ВойтиJulianna POV
The ground hit us like a slap. Not hard enough to break bones, but hard enough to knock the breath out of me. I landed on my side, dirt grinding into my cheek, grass wet against my palms. For a second the world was just ringing ears and spinning sky, too blue, too clean, no trace of the academy’s haze.
Scott groaned somewhere to my left.
I pushed up on shaking arms. My head pounded. Something warm trickled from my nose. I wiped it with the back of my ha
Lily POVBehind me stayed Julianna, and then Selene, deep inside that cave. I didn’t look back. Thinking about them would’ve slowed me down too much. With each passing moment, the dark figure grew tougher. Fear was its fuel, drawn from everyone nearby. A presence pressed against my mind. Up above, in the twisted copy of our school, it waited.Up I swam. Through black water I broke. Hallways of Paranormal High opened around meor the dream version at least. Slowly the walls shifted. From locker seams, liquid oozed. Copper. Ozone. That was the smell on my tongue.Footsteps didn’t echo - just a hush when I touched down. Around my fingers, light began to twist without asking. Shapes like crushed stars formed, deep purple and quiet.The space where it had stood now held nothing. Down the passage, silence took over.Something felt off.Stillness pressed hard against the ears. Not a breath of wind stirred the fog.Something shifted insi
Julianna POVAbove my eyes, darkness stretched without edge. My arms drifted slow through empty air. Nothing touched me anywhere. The silence pressed close. I could not tell which way was down.Above me, nothing. Below, also gone - just white, everywhere, too bright to bear. Heavy air clung like wet cloth on my arms. Weightless, I hung without up or down. Then came the floating, pulse loud in my ears, mind scrambling for answers.What stuck in my mind most was that dark fog moving closer - chilly, thick, pressing down - just moments after we unlocked Selene’s door.“Hello?” The sound of my voice felt thin, bouncing back at me through the still air. Nobody answered. Just silence sat there, heavy. I tried again - could hear it stretch into nothingNo response.One shaky step came after another. Beneath my shoes, a firm surface appeared - yet the ground didn’t seem real. Endless white spilled out ahead. Walls were missing. The edge of sight was gone. Empty space filled every direction.T
Cameron POVI woke up in the middle of Professor Elowen’s strategy class.A sharp tang of aged paper hung in the air, mixed with something electric - leftover traces of mana lingered still buzzing under layers of chalk residue. Light poured sideways through high panes, setting tiny specks glowing like sparks caught mid-fall. Nothing seemed out of place. Not a single thing felt wrong.Finding my spot by the window, I flipped the notebook wide, fingers curled around the pen. Up near the chalkboard, Kaid moved fast beside Lily, sketching shapes that tangled into plans most could not follow. Leaning close to the plaster, Scott held still, one brow lifted after a quiet word from Lila. Everyone else stayed silent, gazes fixed where power usually spoke first.From the chalkboard, Professor Elowen shifted her weight. She faced away slowly.“Cameron,” she said, voice calm and expectant. “Simple question. If a phoenix is cornered by t
Caleb POVRunning before my eyes even opened.Frozen ground shook under each step. Needles slapped skin, sharp and sudden. Shapes rushed by without names. Wet wool filled the air, mixed with something metallic - iron close, too close.I was alone.But I could feel him.Cameron.Down the road a piece. Pain shows up. It speaks its name.“Caleb… help…”A thin call split the air between trunks - trembling, quiet, just like that day long ago when he tumbled from the big oak and his breath caught sharp.I ran faster.Something in the trees pushed back. My sleeve caught on a splintered limb. Up ahead, roots lifted from the soil like warnings. Cold air twisted at my feet, thick with fog.“Caleb… it hurts…”Faster, I drove myself forward. Fire filled my chest with each breath. Then - scent hit me. His blood first. Next came sweat, thick and sour. Under it al
Kaid POVFog filled the air when I woke. Broken pieces lay everywhere around me.Nothing left of the courtyard now. Holes pocked the earth where steps once led. Fire climbed jagged rock, reaching skyward. Shapes writhed through smoke, bending without bones. Pupils sprawled in uneven heaps - one coughing, another not moving at all. Red trails marked the stones between them.Fingers slick, the stuff clung thick before I even noticed.Blood soaked my hands, climbing past the wrist. The claws jutted forward, stretched beyond their usual size, unsteady. They glistened, wet, hanging low under their own weight.“What… did I do?”A shriek tore into the fog.Scott.Down he knelt, two dozen paces off, hands pressed tight against his ribs. Red spread across the fabric of his clothes. From that distance, his gaze caught me - those ocean-colored eyes I had seen since childhood.Kaid…” He spoke softly.
Elias POVMy eyes flew open with a shout. Screaming filled the room as I came awake.The belt pressed hard against my chest before I even moved. Down spun the car - ripping metal, shattering glass, sky swapping with ground without warning. This moment had been lived before. That shirt clung tight. Beaten shoes on the floor. Fear rising like smoke."Stop!" I shouted, the very word ripped from me again like before. "Just stop fighting."A loud crash against the metal rail. Smoke rises. The vehicle trembles, teeters at the edge. After that, a slow fall into empty space. Noise fades. Only wind now. Ground far below.The wheels turned. One time. Then again. A third spin. Metal bent down from above. My legs stuck beneath the panel, mashed, lifeless, broken somehow. Blood spilled into my throat. Mother shouted from up ahead. Father said nothing - nothing at all.Fires rose out of the motor’s core.I couldn’t move.Frozen g
Julianna POVUnity, Forgiveness, RenewalThe sun had risen fully by the time Scott and Tepes resumed melting the last of the frost. The courtyard steamed as purple flames and elemental fire burned through the ice with careful precision. Everywhere they walked, life was brought back from cold stilln
Julianna POVThe doors to the infirmary burst open so suddenly that the hinges screamed. Lila stumbled in first, her cloak in tatters and streaked with black ash. Lily followed, half-dragging her sister, her right arm bandaged and her hair clumped with soot.“Lily!” I shouted, almost falling off th
Julianna POVAfter the fall of Vaelen and ElariaTepes Thane stood in the ruins of the battlefield like a storm that had simply stopped mid-rage. His purple flames faded into smoke. The sky above us cleared, the blizzard pulling back like a frightened animal. Snow evaporated, frost withdrew, and fo
Vaelen’s POVThe air beneath the earth was thick with mana and silence.For the first time in centuries, I felt warmth real warmth against my skin as I stepped into the chamber where she was kept. The roots of the Sacred Tree twisted like serpents, glowing faintly with ancient light. They pulsed, b







