Chapter 2
Elara always avoided the north dormitory corridor. Everyone did. The school claimed it was "under renovation," but no tools, no workers, no repairs ever appeared. Only silence… and the whispers.
That afternoon, Elara regretted taking a shortcut past it.
She and Mira were heading back to their room after classes when Mira suddenly grabbed her arm. "Elara. He's behind us."
Elara didn't have to ask who "he" was. She felt it first—a shift in the air, a drop in temperature that crawled across her skin like frost.
Lucien Vale was walking down the hallway, silent, graceful, too calm for someone new.
He passed a group of girls who tried to greet him, but he didn't look at them. Not once. His eyes stayed forward… except when he neared Elara.
He slowed.
Just for a heartbeat.
His gaze flicked to her, unreadable as a winter sky.
Then he continued on.
Mira exhaled shakily. "Okay, seriously? Why does he keep staring at you?"
"I don't know," Elara said, even though her stomach twisted with unease.
As Lucien disappeared around the corner, the corridor lights flickered.
And the wall behind Elara whispered.
"Stop him… stop him before he reaches the sealed door…"
Elara stiffened. "Did you hear that?"
Mira blinked. "Hear what?"
Of course. Only Elara ever heard the walls.
She pressed her palm against the cold stone. "What sealed door?"
The whisper returned, trembling with urgency.
"The door with no key… the one the shadows fear…"
The same chill from earlier swept over her shoulders. She turned toward the north corridor—the place she'd always avoided.
The hallway was dim, lit only by weak overhead bulbs. A thin red rope stretched across the entrance with a sign: Restricted Area – Do Not Enter.
Mira tugged her sleeve. "Elara, don't even think about it."
But the whisper dragged her forward.
"…he shouldn't be there… he is danger in silence…"
Elara stepped closer. The corridor seemed darker than usual, almost as if the shadows were breathing.
A loud bang echoed from deep inside—like a door slamming.
Mira jumped. "Nope. No. Absolutely not. I'm not going in there."
Elara swallowed. Her instincts screamed to leave… but the whispers never warned her without reason.
She took one step over the red rope.
"Elara!" Mira hissed.
Another whisper rose from the walls, low and trembling.
"The vampire seeks the sealed door… stop him… or the night will open…"
Her pulse hammered. Vampire? Was that what the whispers were trying to tell her? That Lucien—silent, cold, beautiful Lucien—was something monstrous?
Before she could decide what to do, footsteps echoed from inside the corridor.
Slow. Smooth. Approaching.
Lucien stepped out of the darkness.
His expression was unreadable, but his eyes gleamed faintly red—so faint she doubted herself.
"Elara Hayes," he said softly.
His voice was deep, quiet, and unsettlingly calm. It was the first time she'd heard him speak.
"Why are you here?"
She opened her mouth to answer, but the wall behind her whispered one last warning:
"He must not find what lies behind the sealed door."
Lucien's eyes narrowed.
As if he heard something too.
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