The library steps were always empty this time of day. Everyone was either gone home or at practice, leaving this corner of campus quiet enough to hear the rustle of leaves scraping against concrete. Emily sat there alone, knees pulled up to her chest, her shadow stretching long across the stairs as the sun dipped behind her. I'd been standing at the bottom of those steps for a good minute, just watching her. The text she'd sent after school had been unexpected: "Can we talk? Library steps after class." Part of me had wanted to ignore it. After what happened yesterday? I wasn't exactly in the mood for conversation. My sketchbook was still laid out page by page across my bedroom floor, trying to dry out. Some of the drawings might be salvageable, but most were just warped paper with bleeding ink - a month's worth of work destroyed in about thirty seconds. "I didn't think... you would actually show up." Her voice was soft, uncertain. Different from her usual confident tone in the

The worst part isn't the fear. It's how normal this feels. "Well, look who it is." Jared's voice carries down the hallway, and my stomach does that thing where it tries to crawl up into my throat. I keep walking. Maybe if I make it to English class... but no. His footsteps are already getting closer. That familiar rhythm of expensive sneakers on linoleum. Don't look up. Don't look up. Don't look- "Didn't I tell you not to look at me, Sergio?" Shit. Must've glanced up without thinking. Stupid. Stupid stupid stupid. Now he's got a reason. I stare at my shoes instead. They're falling apart at the seams - probably why Derek called them 'homeless chic' last week. The whole cafeteria laughed. Even Mr. Peterson smirked, pretending he was coughing into his hand. Someone shoves my shoulder. Not Jared - one of his friends. The impact sends me stumbling back until I hit the wall. Cold brick bites through my thin t-shirt. Always the same spot. I wonder if there's a permanent impressi

Everything was dark. No, not dark. Empty. The kind of nothing that makes you question if your eyes are even open. The kind that makes you wonder if you still have eyes at all. *Am I dead?* The thought drifted through my mind, strangely calm. Detached. Maybe this was what shock felt like. The calm before the reality of everything hit you. "You're awake. Finally." The voice wasn't mine. Wasn't anyone's, really. It was more of a thought than a sound - clear in my head but impossible to place. Not male, not female. Just... present. My stomach lurched as the memories crashed back. The hallway. Jared. The power surging out of control. The interface flashing red warnings I couldn't understand. The alley... "Who-" I hesitated. Did I even have a voice here? "Who are you?" "I am your Guide." The voice-that-wasn't-a-voice remained steady. Calm. Like this was totally normal. Like materializing in someone's head after they've had some kind of supernatural meltdown was just another

The phone's constant buzzing had become white noise by now. As meaningless as the patterns I'd been tracing in the textured ceiling since midnight. The sun was rising, whether I was ready for it or not. The interface flickered every few minutes, numbers shifting in my peripheral vision. Monitoring. Always monitoring. Another buzz. Ben hadn't slept. The timestamps on his messages told that story clearly enough: 2:14 AM: *Dude. Check this out. Guy in Poland claimed he could move things with his mind back in 1988. Says he saw numbers too.* 3:27 AM: *What do the numbers look like exactly? Need details for my spreadsheet.* 3:42 AM: *Found some weird stuff about Brno's history. Like, WEIRD weird.* 4:15 AM: *Holy shit. HOLY SHIT. Library. Emergency. When you wake up, come to the library.* 4:16 AM: *Not dead btw. Just figured something out.* 4:17 AM: *Unless I am dead and this is all a hallucination. Can hallucinations text?* I should have been more worried about him. Abo

Fear clawed up my throat, making it hard to form a coherent thought. The creature glided from the fog with a fluidity that seemed to defy nature itself. I felt pinned in place when those blood-colored eyes met mine, like a butterfly in a collection. "Tell me you have a plan," Ben said. His voice was sharp, tight with panic. THOOM. I could hear it getting closer. The ground shook with each massive step, a deep vibration that traveled up through my bones. "I'm working on it," I muttered, scanning the twisted landscape ahead. But there was nowhere to go. Just those weird floating pillars and the metallic ground that hummed beneath our feet. THOOM. THOOM. "Work faster!" Ben snapped. He was breathing too quick, too shallow. I was trying. God, I was trying. But this thing... it was like nothing I'd ever seen before. Except in those dreams. Those sketches I'd tried to forget. It was massive. Impossibly big. Its dark skin caught the strange silvery light, making it look almost