Hallow's Edge

Chapter 9 - Raven

English class is… tense. The second Noah and I sit down at the empty table, I can feel Lily’s glare burning into the back of my skull. It’s like sitting in front of a space heater set to rage. Every time I shift in my seat, I swear I hear her huff. Noah leans slightly toward me. “Ignore her.”

Easy for him to say. He’s not the one Lily looks like she wants to set on fire. Mrs. S starts class, passing out worksheets and explaining the project. Noah pulls his copy of The Raven Boys from his bag and sets it between us.

“You can read with me until you get your own copy,” he says.

“Are you sure?” I ask quietly.

“Yeah.” He nudges it closer. “We’ll share.”

Our shoulders brush as we lean over the book. Just barely. Just enough to send a warm shiver down my spine. Every few minutes, his arm brushes mine again—accidental, but not really. Or maybe I’m imagining it. My brain is mush.

I try to focus on the words, but Lily’s eyes feel like lasers on the side of my face. At one point, she drops her pencil loudly on purpose. Noah doesn’t even look at her. He just turns the page for us. When the bell rings, I gather my things quickly, ready to escape the tension. Noah waits for me by the door.

“Where are you headed next?” he asks.

“The library,” I say. “I’m meeting Emily and Drake.”

His expression shifts, just a flicker, but I catch it. Something tightens in his jaw. “Drake?” he repeats.

“Yeah.” I shrug. “He’s my science lab partner.”

Noah doesn’t look thrilled. “Right.”

I blink at him. “It’s not… I’m not good at making friends. He’s my lab partner, so we’ll be spending time together. Like you and I will be for this project. I figured since I’ll be waiting for you after school, it’d be a good time to work on Science so we can focus on English at home.”

Noah’s eyebrows lift slightly, like he didn’t expect that answer. Or maybe he didn’t expect me to notice anything at all. I don’t tell him the real reason I invited Drake, that Emily practically glows around him, and I wanted to give her an excuse to see him. Noah would probably go into Big Brother Mode and ruin everything.

“I’ll see you after practice,” I say instead. He nods, but he still looks… off. Like he wants to say something else but doesn’t know how. “Yeah,” he says finally. “See you then.”

I turn and head down the hall toward the library. I don’t notice Lily slip out of the classroom behind me. I don’t see the way she watches me walk away. I don’t hear the quiet, angry whisper she mutters under her breath.

But I feel something. A prickle at the back of my neck. A shift in the air. A warning I don’t understand. I shake it off and keep walking. I have no idea what’s coming.

By the time I reach the library doors, my nerves have finally started to settle. The hallways are quieter here, the air cooler, the lights softer. It feels like a place I can breathe.

Emily is already waiting, bouncing on her toes like she’s been holding in a whole conversation. “There you are!” she says, grabbing my arm. “Okay, so after lunch I had History and then Choir, and oh my god, Mrs. Larkin made us do warm‑ups that sounded like dying goats, and...”

I laugh, tension easing from my shoulders. “Sounds… fun?”

“Traumatizing,” she corrects dramatically. “Anyway, how was English? Did Mrs. S freak you out? She’s intense but in a cool aunt way.”

“It was fine,” I say. “Noah helped me figure out the project stuff.”

Emily’s eyebrows lift, but she doesn’t comment. Instead, she pushes open the library door and waves me inside.

“Oh, before I forget,” I say, “I invited my lab partner to meet us here. If that’s okay.”

Emily brightens. “Of course it’s okay! I want you to make friends here.”

But the second she sees who’s walking toward us, she freezes. Drake. He gives a small wave, smiling at me first, then at Emily. “Hey, Raven. Hey, Emily.”

Emily’s face goes pink. “H‑hi.”

I bite back a smile. The reaction is so obvious it’s almost cute. And the wild part? I knew it the moment I met Drake in Science. Not because he said anything. Not because he acted a certain way. Because one of the voices whispered it.

He likes her.

I don’t know what the voice is. I don’t know why it shows up sometimes and not others. I call it the love spirit because it only ever comments on people’s feelings, crushes, connections, sparks. Stuff I shouldn’t know. Stuff I can’t explain. And now I’m stuck between them, watching Emily try to pretend she’s not melting and Drake try to pretend he’s not staring at her like she hung the moon.

“Um,” Emily says, clearing her throat. “We should… find Raven’s book.”

“Yeah,” Drake says quickly. “I can help.” They both look at me like I’m the tie‑breaker in a game they didn’t know they were playing. I open my mouth to say something, anything...

But the library door swings open behind us. The air shifts. The hairs on my arms rise. I turn. Lily stands in the doorway. And she’s looking right at me.