The Moving Cells

Kaka’s fingers pressed hard on the fresh cut on my wrist. The pain burned like fire, but I didn’t flinch. If I pulled away, it would show I had something to hide. If I used my magic to push him off, the whole school would be after me by morning. 

“I told you my name at the gate, Your Highness,” I said. My voice stayed steady. I opened my eyes wide, trying to look like a confused, hurt girl from a small family house. “My name is Evangeline Cross. Why are you hurting me?”

Kaka leaned in closer. His face was just a few inches from mine. His silver eyes searched my face for any tiny slip-up. “The real Evangeline Cross grew up in the southern valleys. Her family records say she had a small white scar on her left chin from a riding accident. You don’t have that scar.”

A cold sweat broke out on the back of my neck. I had studied every detail of Evangeline’s life before she died, but she never mentioned a childhood scar on her chin. My mind raced. If he called the guards back, it was all over for me.

“The records are old, Your Highness,” I said with a small, bitter laugh. “My father put expensive healing creams on my face when I was twelve. He wanted me to look pretty for the marriage markets. He cared more about my face than my magic.”

Kaka stayed quiet for a long moment. He didn’t let go of my wrist, but his grip softened just a bit. He wasn’t pressing for blood anymore. He was feeling my pulse, checking if my heart was racing.

I slowed my breathing perfectly. I grew up in the slums and learned to lie with a knife at my throat. If you show fear, you lose. 

“You’re a very good actor,” Kaka whispered. Finally, he released my arm. He pulled a white cloth from his pocket and wiped my dark blood off his fingers. “The stone didn’t explode because it was old. It blew up because something in your blood attacked it. I will find out what you’re hiding, fake Evangeline. Threaten this academy, and I’ll drop you into the giant’s mouth myself.”

“I’m just trying to survive,” I said, and that part was true.

“Then do your work,” Kaka said, turning his back on me. He opened the heavy wooden door. “This is my study. You clean it every night before the bells ring. Touch my books or my papers, and you lose a finger. Understand?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Now get out. Get to the dorms before the paths change.”

I didn’t give him time to change his mind. I bowed quickly and hurried down the stone stairs, black in the darkness. I didn’t start breathing easier until I was three floors away from him. Kaka Obsidian was way more dangerous than Kaelen Vance. Kaelen wanted to hurt my body. Kaka wanted to dig into my soul.

I had to reach my room fast. The stone giant under us wasn’t just sleeping — its movements changed the whole building around. Kaelen had warned me the low-tier dorms moved every night, and he wasn’t joking.

I went down to the basement floor. The air felt cold and damp here. In front of me stretched a long stone hallway with iron doors on both sides. A small number sat above each door. I walked along, looking for number 500.

Then a loud grinding noise echoed through the walls. The stones under my feet started sliding. The door in front of me moved left and vanished into the solid rock wall. A new door dropped down from the ceiling to take its place.

“Run!” a voice shouted behind me.

I looked back. A small girl with messy red hair and a torn grey cape was running toward me. She ran with a loud, breathless laugh, like running for her life was the funniest thing ever. A thick string hung around her neck with dozens of cracked, broken academy badges that jingled like coins.

“Jump!” she yelled, still smiling.

I didn’t think twice. I threw myself forward and leaped over the widening crack in the floor. The floor behind us locked into a new spot with a heavy thud. My boots hit solid stone on the other side.

The red-haired girl caught her breath, giggling as she leaned against the wall. “You’re the new girl, huh? The one who smashed the stone. I’m Mara, Rank 490.” She held up her string of broken badges. “I collect these from the ones thrown into the pit. Keeps me feeling lucky.”

“Evangeline,” I said, sinking back onto my knees. “Does this happen every night?”

“Nine o’clock sharp, every night,” Mara said, tapping one of the dead-student badges. “The school uses our magic to keep the giant calm, but since we’re at the bottom of the board, our floor gets the worst shakes. Stay in the hall when the shift hits, and you end up in the belly of the beast. Come on, your room is next to mine.”

She led me down a narrow side passage to a small door marked 500. “Lock your door,” Mara whispered. Her smile faded for a second. “Sometimes the high-rank students come down here and steal our food. If you lose your food badge, you starve.”

I closed the thick door and slid the iron bolt shut. Finally, I was alone.

I sat on the hard straw bed and pulled off my boot. Something shifted inside the old leather beside Evangeline’s hidden note, but I ignored it. Tucked in the sole was a small rolled-up piece of parchment. It was the last thing the real Evangeline gave me before the Vance family killed her. I hadn’t opened it yet because I’d been running for my life.

My fingers shook as I unrolled the paper.

It wasn’t a long letter. Just three names written in Evangeline’s messy handwriting, followed by a dark warning.

Vance Kaelen.  

Vane, High Magister.  

Kaka Obsidian.

Under the names she had written: ‘My family died for the key. It is one of those three men. Trust no one.’

It made my blood run cold. If Evangeline was right, Kaka Obsidian wasn’t just the prince of this school. Somehow, he was mixed up in the mystery that got her family killed.

Before I could even process the words, there was a loud scratch against my door. Then a low, smooth voice came through the wood.

“I know you’re in there, rat,” Kaelen Vance called from the hall. “Open the door, or I will burn it to ash with my fire.”