Chapter Three
1735 Words
Aria was busy looking for Dorian she wanted to talk to him, maybe she also misses him.
She found Dorian behind the gymnasium, sitting beneath the old oak tree where they had spent countless afternoons over the years. His back rested against the rough bark, and his eyes were fixed on the grey sky above. His hands were buried inside his jacket pockets, his shoulders tense.
Aria already knew something was wrong.
Dorian always came here when something was bothering him.
She sat beside him on the grass without saying much. For a while, neither of them spoke. She had learned over the years that Dorian needed time before he could put his thoughts into words.
Eventually, he told her about the conversation he'd had with his mother the night before.
She had revealed something she'd kept hidden for years.
The students chosen for the trip weren't random.
Julian Cross had specifically requested students with unique qualities.
Powers.
Aria's stomach tightened.
She already knew Dorian had abilities. It wasn't exactly a secret among their friends, even though nobody openly discussed it. Still, hearing him finally say it out loud made everything feel more real.
Cross wasn't simply taking a group of students on a school trip.
He had been searching for people like them.
Dorian explained that some of the students could move objects with their minds, while others could see things ordinary people couldn't. Some could heal, and others could control the elements.
At least fifty students had been selected.
Fifty students who had been touched by something supernatural.
The word stayed with Aria.
Supernatural.
It sounded strange when she thought about it. Almost like something from a story.
But she knew better.
She remembered being eleven years old, playing in the park when a stray dog suddenly charged toward her. She had panicked and thrown up her hands.
Fire had burst from her palms.
She still remembered the fear.
She remembered hiding behind the swings afterward, crying and unable to understand what had happened.
And she remembered Dorian finding her.
He hadn't asked questions. He hadn't laughed or treated her like she was strange. He had simply stayed with her until she calmed down.
He had known about her ever since.
That realization frightened her more than she wanted to admit.
Maybe their friendship had never been as ordinary as she'd believed.
Still, Aria tried to look at the situation differently. Maybe Julian Cross wasn't trying to hurt them. Maybe he genuinely wanted to help students like them understand their abilities.
Dorian clearly wasn't convinced.
He had always been the cautious one between them. While Aria could find a little hope in almost any situation, Dorian seemed to notice every possible thing that could go wrong.
She teased him about it, and eventually managed to pull a small smile from him.
For a brief moment, the tension disappeared.
Then he admitted something else.
He'd been having strange dreams.
He couldn't remember what happened in them after waking, but they always left him with the same unsettling feeling—as though something was waiting for him somewhere beyond his understanding.
Aria tried to convince him that it might only be nerves. The trip was strange enough to make anyone uneasy.
But Dorian didn't seem convinced.
Still, she reached for his hand and reminded him that he wouldn't be facing whatever came alone.
There was her, Dorian, Maya, and Ben.
They were a team.
That seemed to calm him.
For a while, they simply sat beneath the tree with their hands clasped together. The school grounds had grown quieter, and the grey clouds stretched across the horizon.
Aria felt peaceful.
Yet every so often, she noticed Dorian looking toward the distance.
As if he were searching for something he couldn't see.
She didn't ask again.
Whatever was troubling him, she knew he'd tell her when he was ready.
***
Later that afternoon, Aria found Ben in the parking lot.
He was leaning against his car, looking completely relaxed despite everything happening around them.
Aria wasn't sure how he'd react when she told him the truth.
Dorian had said Ben had abilities too, although they seemed to be buried deep inside him.
At first, Ben didn't believe her.
Then she reminded him of something he'd told them years ago.
When he was thirteen, he'd fallen from a tree and suffered a serious head injury. The doctors had expected the worst, yet somehow he had recovered far faster than anyone could explain.
They had called it a miracle.
Ben had always wondered if there had been another explanation.
Now, perhaps there was.
For the first time, he had to consider the possibility that something inside him had protected him.
Aria told him everything Dorian had revealed the fifty students, Julian Cross, and the mysterious trip.
Ben listened quietly.
The more he heard, the more ridiculous the entire thing sounded.
A school trip involving fifty students with supernatural abilities didn't exactly sound like something that belonged on a normal school calendar.
And yet, none of them could deny that something unusual was happening.
Aria still didn't know whether Cross wanted to help them or use them.
Neither did Ben.
But when she admitted that she still intended to go, Ben decided he would go too.
Not because he knew it was safe.
Not because he trusted Julian Cross.
He simply trusted Aria.
And somehow, that was enough.
Before leaving, he joked that she shouldn't thank him until they actually survived the trip.
Aria laughed, but the words stayed in the back of her mind.
Survive.
She wondered why the word felt so serious.
***
That evening, Aria was packing when her mother walked into her room.
One look at the bag on the bed told her everything.
Her mother had never liked the idea of the trip. She couldn't stop Aria from going, but she wanted to understand why her daughter was so determined to leave.
Aria struggled to find the right answer.
She couldn't tell her mother everything.
Not about the fire.
Not about the other students.
And definitely not about Julian Cross.
Some secrets felt too dangerous to share.
So she told her mother the part she could admit.
She needed to find out who she was.
There was something inside her that she'd spent years hiding, and she believed this trip might finally help her understand it.
Her mother didn't argue.
Instead, she pulled Aria into a tight embrace and quietly asked her to promise that she would come home.
Aria promised.
Her mother gave her only two days.
Two days.
Aria agreed, even though deep down she already knew that two days might not be enough.
Something about this trip felt different.
It felt bigger than a simple journey.
She couldn't explain it, but she could feel it.
Whatever was waiting for them, she doubted they would simply return home after two days as if nothing had happened.
Still, she pushed the thought aside.
She would deal with it when the time came.
***
That night, Aria lay awake in bed.
The room was dark, and the only light came from her phone when it suddenly buzzed.
It was Dorian.
He couldn't sleep either.
They exchanged a few messages about the trip, and Aria could tell from the way he replied that the fear he'd tried to hide earlier was still there.
He wanted to believe her when she said the trip could be an adventure.
He wanted to believe that everything would be fine.
But he was afraid of the unknown.
Aria understood.
She was afraid too.
She simply didn't want fear to decide what happened next.
So she reminded him of what she'd said beneath the oak tree.
Whatever they found, they would face it together.
Dorian asked her to promise.
She did.
After putting her phone down, Aria stared at the ceiling.
Sleep still wouldn't come.
Dorian's words kept returning to her.
Something was waiting for him.
She didn't know what it was.
She didn't know what Julian Cross wanted.
And she didn't know why fifty students had been chosen for a trip that suddenly felt far more important than anyone had told them.
But she trusted Dorian.
She trusted Ben.
She trusted Maya.
And, somehow, she trusted herself.
For now, that was enough.
She closed her eyes and tried to push away the fear.
Maybe the trip really would be an adventure.
Maybe they would discover things about themselves they had spent years trying to understand.
Maybe, despite everything, it would even be fun.
But somewhere deep inside her, a quiet voice told her that they were walking toward something none of them were prepared for.
And once the journey began, there might be no turning back.
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