Chapter 3 - Nora

The second I stepped through the barrier, the air thickened around me like fog. My skin tingled, my lungs tightened, and my stomach flipped like it knew something my brain hadn’t caught up with yet. I turned back on instinct, half-expecting to see one of those guys grabbing for me, ready to drag me back. But they weren’t.

They were still at the edge of the alley, just outside whatever invisible line I’d crossed. One was stumbling back, eyes wide with horror. Another looked like he was trying to process what just happened, blinking over and over like I’d vanished mid-step. The third was pointing right at me. No, through me. Like I was a ghost. Like I wasn’t even there anymore.

To them, I had disappeared.

What the hell?

I spun back around, expecting cracked pavement and boarded-up buildings. But instead, I saw green. Not just a patch of grass or a rundown park, but a massive stretch of manicured lawn bathed in silvery moonlight. Trees that hadn’t been there before stretched up like sentinels, and in the distance stood a castle. A real goddamn castle. Not a Disney knockoff or a rich person’s vanity project, but something ancient and impossible, glowing faintly as if it had been sleeping for a very long time.

And then something flew at me.

It was fast and dark, and my body jolted with panic until I realized it was a bat. Of course it was. Because why wouldn’t this night involve bats now? It veered toward me, and I took a step back, heart racing. Just as it reached me, it twisted in the air, wings curling inward like a collapsing star.

The bat exploded into a man.

I stumbled back with a startled gasp, my fingers tightening around my bag. The man landed smoothly in front of me, tall and composed like that whole horror-movie stunt was just a casual entrance.

“I am Calvin Arx,” he said, his voice low and smooth. “Headmaster of Obscura Arcanum University. And you, I imagine, are quite confused.”

“I—what?” My mouth was dry. “Who—what even are you?”

“One question at a time,” he said calmly.

He looked me over without the usual disgust or pity I was used to. That made me nervous. People either ignored me or hated me. This quiet attention was something else, something I didn’t trust.

And then it got worse.

A low vibration crawled up from the ground beneath my feet. I looked around, feeling a pulse in the earth itself, and then the castle responded. Golden light erupted from the stone walls, tracing sigils across the facade like veins of molten fire. A deep hum filled the air, echoing in my bones.

I took a shaky step back. “What… what is that?”

“The school is reacting,” Calvin said, eyes narrowing slightly. “It seems you’ve woken something.”

I was still trying to process what that meant when I felt a weight like eyes on me, and a lot of them.

I turned slowly and froze.

Wolves.

A full pack of them stood in the shadows near the tree line, silent and watching. Their forms were massive, their fur thick and dark against the night. But my eyes locked onto one.

He stood taller than the others. Sleek black fur caught the moonlight, and his eyes, bright, glacial blue, stared straight into mine. His presence was commanding, like every part of him was made for this moment. And on his front leg, just above the paw, shimmered a crescent moon, pale and glowing.

My breath hitched. I couldn’t look away. That wolf felt familiar in a way I didn’t understand. Like he wasn’t just looking at me, he knew me.

Calvin stepped beside me, drawing my attention back.

“Don’t worry about them,” he said. “Wolves are territorial, but this doesn’t concern them. Come. We’ll figure this out.”

I forced my feet to move, following him even as my head spun.

Werewolves? Voices in my head? Fireballs? A vampire headmaster and a castle no one else could see?

Maybe I was dead. Or maybe this was what a complete mental break looked like. Either way, there was no turning back now.

The moment we stepped inside the castle, everything in me screamed to turn back.

The interior was just as ridiculous as the outside. Marble floors veined with silver, floating lights that pulsed like lanterns from a dream, and hallways that stretched impossibly long, lined with carved archways and sigils I couldn’t even begin to understand. It was like walking into the world’s most unhinged museum. But no matter how surreal it looked, it felt real under my feet. The air was warm. The floor solid. My footsteps echoed in a way they never did in dreams.

Calvin led me through a series of quiet corridors before we reached a wide circular chamber with a domed ceiling made entirely of stained glass. At the center stood three people.

They turned as we entered.

The first woman looked like she belonged on the cover of a vampire political thriller. She was statuesque, with dark eyes that made me feel dissected before I even opened my mouth. Her suit was sleek, her posture perfect, and her expression cool enough to freeze lava.

“This is Professor Pamela Batista,” Calvin said. “Head of Nerezza House. She teaches Vampire Diplomacy and Inter-Species Relations.”

She inclined her head slightly. It felt more like a warning than a greeting.

Next to her stood a woman with a wild swirl of pastel hair that shimmered with streaks of blue, purple, and pink. It shifted as she blinked, brightening to an almost neon green as her gaze swept over me.

“And this,” Calvin continued, “is Professor Ashleigh Dana, Head of Everley House and Professor of Experimental Spellcraft.”

“Oh, she’s interesting,” Ashleigh said immediately. Her voice was bright and warm, but there was something chaotic in her eyes. “I like her energy. It’s all sharp edges and tangled threads. That usually means untapped power or an unspeakable secret. Possibly both.”

“What?” I asked, stepping back.

Calvin offered a slight smile. “We didn’t get a chance to cover names earlier. You are?”

“Nora,” I said. “Nora Carver.”

Ashleigh gave me a wink. Pamela didn’t blink.

Without warning, a soft blue glow bloomed around me. I jerked, only to realize the professors had raised their hands, magic swirling in the air like static. Runes circled my body, each one flaring in sequence.

“What are you doing?” I asked. “What is this?”

“Standard magical assessment,” Calvin said. “We need to confirm your origin. Your presence triggered very old wards. We have to be sure.”

The light intensified. My skin buzzed. I had no idea what any of this meant, but I knew that kind of tone. It was the same one every caseworker and foster parent had used right before dumping me somewhere new.

So this is it. This is the part where they decide I’m not worth the trouble.

I braced myself, expecting them to find nothing. Or worse, something they didn’t like. Then I heard the breath catch. The professors stilled.

Pamela’s fingers curled slightly. Ashleigh’s hair darkened into a deep, startled indigo. Calvin stepped forward, brows drawn low.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. “What does it say?”

Before anyone could answer, another figure entered the chamber. A man with graying hair, strong shoulders, and the kind of heavy presence that made the wolves from earlier make sense.

“Dominic Voss,” Calvin said. “Head of Hawthorne House.”

He gave a curt nod, eyes never leaving me.

Dominic had been one of the wolves. I knew it instinctively.

“She’s the one,” he said.

“The scan confirms it,” Pamela added quietly.

“What scan? What are you all talking about?” I demanded. “What does it say?”

Ashleigh glanced at the others, then looked at me with something closer to awe. “Your blood holds a genetic marker we thought extinct. You’re descended from the Aurelian line.”

I laughed. It came out cracked and shaky. “I don’t even know what that means, but I can assure you that you’re wrong. You’ve got the wrong person. I’m not anything. I’m not magic. I’m not royal. I’m not special.”

“Nora,” Calvin said, voice low and even, “you carry dragon blood.”

“Dragons aren’t real,” I said. “They’re not real. They can’t be. Vampires and werewolves and witches, that’s a huge stretch, but fine, okay, maybe, but dragons?”

My pulse raced. My hands trembled. The words hit like a punch in the gut. I took a step back. Then another.

“You’ve made a mistake,” I said. “I’m just a girl. Just Nora Carver. An unwanted orphan with a bad attitude and a glitchy brain. I don’t have power. I don’t have a legacy. I barely even have a past.”

Ashleigh’s hair turned a pale gold as she said, “But now you have a future.”

I didn’t know whether to scream or pass out because nothing about this felt possible. And yet, they were all looking at me like I had just changed the world. That voice from earlier said the castle was where my future would begin, but I didn’t believe that, and I don’t know if I believe it now.

The silence that followed Ashleigh’s words pressed against me like a weight. I didn’t move. None of them did either.

Then Pamela finally spoke, her voice flat and clipped. “The scan must be wrong.”

Dominic nodded. “Agreed. That kind of magic was never meant to be used on strays from outside the wards. It was created to read active bloodlines, not unknown anomalies.”

Ashleigh’s hair flared into a sharp fuchsia. “Excuse me? Did you just call her a stray?”

“If the title fits,” Pamela replied coolly.

Ashleigh took a step forward. “The scan pulled from the ancestral imprint. It bypasses active power and goes straight to lineage. It cannot be falsified.”

“Unless the system was degraded over time,” Dominic countered. “It has not been used for at least a century. Even runes fade. Wards weaken. You know that.”

Calvin remained quiet, his eyes on me the whole time. I was still trying to process what they were arguing about. Stray. Legacy. Bloodline. None of those words belonged to me.

“She’s just a girl,” Dominic said again, quieter this time. “And we are not equipped for dragons, much less feral ones with no control and no House. We wipe her memory, seal the ward breach, and move on.”

My mouth opened, but I didn’t know what I would have said. Ashleigh beat me to it.

“You want to erase her because it makes you uncomfortable,” she snapped. “Because this doesn’t fit your precious sense of order. But it happened. She’s here. The scan worked.”

Pamela crossed her arms. “It should not have. Dragons died out a thousand years ago. The bloodline is extinct.”

Calvin’s voice cut through them, calm but immovable. “Enough.”

All eyes turned toward him.

“The founders of this university constructed the scan. To question its accuracy is to question the magic that binds Obscura Arcanum itself. You are free to doubt your interpretation. You are not free to rewrite the result.” Calvin’s words shut everyone up.

Pamela’s lips thinned. Dominic looked away.

“She stays,” Calvin said. “We cannot ignore the first confirmed dragon in a thousand years. And if you would dismiss her this easily, then it is not the girl who shames us. It is us.”

I swallowed hard.

“I am not a dragon,” I muttered. “I’m nobody.”

He looked at me like he already knew how wrong I was.

“I want to confirm something,” he said. “Come with me.”

Ashleigh gestured for me to follow, giving the others one last pointed look before we left the chamber. I moved like I was sleepwalking. Numb. Detached. My body followed them down the hall, but my mind kept looping on the same impossible words.

Dragon blood.

We stepped into a wide corridor that opened onto an outdoor walkway. Across the courtyard, separated by a stone bridge and a shimmering magical barrier, stood a towering structure. It looked abandoned. Darkened windows. Cracked stone. A massive door sealed shut by an arch of runes so faded I could barely make them out.

“That is Aurelian House,” Calvin said. “It has remained sealed since the last dragons fell. No one has entered in over a millennium. The wards have never responded to anyone since.”

I stared at the structure. It didn’t look inviting. It looked like a warning.

“I want you to walk to the door,” he said.

“What happens if it doesn’t open?” I asked.

“Then we are wrong,” Ashleigh said. “But I don’t believe we are.”

I didn’t want to move. My feet were heavy. My legs stiff. But something in me pulled toward it. A hum beneath the surface of my skin, almost like a magnetic pull. I crossed the bridge, each step dragging more than the last, until I stood before the ancient stone doors.

They didn’t stay closed for long.

A low rumble trembled through the earth. The faded runes along the archway blazed to life in molten gold, lighting up one by one as if recognizing me. The doors groaned and shifted. Dust poured from the cracks as massive hinges unlocked. The sealed entrance split open with a hiss of released magic, and a gust of warm air hit my face like breath from something that had only just awoken.

The wards rippled outward. Somewhere behind me, Ashleigh gasped. Calvin said nothing.

Aurelian House had opened. For me.

Ashleigh stepped closer but didn’t cross the threshold. “Dragons alone may pass beyond this point. Even the founders respected that.”

Calvin nodded once. “Whatever lies inside belongs to you now.”

I looked back at them, at the strange faculty who barely agreed on my existence.

“You’ll face challenges here,” Ashleigh said. “People will not accept this easily. But as the last of your kind, we will do what we can.”

“You’re not alone anymore,” Calvin added.

I nodded wordlessly as I stepped through the open doors.