Where am I?

RACHEL

The last thing I remembered was being beaten mercilessly by a monster while my foster family watched.

The pain still pulsed through me whenever I moved. Now, I was in an Academy. A place for “Young, promising wolves.”

What the hell was that?

I blinked at the stone ceiling above me, too stunned to even sit up at first. There had to be a mistake.

An Academy? For wolves? That sounded like one of those fantasy books I'd sneak from the living room shelf to read in my room when no one was watching, where the protagonist woke up in a supernatural world after being human all her life.

Except I wasn't reading. I was here.

I had never been to any academy.

Each of my foster parents had made it clear that they wouldn't let me go to school to have a formal education, let alone allow me to visit one.

Why?

They couldn't bear the thought of seeing me compete with their children. They all told me that.

How did I end up here now?

Or had my mother returned me to the orphanage home?

Panic clawed up my throat. I staggered out of bed, ignoring the pain that lanced through my side. My breathing was ragged, and I tried my best to calm it, but it was futile.

I glanced at the woman once more. She had no resemblance to Miss Lovie of the Orphanage, Little Angels Home. Miss Lovie was a woman in her sixties, stiff with completely gray hair, and always smelled like stale lemon drops.

This woman, although she looked about the same age as Miss Lovie, her presence radiated a strange warmth that made me want to run to her whenever I had a problem.

“Where am I?” I asked again once I found my voice, just to confirm that I had heard her correctly.

She smiled kindly, “Astrae Lykaon Academy. Is anything the matter?” Her voice was polite, smooth, and even posh.

Of course, everything was the matter. I should start by telling her that I had never and would never be enrolled in an Academy, and secondly, I didn't think I should be in here. Someone must have mistaken me for someone else. I had always been told I had that face that looked common, yet unique.

“You don't need to be afraid, Ivy.”

That name. Who the hell was Ivy?

I wanted to correct her, but she kept going.

“It happens each academic session. Students panic because they forget things. Many of us have already been through that. You'd adjust with time.” She added.

Adjust to what I didn't understand? I almost laughed at the absurdity of her words. No, this wasn't some cute case of nerves. I had never been here. I didn't even know where here was.

“You probably don't recall this either,” she added, “but you selected me as your guardian last year.” She said,

My mind reeled, head heavy as I tried to make sense of the situation. Guardian? What? First, I was in a strange academy. Now, I supposedly had a guardian? Since last year?!

“But I don’t know who Ivy-”

She cut me off smoothly. “The sorting is starting soon. You should get dressed and come down to the sorting sanctum.”

And with that, she left, giving me no chance for questions.

I stood frozen briefly, then walked to the open window—the only one in the room. Sunlight streamed in. I looked outside and saw a massive, towering stone arch that bore the words "Astrae Lykaon Academy" in bold.

She wasn't lying. I was indeed in an Academy. But how was this real?

I half expected my foster mother to burst through the door, yelling at me to do the dishes, take out the trash, or do something meaningful with my otherwise worthless existence. And call me a witch for inviting a demon into her house last night.

Also, Lucy. I strained my ears, trying to listen to the familiar clank of her heels, which she wore indoors on most occasions. She had said she was practicing in case she got accepted into the modeling school she had applied to.

I heard nothing. Only the soft murmur of the wind that swept into the room, rustling the curtain and…

A soft buzz drew my attention.

I flinched, turning towards the bed. A device on the nightstand lit up. It wasn't a phone as I had thought.

Although I never had the privilege to have a phone because, well, according to all my foster parents, they weren't obligated to get me one. They were trying to prevent me from being a spoiled brat, and they assumed having a phone was the number one cause of that.

Slowly, I picked up the device and accessed it. It resembled a cross between a smartwatch and a bracelet, crafted from dark silver with a polished black glass face. It glowed as I held it, and a message popped up above the surface.

“20 minutes until sorting begins. Please report to the sanctum. Strictly be in your uniforms, else you shall not be permitted to step in.”

I yelped and nearly dropped the device. The message had just…appeared. Hovering in the air like a hologram. I had never seen a device do that before. I put the device down and paced, looking around the room for something, anything that could help explain this.

A diary. A clue. Pictures. All I found was a single line scrawled across the wall in bold, elegant handwriting.

“I am the it-girl of Astrae Lykaon Academy. Ivy is my name.”

Was that supposed to be me?

Clearly, I wasn't Ivy, but this woman believed I was.

A part of me wanted to bolt out of the room. But where would I run to? I couldn't tell if this place existed and was even on the map. I only heard about the Academy today, even as I have been existing for nearly seventeen years now. But I needed to do something.

I finally noticed a neatly folded uniform on the couch. Midnight blue, crisp and tailored. I hesitated, then changed. It fit perfectly.

I needed answers. Going out was the only way to get it.

I stepped into the hallway and followed a stream of students in similar uniforms down a winding corridor. And none of them looked confused—just me.

The room we entered was massive. The sorting room, as I heard some students whisper. It was…beautiful. I stared in awe at my new environment. The room was a circular stone chamber that felt more like a temple. The walls shimmered with symbols I couldn't understand; they vibrated faintly. The domed ceiling overhead shifted like a living sky, filled with stars and phases of the moon, not like anything I had ever seen.

Hundreds of students gathered in clusters, and I still wondered how we were all able to fit without feeling claustrophobic, because the room looked like it would barely be able to contain that many people. A woman I recognized from earlier stood at the centre beside other adults on a raised platform. They all wore white robes with hoods and held staffs in their hands.

Was this some kind of cult? Perhaps it was an organization that involved children, and they were about to undergo an initiation!

I wanted to observe my surroundings more, but someone yanked me out of the crowd, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Psst, Ivy!”

I gasped, turning to look at the person.