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Chapter 82
The world ended in darkness.Not the ordinary kind. Not the dark of night or of shadows falling across a wall. This was thicker, absolute, as though the air itself had been drained of light and breath. Eli’s vision vanished in an instant, and with it came the screaming of hundreds of voices rising into a single, ragged cry.The bells continued tolling above, distorted, each one shaking the marrow of his bones. The quad had become a pit of chaos: footsteps pounding, bodies colliding, curses and pleas tangled in the air. Hands shoved past him in blind panic. Someone fell near his feet with a sickening crack. He couldn’t see who.“Lena!” Eli shouted, his voice swallowed by the blackness. His chest constricted, every instinct screaming at him to run, but he didn’t know where. His father’s journal. The cube. The Watcher’s mask. Everything spun together, frantic, jagged.A hand clamped onto his arm. “Here!” Lena’s voice, hoarse, raw. He nearly collapsed with relief as her other hand found h
Chapter 81
The bells shuddered through the tower as if the stone itself were groaning awake. The crowd splintered, students pressing backward, professors pulling them away, the torchlight flickering madly in the sudden draft that swept through the quad. Eli felt it like a hand against his chest—cold, heavy, insistent.The figure of the Broken Mask moved into the circle as though he owned it. His cloak stirred with no wind, his bone-white mask cracked across the jaw. The fissure in its surface made him seem both broken and impossibly whole, a predator that had learned to wear ruin as a crown. His gaze—though hidden—settled on Eli with a weight that made it hard to breathe.The Council did not speak. Halcroft stood rigid, her silver hair gleaming, her eyes locked on the intruder. For all their ritual and control, they looked like statues, paralyzed by the impossibility of his presence.Eli realized then that this was not part of their plan.The Broken Mask tilted his head slowly, as though studyin
Chapter 80
The night bled into morning without rest. Eli sat awake on the edge of his bed, staring at the bandages on his hand. The sigil beneath still burned faintly, its lines glowing whenever his thoughts drifted too close to the cube hidden in the drawer beside him. Every time his gaze strayed to it, the air in the room seemed to thicken, as if the object itself were breathing.Lena was curled in the armchair across from him, knees tucked up under her chin, her hoodie pulled over her head. She had fallen asleep sometime before dawn, but even in sleep her body was tense, her brow furrowed. The storm had finally passed, leaving a gray dawn pressing weakly against the curtains, but the quiet did nothing to soften the unease in the room.There was no rest in the Crest. Not anymore.A soft knock on the door broke the silence. Eli stiffened. He hadn’t expected anyone not after last night, not after Halcroft’s words. He glanced at Lena, then crossed the room, his bare feet silent against the wood.
Chapter 79
The rain had stopped by the time they made it out of the west wing, but the air outside was still heavy, charged, as if the storm hadn’t truly ended. The quad was lit by emergency lamps that flickered uneasily, casting the spires of the Crest in crooked shadows. Students huddled in clusters on the wet grass, their faces pale, voices trembling. Some sobbed openly; others sat in stunned silence, staring at their soaked uniforms and the smoke curling from shattered windows of the wing they had just escaped.Eli felt every gaze as he walked through them. It wasn’t just fear—it was recognition. Whispers chased him like gnats, slipping from mouth to mouth: his name, his family, his mark. He wanted to snarl back, to remind them that he hadn’t asked for this, that he’d been dragged into it like all of them. But deep down he knew it wouldn’t matter. He had stood before the creature. He had stopped it, even if only for a moment. They had seen him command what no one else could. That was enough
Chapter 78
The corridor vibrated with the weight of the thing stepping forward.It wasn’t just noise, it was pressure, like the air itself had grown heavy. The students staggered back, some collapsing against the walls, their eyes locked on the figure that seemed to pull light into itself. Each of its steps smeared shadows along the marble floor, as though the stone beneath couldn’t bear its presence.Eli’s heartbeat hammered in his ears, syncing with the pulse of the cube hidden beneath his jacket. The sigil on his palm seared like fresh fire. His mind screamed at him to run, but something deeper held him frozen—an understanding that no matter where he went, the thing would follow. It wasn’t chasing him. It was tethered to him.“Don’t look at it,” Callum hissed, stepping in front of one of the trembling students who had collapsed. His knife gleamed dully under the overhead lights, useless against something this vast, but his stance was unyielding. “Keep your eyes down. It feeds on recognition.”
Chapter 77
The first scream was so sharp it cut through the fire alarm.Eli spun, heart hammering, the red strobe lights throwing jagged shadows down the long west wing corridor. Students were spilling out of their dorm rooms, some barefoot, some clutching phones, others frozen mid-step as if they couldn’t comprehend what was happening. The air smelled like burning wires, metallic and thick, and every light overhead flickered as though on the verge of exploding.“Move!” Callum barked, shoving past a group of freshmen who were staring wide-eyed at the far end of the hall. His usual calculated calm was gone; his face was hard with urgency. Lena grabbed Eli’s arm and pulled him with her as the crowd broke into a panicked stampede.At first, Eli thought it was smoke rolling in from the corridor ahead. But then the shapes began to form. Cloaked figures, tall and faceless, moving with a weight that bent the air around them. The Watchers. They didn’t walk—they glided, their presence rippling through th
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