YOUR FUTURE EX

Chapter1

The first thing I learned about Blackthorne Academy was that every secret had a price.

The second thing I learned was that some people were willing to kill to keep theirs.

The alarm had been ringing for three minutes but it wasn't the loud chaotic kind that sent students running towards exits, this one was low and controlled.

I pressed myself against the cold wall of the corridor, holding my breath as footsteps echoed somewhere above me.

My fingers tightened around the envelope inside my jacket and I still didn’t understand how it had gotten there or even less how it knew my name and no, not Maya Sterlings the name on my student record but my real name.

Zara Vale.

The name attached to a missing brother, a three year old investigation and a promise I refused to break.

Everyone else had accepted that he was gone but I hadn’t because people can disappear, run away or even chose to leave but Leo left clues instead.

The last message he sent to me was;

“Don’t trust anyone who says they know the truth.”

And I hated that message because I knew exactly what it meant.

Leo had found something dangerous and Blackthorne academy had something to do with it.

A door slammed somewhere behind me but I looked down the corridor and it was empty at least for now.

The corridor narrowed as I followed the routes from the notes I’ve made over a few days of snooping around. Half the map was missing but atleast…

A voice stopped me.

“Zara.”

My entire body went still because nobody here should have known my name.

Slowly, I turned.

Adrian Cole stood at the end of the corridor, the person everybody seemed to know and nobody seemed to understand.

I heard about how perfect Adrian is before I ever saw him but the person standing in front of me right now was far from perfect.

His shirt was wrinkled and his hair was messy with an eyebag underneath his eyes.

“You need to leave,” he said

I almost laughed. “You followed me into a secret tunnel during a lockdown and your advice is to go home?”

His eye dropped to the envelope in my hand and the color drained from his face.

“Where did you get that?” He asked immediately alert.

I slipped the envelope further into my jacket. “So you know what it is.”

He didn’t answer but that was enough

A noise echoed through the corridor and Adrian glanced behind him. “They are coming.”

“Who?” I asked.

His jaw tightened. “The people who don’t want you reading what’s inside.”

“You’re assuming I haven’t already.”

His eyes snapped back to mine. “What did it say?”

I hesitated but I don’t know why.

“It predicted something.” I said though for some reason I sounded ridiculous.

His expression changed slightly not surprise but recognition. “What?”

“Something happened exactly the way it said it would.”

The silence stretched between us then Adrian reached into his jacket and pulled out not one but several envelopes.

My eyes moved over the stack in his hand.

“How many?” I asked

“Too many,” he said

“How long have you heard them?” I asked.

His fingers tightened around the paper. “Four years.”

I stared at him. “Four years?”

He nodded. “Every letter predicted something.”

“And you believed them?” I asked

“No.”The answer came instantly then he looked away. “Not at first.”

The alarm stopped and the silence that replaced it felt heavier.

“What changed?” I asked

Adrian looked at the letters,“Everything they predicted happened.”

I hated how he said it like he wasn’t telling me something impossible and casually telling me the weather.

“Who writes them?” I asked again

“I don’t know.” He says though I feel like he is lying.

His eyes met mine. “Eventually you’ll stop wondering who is writing them and start wondering why they are always right.”

The door behind us clicks.

Adrian looks towards it. “We need to move.”

I stepped back. “Don’t order me around.”

His expression flickere. “You always say that.”

The words hit harder than they should have and I stared at him. “What?”

He froze.

For the first time since I met him, he seemed like someone who had made a mistake and a very serious one at that.

“You know me.” I said like I’m just realizing it but I should have also thought of that when he called me by my real name.

His silence confirmed it but before I could ask any other questions the door opened and a figure stood in the darkness.

Adrian grabbed my wrist and I should have hated that he touched me and pulled away instead, I noticed his hand was shaking.

“Whatever happens next,” he whispered, “don’t let them know who you are.”

I looked at him. “But they already know my name.”

His voice was barely audible. “They know Zara Vale but they don’t know Maya.

Before I could ask what he meant. My hand moved around the envelope and my fingers felt the split seal and I turned the envelope over.

My stomach tightened.

The handwriting was impossible because I knew it and I knew it because I had seen it everyday of my life.

My handwriting.

And there were only seven words.

“You should have let Adrian die.”