LOGINJulianna POVWhat caught my attention right away? The quiet. It wasn’t just still - it felt heavy, like air before a storm.It wasn’t that thick, airless quiet from dreams. Just the usual hush. The school stirring slowly, like it had been off somewhere strange all night. A low sound crept through the halls - morning finding its way back.Outside the principal’s door, I paused, breath uneven from what had just played out behind my eyelids. Gone now - the dark fog that clung so close before. Lighter somehow, the space around me, nearly ordinary, yet tinged with something sharp on the tongue, like old coins left too long in a pocket.Students were stirring everywhere.One by one, students lifted themselves, hands dragging across their faces as though shaking off a dream too heavy to carry. Around them, glances darted left and right, questions slipping out in hushed tones that curled through the air. By the water's edge, a young woman flinched at each blink, tears forming only after recog
Julianna POVDown in the cave beneath the waves, I waited beside Selene. The walls shimmered like her old bedroom did. Silence filled the corners where laughter once sat. We didn’t speak, just existed together in that quiet glow.The water sat thick and black all around. Huddled tight in the corner, Selene stayed silent except for her murmurs - those quiet phrases she kept repeating without pause“It’s all a dream… it’s all a dream…”Back against the cold stone, I stayed curled up, eyes fixed on the cavern face. Now and then, its surface rippled - like still water touched by wind - flashing pieces of dreams gone wrong.That scream from Scott still echoes - flames eating everything he loved. Tears cut through Lila’s fingers after spells went wrong, leaving silence behind. Lyra hung there, veins pulled open by kin who spat shame like truth. Elias chewed without hunger, saltwater mixing with what remained of them.Each attempt to touch them slipped into nothing, fingers moving through ai
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
Chapter 137Julianna POVWhen I reached the iron gate—simple, black, no sign—I hesitated. This felt too private. Too raw.But I’d come this far. I pushed through.The plot was small. Six headstones in a loose semicircle, grass neatly kept, flowers rep
Julianna POVThe 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 tr
Julianna POVThe rain didn’t stop, the air thick and cool, the kind of damp that clings to your skin long after the drops are gone. It softened, thinned to a mist that clung to skin and hair, but it never fully went away—like grief that learned how to whisper instead of scream.Scott and I sat bene
Julianna POVFour days had passed since the blue portal ripped open in cave and spat Lyra and Scott back into our lives like they’d never left. Four days of stolen glances, half-finished sentences, and the kind of quiet that presses against your ribs until breathing hurts. The academy kept moving c







