The four of them stopped in front of the Principal's office. The brass nameplate gleamed under the hallway lights: Principal Maren Hale.
The door creaked open before anyone could knock.
"Come in," said a calm but commanding voice.
Principal Hale stood behind her desk, her long silver hair tied back, glasses glinting. The faintest scent of lavender filled the room—yet the air felt cold. Too cold.
Aira hesitated before stepping in. Josh gave her a small nudge. "Don't look so scared. She's not gonna eat you," he whispered.
Zara elbowed him. "Not helping."
They all sat down when Hale gestured to the chairs. Her expression was unreadable, but her tone was clipped.
"I assume you've all heard by now," she began. "Sunnie Wren has gone missing."
A heavy silence settled.
Zara's voice broke it. "She… she wouldn't just disappear. Sunnie hates being alone."
Hale nodded slightly. "Exactly. Which is why this disappearance is concerning."
Alaric spoke next, his arms crossed. "When was the last time anyone saw her?"
"Yesterday evening. The library security crystals caught her leaving at 9:47 p.m. alone."
Josh frowned. "But the library closes at nine."
Hale looked up at him. "Yes. Which means she stayed longer than allowed."
Aira's heart thudded. "Did anyone see where she went?"
Without answering, Hale opened a file on her desk. Inside were a few printed stills from the surveillance crystals—grainy, blue-tinted, but clear enough to make out Sunnie's figure near the academy gate.
Zara gasped softly. "That's… her."
"Look behind her," Hale instructed.
In the next image, a faint silhouette loomed behind Sunnie—a tall figure in a long coat. The photo caught only part of his face, but the faint glimmer of violet eyes burned through the grain like tiny embers.
Aira froze. Her throat tightened.
That same color. That same shape.
She stumbled a step back, whispering, "No… it can't be."
Alaric's head snapped toward her. "What?"
Aira's voice trembled. "That's him. The one from last night. The one who—who came to my room."
Principal Hale's sharp eyes focused on her instantly. "Came to your room?"
"Yes!" she said, louder this time. "He was real! I saw him, he talked to me—he said I wasn't supposed to exist!"
Josh looked between them, uneasy. "Aira… maybe it was just stress. You've barely slept—"
"I know what I saw!" she snapped, frustration spilling out.
The room went silent.
Then, suddenly, a faint pulse flickered through the air — a ripple, almost invisible but heavy enough to make the lamps flicker. Aira felt heat rush through her arm.
Principal Hale's eyes darted toward her sleeve. "Your wrist."
Aira looked down. The mark beneath her skin was glowing again — faint, but alive, its purple hue swirling like smoke trapped under glass.
Zara reached for her hand. "Aira, what's happening?"
"I— I don't know," she whispered. "It reacts whenever I think of him…"
"Then it's a connection," Hale murmured. "A direct one."
Alaric straightened. "You mean whoever that man is—he's linked to her? That's why Sunnie disappeared?"
"That's my concern," the Principal said quietly. "And if what Aira claims is true, he may be targeting students who share a certain… potential."
Josh broke the silence. "Potential for what, exactly? Exploding during tests?"
"Potential for destruction," Hale said simply. "And someone, or something, out there knows how to trigger it."
Aira shivered. The mark pulsed again—once, like a heartbeat.
Aira's fingers twitched at her side as silence swallowed the room. Principal Hale's words — "Potential for destruction" — echoed in her mind like a curse she didn't ask for.
"I won't just sit here," Aira said suddenly, breaking the stillness. "If he's behind Sunnie's disappearance, then I'll help find her."
Principal Hale frowned. "Miss Aira, you're still recovering from—"
I don't care." Her voice cracked, but she didn't waver. "I saw him. I felt him. He's not just some ghost haunting the halls. He's real, and he's doing something to us."
Zara reached out, her tone softer. "Aira, maybe you should rest—"
"No," Aira interrupted, fire flickering in her eyes now. "Every time I close my eyes, I see him. And that mark—" she lifted her sleeve slightly, showing the faint glow, "—it won't stop reacting. I need to know why."
Hale studied her for a long moment. "You're brave, Miss Aira" she said finally. "But bravery without control can be fatal. If you truly want to help, do it carefully. No more reckless decisions."
Aira nodded, but her clenched fists said otherwise.
As they left the office, Josh exhaled quietly. "At least she listened. But we can't waste any more time," he said, his tone low and steady. "Sunnie's been missing for too long."
Zara nodded. "We'll find her. We have to."
Aira stayed quiet, her thoughts circling like restless birds.
But as they stepped into the sunlight outside the main hall, Alaric stopped beside her. His voice was low, quiet enough for only her to hear.
"You really think it was him in the photo?"
She looked up at him, meeting his cold gray eyes. "I don't think. I know."
He exhaled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Then whoever he is, he's dangerous. And if you're connected to him, you need to stay close to us."
Aira blinked. "You mean… you actually believe me?"
Alaric smirked faintly. "Let's just say I've learned not to ignore my instincts."
Zara crossed her arms. "Let's focus. We need to figure out what happened to Sunnie."
They all fell silent again, the weight of her words sinking in.
Later that evening, the four of them climbed the creaking stairs to the third floor, where the hallways grew dimmer and colder.
Aira frowned. "Where is this place? We're not supposed to be up here, are we?"
Josh gave a half-smile, but his voice was serious. "No one comes here anymore. It's the old library wing."
Alaric pushed open a door at the end of the hall, revealing a small study room lined with dusty shelves, ancient lamps, and scattered papers.
Zara switched on a flickering bulb. "Welcome to our hideout."
Aira blinked. "Your what?"
Josh leaned against a desk. "Our group. We call ourselves The Watchers. Kind of a stupid name, I know."
Zara shot him a look. "It's not stupid. It fits."
Aira raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Because we've been watching," Alaric said quietly. "Patterns, disappearances, how the government treats students with unstable powers. And lately, everything's been leading back to… him."
Aira's pulse quickened. "You've been researching him? Since when?"
"For months," Zara said. "We started after that explosion in Sector Nine. A boy with a destruction-type ability vanished overnight. No records, no trace. The academy said he was 'transferred.' We knew that was a lie."
Josh nodded grimly. "Sunnie joined us right after that. She said she'd been hearing whispers too — about some experiment involving kids like them. The ones with destructive powers."
Aira sank into a chair, her voice barely above a whisper. "And now she's missing."
"Exactly," Alaric said. "Which means whatever we're chasing… just got closer."
Zara spread a map of the academy grounds on the table. "These are the surveillance blind spots. Sunnie disappeared near the gate, but if she left through one of these areas…"
"She could've gone into the forest," Alaric finished. "Or someone could've taken her there."
"The forest?" Aira asked, unease creeping into her tone.
Zara nodded. "Forbidden territory. The energy there's… strange. Even teachers avoid it."
Josh's expression darkened. "Yeah. The last student who went there ended up losing his mind for a week. He kept mumbling about shadows whispering his name."
Aira's skin prickled. Shadows whispering…
"What if he's hiding there?" she asked.
Alaric leaned closer, scanning the map. "If he is, we'll find out. We'll go tomorrow morning."
Zara's eyes widened. "Tomorrow? We can't just march into forbidden territory, Alaric!"
"Do you have a better plan?" he snapped back.
The tension crackled in the air, but before Zara could respond, Aira stepped between them. "He's right. The longer we wait, the more danger Sunnie could be in."
Her voice was soft but steady, surprising them both.
Alaric's eyes met hers again. Something unreadable flickered there — admiration, maybe, or concern — before he looked away. "Fine. We go at dawn."
Josh nodded quietly. "Then we'll prepare tonight. No mistakes this time."
As they packed up, Aira caught her reflection in the dusty window. The faint purple mark on her wrist shimmered once more, then dimmed completely.
But even as it faded, she felt it — a cold, unseen presence brushing against her mind.
A voice, low and calm, whispered like a memory:
You're not supposed to exist.
She clenched her jaw and whispered back, "Then I'll prove I deserve to."