Completely Shattered

Isadora:

The storm had been building all day.

I felt it in my bones long before the first thunderhead crawled across the sky, thick and bruised with darkness. It pressed against the Academy like a beast prowling at the gates, every gust of wind rattling the ancient windows, every drop of rain whispering across the slate roof like fingertips. The air inside the halls was heavy, metallic, as if the stones themselves remembered blood.

By nightfall, the storm was no longer outside—it was inside me.

My veins hummed with electricity. Shadows clung tighter than usual, curling around my ankles when I walked the corridors, licking up the walls as though eager to escape. Every flicker of candlelight bent strangely in my direction, flames bending low like courtiers before a queen they hadn’t yet sworn to.

And the boys felt it too.

Kai had vanished into the library, combing through forbidden stacks with his jaw clenched tight, searching for something he wouldn’t name. Rhett paced the halls like a wolf too long denied the hunt, his growls low and constant, rattling the fragile silence between thunderclaps. Silas had disappeared into the walls, a shadow slipping through cracks, appearing at the edges of my vision like a warning—or a promise. And Lucian… Lucian lingered at the edges of rooms, all hunger and restraint, his eyes lit with something more dangerous than the lightning outside.

No one spoke of it, but we all knew: the storm wasn’t just weather. It was me.

I stood at the tall, arched window in my chamber, watching the rain lash across the courtyard. The gargoyles hunched along the ledges looked alive in the lightning’s flash, their wings twitching, their fangs gleaming wet. A surge of raw power pulsed inside my chest, a tide rising too fast. My reflection in the glass didn’t look like mine at all—my eyes glowed faintly, my lips parted as though whispering a name I didn’t remember learning.

The wards trembled.

The Academy was stitched together with old magic, its bones laced with the founders’ blood, its heart bound by runes carved into the earth itself. I could feel them now, those invisible threads, wrapping around towers and classrooms, dormitories and hidden stairwells. They quivered under the storm’s weight. And under me.

My hand pressed against the glass, and in the flash of lightning, the glass spiderwebbed with cracks.

The door behind me opened with a low groan.

“Little raven.” Lucian’s voice was a blade wrapped in ancient silk. He leaned against the doorframe, the candlelight painting his face in shadows. “You’re trembling.”

“I’m not.” I didn’t look at him. I couldn’t. The storm inside me was too close to spilling.

“Yes, you are,” he murmured, stepping closer, boots clicking across the stone floor. “And the Academy trembles for you.”

I spun, my pulse a wild drum. “Something’s wrong with me.”

“Or,” he countered, his eyes gleaming, “something’s not ready for you.”

The words lodged in my chest like a shard of glass. His hunger wrapped around me, dark and possessive, even as the storm shrieked against the windows. Lightning flashed, throwing his silhouette across the wall—horns where none should be, wings where none yet were. For a heartbeat, he didn’t look human.

Then the thunder came, shaking the chamber, and I realized it wasn’t only the storm outside.

It was me.

A crack like a gunshot tore through the Academy. The wards—those sacred, ancient protections—splintered in a scream I felt in my marrow. Students’ shouts echoed down the corridors, frantic and sharp. Candles guttered out, plunging entire wings into darkness.

The wards had shattered.

Lucian was suddenly at my side, his hand gripping my wrist, his voice low and urgent. “What did you do, Isadora?”

“I—nothing—I didn’t—” But the lie tasted bitter. My chest burned, my veins crawling with too much power, like something had slithered beneath my skin and made a home.

The door banged open again. Rhett stormed in, eyes glowing gold, his hair damp from the storm, rain dripping down his collar. His wolf was close to the surface, teeth bared. “The wards are down.” His gaze snapped to me, feral and sharp. “What the hell happened?”

I stepped back, breath catching. “I don’t—”

Silas slid out of the shadows by the fireplace, silent as smoke. His smile was a razor. “She doesn’t have to do anything. She is the storm.” His gaze raked over me, reverent and hungry all at once. “And the wards knew it.”

Kai arrived last, slamming the door behind him, rain clinging to his hair, his eyes wild. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days, ink staining his fingertips. “It’s here,” he snapped, his voice breaking. “Whatever was set to happen. It's the prophecy.”

The word dropped like poison into the air.

I froze. My stomach twisted. My hands shook. I wanted to deny it, to scream, but my pulse betrayed me. The shadows at my feet curled higher, caressing my calves like lovers, like chains. The air bent toward me, lightning flickering in the corners of the room though the storm outside had not struck.

Succubus.

Not a student. Not a savior. Not even human.

The boys circled me, four predators closing in. But there was no malice in their eyes. Not yet. Hunger, yes. Terror, yes. But also something worse—something like devotion.

Rhett’s jaw flexed, his wolf clawing for dominance. “If you're the prophecy, then you'll have to end us all.”

“No,” Lucian said, his voice like black velvet wrapped around steel. “She’s the end of everything else.”

Silas laughed softly, stepping closer until the shadows of his coat brushed my dress. “And we’ll go down with her, if we have to.”

Kai’s hand trembled as he dragged it down his face, his voice breaking. “You don’t understand. She has to devour the High to end Maldric. She needs every bond, every drop of power, hers.”

Their words tangled in the air, sharp and heavy. My chest squeezed. Fear crawled into my throat like a scream that wouldn’t come.

Then the Academy groaned, a deep and ancient sound. The stones themselves shifted, dust raining from the ceiling. A crack split the floor near my feet, thin but deep, glowing faintly with red light from far, far below.

The rift.

The storm wasn’t just mine anymore. It had woken something beneath the Academy.

My knees buckled. Rhett caught me before I hit the floor, his arms iron around me, his wolf’s growl vibrating through his chest. Lucian crouched in front of me, his hand on my cheek, his eyes like dark fire. Silas hovered at my shoulder, shadows coiling around his wrists. Kai stood back, pale and stricken, the word still trembling on his lips: Succubus.

I couldn’t breathe. The power inside me roared, hungry and endless, and I realized it wasn’t just mine—it was theirs. The wolf, the blood, the shadow, the glamour. All of it tangled inside me like veins feeding into a single heart.

My heart.

And it wanted more.

The storm outside howled. The lanterns blew out. In the flash of lightning through the window, I saw my reflection again—eyes glowing like twin infernos, mouth curved in a smile I didn’t recognize.

Somewhere far below, in the bowels of the Academy, a laugh echoed. Low. Ancient. Hungry.

The chains of something buried rattled, as though answering me.

And in that moment, I understood—

The storm wasn’t breaking me.

I was breaking the world.