LOGIN- RAVENA"They're going to put you in the lower bracket," Ashton muttered, wrapping a thick roll of linen tape tightly around his knuckles. "Just take a hit, drop fast, and stay in the bronze tier. Less attention that way."I didn't answer. I was too busy staring down into the subterranean arena.Erevale's combat pit wasn't a standard training mat. It was a massive, circular depression dug thirty feet down into solid granite, lined with jagged shale and dark packed dirt. Heavy iron grates covered the high balconies where the faculty stood watching, clutching their clipboards and grading rubrics like hawks."I'm fine in bronze," I rasped, rolling my shoulders under my thin charcoal tunic to check the tightness of my chest wraps. "Less work for me.""Listen up, fresh blood!" the combat instructor barked, his voice echoing loudly off the stone walls. Instructor Vance was built like a brick wall with legs, his arms crossed over a chest the size of a barrel. "Today is a physical baseline a
- RAVENAThe door to Room 404 looked like it had survived a siege. It was heavy oak, bound in dark iron straps, with the brass numbers lopsided and scratched to hell.I shoved my iron key into the lock, gave it a hard jiggle, and kicked the base of the door with my boot until the bolt finally gave way with a loud clack."It catches if you don't kick it," a soft voice called out from the far corner.I snapped my head up, my hand instantly dropping to my right wrist where Edith's push-dagger was strapped under my sleeve.A tall guy with messy brown hair and thick glass spectacles was sitting on a low wooden cot, carefully crushing dried green leaves into a stone mortar. He wore a pale blue tunic, the healer-in-training uniform, and had roll after roll of clean linen bandages stacked neatly on his desk."I'm Ashton," he said, setting down his pestle and offering a small, nervous smile. "You must be Zavier. The borderland transfer.""Yeah," I rasped quietly. "Zavier."I didn't offer a han
- RAVENAAs if he'd heard me thinking it, two armed academy guards stepped up to the rear of the lead wagon. Without a word, they reached down and hauled Chief Rod right out of his wheelchair, lifting his massive, fur-draped frame straight up the metal ramp. They didn't place him on the metal benches with the rest of us strays. They paraded him straight down the narrow center aisle, pushing past the rows of stunned, staring kids, and ushered him directly through the frosted glass doors of the front VIP cabin.The dark iron doors began sliding shut with a heavy, pressurized hiss.I leaned forward into the aisle, my jaw clenched as I watched. Through the tinted glass of the forward bulkhead, I caught one split-second view of him sitting in a plush leather seat.Then, right before the helicopter lifted off into the grey clouds, Chief Rod reached up with his gloved hand. He unclasped the top iron buckle of his dark leather mask and pulled the heavy strap down just two inches to catch a
- RAVENASomeone was shaking my shoulder like they were trying to rattle my teeth loose. I slowly opened my eyes, still trapped in the fog of sleep. Edith's voice reached me before her face came into focus. "Up, kid. Sun's not even thinking about rising yet," her rough voice cut through the freezing darkness of the barracks.I sat up fast, my hand instantly flying under the straw pillow for the small iron wedge I kept hidden there. The stitches over my eye pulled sharply, a tiny reminder that I was still put together with river-mint thread and luck."I'm awake," I rasped, slipping into the deep, rough voice I'd created for Zavier before my brain could fully process the cold. "Is the wagon ready?""It’s loaded. Get your boots on." Edith tossed a thick pair of wool socks right onto my face.Five minutes later, I hauled my heavy travel pack over my shoulder and pushed through the door into the bitter, black gloom of the pre-dawn freeze. The mountain air hit my lungs like drinking needl
- RAVENA"He's out," Rayna whispered, shoving my arm so hard I nearly dropped my wooden mess bowl right into the mud.I didn't need her to tell me. The temperature in the main yard had already plummeted three degrees, or maybe it spiked five. It was hard to tell with him.Chief Rod was sitting at the edge of the high porch, his massive fur cloak draped over his broad shoulders like a storm cloud. He wasn't barking orders or inspecting the timber fences or checking the perimeter line. He just sat in that reinforced chair of his, staring straight out over the frost-covered caldera, as cold and unreadable as a slab of black marble."Told you he wasn't dead," Rayna muttered, taking a massive bite out of a hard biscuit. "Looks like hell, though."He did. Even with the deep hood pulled low and that thick leather mask covering half his face, we could tell three days locked in a dark cabin hadn't done him any favors. The air around him practically vibrated with a tight, explosive energy, lik
- RAVENA"He's not in the main hall, kid. I told you that an hour ago," Edith said, not even turning around as she tossed a heavy leather saddlebag over the wooden fence rail."I'm just asking," I rasped, my voice coming out low and hoarse, while I leaned against the hitching post. I dug the toe of my boot into a patch of slush, trying real hard to look like I didn't care. "The transport wagon leaves at sunup tomorrow. He’s supposed to sign off on the ration distribution for the lower passes, isn't he? Or are we just stealing thirty bags of dried oats and hoping nobody notices?"Edith stopped her work, her sharp eyes flicking sideways to glare at me. She wiped a hand across her forehead, leaving a dark smudge of axle grease across her brow."The oats are signed for," she muttered, snapping a rusty iron buckle into place. "And the Chief does what he wants. He doesn't owe you or anyone else in this dump a daily schedule.""He hasn't left his cabin in three days, Edith," I pushed, keepin
- RODERIC"Lucas, get out," I muttered, not bothering to open my eyes. "And stay out.""You need help getting down the rocks, Alpha," Lucas said from somewhere behind me. His boots crunched on the frozen gravel, the sound far too close for comfort. "Don't act like you can just glide down there.""I
- RAVENAThe two goons Elder Marrow picked to dump me at the edge of the world didn't say a word the whole trip. They just gripped my arms, dragging me through the dirt until the dirt turned into frozen slush.We were heading for the Hollowland.Every wolf grew up hearing stories about this desolate
- RAVENAThe stone under my feet was slippery with things that I didn't give a shit about. As I moved around, each step took me deeper into the damp, and my shredded tunic smelled of old urine and rotting waste. I smuggled a lot of extra weight around my throat. My inner wolf, Astraea, should have
- RAVENAI smelled of death before I saw my mom, before she even spoke.And I knew that the world was gone before she dragged me away to our secret chamber.I was leaning my back against the chilly rock of the secret niche, and my body trembled so that I thought my bones would clatter.The fragrance







