ARIA POV
I'm going to die in twenty-four hours.
The threatening text message burns in my mind as I run through empty hallways toward the abandoned greenhouse. My hands shake so badly I can barely hold my phone. Surrender to the Council or be exposed publicly. Either way, I burn.
Just like my ancestors burned two hundred years ago.
I slam through the greenhouse door and nearly collapse. The glass walls are cracked and covered in vines, broken pots scattered everywhere. This place has been abandoned for years—the perfect hiding spot for two girls nobody wants around.
"Luna!" I call out desperately. "Luna, where are you?"
"Here." Her voice comes from behind a wall of dead plants.
I find her curled up on the floor, silver-white hair tangled with leaves, blood dripping from her nose and eyes. Another vision. They're getting worse, more frequent, more violent.
"Oh god, Luna." I drop to my knees beside her, pulling out tissues to wipe the blood away. "How bad was it?"
"Bad." Her moon-pale eyes focus on me, still distant and glassy. "I saw your death, Aria. Over and over and over. Thirty different ways you die in the next month, and they all end the same—with your blood feeding that ritual."
My chest tightens. "Tell me."
Luna grabs my hand, her fingers ice-cold and trembling. "Five figures in the Forbidden Archive. Blood on ancient pages. A grimoire bound in human skin. And you, screaming as someone drains every drop of magic from your body to resurrect the First Sorcerers."
"Who?" I demand. "Who kills me?"
"I couldn't see their face. But I saw their hands—pale, scarred, wearing a Council ring." Luna squeezes my fingers. "Aria, we have to stop this. If we don't, you die in thirty days. The new moon. That's when the ritual completes."
Thirty days. The same timeline from my threatening text.
"Someone knows what I am," I whisper. "I got a message today. They're giving me twenty-four hours to surrender to the Council or they'll expose me to the whole Academy."
Luna's face goes white. "No. No, that can't happen. If they expose you, the killer will take you immediately. You'll die tonight instead of thirty days from now."
"Then what do I do?" My voice cracks. "I can't fight the entire Council. I can't run—where would I go? And I can't hide anymore because someone's already found me."
"We fight back." Luna pulls herself to her feet, swaying but determined. "We find out who the killer is and stop them before they can complete the ritual. We save you AND the other potential victims."
"How? We're just two powerless girls. You with visions that make you bleed, me with an ability that would get me executed if anyone knew."
"That's why we need help." Luna pulls out her phone and shows me a list of three names:
Ezra Wraith - Shadow Magic Felix Zhao - Transmutation Caspian Everhart - Celestial Magic
"These three," Luna says. "Plus us. Five people total. That's what we need to break into the Forbidden Archive and find the Codex Animarum—the grimoire that contains information about resurrection rituals and how to stop them."
I stare at the names. "You want me to trust Ezra Wraith, the rebel who deals in illegal magic? Felix Zhao, who's competing against me for the scholarship? And Caspian Everhart, who literally humiliated me in front of everyone today?"
"I want you to survive." Luna's voice is fierce. "And these are the only people who can help you do it. I've seen it, Aria. This group of five—we're meant to work together. We're the only ones who can stop what's coming."
"Why them specifically?"
"Because they all have something to lose," Luna explains. "Ezra's sister was the second victim—Sarah Chen. He's been investigating her death for months. Felix's family is drowning in debt to dangerous people, and he needs access to Council resources to save them. And Caspian..."
"What about Caspian?"
Luna's expression turns sad. "His father is the killer. Lord Silas Everhart is performing the resurrection ritual, and Caspian is going to have to choose between saving his father or saving you."
My blood runs cold. The note I left on Caspian's desk. The midnight meeting I demanded. I thought I was being clever, getting revenge by scaring him.
I didn't realize I was forcing him into an impossible choice.
"He's going to hate me," I whisper.
"Maybe at first. But he'll help anyway, because deep down, Caspian knows something's wrong with his father. He's been looking for answers." Luna wipes more blood from her nose. "We recruit all three tonight. Ezra will be in the library. Felix will be in the East Tower lab. And Caspian—"
"Is meeting me at midnight in this greenhouse," I finish.
"Perfect. Then we have a plan." Luna smiles, but it's strained. "We recruit them, break into the Archive tomorrow night, find the Codex, and stop the ritual before anyone else dies."
"And if they say no?"
"They won't. I've seen it." Luna's eyes go distant again. "But Aria, there's something else you need to know about the vision. Something I didn't tell you before."
"What?"
"The ritual requires six sacrifices. Five students with different magical abilities, and one Siphon as the final key. But I saw who the five students are." Luna pulls out her phone again and shows me photos. "Marcus Thornhill, Sarah Chen, David Reeves—all already dead. And the next two victims..."
She swipes to two more photos, and my heart stops.
Felix Zhao. And Luna Ashford.
"You," I breathe. "You're one of the targets."
"And Felix is the other. Which means we have even less time than I thought." Luna's hands shake. "The killer is going to come for us next. Maybe tonight. Maybe tomorrow. And when they do, you'll be vulnerable too."
Before I can respond, my phone buzzes with another message. Unknown number:
Time's up, Siphon. We're coming for you now. Run if you want. We'll still find you. And when we do, you'll wish you'd surrendered peacefully.
The greenhouse door slams open.
Three figures in dark robes step inside, their faces hidden by hoods. Magic crackles around their hands—dangerous, powerful, lethal.
"Aria Nightshade," the center figure says in a voice I almost recognize. "By order of the Council, you are under arrest for the crime of being a Siphon. Surrender peacefully, or we take you by force."
Luna grabs my arm. "Run!"
"There's nowhere to run," the figure says, and pulls back their hood.
I see their face and my entire world tilts sideways.
Because the person who's come to arrest me, the person who threatened me, the person who knows my secret—
Is Professor Marcus Thorne, the Headmistress's younger brother and a junior Council member.
And standing behind him, looking sick and guilty, is Melissa Chen—my roommate who received that first text about the Siphon at Thornwick.
She's the one who reported me.
"I'm sorry," Melissa whispers, unable to meet my eyes. "They said you were dangerous. They said you killed those students. They said if I helped them catch you, they'd give my family a Council position."
"You sold me out for a promotion?" I can barely form words.
"Take her," Professor Thorne commands.
The other two figures move forward, magic blazing.
Luna screams: "Aria, FIGHT!"
And for the first time in seventeen years of hiding, I stop running.
I rip off my gloves and let my Siphon ability explode outward.