Chapter 1
The morning air at Hollowgate Academy always carried a strange chill, the kind that clung to your skin like a warning. Elara Hayes tugged her scarf tighter as she walked across the courtyard, pretending not to hear the faint whispers drifting along the brick walls around her.
"He's coming…"
"Not like the others…"
She blinked hard. Not today. She refused to start her morning listening to the voices trapped between the walls.
Students gathered in groups, buzzing with the same rumor everyone had been repeating since dawn.
"There's a new transfer student," Mira said breathlessly, hurrying to catch up to Elara. "And apparently he's… insanely gorgeous."
Elara rolled her eyes. "Mira, you call every new boy gorgeous."
"No, no—this one is different," Mira insisted, brushing her curly hair back. "He showed up on a motorcycle. Wore a black coat. Didn't talk to anyone. And Ms. Rowan walked beside him like she was scared."
That caught Elara's attention.
Teachers at Hollowgate never feared anyone.
Before she could reply, the courtyard suddenly fell silent—not gradually, but instantly, like someone had muted the world.
Elara froze.
The whispers surged again, clearer this time.
"Do not look at him…"
"Shade of night… heart of silence…"
Then he walked in.
Tall. Pale. Dark hair framing a face too sharp and too perfect to belong to any teenage boy she had ever met. He moved through the courtyard like the cold belonged to him. A long black coat fell around him like a shadow.
His eyes were what made her breath stop.
Silver—quiet, unreadable, distant. Eyes that looked centuries old.
Elara's heart jumped, and her ability reacted before she could stop it. The wall nearest her trembled faintly as a whisper escaped from it—
"He does not belong here."
Lucien Vale.
Ms. Rowan introduced him with a forced smile. "Class, this is our new student. He'll be in your year."
Lucien nodded once. He didn't speak. Not a single word.
The whispers pressed stronger, like something trying to warn her, but the harder she tried to block them, the louder they became.
"Run…"
"He brings the night with him…"
Lucien's eyes drifted over the crowd—uninterested, cold, steady—until they landed on her.
And stayed there.
Elara's breath hitched. It felt like he was looking through her, seeing something he shouldn't be able to see. The world around her blurred, her heartbeat syncing with a sudden echo in her ear.
"Elara…"
Her name.
A whisper had never spoken her name before.
Lucien's expression changed—barely, subtly—but enough to tell her he recognized something in her too.
Mira nudged her. "Why does he look like he knows you?"
"I—I don't know," Elara whispered.
Lucien finally looked away as Ms. Rowan guided him inside. The courtyard came alive with noise again, but Elara felt none of it. Her pulse was still racing.
Because the moment he passed her, she heard one last whisper, quieter but unmistakable:
"Your fates are already tied."
Elara shivered.
Lucien Vale had only been at Hollowgate for thirty seconds, and already, the walls were afraid of him.
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