white sheets. No still limbs. No ferals. No Callum.
"What the hell...?" Felix whispered behind .
I staggered back a step, my chest tightening. "No... no, this can’t be—" My voice broke. "Where are they?"
"We were just here yesterday," Elise said, her voice shaking. "They were here. I saw Callum’s body, we all saw it."
I turned and ran out into the corridor. The questions clawed at like thorns, panic, rage, disbelief swirling in my head. And then I saw her.
Astrid Voss.
That sa composed, cruel expression. Her posture was as rigid as her voice, her every step dripping with superiority. Beside her was the doctor, nodding along to sothing she was saying.
I stord toward her.
"Where are the bodies of the ferals?" I demanded.
Astrid didn’t even blink. Her gaze slid to as if I were sothing unpleasant on the sole of her shoe.
"You seem to be bad manners personified," she said with a sneer, and then, dismissed . She turned back to the doctor. "The incineration was handled?"
The word hit like a blade.
"Inci... what?"
She didn’t respond.
"Yes ma’am, the disposal of the bodies was efficiently handle" The doctor replied ekly.
"Disposed?" I repeated, louder. "Which bodies? What did you do?"
"We were going to bury them!" I cried, stepping forward. "You had no right to—"
Her eyes snapped back to mine, this ti filled with cold fury. "Enough."
Elise grabbed my arm, trying to hold back, but I was shaking. "You just threw them away? Like they were garbage? They were people! My people! My friends!!"
Astrid took a step toward . Her voice dropped, dangerously quiet. "I will not be spoken to that way. You, feral girl, are not in a position to question . You are a student in this academy, barely that. A parasite on our resources."
Her crimson eyes glowed. "And if you insist on behaving like a stray with no discipline, then I will treat you as one."
I barely had ti to register the movent before two hulking guards stepped out from the shadows behind her. Towering, stone-faced n in white uniforms that glead under the corridor lights.
"For your blatant disrespect," Astrid said, "you are hereby sentenced to five days of solitary confinent in the White Room. No food. No water. Nothing. And no one will co to save you."
Elise scread, shoving forward. "You can’t do that! She didn’t do anything wrong!"
Felix snarled and tried to shield , fists clenched. "Get your hands off her!"
But the guards didn’t even hesitate. One knocked Felix aside with a single blow. The other shoved Elise against the wall and grabbed by both arms.
"Let go of !" I struggled, tried to kick, bite—anything. "I said let go!"
It didn’t matter.
My screams echoed as they dragged down the hallway, away from my friends, away from anything familiar.
Elise was still yelling. Felix was roaring. But their voices were swallowed by the walls, fading with every heavy step the guards took.
No one stopped them.
No one ca to help.
Just the rhythmic slam of their boots... and the sinking feeling that I was being pulled into a place that was rumored to be worse than hell.
The White Room.
I’d heard whispers about it. Every student had. A place for punishnt, silence, and madness. A place where sound didn’t exist and companion was a luxury. Where you were nothing but your thoughts.... and your thirst.
And now... I was being sent there.
Reviews
All reviews (0)