Wards, Warnings, and Whatever This Is
1012 Words
Crely didn’t remember running.
Not the screech of the stairwell door slamming open, not the flickering hallway lights sparking overhead, not even her own legs pounding the ground. All she knew was that Lian’s hand was gripping hers—warm and firm—and for some reason, she trusted it.
Which was wild. Because she didn’t even trust school bathrooms.
They burst into a narrow passageway, ducked through a rusted metal door with strange glyphs scorched into the frame, and Lian slammed it behind them with a metallic clang. The sound echoed like the closing of a vault.
Silence fell.
Crely leaned forward, gasping, coughing on glitter-smoke and raw adrenaline. Her lungs burned. Her heart was hammering so fast she thought it might just bail and leave her behind.
Lian let go of her wrist.
“I what ” she wheezed. “What even what was that?”
He didn’t answer. His eyes those weird, gold-lit eyes were fixed on the metal door. He raised his hand, hovering his fingers just above its surface like he was feeling for something.
And then, without warning
ZAP!
A line of golden energy burst from his palm, crackling through the air. The metal door flared, symbols lighting up in a circular, glowing pattern—like a mechanical sun had just ignited on the iron.
Crely jumped. “Holy”
“A ward,” Lian said calmly, stepping back. “It’ll keep whatever’s on the other side out for now.”
She stared at him. “I’m sorry, did you just magic-lock a school hallway?”
His gaze flicked to her, unreadable. “I’d say that was the least weird thing that’s happened in the last five minutes.”
Fair point.
The room they’d ducked into was strange. Stranger than the school even. It looked like a forgotten lab part storage, part spellcraft garage.
Broken mirrors lined the walls, half-covered with stained cloth. A toppled shelf lay in the corner with cracked bottles oozing glowing liquid. There was a blackboard scrawled with symbols in both chalk and blood-colored ink, some of them still pulsing faintly.
A vending machine hummed quietly in the corner. But instead of snacks, it was stocked with crystal vials and had an ancient coin slot inscribed in Latin.
Crely sat heavily on a wooden bench. “Okay. Start explaining. Slowly. Preferably with no more explosions.”
Lian sighed, ran a hand through his hair, and leaned against the door. His sleeves were rolled up just enough to show faint scar lines running along his forearms like something sharp had been dragged across his skin, over and over again.
“You opened a curse glyph,” he said. “In your locker.”
“Right. That flaming red symbol that screamed at my face?”
He nodded. “It wasn’t supposed to activate. That locker’s been sealed for years. No one touches it. No one even gets assigned to it.”
She blinked. “So… why did I?”
Lian’s expression turned from serious to grim.
“That’s what worries me.”
Crely rubbed her hands together, trying to calm the static buzzing under her skin. “You’re Lian, right? From earlier?”
“Yeah.”
“Cool. Are you like... a wizard? Or a hall monitor with... perks?”
He gave a faint laugh. “More like... magical disaster management. I’m part of the Student Council.”
“That explains nothing.”
He smirked. “We deal with… things. Accidents. Breaches. Cursed staircases. Wandering spirits. Basically, if the school tries to kill you, we file the report.”
“So like magical janitors?”
“More like the only thing keeping this place from imploding.”
Crely looked around the room again. “Does… anyone normal go here?”
Lian tilted his head. “Define normal.”
She huffed. “You know. Someone whose locker doesn’t try to brand them with eldritch hieroglyphs.”
Lian’s smile faded slightly.
“That mark wasn’t random. Velmont High... it’s alive, in its own way. The school doesn’t give those glyphs to just anyone. It chooses.”
Crely froze.
“Wait. You’re saying the school chose me? I didn’t even want to be here! My mom just transferred for work, and boom I’m here. I didn’t ask for haunted lockers or magical hallways!”
Lian nodded slowly, like he’d heard it all before.
“You’re not the first to say that. But yeah. You were chosen.”
Chosen. The word made her stomach twist.
The noise outside had faded. Whatever had exploded had been cleaned up—or magically contained. But the ward still glowed softly behind Lian, like it knew the danger hadn’t passed.
“Look,” he said after a long pause. “I don’t know why you were marked. But it wasn’t an accident. The last time something like this happened…”
He trailed off.
Crely leaned in. “Last time?”
His jaw clenched. “Let’s just say the last student marked by a glyph like that… didn’t finish the semester.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
Crely looked down at her hands. They were still trembling.
“This school is insane,” she muttered.
“Yep.”
“And I’m marked by an ancient curse.”
“Yep.”
“And now what? You’re my magical tour guide?”
Lian looked like he wanted to arguebut then sighed. “Honestly? Might not be a bad idea.”
Crely raised an eyebrow. “You serious?”
“You’re a civilian,” he said. “No magical training. No ward resistance. And now you’ve got a mark that might attract half the underworld. You’ll need someone to watch your back.”
He didn’t say someone like me. He didn’t have to.
And for some reason, that scared her even more.
She looked up at him, eyes narrowing. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”
Lian smirked. “A little.”
Crely groaned, leaning back on the bench. “This school better have really good cafeteria food.”
“You’d be surprised.”
- Writer
