CHAPTER 12: What Are You Doing Here?

Kevin’s gaze hardened, his eyes glinting like sharpened steel. He didn’t raise his voice, but the words cut deep as they left his lips.

“Keep your distance.”

Without waiting for a reply, he turned sharply on his heel, the air shifting with the force of his exit. The door slammed shut behind him, the echo reverberating through the room like a final warning.

Raymond’s jaw clenched. His stare lingered on the door, unblinking, his chest rising and falling in uneven rhythm. A sound slipped past his lips, low, guttural, primal.

A growl.

It rumbled from deep within him, almost too quiet to be heard, yet heavy enough to make the air tremble. His fists curled at his sides with a crease on his forehead, and for the briefest second, his eyes flickered.

Blue.

Then red.

The colors battled like fire and ice, his control hanging by a fragile thread.

*****

The dormitory hallway was silent.

Too silent.

Alicia paused halfway down the corridor, her steps echoing faintly against the tiled floor. Annoyance written all over her face while she hugged her arms across her chest and noticed her surrounding, unease prickling at her skin. It was barely past morning, yet not a single voice drifted through the long stretch of rooms. No slamming doors. No hurried footsteps. No laughter from girls who always gossiped in corners.

Did everyone go to class already? she wondered, her brows knitting together. It was always quite but not just this quite, It didn’t feel right.

She tilted her head, listening. Nothing. Only the hollow hush of her own breathing.

Then…

Something shifted at the edge of her vision.

Her head snapped to the right, eyes widening.

There. A shadow.

It darted across the far end of the hall, moving unnaturally fast, almost gliding. A blur of dark, formless motion that vanished before her eyes could even catch its shape.

Her heart stuttered once, hard, but didn’t settle into fear. Instead, curiosity crackled inside her chest, sharp and urgent.

“What… was that?” she whispered, her voice barely audible in the quiet.

Logic told her to leave it alone. Logic told her she was probably imagining things, just the play of light filtering through the windows. But logic never stood a chance against the stubborn pull of her own restless curiosity.

Her feet moved before she even realized it.

Each step was soft but quick, her pulse thrumming faster with every stride.

By the time she reached the end of the hall, her breath had shortened, not from exhaustion but anticipation. The shadow had disappeared, swallowed by the stillness. But the strange compulsion in her chest only grew stronger.

She pressed her palm against the wall for balance, her gaze scanning the area. Nothing. Just the corridor bending into a side path she’d never really noticed before.

Her brows furrowed.

“When… did this even get here?”

The air around the corner was cooler somehow, like the temperature dipped just a fraction of a degree. The tiled floor gave way to packed earth, faintly damp beneath her shoes.

Her lips parted as she took another step forward.

And then another.

The hallway behind her dissolved into something else entirely.

Tall trees rose around her like a cage.

Their trunks stretched upward, thick and impossibly high, their branches knitting together so tightly above that the sky barely peeked through. Light filtered down in thin, golden ribbons, scattering across the ground in uneven patches.

Alicia spun slowly, her chest tightening.

“Wait…” Her voice trembled, though she barely noticed. “Where… am I?”

She should have seen the dorm building when she turned back. But there was nothing. No hall, no door, no trace of walls or windows. Just endless trees pressing in from every side, silent and unmoving.

Her pulse raced.

Still, fear didn’t claw at her, not yet.

Because something else stole her attention.

The ground beneath her glowed.

She froze, her breath snagging in her throat.

Thin, swirling markings curled across the soil, stretching outward in loops and spirals like veins of molten gold. They weren’t just drawn, they pulsed, faintly alive, a soft light ebbing and flowing as though it breathed.

Her knees bent instinctively, and she crouched, her fingertips hovering inches above the glowing lines. Heat radiated faintly upward, seeping into her skin like the whisper of a flame.

“What… is this?” she breathed, mesmerized.

The markings hummed beneath her hand, a sound so soft she almost thought she imagined it. Her chest rose and fell too quickly, excitement mingling with confusion.

Her head snapped up when something flickered again in her peripheral vision.

The shadow.

It streaked between the trees, gone in a blink.

Her heartbeat surged, but still she didn’t back away. The glow beneath her feet, the strange brightness in the air, it made her feel oddly shielded, as if daylight itself wrapped her in protection.

Instead of fear, a thrill swept through her veins.

She straightened sharply, her eyes locked on the path where the blur had vanished.

She should turn back. She should find the hallway again, find other students, find safety.

But her legs moved on their own.

Her stride quickened.

Her breath came faster.

Leaves crunched beneath her shoes as she pushed forward, the trees whispering faintly overhead. She had no idea where she was going, but every instinct screamed at her to follow.

Her curious mind burned brighter than her hesitation.

The markings under her feet seemed to grow denser the further she went, glowing brighter, snaking between roots and rocks until they formed almost a trail.

It’s like they want me to follow them.

The thought barely had time to register when another flash cut across her vision.

Closer this time.

So close she could almost see a shape within the blur, like a body… but not.

Her pulse hammered.

Her feet broke into a run.

Branches blurred past as she chased the moving darkness, her hair whipping against her cheeks. Every part of her screamed to catch it, to see it, to know what it was.

And then…

The sound came.

A growl.

Deep.

Guttural.

Alive.

It rolled through the trees like thunder, shaking the ground beneath her feet. Her legs locked instantly, her body going rigid as the vibration tore through her bones.

Her lungs seized.

Her mind went blank.

It wasn’t human. It couldn’t be.

The growl reverberated again, louder, as though whatever made it was drawing closer.

Her throat closed, a strangled gasp escaping her lips. She turned toward the sound slowly, her stomach twisting with dread.

And that was when…

A hand clamped down on her shoulder.

Alicia’s entire body jolted upright, her spine snapping straight as a cold shock shot down her back. Her heart leapt violently into her throat, hammering so hard it hurt.

Her breath tore from her lungs, sharp and panicked, her fingers curling into fists.

She whipped her head sideways…

And froze.

Raymond.

His presence hit her like a storm, his height casting a shadow over her. His jaw was tight, his expression unreadable, but his eyes… his eyes burned into hers with a mix of anger and something else she couldn’t name.

Her lips parted, trembling, but no words came with her eyes round with shock.

His voice cut through the tense silence, low and edged, heavy with warning.

“What are you doing here?”

The glow beneath their feet pulsed again, as if echoing the weight of his words.

And in that moment, Alicia realized she hadn’t just stumbled into something strange.

She had walked straight into something dangerous.