Welcome To Hell

Elise’s POV

I waited for Evander—or any of the others—to laugh, to show even the slightest sign that they were joking.

Unfortunately, they didn’t.

If anything, none of them seemed inclined to deny it.

I slowly looked at the other three.

Kael was still sprawled across the couch, Lucien had returned to observing me from the shadows, and Zarek appeared entirely unconcerned by what Evander had just confessed.

I had assumed the heir of House Van Pelt had gone mad because of the academy’s living conditions. But hearing the friendly Crown Prince of the Fae declare what they had done with the same bright smile on his face made my stomach knot.

I took a step back and glanced at the door behind me.

At this point, perhaps sleeping beneath a tree wouldn’t be so terrible.

The academy grounds were enormous. Surely, I could find one far enough from Old Lunar Hall that no one would discover my frozen corpse until spring.

“Don’t even think about it,” Kael, the First Prince of the Northern Wolves, said as though he had seen right through me.

He smiled in amusement, his eyes scanning me from head to toe.

“The doors lock at midnight,” he added knowingly. “If you step outside, you’ll be locked out for the night.”

That sounded safer, though.

My gaze darted among the students idling in the lobby before eventually settling on Evander. For someone who had driven another person insane, his smile remained perfectly pleasant, as though the incident were nothing more than a mildly amusing childhood memory.

“It’s all right, Elise,” Evander said, his eyes narrowing as his smile stretched wider. “We only drove one of them insane.”

“One?” I blurted before I could stop myself. “There were more?”

“Haha!” Kael laughed, raising three fingers. “There were three last semester.”

Evander nodded eagerly. “Aside from the one who was sent to an asylum, another requested a transfer a few weeks into the semester, while the third jumped out a window.”

My mouth opened and closed like a fish as my gaze darted among them. Eventually, I found myself staring at the window where Evander had been sitting earlier.

“Oh, you won’t die if you jump out of there,” Evander said with a laugh. “It’s only the first floor.”

I gulped and looked back at him.

I knew that.

“Don’t make it sound as though he died,” Kael said in a matter-of-fact tone. “He survived the fall and landed in a bush. A few scratches and some broken bones. Nothing serious.”

Wow… nothing serious?

My eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets at how casually Kael said it. Then again, I had heard werewolves possessed remarkable regenerative abilities that allowed their wounds to heal quickly.

How would he know?

“Ha… ha…” I laughed awkwardly, raising both hands in surrender. “I don’t know what any of this has to do with me, but… where is Room Thirteen?”

My question earned confused looks from all four of them, as though it had come out of nowhere.

“I only want to study,” I explained, hoping to de-escalate whatever this was.

It was a long shot, but it was worth trying.

“I promise I’ll live a very, very quiet life. You won’t even see my shadow while I’m studying here!” I declared, understanding the message beneath all these ridiculous revelations on my very first night.

After spending my entire life as an unwanted existence in a kingdom that wanted me gone, I recognized when someone was trying to drive me away. Perhaps this was even their twisted version of mercy, considering they had already been sentenced to live here as punishment.

But I couldn’t leave.

Not yet.

“So…” My voice grew quieter as my gaze swept across their faces. “Please don’t kill me?”

For one long second, a pin-drop silence swallowed the entire lobby.

I gathered strength in my legs, ready to make a run for it if my plea failed.

“Hahaha!” Kael threw his head back, one hand clutching his stomach. “That’s ridiculous!”

I frowned. “What’s so ridiculous about it?”

“Elise, you make us sound like killers,” Evander chuckled, still standing beside me. “We don’t kill people. Killing is wrong, and the academy doesn’t tolerate it.”

Then what exactly does the academy tolerate?

I scoffed and looked at him in disbelief. As if I would believe that. Still, I held my tongue. I didn’t want to create more trouble by running my mouth unnecessarily.

“That’s enough.”

Zarek, the dragon heir who had remained by the mezzanine, finally spoke. His deep voice echoed through the lobby, immediately drawing everyone’s attention.

He descended the stairs, his golden eyes fixed on me.

“Room Thirteen is on your right, at the end of the corridor,” he said, stopping halfway down the staircase. “Read the house rules and follow them. Unless…” His eyes narrowed. “You want to die.”

I gulped and clutched my belongings closer to my chest.

Despite his final warning, I heaved a sigh of relief.

“Thanks,” I breathed, glancing at the others.

They stared at Zarek in silence. It didn’t seem as though they were intimidated by him, but his words had certainly put an end to their little game.

When all four turned their attention back to me, I forced an awkward smile.

Then I hurried out of their sight.

As soon as I spotted the last door in the corridor, marked with an old plaque bearing the number thirteen, I pulled out my key and unlocked it. I didn’t even bother checking what awaited me inside. I rushed into the room and slammed the door behind me.

My back struck the wooden surface, my chest rising and falling heavily.

“I survived.” I patted my chest, my eyes wide with lingering horror. “I’m still alive.”

I had reached my room in one piece.

All my excitement over hot water and a soft bed had vanished. At this point, I was simply grateful that I was still breathing.

“What the hell was this academy thinking, putting a human in the same dormitory as those four?” I gasped. Indignation quickly replaced my fear.

If the academy already knew those four had driven away every human assigned to Old Lunar Hall, the last thing it should have done was force its only human student to live beneath the same roof as them.

“Are there really no other students in this dormitory?” I muttered. “Is it just the five of us?”

My head throbbed at the thought. I pressed my fingers against my temples, trying to steady my racing heart. My body trembled with adrenaline, but the sensation gradually faded.

Once I had calmed down, I finally looked at the room before me.

My jaw dropped.

Everything in sight was buried beneath thick layers of dust. The bed frame was old and weathered, its wooden posts riddled with cracks. A crooked nightstand stood beside it, while a study table had been shoved against the opposite wall. Its surface was scarred with scratches and ink stains, and one of its drawers hung partially open.

Faded curtains drooped over the windows, so heavy with grime that barely any moonlight slipped through.

It didn’t look like a room prepared for its newest resident.

If anything, it looked like a room everyone had forgotten—or deliberately abandoned.

It was even worse than my chambers in the Cold Palace.

“Soft bed…” I whispered as the image in my head shattered like glass. “Warm bath…”

On the journey here, I had expected surviving the academy as a human to be difficult. However, I had assumed the dormitory would at least be livable.

Oh, how wrong I had been.

My heart sank to my stomach as my knees finally gave out. I slumped onto the floor, sending a cloud of dust billowing around me.

“Welcome to hell, Elise,” I whispered.

Apparently, my day was far from over.

I would have to spend the entire night scrubbing my own room.

*****

Kael’s POV

“Unless you want to die.”

The moment Zarek uttered those words, the little human hurried in the direction he had given her.

“Haha!” I laughed, watching her disappear down the corridor. “How cute. Do all humans run like that? I don’t remember the last one moving that fast.”

The others were still staring in the direction she had gone.

“Say, how long do you think she’ll last?” I asked, drawing their attention back to me. “Want to make a bet?”

Evander rubbed his chin before smiling brightly. “I give her a month.”

“Generous,” Lucien remarked as he finally rose to his feet. He stepped out of the shadows, revealing his pale features and deep crimson eyes. “One week.”

“Three days,” I declared, raising three fingers.

“That’s enough,” Zarek grumbled.

His expression remained stern as he surveyed each of us before fixing his golden eyes on me.

“The academy has given us one last chance. If we ruin this, all four of us will be expelled.”

With that, Zarek turned and walked away.

I frowned and shrugged before facing the remaining two. They both looked back at me.

My frown vanished, replaced by a mischievous grin.

“Well?” I tilted my head. “How much are we betting?”