Aria.
The air felt different this morning.
There was a buzz in the halls, a kind of low thrum of excitement that seemed to wrap around the school like static. As Lila and I stepped through the front doors, hand in hand, I immediately noticed the change.
The school was decorated from floor to ceiling. Banners stretched across the corridors, bold and proud in black and blue with letters that screamed “NATIONAL ALPHA’S CUP — GO RAVENS!”
The Ravencrest logo, a sharp raven beside a wolf’s head within a black shield behind it, was everywhere. On the walls, the windows, even the floor tiles. Students moved around us with scarves tied proudly around their necks, black with silver stitching that shimmered when the light caught them.
A few wore football headbands, tugging them down over their
