The morning air was sharp and biting as Scarlett stepped out onto the academy field, her breath visible in the cold winter darkness.
The sun had not yet risen, and the sky was a deep indigo. Scarlett zipped up her jacket tighter, pulling her hood over her head as she jogged across the frost-dusted grass.
She needed this—the solitude, the rhythm of her feet against the ground, and the quiet that came with the early morning. Scarlett had hardly slept the night before, her mind still reeling from her conversation with Ethan. His warning, his cryptic demeanor, and the unspoken tension between them left her restless.
Jogging had always been her way of clearing her mind. As she rounded the field for her first lap, the chill seemed to seep into her bones. Her eyes darted to the treeline near
