Chapter 4

Day One

I barely slept.

Not because the bed wasn’t comfortable, it was. It was the softest, warmest thing I’d ever laid on. But sleep had always been a wary thing for me. At Black Hollow, sleep was vulnerability. And here, in a place that smelled like candlelight and magic, I still couldn’t shake the feeling that I had to be on guard.

When the bell chimed six times from somewhere deep in the academy walls, I peeled myself out of bed. The morning air carried a chill, laced with the scent of moss and citrus. I stood at the window for a moment, watching the mist curl through the glowing orchard. It looked like something out of a dream.

A part of me wanted to believe it.

I dressed quickly in the uniform left at the foot of my bed, a charcoal gray blazer with silver trim, soft black slacks, and a fitted shirt with the Duskmoor sigil stitched above the heart: a crescent moon encircling a flame. A deep blue scarf sat folded beside it, the color marking me as a hybrid student. Great.

Everyone would know what I was before they even spoke to me.

In the mirror, I barely recognized myself. I looked… normal. Like I belonged. That scared me more than anything else.

The hallways buzzed with quiet energy. Other students shuffled past in matching uniforms, some half-asleep, others chatting excitedly in languages I couldn’t place. Magic crackled faintly in the air, like distant static.

I followed the current until I reached the main dining hall. It was massive, vaulted ceilings, stained glass windows depicting celestial battles, and long tables overflowing with food that shimmered with enchantment. I paused near the doorway, overwhelmed.

“First day?” someone asked behind me.

I turned to find a girl with auburn curls and golden-brown skin offering me a tentative smile. She looked about my age, her scarf marked with the same blue as mine.

“Yeah,” I said. “I’m Riley.”

“Naomi,” she replied. “I’m a witch-wolf hybrid. You?”

I hesitated. “Wolf… I think. Still figuring it out.”

She didn’t press. Just nodded and motioned toward an empty space at one of the corner tables. “Let’s stick together. First days are rough.”

I liked her immediately.

We filled our plates with charmed fruit, toasted bread that re-buttered itself, and eggs that shimmered gold when you cut into them. I hadn’t eaten this well in years. The flavors hit me like a memory of a life I never got to have.

Orientation started an hour later in the central courtyard, where a massive obsidian sundial stood like a monument. Dean Malrick, a tall vampire with a booming voice and robes that sparkled with constellation threads, welcomed us with a speech that managed to be equal parts inspiring and terrifying.

“Duskmoor is not just a school,” he said, his eyes glowing faintly crimson. “It is a sanctuary. A battleground. A bridge between what you are and what you are meant to become.”

Cool. No pressure.

After orientation, we were divided into groups by our magic types. Naomi and I stuck together, moving toward the hybrid cohort, where we were introduced to our liaison, a nervous, over-caffeinated elf named Professor Grindle.

“Most of you are here because you don’t fit in traditional molds,” he said, adjusting his spectacles. “That makes you powerful. But it also makes you targets.”

My stomach dropped.

We were given our class schedules: Spellcasting Fundamentals, Magical Ethics, History of Realms, Hybrid Control, and something simply labeled Combat. My gut twisted at the last one. I’d had enough of fighting.

The rest of the day passed in a blur of new faces, old buildings, and lectures that made my brain ache. By the time classes ended, I was drained.

But the drama waited for me back in the dorm.

When I returned to my room, I found a note pinned to my door.

Found the freak’s room. Hope you don’t explode again.

No signature. No need.

I clenched the paper in my fist, my wolf stirring just beneath my skin.

I wasn’t in Black Hollow anymore. But some ghosts followed, even here.

I sat on my bed, staring at the fading daylight out the window, heart pounding.

Not yet. But soon.

That voice again. It didn’t scare me. It reminded me who I really was.

End of Chapter Four