4

Chapter 4 

RAIN ANDREA RIVERTON

The first thing that stood out was the mini necklace that hung around her neck. It looked like a book, I’d never seen anything like it.  

I matched her fierce gaze with mine. “I’m not supposed to get a roommate until next week.” 

“And that seems like a you problem.” She shrugged and walked into the room, not even for once minding the fact I was armed and she wasn’t. 

I watched her every move while she settled on the bed opposite mine. 

“You have got to be kidding me,” I muttered, tugging my dagger away but making sure the brown cuff on my arm was still very much intact. In case I needed to use the weapon that was underneath. 

She looked harmless though. Completely harmless. 

****

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Moonlight filled my vision, reflecting on my eyes. A full moon. The woods were thick, and trees and hard roots assaulted my bare legs. Where was I? What was I even doing here to begin with? 

The first wave of air brushed through me, my body trembling as cold streaks ran down my spine. My white nightgown followed every movement I made. What in the heavens was going on?

The sound of crickets behind me made me instantly jump. The woods were empty. Dark. Void. It felt evil while I felt so weak.

“Let us in. Andrea.” Faint, distorted voices filled the forest in an instant, making my stomach churn as my hands trembled. I jumped, turning backward, forward, anywhere I could turn to as the whispers pricked my ears.

“Who… who’s there?” A scream erupted from me the moment I felt something behind me. Shrieking as tears stung my eyes at how fast the breeze battered them. 

“Just a leaf.” I took a deep breath. “You’re being paranoid, it’s only a nightmare, a night—”

“Let us in!” The voice came from behind. It was so loud that the sheer force of it pushed me to the ground, pain eluded my body as the hard roots of the tree I had fallen on dug into my skin. My fingers clawed into the sand. And then I saw her. My entire being went still.

“Who are you? what do you want?” I threw word after word as I watched the floating woman. She was faceless, her white gown torn and covered in red. My body went cold when I realized it was blood.

It’s a dream. 

It’s a dream. 

It’s not real. 

“You cannot run from us,” she spoke again or did she? Nothing moved, she had no lips. But I knew I heard it. My eyes bugged as more figures appeared behind her, slowly, with the same outfit and appearance. They kept coming. The goosebumps on my skin were instant.

It was a dream. It was not real. 

You have to wake up, Rain. You have to wake—

“Leave me alone! Get out of my head!” My hands clasped over my ears, shaking my head profusely and not caring that it ached.

“Let. Us. In!”

“Get out!” 

The atmosphere changed from something calm to the trees turning violent. Was it from my own energy or was it theirs?

Tears filled my eyes, I didn’t need to open them to know how green they were. They were going to possess me, as they did to her.  

“Leave me alone!” My voice trembled and I shook my head, again and again. I couldn’t stop it. I couldn’t st—

The whistle the boy who once saved me from them taught me echoed around the woods. It was those sounds that were supposed to save me from these creatures, it was something that should scare them away. Like the little boy taught me when we were younger, It was supposed to keep me safe.

“They are not real, but you are. Make the sound and they will all go away.” The words of the twelve-year-old boy echoed through my brain. 

“Let us in!” The scream became more violent.

“They are not real.” The whistle he had made me learn fought to penetrate my brain by all means. “But I am. They are not real, but I am. They are no—” 

“You were born to join us, Andrea. Let us in.” I could feel them closer than before, their claws on me. I would not open my eyes. “Let us in. Let us in. Let us in.” The voices kept screaming.

“They are not real, you are. They are not real, you are.” I began following the pattern of his whistle in my brain. The intonations came to me, responding to the parts he had taught me that night after he saved me.

Hands grabbed my neck, cutting off my airflow. Blood went straight to my brain while I tried to breathe. I clawed at their wrists as I struggled.

They were touching me! They were not supposed to be able to touch me. “Die! You bitch!!”

I jerked up, a scream lurching from my throat as my eyes pierced open. Pushing her off me, the brown-haired girl who had claimed to be my roommate, her back came in contact with the wall in a large thud, her face winched in pain. 

She was trying to kill me, why was she tr—

Not thinking twice, I pulled two stilettos from my wrist cuff, locking in on my target with a single look before throwing it at her. Before she could react, they went straight to the wall, pinning the short sleeve of her top, both sides, to the wall and keeping her bound. 

She stared at me with widened eyes and forced breathing. 

With a swift move, I got to her, pulling my dagger from the side of the table where I hid it. In a second, it was on her neck. 

"Why the hell are you trying to kill me?" 

She looked me over, probably wondering where I got such a skill. "Girl, it's the first night, everyone is trying to kill everyone." 

"You don't see me trying to kill you. But maybe if I slit your neck with this dagger, then we would both be on the same page."

She giggled. Actually giggled, even though I had her life in my hands. 

"Woah, I like ya, too bad I have to kill you." Her tongue went over her lips seductively. "Besides, you would need to have actual magic to kill me."

Have to kill me? What the hell did that even mean?

Snickering, she pulled her free wrist up to touch her mini-book necklace, looking behind as the necklace glowed.

Shit! 

Before I could blink, the table behind me moved at incredible speed, smashing against my back and throwing me to the ground. The sheer force of it knocked me out of breath, pain raked through my bones, and my dagger fell to the ground with a loud clunk. 

My heart raced. I was powerless.

Pain. Pure, raw pain covered my vision. My arms strained as I tried to get up but ended up back on the ground. 

Easily, she removed herself from the hold of the little curved knives I had on her. She stood firm on her feet while I struggled to regain my balance but failed. I should have known she had been lying about being my roommate. An aspirant couldn’t do magic like how perfectly she did it. Definitely an Acolyte. 

"You are not here because of what tonight actually is, are you?" My eyes bore into hers. 

She tilted her head like she was thinking about it. Looking back down at me. "No, Riverton. But you see, Malek hates you and I really love helping Kai clean off things he dislikes, people included."

My heart dropped. 

"Kai… sent you?"

"Not particularly, he would never. I'm pretty sure he would prefer you die under his blade. You still might.”

She walked towards the door, my broken bones made it impossible for me to stand as she turned the knob, On

e last look at me “I am Kamari. Kamari Westwood.” Her smile was almost sinister. “Welcome to Kingsbury, pretty.”