CHAPTER 4
1436 Words
Rory’s POV
I paced my empty dorm room with my hand on my chin.
“Okay, don’t panic. Not to freaking panic. It appeared out of nowhere. What is this place? Who are these people? What the hell is going on?” I muttered to myself as I paced harder, almost stubbing my toe on the bed stand.
Calla and June still had classes and they weren’t done yet, so I was alone in the room, which was a good thing, considering I needed to get my thoughts in order before I lost my mind.
I walked to the wardrobe and pulled it open and, like June said, all my clothes were properly arranged. Folded. Colour-coded. Even my socks were paired. Did she do it?
Or…
Nope. No. I’m not going there.
This is a normal high school. With very weird, overly touchy students, a librarian with disappearing powers, and possibly paintings that watch me sleep.
Totally fine.
My eyes trailed to the book that caused me to fall in the library earlier. I had taken it with me to read, might as well figure out what the hell this place even was. Maybe it was haunted. Maybe the students were all ghosts. Maybe I was dead and no one told me yet.
I flopped on the bed, flipped the book open, and squinted at the old, crumbling pages.
Hours went by, and all I could gather was that this building was hundreds of years old, and it had other heads, I mean obviously. The headmistress would be like a thousand years old if she had been ruling from the beginning.
I blinked hard, trying to stay awake as I flipped the page again. The page looked like it swirled.
Huh?
The font was weird. Like it moved the longer you stared at it. Some of the letters rearranged themselves. Some were in a language I swear wasn’t English.
And maybe I was just tired.
Or possessed by a ghost.
Either one, honestly.
I yawned and rested the book on my chest. I blinked once, then again and fell asleep.
—
It was cold and windy. Somewhere far, far away.
I wasn’t in my bed anymore.
I was barefoot, standing in a field of black feathers.
Crows. Hundreds of them stood with their red eyes all looking in my direction and screaming at me.
The screeching sounds made my ears hurt so bad that when I touched them, there was blood on my hands.
What sort of dream was this? Or more like a nightmare.
One of the birds flew towards me and landed in front of me. It c****d its head.
“You should not be here yet.”
What the heck? Did that bird just speak?
“The seal is not ready.”
“The blood has been chosen.”
I tried to speak, but I couldn't, so I tried to move, but my feet were glued to the ground.
The bird hopped forward.
“Wake up, vessel.”
—
I shot up, gasping.
My sheets were tangled around me, and I was sweating like I’d just run a marathon. My heart was pounding so hard I thought it might punch its way out of my chest.
That was…
My eyes widened as I screamed, staring at my hands. I backed away, falling to the floor with the book slamming into my face, falling with me.
Markings.
Down my arms. Glowing faintly gold. Like ink that had just been etched into my skin and they felt oddly familiar…
“What the actual—”
I jumped off the floor and ran to the mirror. The marks went from my shoulders all the way to my wrists.
I couldn't think straight and I felt like I was going mad.
I felt eyes on me so I looked around till my eyes caught something outside the window.
A crow sat on the branch outside my window.
Watching me.
Of course.
—
June came back a little while later, rambling about how she accidentally spilt truth serum on a girl who confessed her crush to a wall.
I didn’t say a word.
Not about the dream. Not about the marks. Not about the crow… nothing. I could have a severe medical condition because I moved too quickly to choose this life, and although the markings didn't fade away, I comforted myself that I was hallucinating.
Nope.
Totally fine.
I'm fine.
—
Duelling class was held in a circular amphitheatre outside. For some reason, this school wanted us to fight each other, and I did try to switch classes, but surprise, it was compulsory.
“Rory Hale,” a voice called from the instructor. “You’re up.”
“Huh?”
“Partner with Ash.”
I turned and came face to face with a boy who looked every bit of snobbish royalty. He had the blondest hair I had ever seen, and his eyes were light blue, but he had this haughty smirk on his face that made me roll my eyes.
“Great,” he said, fake-smiling. “I get the new girl.”
“You’re welcome,” I muttered.
We bowed, apparently that was a thing, and I stood awkwardly as he raised his hands.
Wait, wasn't this unfair that I got paired with a guy?
“Try not to cry when I knock you flat.”
“I could say the same.”
He muttered some words and raised his fist, about to hit me, when I ducked and threw a punch to his midsection.
He stumbled back and stared at me with disgust in his eyes.
I guess taking taekwondo lessons did come in handy.
I was still stabilising myself when a spark of green light shot toward me.
What the f—
Instinct took over.
I raised my hand to shield myself and—
BOOM.
A blast of golden light erupted from my palm and Ash went flying.
Like, actual cartwheeling through the air.
Everyone gasped, even the instructor.
Ash hit the ground with a groan and a bloodied face.
I stared at my hand. My perfectly ordinary hand that was now very much not ordinary.
“What… was that?”
June ran up to me with her mouth open. “You didn’t tell me you could cast!”
“I didn’t know I could cast! And what the hell is casting?” I yelled, still stunned and reeling from the past thirty seconds.
“That’s advanced combat magic,” someone whispered behind me.
“Who even is she?”
“Human girls don’t do that.”
“Unless she’s not just human…”
Rumours were already spreading.
Ash looked furious as he stomped off. The instructor gave me a strange look before moving on like nothing happened.
Totally normal school.
Yup.
—
The rest of the day was a blur.
People stared more and whispered louder and I just tried to ignore them.
I could do something called cast… I needed to finish that book. What was I?
The crow kept following me. From class to class. Sitting on windowsills and watching me.
—
The class door creaked open during the last period of the day, cutting off the teacher who was talking about something I had no idea of.
Everyone fell silent as four boys walked in.
They must be the infamous monster boys I kept hearing about but for some reason, my stomach twisted.
First was the one I already knew, Nero.
And the others followed.
Golden-skinned, sandy-blonde hair and a cocky smile. Fen, I remembered from June's constant rambles.
Next, silver-blonde hair, smooth dark skin, and a smirk that practically oozed flirtation. Kai. Definitely screamed trouble.
And finally… dark brown skin, long braids, and golden eyes that flicked across the room. Rhys. The one they said could see death. I thought it was metaphorical but I'm starting to think they might mean literally.
They walked in like they owned the place, all four of them.
They took the empty seats across the room.
And then, like they were synchronised robots, they looked at me.
Their eyes locked on mine.
Nero’s expression was unreadable.
Fen tilted his head in curiosity.
Kai raised a single eyebrow and smirked.
Rhys?
He just stared at me like he knew something I didn’t.
My heart pounded as their gazes held for a second too long.
And then…
I felt a weird ache in my chest and I could feel my markings pulse underneath my sleeves.
I looked down.
And when I looked back up—
They were still staring.
All of them.
- Writer
