ECLIPSE

Episode 3—The Rules We Follow.

Blackwood Academy had one rule everyone took seriously.

Never challenge an Alpha.

It wasn't written anywhere.

It didn't need to be.

You learned it from watching what happened to people who forgot.

I learned it particularly well.

Mostly because I had spent nineteen years being reminded that I was at the bottom of the hierarchy.

Not officially.

Officially, I didn't have a rank.

Unofficially?

Everyone knew where I belonged.

Below everyone.

I was halfway through history when the teacher announced our assignment.

"Pairs."

The classroom immediately erupted.

Chairs scraped across the floor.

Students began calling out to their friends.

I closed my notebook.

Maya turned around.

"You're with me."

"Obviously."

Ethan leaned over from the desk behind us.

"Not so fast."

Maya glared at him.

"Absolutely not."

"Why?"

"Because you copied my answers last time."

"I collaborated."

"You copied."

"I prefer collaborated."

I laughed.

Before I could say anything, a voice came from the front of the classroom.

"She's with me."

The room went quiet.

I looked up.

Adrian Vale.

Of course.

If Blackwood Academy had a king, it would be him.

Alpha-born.

Top of the combat rankings.

Son of one of the territory's oldest families.

Beautiful in the irritating way that made people forgive him for being arrogant.

He looked directly at me.

I pointed at myself.

"Me?"

His expression didn't change.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because you're the only person without a partner."

I glanced around.

He was right.

Everyone had paired up.

I sighed.

"Fine."

Maya gave me a look that clearly said I don't trust this.

Neither did I.

I moved my chair beside Adrian.

He placed his book between us.

"Our topic is the First Territories."

"I can read."

"I wasn't questioning your intelligence."

"Could've fooled me."

His eyebrow lifted.

For a second, I thought he might argue.

Instead, he smiled.

Barely.

Interesting.

We worked.

Surprisingly well.

He was organized.

I wasn't.

I researched.

He wrote.

Neither of us spoke much.

Until he suddenly asked:

"Why haven't you shifted?"

My pen stopped.

There it was.

The question everyone eventually asked.

I looked at him.

"Why haven't you learned manners?"

His mouth twitched.

"Fair."

I returned to my notes.

He didn't ask again.

I appreciated that.

---

After school, Maya and I walked toward the town square.

The pack territory was built around a central village surrounded by dense forest.

There were shops, restaurants, training grounds, houses and the old council building.

Everything was close.

Everyone knew everyone.

Which meant privacy didn't really exist.

Maya stopped outside a bakery.

"Food."

"You ate an hour ago."

"That was lunch."

"It's four."

"Exactly. Snack time."

I followed her inside.

While she argued with the baker about which pastries were best, I stood near the window.

The northern forest was visible from here.

Again.

I hated that I kept looking at it.

"You've been staring at that forest all day."

I turned.

Maya was holding two pastries.

"I wasn't."

"You were."

"I was thinking."

"About?"

"Nothing."

She handed me one.

"You've been saying 'nothing' a lot lately."

I took the pastry.

"Maybe nothing is interesting."

"That's the stupidest thing you've ever said."

"Thank you."

We walked outside.

The sun was beginning to set.

For a moment, everything was peaceful.

Then I heard something.

A bird.

I looked up.

Nothing.

The sound came again.

Three short notes.

I frowned.

"What?"

Maya looked at me.

"Nothing."

I shook my head.

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

I listened.

Silence.

Then I noticed something strange.

A flock of birds suddenly lifted from the trees.

Every single one of them flew east.

Except one.

A small black bird remained sitting on a branch.

It was staring directly at me.

I stared back.

Then it flew away.

Maya tugged my arm.

"Come on."

I followed her.

I didn't think about the bird again.

At least, I tried not to.

That evening, I sat at my desk working on our history assignment.

I opened my textbook.

A small piece of paper fell out.

I picked it up.

There was writing on it.

Three words.

The moon remembers.

I frowned.

I hadn't written it.

I turned the paper over.

Blank.

I looked at my textbook.

It belonged to the school library.

Maybe someone had left it there.

Probably.

I folded the paper and put it in the drawer.

It was nothing.

Just a piece of paper.

Nothing more.

Outside my window, the moon rose above the trees.

And for reasons I couldn't explain...

I suddenly felt like it was watching me.