chapter three
1153 Words
✓✓✓✓✓✓✓ CHAPTER 3 ✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓
ELSA MCKINLEY
Back to School, Back to Hell!
There’s a kind of silence that isn’t peaceful… the kind that wraps around your throat like a cold hand and waits for you to step into the fire.
That’s what it felt like walking through the gates of Silverfang High the next morning.
I hadn’t slept. Not really. I closed my eyes and saw Madison’s lips on his neck. I opened them and saw Ethan’s face — the blank look when he told me I didn’t belong in his world. Just human. That’s all I was. I should have stayed home, but staying home would mean they won. And I wasn’t ready to let them have that.
I’d barely stepped into the hallway when I heard it.
“She walked in on them. Full scene. No warning.”
“God, that’s humiliating.”
“Did you see her face yesterday? Like a kicked puppy.”
I stopped beside my locker. The voices were coming from behind me. I didn’t turn. Just stood there, fingers clenching my bag strap tight enough to snap bone.
“Ethan didn’t even try to hide it,” another girl whispered, loud enough for the whole world to hear. “Said she was just human. That he needed someone with… real blood.”
They laughed.
And then, as if life hadn’t decided to go full soap opera already, three girls walked straight up to me.
Tara. Lianne. Chloe.
The worst kinds of mean girls. Not the dramatic, screaming kind. No, the subtle, sugar-sweet venom kind.
“Hi Elsa,” Tara said with a smile so fake I almost applauded her effort. “Just wanted to say… you’re so brave.”
“Brave?” I asked, coldly.
“Yeah,” Lianne chimed in, twirling a strand of her bleached hair. “Like… showing your face here after that? That takes guts.”
“And zero self-respect,” Chloe added with a smirk.
Tara gasped. “Chloe! Be nice. She’s heartbroken.”
I stared at them. No emotion. No words. Just silence. Because if I opened my mouth, I wasn’t sure what would come out.
Instead, I turned and walked to class.
The whispers followed me all the way.
And then I saw them.
Ethan and Madison.
She was draped at his side like some twisted royalty, wearing his jacket… the same one he used to give me when I was cold in the library. Her hair was curled. Her lips glossy. She looked like a magazine cover of betrayal.
Ethan didn’t even flinch when our eyes met.
He just leaned back in his chair, smug and silent, like he was waiting for a reaction… like he expected me to scream or cry or beg.
I did none of the above.
I took the empty seat two rows down and kept my eyes forward.
And that’s when Greg, a guy who used to flirt with me in chem class, leaned in and whispered, “You should have picked me instead, sweetheart. At least I wouldn't have cheated on you, just with you.”
I turned my head so slowly it felt like time stopped. My voice came out low. Steady. Deadly.
“Touch me with that mouth and I’ll sew it shut.”
His smirk faltered.
Then the door opened, and Mr. Harrow… our biology teacher… walked in with two students behind him.
Two tall figures, dressed in black, eyes alert but distant.
I blinked.
Them.
The guys from the woods.
The ones who saved me.
And yet… they didn’t look at me like they knew me. No nod. No recognition. Nothing.
“Class,” Mr. Harrow began, clapping his hands, “these are your new classmates… Lucio and Luca. They transferred a few days ago but have now been relocated to our class permanently.”
Lucio. Luca.
Twins. Identical in everything but presence.
Lucio was cold. His stare felt like ice sliding across my skin. He didn’t smile. Barely even blinked.
Luca… Luca was softer. Still serious, but something about his eyes felt warmer. Calmer.
They both gave brief nods. No words.
The whole class whispered, especially the girls.
“Oh my God, are they models?”
“Did you see their eyes?”
“I’d let them ruin my life.”
No one knew their last name. No one dared to ask.
They sat at the back together. Away from everyone.
And me? I sat there, heart pounding, hands shaking.
Because I knew them.
I didn’t know how, but I knew them.
The forest.
The wolf.
The blur of motion, the golden eyes, the blood on leaves.
But I couldn’t be sure. I didn’t even see their faces clearly that night. My brain was fogged with pain and panic. It could’ve been a dream.
Still, something about Lucio made my stomach twist.
I opened my notebook and started to draw … messy lines at first, then sharper.
I sketched his eyes. His jaw. The cold expression that hadn’t changed since he walked in.
And for the first time all morning, I forgot about Ethan.
I'm glad I did.
But it came at a price…
I didn’t hear my name being called.
“Elsa!” Mr. Harrow’s voice cracked like a whip.
I looked up, startled.
He chuckled. “Unless you’re sketching a diagram of the human heart in there, I suggest you answer the question.”
The class laughed. Someone threw a crumpled paper at my desk.
I swallowed hard. “Sorry, sir. Can you repeat the question?”
“I asked,” he said with a bemused smile, “if the heart was a primary or secondary muscle group.”
“Primary,” I said quickly.
“Correct. Try to stay with us.”
I nodded.
But it was hard. My head was swimming. I felt like I was walking through fog, every sound muffled by the weight in my chest.
And then it got worse.
“Alright, pair work,” Mr. Harrow said. “We’ll be running a test this week, so I’m assigning partners in advance.”
He began calling out names. I barely listened until I heard mine.
“Elsa… and Ethan.”
My head snapped up.
“No,” I said instantly.
The class went quiet.
“Excuse me?” Mr. Harrow frowned.
“I… I can’t work with him.”
“Why not?”
My voice caught in my throat.
“Personal reasons.”
“I’m not running a dating agency, Miss McKinley,” he said flatly. “This is science. Not heartbreak hotel. You’ll work with who I assign.”
I turned to Ethan, glaring.
He was already smiling.
That slow, dangerous kind of smile that always meant trouble.
He leaned closer, voice low, sharp as glass.
“Looks like you still belong to me after all
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