No one ever noticed Elias grey arrive He slipped into the classroom the same way shadow crept across the floor at dusk quietly without asking permission.
By the time the bell rang he was already saeted in the backed row,head slightly bowed dark hair falling into eyes that seemed to be watching something else could see.
Elias preferred it that way
Being quiet meant being invisible and being invisible meant staying safe.
The school Blackwood academy was old,it's stone walls carried whispers and its hallways always felt longer at night as if the building itself stretched when no one was paying attention students joked about the place being haunted, but Elias knew better.
It wasn't haunted
It was awake he felt it every morning the moment his foot crossed the iron gates a low hum beneath his skin a pressure behind his eyes like something ancient recognizing him
And that terrified him.
The teachers voice droned on about literature but Elias wasn't listening his fingers rested on the edge of his desk, knuckles pale as he focused on keeping his breathing steady.
'Don't think too hard'
'Don't feel it'he told himself
That's when it happened
The lights flickered just once quick enough that most students ignored but Elias felt the pull in his chest,sharp and sudden like a thread being yanked,he clenched his jaw,across the room some one looked up.
Her name was Mara vale
She sat two rows ahead always by the window she wasn't loud or dramatic but there was something about her presence that felt…..deliberate as if she paid attention to the world in a way that others didn't.
Her eyes met his for a split second Elias had the unsettling feeling that she could see him not the quiet boy everyone ignored but the thing he kept buried deep inside.
Her brows furrowed slightly
She felt it too he realized
The light steadied the hum vanished
Elias looked away first.
At lunch, he sat alone under the oak tree at the far edge of the courtyard,a book open in his hands but unread.the tree was old with it's root twisting like veins beneath the ground.
This was where the feeling was strongest.
"Do you always hide out here"
Elias nearly dropped his book
Mara stood a few steps away, sunlight catching in her hair she wasn't smiling exactly more like observing him, curious but caution.
"I'm not hiding"He said quietly
She tilted her head "you picked the most isolated spot on campus"
He shrugged "it's quiet"
She studied him for a moment then sat down anyway, folding her leg beneath her. The silence was heavy
"You felt it in class" she said suddenly
Elias froze "felt what"
"The lights"she replied "they flickered right when you tensed up"
His pulse quickened "that's a coincidence"
"Maybe"her eyes didn't leave his face
"But coincidence don't usually feel like that".
A breeze passed through the courtyard rustling the oak leaves, Elias felt that familiar hum rise again, stronger now
'Dangerous'
" you should stay away from me" he said
Mara smiled but there was no humor in it.
"I don't think I can"
That night as Elias lay awoke in his dorm room,the school whispered louder than ever and somewhere deep within him, something ancient stirred no longer content to remain hidden.
*End of chapter one*