DARK CAMPUS

Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13: Betrayal Within

I never expected it to come from someone I considered a friend. Mia found me sitting under an

old oak tree at the edge of the campus, my books open on my lap though I hadn't read a single

page in them for the last hour. But the warmth was gone from her face. Her eyes were hard,

judgmental, and sharp with something that looked like hatred. She stood over me, blocking out

the afternoon sun, her shadow falling across my notebook.

"How can you love him, Iyanna?" she said sharply, keeping her voice low but intense. "Do you

have any idea what people have suffered here? He's sacrificed everyone just so he won't be

lonely. You think you're the first? There have been others — girls just like you. None of them ever walked away whole. Some disappeared entirely. Some returned... changed. Hollow shells of

who they used to be."

It stung more than I expected. It cut deep because part of me had wondered those very things

myself in the quiet hours of the night. But before I could find the words to respond, the air

turned freezing cold. The leaves on the tree above us stopped rustling as if time itself had

paused. Alexander stood between us suddenly, appearing as if he had stepped out of the

shadows themselves. Mia clutched her throat, gasping silently, unable to speak, her eyes wide

and terrified. Her feet lifted slightly off the ground as an invisible force held her in place.

"I told you — never approach her with ill intent," he said, each word sharp as ice. The air around

him rippled with dark energy, and the grass at his feet turned brown and withered.

"Alexander, stop!" I cried out, jumping up and placing myself between them, touching his arm.

"She's my friend. Don't hurt her."

The invisible grip released instantly. He looked at Mia, his expression unyielding but his voice

calm and terrifyingly final. "You may leave this school at sunrise. Pack your things and go home.

But do not ever return. And speak of what you know to no one. If I hear a single whisper... you

already know the consequences."

She scrambled backward, eyes never leaving him, then turned and ran without looking back. I

watched her go, my heart heavy in my chest. "Why didn't you tell me there were others?" I asked

softly, turning to face him.

He looked away, his jaw tight. "Because none of them were you. That is all that matters."