Chapter 6 Not Isolated for No Reason

Evelyn's POV

I took a deep breath and shot back:

"So you're saying I shouldn't be here?"

"What I'm saying is, you should have a clear understanding of your own abilities. Don't harbor unrealistic fantasies, and don't waste your time on people and things that aren't worth it."

I knew he was talking about Kane.

I stood up:

"I respect your teaching, but I don't think you have the right to interfere with my choices and judgment. I came here to learn, not to have someone tell me 'what I should do.'"

Klein's eyes narrowed.

"Sit down!"

His voice wasn't loud, but it was crystal clear.

The classroom went completely silent.

I didn't lower my head. I kept looking at him until he looked away.

After the bell rang, Emma caught up with me from behind.

She stood in the hallway with a complicated expression, like she'd struggled for a long time before making this decision.

"You really won't listen?"

"No."

Emma took a deep breath:

"Fine, then let me tell you one last thing. The Smith family, the Phoenix Clan—thirty years ago, they almost destroyed all of Thornwick Academy."

"His father was the one who started the rebellion. A lot of people died in that rebellion, many students' parents, including my uncle. Now do you understand why everyone hates him? It's not because he's a bad person. It's because of his bloodline, his family, what his father did."

Emma turned and walked away. This time, she didn't look back.

I stood there, my mind in chaos.

So this was the truth? Kane wasn't isolated for no reason—he was the son of everyone's enemy?

Was everything he was doing now atonement, or escape?

I didn't know.

My mind was a mess.

Right after afternoon class ended, my phone buzzed. It was a message from Emma:

[Be careful, someone's looking to cause you trouble.]

I walked out of the academic building. It was almost dark.

Floating light orbs lit up in the hallway, casting a dim yellow glow over the East District.

As I crossed the central plaza, I heard footsteps behind me—probably three people, maybe more.

I didn't look back. I quickened my pace.

"Evelyn, stop."

I stopped and turned around.

Three upperclassmen in black robes stood behind me, silver wolf heads embroidered on their chests.

"We want to talk to you about Kane."

"There's nothing to talk about."

"You think so?"

The guy in the middle smiled.

"Do you know how many people's relatives that person next to you—his father killed? What does it mean to everyone else that you're with him every day?"

"What does it mean?"

"It means you're standing on the murderer's side."

"I'm not standing on anyone's side. I'm just being friends with someone you've all isolated."

"The problem is you picked the wrong person." The guy's voice turned cold. "If you keep hanging around with him, you'll regret it."

"Is that a threat?"

"It's a warning."

I looked at them. My heart was racing, but I felt strangely calm:

"Then here's my warning—stay away from me."

The guy's expression changed. He reached out to push my shoulder.

I didn't dodge, because I knew I couldn't.

Three of them, one of me, and I had zero combat ability.

But his hand never touched my shoulder.

A scorching energy suddenly whizzed past my ear, followed by a scream. The upperclassman didn't even touch my clothes before a massive force slammed him away.

I whipped my head around.

The guy was curled up in pain on the ground 9 feet away. His two companions went pale with fear and stumbled back several steps.

And at the other end of the plaza, Kane stood quietly, his silver-white hair flying in the night wind, the phoenix mark on his forehead glowing with a pale gold light, a ball of golden-red flame burning in his right palm, his eyes turned a burning orange-red.

He walked toward me, each step carrying a suffocating sense of pressure.

The three guys went pale and scrambled away.

Kane walked up to me. The flames died out, and his eyes turned back to deep gold.

"Are you okay?"

He didn't say much, but he put me behind him, just like the first time we met, when I had put him behind me.

"How did you know to come?"

I was a bit excited, and a bit nervous.

"I felt it."

I looked at his face and suddenly remembered what Emma had said.

I wanted to ask him some questions, but I found I couldn't say them out loud.

Because those questions didn't matter right now.

What mattered was that when I was in trouble, he came.

We walked side by side across the plaza.

Behind us, those floating light orbs lit up one by one, stretching our shadows long and longer, until they overlapped.

When we reached Starlight Spring, Kane suddenly stopped and held out his hand, palm up.

A tiny golden-red flame rose from his fingertips—warm, gentle, like a beating heart.

"Take this. If you run into danger, crush it."

I looked at the flame in his palm for a long time.

Then I reached out and took it.

The flame settled in my palm. It wasn't hot—instead it was warm, like a curled-up little animal.

It flickered twice, then melted into my skin, leaving only a pale gold mark, like a tiny star, etched into my palm.

Before I could calm down, a sharp whistle suddenly came from behind.

Before I could react, a massive force hit me from behind, and I lost my balance.

Not forward—downward.

The stone slabs under my feet cracked open, replaced by pitch-black water.

It was Starlight Spring.

What was happening? A mechanism? A trap? I had no time to think. The feeling of weightlessness instantly seized my heart, and I plummeted desperately toward that darkness.

Bone-chilling cold.

Water surged from all directions, flooding into my nose, mouth, ears.

I struggled desperately, but the current pulled me down like a hand.

I opened my eyes and saw the light on the water's surface getting farther and farther away, smaller and smaller, until it became a tiny bright spot, like a distant star.

The air in my lungs was running out bit by bit, my consciousness fading bit by bit.

Then I saw light.

A pair of strong arms wrapped around my waist from behind, pulling me out of the darkness.

My back pressed against a burning chest.

A low voice came to my ear, carrying an emotion close to collapse:

"Evelyn, don't fall asleep!"

I forced my eyes open.

Kane's face was right in front of me, his silver-white hair soaked through, plastered to the sides of his face.

The phoenix mark on his forehead glowed like it was burning, those deep gold eyes filled with bloodshot veins, the flame patterns around his pupils jumping wildly.

He held me and burst through the water.

With the explosive sound of water splashing, I felt the muscles in his back suddenly tense. Then two massive golden-red lights swept past both sides of my body—they were a pair of burning wings. They folded forward, protecting me in the middle like a warm cocoon of fire. Water droplets rolled down the burning feathers, instantly turning into white steam, completely illuminating the deep night sky.

I heard gasps and exclamations from the crowd below, but I had no strength to look at them. My vision held only Kane.

He ignored the surrounding commotion and just looked at me quietly.

"I'm taking you away."

His voice was soft.

His wings beat powerfully, and we shot into the sky.

The plaza below grew smaller and smaller, those floating light orbs became strings of light dots, Thornwick Academy's towers and spires like a silent forest in the night.

The wind howled in my ears, freezing cold, but Kane's chest was hot, his arms were hot, his whole being was like a fire that would never go out, wrapping me tightly in his embrace.