Ashford High went back to pretending nothing happened.
By morning, the hallway where the shadows had erupted was spotless. No scorch marks. No cracked lockers. No terrified screams echoing anymore. Teachers blamed a "temporary power surge." Students accepted it because it was easier than asking questions.
But Lena noticed the cracks.
Maya didn't come to school.
Her seat in homeroom was empty. Her locker untouched.
And every shadow felt two seconds too slow.
"You're staring again," Theo muttered as they walked down the main hall.
"Because something's off," Lena whispered back. "Everyone's acting like Maya never existed."
"That's how it starts," Theo said. "Memory distortion. The longer she's tethered, the more she fades."
Lena stopped walking. "Say that again—but nicer."
Theo sighed. "The thing feeding on her doesn't just use bodies. It eats attention. If people stop thinking about you, it's easier to pull you out of this world."
Cold settled in Lena's chest.
They passed the trophy cases. Lena caught her reflection in the glass—and blinked hard.
For a moment, her reflection didn't move.
It stared back, eyes darker, lips curved into a faint smile that wasn't hers.
She jumped.
Theo spun around. "What?"
"Nothing," she lied. "Just… dust."
But the feeling stayed with her all day. Eyes on her back. Whispers that stopped when she turned around. Shadows bending wrong at the corners of rooms.
In history class, her pencil rolled off the desk.
When she leaned to grab it, someone whispered her name.
Right in her ear.
She snapped upright. No one was close enough.
That afternoon, the principal's voice crackled over the intercom.
"Lena Vale, please report to the main office."
Theo swore softly. "That's not normal."
The office lights buzzed as Lena stepped inside. The secretary smiled too wide.
"Have a seat," she said. "The principal will be right with you."
The door closed.
Locked.
Lena backed up slowly. "Hello?"
The temperature dropped.
The shadows pooled beneath the desk, stretching, knitting together. The same whisper crawled across her mind—the one from the hallway. The one from the passage.
You stand where the bell once sang.
"Nope," Lena said. "Absolutely not."
The shadow rose.
The lights shattered.
The office door burst open as Theo slammed into it, shouting a word that made the air vibrate. Light carved through the dark, ripping it apart like smoke.
The shadow recoiled, screeching.
"RUN," Theo yelled.
They didn't stop until they were outside, gasping in the courtyard.
"That thing got into the office," Lena said. "Into the school."
Theo nodded grimly. "Which means it's growing."
"And Maya?"
Theo didn't answer.
Lena clenched her fists. "I'm not doing this halfway. If I can read the symbols, if it can see me, then I'm not just bait."
She looked him dead in the eye.
"I want to fight it."
Theo studied her for a long second.
"Then you need to know the truth," he said. "About the bell. About you."
Her heart started pounding. "Theo…"
"You don't just understand the markings," he continued. "You're compatible with them."
Silence stretched between them.
"Compatible how?" she asked quietly.
Theo swallowed.
"Because this wasn't the first time the bell responded to your family."
Lena's blood went cold.
"You're part of this," he said. "Whether you like it or not."
And somewhere beneath Ashford High, something moved—and smiled.