THE DARK HEIR OF BLACKTHORN

Chapter Four — The Dormitory

"She came back."

The whisper followed Ariana down the empty corridor, and she froze mid-step, chest tight, breath caught in her throat. Slowly, she turned around. Nothing. The hallway stretched behind her, silent and empty, and the lights above her flickered once before steadying again.

Ariana swallowed hard. "Tessa?"

Her voice came out strangely small. Tessa was already several steps ahead with Lily, both of them turning the corner without her.

"Ariana?" Tessa called back. "Are you coming?"

Ariana glanced behind her one last time, saw nothing, and hurried to catch up.

"What took you so long?" Tessa asked.

"I thought someone called my name."

Lily glanced back. "Someone?"

Ariana hesitated. She didn't want to explain the voice, mostly because she wasn't even sure she'd actually heard it. "Never mind. Maybe I imagined it."

Tessa frowned. "You look pale."

"I'm fine."

Ariana looked down at her wrist. The watch displayed her name again — ARIANA ROSE, nothing else. She touched the screen. No response. "See?" she whispered to herself. "Just a glitch."

But deep down, she knew it wasn't. Someone had whispered those words, and they felt less like a warning and more like a fact.

She followed Tessa and Lily toward the main building, trying to push the feeling away. She almost succeeded — until she noticed someone standing on the upper balcony, watching her.

Kael Veyron.

Their eyes met for a fraction of a second before he looked away. Ariana slowed her steps, frowning.

"Who is that?" she asked.

Tessa followed her gaze and shrugged like it was nothing. "One of the senior prefects. Kael Veyron — the same one from the courtyard this morning."

Ariana looked at him again. He wasn't looking at her anymore. He was staring at the empty hallway behind her, the one where she'd heard the voice, and his expression had gone tense. Almost frightened. She didn't understand why, and before she could think about it further, Tessa was pulling her along.

She didn't see the way Kael's hand tightened slowly around the railing behind her. He had heard the whisper too. And unlike Ariana, he knew exactly what it meant — that those words hadn't been meant for her ears at all.

The school speakers crackled to life, and everyone in the hallway stopped walking at once. A woman's voice followed, clipped and formal.

"All first-year students are to report to the residential hall right away. Room assignments will be issued tonight."

Ariana blinked. "Residential hall?"

Tessa smiled. "You didn't know?"

"Know what?"

"Blackthorn is a boarding academy."

Ariana stared at her. "What?"

Lily laughed. "You thought everyone went home after classes?"

"I didn't know that!"

Tessa shook her head, amused. "You have a lot to learn."

Ariana looked around at the enormous academy, and the whole place felt different to her now. Students weren't just attending classes here — they lived here, slept here, trained here, spent their nights surrounded by people with supernatural abilities. She thought of the dormitory mistress's warnings from earlier that day: restricted areas, unauthorized training, the power hierarchy. She didn't know why, but the idea of being trapped inside the academy after dark made her uneasy.

"Come on," Tessa said, already moving. "We need to get there before they start complaining."

The residential hall was enormous, packed with hundreds of students talking loudly while they waited. At the front stood an older woman in a long black dress, silver hair pulled into a severe bun, her expression alone enough to make the whole room feel colder. She tapped a folder against the table and the room fell silent.

"I am Mrs. Vale," she said. "I oversee the first-year residential halls." Her eyes swept the crowd. "You will follow every dormitory rule. You will respect your roommates. You will obey curfew." A few students shifted nervously. "And you will never enter a restricted floor."

Ariana's attention sharpened at that.

"Curfew begins at ten o'clock," Mrs. Vale continued. "After that time, students are not permitted to wander the academy."

A boy near the back raised his hand. "What happens if we do?"

Mrs. Vale looked at him without blinking. "You don't want to find out."

A nervous laugh rippled through the hall. Mrs. Vale didn't smile. She opened the folder and began calling names, students stepping forward one after another to collect their room assignments.

"Lily Hart. Dormitory C, Room 316."

"Tessa Morgan. Dormitory C, Room 316."

Tessa looked at Ariana and grinned. "Yes!"

Ariana smiled back, relieved that at least she wouldn't be entirely alone.

"Ariana Rose."

Ariana stepped forward.

"Dormitory C. Room 317."

She held out her hand for the small black key, but when Mrs. Vale placed it in her palm, the older woman's fingers didn't let go right away. Ariana looked up. "Is something wrong?"

Mrs. Vale studied her face for a long moment before her eyes dropped to Ariana's wristwatch. Her expression changed — recognition, then something closer to fear — and then she folded it back beneath her composure.

"Follow the rules," she said simply.

"I will."

Mrs. Vale finally released the key. "One more thing. Do not wander the academy after curfew."

"Why?"

The room around them went even quieter. Mrs. Vale leaned in just slightly. "Because some doors are locked for a reason."

Before Ariana could ask anything else, she was already calling the next name.

Tessa grabbed her arm the moment she stepped away. "What did she say to you?"

"Nothing important."

"She looked weird."

"I noticed."

Lily glanced toward Mrs. Vale. "Let's just get to our rooms."

Ariana nodded, but the words stayed lodged in her mind the whole walk there. Some doors are locked for a reason.

Dormitory C sat on the third floor, a long corridor lined with dark wooden doors. Ariana stopped outside Room 317, took a breath, and let herself in.

Three girls looked up the moment she entered. None of them smiled.

One sat on the bed nearest the window, brushing her long hair. Another lay sprawled across her own bed, scrolling through her phone. The third stood in front of the mirror, adjusting her collar.

The girl with the brush looked Ariana up and down. "That's our roommate?"

The one on the bed glanced over. "She looks twelve."

The one at the mirror laughed. "Fourteen, apparently."

Ariana tightened her grip on her bag. "I'm Ariana."

"We know." The girl with the brush smiled, cold and pleasant all at once. "I'm Selena." She gestured lazily at the others. "That's Mira. And that's Vivian."

Mira gave her a quick, unimpressed glance. Vivian didn't bother turning around.

Ariana scanned the room. Three of the four beds were already claimed, covered in clothes, bags, and photographs. The fourth, pushed into the corner, was clearly meant to be hers.

Selena watched her cross the room. "That's yours."

"I figured."

Ariana set her bag down. Mira laughed under her breath. "So they really put a fourteen-year-old in here."

"Blackthorn is becoming ridiculous," Selena said, leaning back against her headboard.

Vivian finally looked over through the mirror. "Don't worry. We won't hurt you." A beat. "Probably."

The other two laughed. Ariana didn't. She started unpacking in silence.

Selena watched her for a while before speaking again. "So, what's your power?"

Ariana paused. "I don't know yet."

The room went quiet, and then Mira burst out laughing. "You don't know?"

"I'm being assessed tomorrow."

Selena and Vivian traded a look. "You mean you've entered Blackthorn without even knowing your ability?" Selena asked.

"Yes."

"That's embarrassing," Vivian said.

Ariana kept unpacking, refusing to give them anything more than she had to. "I don't think it matters."

"Oh, it matters," Selena said, standing and crossing the room toward her. "Everyone here has something."

"What if I don't?"

Selena smiled. "Then you'll have a very difficult time here."

Ariana ignored her and set her books on the small desk beside her bed. Mira reached lazily for Ariana's open bag, and Ariana turned on her fast enough to surprise even herself.

"Don't."

Mira paused, eyebrows raised. "What?"

"Don't touch my things."

Selena's eyebrows lifted too, and the room went still for a second. Vivian looked almost delighted by the shift. "Well," Selena said slowly. "The little girl has a voice."

"I'm not trying to fight with anyone," Ariana said.

"Good." Selena stepped closer, taking her time. "Because you wouldn't win."

Ariana said nothing. Selena walked past her a moment later and, with no urgency at all, knocked one of Ariana's books off the desk. It hit the floor with a loud thud.

"Oops," Selena said, not even glancing back.

Ariana bent down to pick it up, and that was when Mira crossed the room and shoved her shoulder hard enough to send her stumbling into the desk. Ariana caught herself against the edge, pain flaring up her arm.

"Watch it," Mira said, smiling like she hadn't done anything at all.

Ariana straightened slowly, jaw tight, book still in hand. Selena closed the last few feet between them and grabbed a fistful of Ariana's sleeve, not hard enough to bruise, just hard enough to make sure Ariana felt exactly how easily she could. "You're new," Selena said quietly, "so I'll only say this once. Don't make yourself a problem."

Ariana held her gaze and didn't pull away. She didn't say a word either. She wasn't going to give them the fear they wanted, or the anger. Selena let go first, a beat later than she needed to, and stepped back with a small, satisfied smile, as if the silence itself had answered her.

Vivian watched the whole thing from the mirror, clearly disappointed that Ariana hadn't cracked. "She's no fun."

"Give it time," Selena said.

But as the evening wore on, she noticed something about the three of them — they weren't just cruel, they were confident, and their confidence had a source. Mira had a Class Four boyfriend. Vivian kept dropping mentions of an older student from one of the strongest groups in the academy. And Selena, more than either of them, made sure Ariana knew exactly who she belonged to.

"His name is Darius," Selena said, examining her nails. "He's Class Six."

Ariana said nothing.

"You know who Darius is?" Selena pressed.

"No."

Mira laughed. "You really know nothing."

Selena leaned against the desk, unbothered. "That's probably why they put you here. To teach you how Blackthorn works."

"And how does it work?"

Selena's smile didn't waver. "The strong survive. The weak stay out of the way."

Ariana thought of Ethan's words from earlier — power — and looked down at her wristwatch, wondering, not for the first time that day, exactly what tomorrow would bring.

Later that evening, Ariana slipped out of the dormitory for water. The corridor was quieter now, most students already back in their rooms. As she made her way downstairs, she heard voices near the entrance — a cluster of senior students, and among them, Kael Veyron.

She stopped where she stood, Tessa's warning echoing in her head. Stay away from Kael Veyron.

Kael was speaking to a younger boy who looked, plainly, terrified.

"I didn't mean to bump into you," the boy said.

"You did," Kael said flatly.

"It was an accident."

Kael stepped closer, unhurried. "Then learn to control your body."

"I'm sorry."

Kael's hand shot out and closed around the boy's collar, lifting him half onto his toes before he'd even finished the sentence. The boy's back hit the wall with a c***k that echoed down the corridor, and the group of seniors around them went dead quiet.

"Sorry doesn't make you stronger," Kael said, voice level, like he hadn't just slammed a student into stone. He leaned in until they were eye to eye, still holding him off the ground. "You want to survive here?"

"Yes," the boy choked out.

"Then stop acting like prey." Kael let go, and the boy dropped, catching himself against the wall before scrambling away without looking back, one hand pressed to his throat.

That was when Kael turned, and his eyes landed directly on Ariana. Her stomach tightened.

"Rose."

She didn't answer. He crossed the distance between them, his expression cool.

"You have a habit of appearing where you shouldn't."

"I was getting water."

"Then get it."

"You don't own the hallway," Ariana said, and one of the boys behind him went completely silent.

Kael's eyes narrowed, and for a second she thought she'd pushed too far. Instead, he smiled. "You're brave."

"Maybe."

"Bravery and stupidity often look the same." He leaned in slightly. "Tomorrow, your assessment will tell everyone exactly where you belong. And when it does" — his voice dropped — "remember that Blackthorn doesn't care how old you are. It only cares how powerful you are."

He walked past her, then stopped without turning around.

"Try not to disappoint everyone."

Ariana watched him disappear down the corridor, her hands curling into fists at her sides. She hated him. Underneath the calm was something genuinely cruel — he didn't need to hurt people to enjoy knowing he could.

By ten o'clock the dormitory lights were out. Ariana lay in bed staring at the ceiling, her roommates asleep, or at least pretending to be. She couldn't sleep. Tomorrow was the assessment — tomorrow she would finally know whether she had an ordinary ability, something powerful, or nothing at all.

She reached for her wristwatch. The screen was dark. She touched it, and nothing happened.

"Please don't start again," she whispered, and closed her eyes.

For several minutes, everything stayed quiet.

Then—

Dong.

A deep bell echoed somewhere beneath the academy. Ariana's eyes snapped open.

Dong.

She sat up fast. Her roommates didn't stir. "Did you hear that?" No answer.

She climbed out of bed and stepped into the corridor, which was completely silent. Then her wristwatch lit up on its own, and Ariana froze — the screen wasn't showing her name anymore.

REMEMBER.

Her heart began pounding. "No."

The screen flickered, and a new message replaced the first.

YOU HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE.

Ariana stepped back. "What does that mean?"

The lights cut out. She gasped into darkness so complete she couldn't see her own hands.

Then — scratch.

She turned toward the window.

Scratch.

Something was dragging slowly across the glass. Ariana's breathing went shallow as she moved closer, but the moonlight outside showed nothing. She took another step.

Scratch. Scratch.

Two red eyes opened beyond the window.

Ariana couldn't move. The figure stood outside the third-floor window — impossible, since there was no balcony, no ledge, nothing for it to stand on. And yet it was there, watching her, its head tilting slowly to one side before it smiled, revealing two sharp fangs.

Ariana stumbled backward as a voice came through the glass.

"Ariana Rose."

Her heart stopped. The creature pressed one pale hand flat against the window.

"You finally came back."

Her wristwatch flashed violently, the screen changing one last time.

ORIGINAL BLOODLINE DETECTED.

The glass cracked.

Ariana screamed — and deep beneath Blackthorn Academy, something that had been waiting for Ariana's return finally woke.