Thornhill Academy. Chapter 53

She asks if she can show me something, and honestly, she could show me anything in this world, and I’d follow without question. What I don’t expect is for her to climb off my lap, tug at my hand, and guide me toward the far wall of her room. There’s a faint mischievous glint in her eyes that immediately has my dragon’s attention; he hums beneath my skin, curious. She drops to her knees and peels back a section of the carpet, revealing what appears to be a narrow metal vent. I blink, crouching beside her. “Do these…” I trail off, leaning closer. “Do these lead down to the men’s dorms?”

She nods, and I let out a low whistle. “So, what...you’ve been a peeping Tom, Ally?” I half-tease, the corner of my mouth curling.

She rolls her eyes and gives me a shove that’s more playful than annoyed. “It’s not like that.” A pause. “Kind of.”

I raise an eyebrow, and she sighs, cheeks tinting faintly pink. “I’ve been feeding this way,” she admits, voice softer now. “While everyone’s asleep. It’s easier… cleaner, I guess. No one gets hurt, they regenerate before they wake.” She hesitates, then adds more quietly, “Is that weird?”

Her uncertainty tugs something deep in me. I take her hand gently and bring it to my lips, kissing the back of it. “It’s not weird,” I murmur against her skin. “Not when it’s how you survive. You take what you need, there’s no shame in that.”

Her eyes meet mine, and something unspoken passes between us, that quiet understanding only mates can share. She takes a deep breath, her hand trembling just slightly in mine before she releases it.

“Look,” she whispers, nodding toward the vent.

I lean down beside her, the metal cool against my palms as I peer through the slats. Below us, in the soft glow of lamplight, lies Cage, sprawled across his bed, sleeping soundly, face half-buried in his pillow. My lips twitch into a smirk as I glance back at her.

“What are you planning?” I ask, though from the wicked curl of her smile, I’m not sure I actually want the answer. Because whatever it is, it’s going to be beautiful, and terrible, and I already know I’m not going to stop her.

Allison’s lips curl into that dangerous little smile, one that tells me I’m in trouble, but I’m going to enjoy every second of it anyway.

“Watch,” she says simply.

It isn’t a suggestion. Before I can ask what the hell she means, she’s already slipping out the attic door, silent and sure-footed. My dragon stirs restlessly beneath my skin, sensing the shift in her magic, that pulse of power she hides so well. I crouch lower over the vent, pulse hammering in my throat. Below, Cage still lies in his bed, the smug bastard. He’s sprawled out like the world owes him rest, mouth open, arm flung over his face, oblivious. Then the air in his room changes.

It thickens, grows heavy and cold, like frost biting through the heat. The candle by his bedside sputters and dies, shadows stretching unnaturally long across the floorboards. My heart kicks against my ribs as I lean closer. A sound, low and wet, rolls through the space. A growl that doesn’t belong to anything human. And then it steps forward—the wraith. I swear under my breath, muscles going rigid as the creature’s shape unfurls from the darkness, long limbs, jagged antlers scraping the ceiling, its body rippling with that same sickly shadow I’d seen in the woods. Except this time, it’s more solid, more alive. Its eyes glow like burning coals as it drags one claw across the floorboards, slow and deliberate, savouring the fear already thick in the air. Cage jerks upright in bed, frozen mid-motion. His mouth opens, but no sound comes out. The wraith tilts its head, that awful, jerking motion like it’s not used to being inside a body and then it moves. Fast.

It’s on him before he can blink, the shadow of it crawling over his bed, antlers brushing the walls. He tries to scream, but the sound dies in his throat as invisible claws press against his chest, not piercing, just holding. The wraith’s voice is a whisper of static and rot.

“Do you remember the water, little one?”

Cage’s eyes bulge. He shakes his head violently, trapped somewhere between denial and terror. The wraith laughs, a low, rattling sound that makes even my dragon shift uneasily inside me. The air ripples. The thing’s shape flickers, distorting, one second solid, the next transparent. And every time it flickers, I can feel Allison’s magic through the link, the control, the precision, the power. She’s not just summoning this thing. She is it. The realisation hits me like a punch. Down below, the wraith leans closer, breath misting against Cage’s face. The voice cracks, half hers, half the beast’s. “Now you’ll know what it’s like to beg for air.”

Cage lets out a strangled gasp as shadows coil around his throat, not choking, just enough to make him believe he’s dying. He thrashes, limbs tangled in his sheets, eyes wild. And then, as fast as it appeared, the wraith dissolves, melting into mist, leaving behind nothing but the smell of rot and the sound of Cage’s ragged sobs. Holy shit. She's...not the delicate little flower I thought she was.

The door creaked open a few minutes later, and she slipped back inside. She paused when she saw me. Her posture stiffened, hands flexing at her sides, like she was waiting for judgment.

I straightened slowly, meeting her wary gaze. “How?” I asked, “How did you do that?”

For a heartbeat, she didn’t answer, just studied me, eyes flickering with that familiar guarded look she wore whenever she thought she’d gone too far. Then she sighed, the tension loosening from her shoulders as she came closer.

“In the woods,” she said quietly, “after I fell… the wraith, it tried to kill me. I killed it first.” Her fingers fidgeted at the hem of her sleeve, eyes distant. “When I did, I took something from it without even meaning to. Its power. Its essence. It’s like… part of it fused with me.”

She looked up, searching my face, and I stepped closer, letting her keep talking.

“When I pull that power up, it materialises through me,” she said. “It’s not really separate anymore. The wraith feeds off fear, right? So when it scares someone, it doesn’t drain me. It regenerates itself. It’s like… It’s alive again, through me.”

I should’ve been disturbed. The idea of something dead and cursed living under her skin should’ve sent alarm bells through every rational part of me. But all I saw was the steady fire in her eyes, the fierce, wild strength that refused to break no matter what the world threw at her. Before she could retreat into herself again, I reached out, hooked a hand behind her neck, and pulled her gently against my chest. Her breath hitched. I pressed a kiss to her forehead, slow and firm.

“That’s pretty fucking badass, Ally.”