Bella had barely slept.
Even hours after night had surrendered to morning, the sky was still dark. Elara had already left for class, Corrine was nowhere in sight, leaving Bella alone in the stillness of their room. Rain tapped at the windowpanes, giving the morning a slow drag, but it wasn't what held Bella frozen on the edge of her bed.
She felt… unsettled. As usual.
Since Whitethorn, it had been from one chaotic feeling to another.
Bella rose slowly, throwing on her uniform without looking in the mirror. Her fingers hesitated at the collar, then gave up. She didn't bother to button it all the way. She just needed to get outside. Fresh air. Something to break the strange pressure that had settled around her chest.
She stepped out into the hallway, then turned through the west corridor toward the courtyard garden, a path she'd walked a dozen times.
As she made her way down the walkway, the world suddenly changed.
There was a noticeable drop in temperature.
Bella stopped.
The courtyard had emptied of light. Not entirely dark, but drained of color. Her breath caught. The hedges no longer looked like hedges. They looked like long human bones stuck to the soil. It was nothing like she'd ever seen before.
Fog slithered in through the archways. Denser now. Alive.
And then—
They came.
Figures shaped like humans, but they were not. Their limbs were too thin and too long, barely any flesh covering their bones. Their eyes glowed dimly in the mist, hollow and soulless.
Demons.
At first, they didn't move. They quietly watched Bella.
She tried to step back, but her legs no longer responded. Her body remainedstill while her pulse screamed.
The fog curled higher, wrapping around her waist, her shoulders, her face.
One of the figures leaned forward, mouth opening to reveal jagged teeth, curved and yellowed like animal tusks. A guttural growl echoed in the space around her. It sounded like many voices in one. Ancient and angry.
"Why have you come back?" the demon hissed.
Another one appeared behind her.
"We will ruin you again!!!"
Their claws stretched toward her, almost scratching her face.
They had a very strange smell that could choke her to death.
Her heart pounded in her ears. Her hands were cold. Her thoughts scattered, dissolving like water into smoke.
She was unable to move an inch.
She could feel herself screaming wildly in her head, but no sound came from her mouth.
She was tongue-tied. Helpless. Scared. Paralyzed.
Another demon suddenly spotted her. He seemed angrier than the rest of them. He drew out a long whip and charged toward her.
Bella tried everything possible to move. She couldn't.
He came closer, stretching out his hand.
The long black whip was about to land on her shoulder—
Then—
Wind.
A very strong breeze. Not from any window or open door she could see.
But it had a force so strong it moved Bella from her rooted spot and flung her against the wall.
A deliberate gust swept through the fog. The mist recoiled just like it came. The demons shrieked, jagged, high-pitched sounds that shattered the stillness, then they vanished like ash in water.
Bella gasped.
The world snapped back into focus.
She was standing alone in the corridor.
No demons. No fog. The sun shone brightly in the sky. A bird chirped in the distance. It was a normal bright day in school again.
Her body began to tremble. She stumbled to the wall, pressing a hand to the stone, needing the weight of something real.
She looked around her, students walked as usual, carrying out their various activities.
No other person had witnessed what just happened.
She placed a sweaty palm on her forehead.
This school… Something was very, very wrong with this school.
And she knew only one person who might give her answers.
---
The passageway to Luca's hideout was off the normal students' track. Bella barely remembered her way down here. But she did.
She slipped past the old portraits until she reached the small door to his hidden sanctuary.
She knocked once.
No answer.
Then she pushed the door open.
The smell hit her first—old paint, lavender oil, and something deeper beneath it… something earthy. The same scent the room had the last time. Luca's scent.
The room was warm and dim, lit only by flickering candles in tall sconces. Wooden canvases lined the walls.
She spotted him shirtless, bent over, giving all his attention to a canvas. His muscles ripped as he drew strokes with his brush. The room was stuffy. Several beads of sweat danced on top his skin.
Bella swallowed.
"Luca?" she called.
He turned, and his eyes locked on hers.
There was a smudge of charcoal on his cheek. But it did not depreciate his looks. It made him even more beautiful.
"Bella." His voice was soft, almost curious. "You're here."
She stepped in, throat tight. "I didn't know where else to go."
Flinging his brush to the side, he took three steps to where she was standing. Holding her shoulders with both hands, he asked, "Bella, is everything okay?"
"No, Luca. I just had the most disturbing vision about this school."
Something shifted in his expression. Not warmth, something more guarded. But his gaze stayed on her.
"I saw them," she whispered. "I— I think they were demons. In the garden. I was alone, and they tried to attack me."
She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to steady the tremble in her fingers. "They asked why I came back… they said they would ruin me for coming back. They tried to touch me. Scratch me. Even flog me. This particular one had this extremely long whip that was two times the length of my body."
Luca didn't flinch. He didn't react like she expected, no surprise, no horror. He just stared at her as she narrated her vision.
"Hmm," he murmured, walking back slowly toward a table of brushes and ink.
Bella narrowed her eyes. "Did you hear what I said?"
"I heard you."
"And?" she snapped. "You're not surprised."
He just picked up a mug and sipped his tea. "You're sure it wasn't just a hallucination? A reaction to stress, maybe?"
Bella blinked. "I know what I saw."
He started walking toward his canvas with deliberate calm. "And what would you have me say, Bella? That demons are real? That there's something evil creeping through Whitethorn?"
She stepped toward him, anger simmering. "You told me this school wasn't what it seemed. You said there were secrets, things I wouldn't understand. Was this what you meant?"
Luca turned to face her, his eyes unreadable, that same frustrating calm still plastered across his face. "No. This isn't what I meant."
"Then what?" she snapped. "Why won't you tell me anything? Why won't anyone tell me what's going on?!"
His gaze lowered slightly. "Because knowledge comes at a price. What you're asking for… is very costly," he said quietly.
Bella's hands trembled. "I could have died back there, Luca. What price could be greater than that?"
"I don't think they meant to kill you."
"Excuse me?"
He sighed, turning to his easel. "You're shaken. Sit down. Let me draw you."
She blinked. "What?"
"I need to capture the look in your eyes. The fear. The confusion. It's beautiful. It would be magnificent in my painting."
Bella stared at him. "You want to draw me."
He picked up the charcoal again. "You said you saw demons. Did any other person see them?"
"No—no," she stammered. "When I came to consciousness, everything was… normal again."
"Exactly. Could be hallucinations. Your mind is playing games with you. But I need to capture that expression of yours right now. It's raw, it only comes naturally. This can't be faked. So sit. Let me work with my brush."
Something inside her snapped.
"No," she said coldly.
Luca looked up at her, shocked by her cold tone.
Bella took a step back, her voice sharp. "You know something? You're a dickhead. You know what's going on in this school. I've been patient with you, Luca. Practically begging you to help me understand. I've trusted you—God, I kissed you. And now you're standing there like I'm just one more painting for your collection after I just recounted my very fearful experience to you."
"Bella, you're overreacting," he said, a little too smoothly.
She banged her fist on a table. "Don't tell me shit about overreacting! I've been the fool to keep waiting on you all this while."
Her chest rose and fell with each breath.
"I'm done waiting. If you're not going to help me figure out what's happening in this cursed school, then fuck you. And I promise you, Luca, I'm going to get those answers myself."
She turned on her heel and stormed out, slamming the door behind her.
The sound echoed like a shot through the silence.
"Bella—" he called out.
But she was long gone.
---
Outside, the sky had fully brightened, but it brought no comfort. The fog had gone, but Bella felt it clinging to her skin, behind her eyes, in the back of her throat.
She walked faster.
Something was very wrong at Whitethorn Academy. The way the teachers always avoided her questions. The quiet conversations that stopped when she entered the room. All her weird dreams and nightmares. How everyone was evasive, making it seem like she was crazy.
Now demons.
She didn't know what disturbed her more—the demons, or Luca's detachment. She had felt something real between them once. Something magnetic.
Now?
She felt used.
She touched her arm where one had nearly scratched her. The skin was not even bruised. But she felt it still.
Luca Damaris had lied by omission. That was enough.
She didn't know what was coming next, but she would find answers, with or without him.