Chapter 61 The Calm Before
POV: Luna
I can't sleep.
The charm bracelet has stopped glowing, but I can still feel it. That pull. That desperate connection to Miguel.
He's dying.
And I'm sitting here doing nothing.
I slip out of bed as quietly as I can and move to the window. The moon is full tonight, bright enough to cast shadows across the dorm room.
I press my forehead against the cool glass and close my eyes.
What am I supposed to do?
Every instinct screams at me to run. To leave right now. To find Miguel before it's too late.
But Nova's words echo in my head. "You're supposed to choose survival."
Choosing survival means staying here. Getting stronger. Waiting.
But what if waiting means Miguel dies?
"Can't sleep either?"
I turn to see Nova sitting up in her bed, watching me.
"Sorry. Did I wake you?"
"No. I've been awake." She gets up and joins me at the window, wrapping a blanket around her shoulders. "That whole glowing charm thing was pretty intense."
"Yeah."
We stand there in silence for a while, both looking out at the moonlit grounds.
The Academy looks peaceful from here. Almost beautiful. Like nothing bad could ever happen within these walls.
But we both know better.
"When I first got here," Nova says quietly, "I was so scared I'd die alone."
I look at her. "Nova—"
"Just let me say this." She pulls the blanket tighter. "I was terrified. Everyone here seemed to know exactly who they were. What pack they belonged to. What their place was in the hierarchy. And I was just... nobody. A wolf from nowhere with no connections, no status, nothing special."
"You're not nobody."
"I know that now. But I didn't then." She turns to face me. "But then I met you. This girl who was even more lost than me. Even more out of place. And I realized I didn't have to figure everything out alone."
My throat tightens.
"You're my best friend," Nova continues. "So whatever happens tomorrow, or the next day, or whenever all this stuff with Miguel and the rogues and whoever's trying to kill you comes to a head, I'm glad we met. I'm glad you're here."
"Nova, I—"
"You don't have to say anything. I just needed you to know."
I pull her into a hug. She hugs back just as tightly.
"You're my best friend too," I say. "I don't know what I'd do without you."
"Probably die a lot more."
I laugh despite everything. "Probably."
We separate and go back to looking out the window.
"We're both going to survive this," I say. "All of this. The attacks. The training. Whatever's coming. We're going to make it through."
"Promise?"
I hold out my pinky finger. "Promise."
Nova links her pinky with mine, and we shake on it.
It feels silly and childish and exactly what I need right now.
For a moment, we're just two teenage girls making promises to each other. Not wolves. Not targets. Just friends.
"Do you think Miguel will be okay?" Nova asks softly.
"I don't know. I hope so."
"Are you going to try to find him again?"
"I want to. But I also know it's probably a trap. That whoever's after me is using him to draw me out."
"So what are you going to do?"
"I don't know yet. I need to—"
My mark flares suddenly.
Hot and bright and urgent.
I gasp and clutch my wrist.
"Luna?" Nova grabs my arm. "What's wrong?"
Before I can answer, I hear it.
A howl.
Distant but getting closer.
Except it doesn't sound right. It's distorted. Wrong. Like someone took a normal wolf howl and twisted it into something else.
Something corrupted.
Nova's face goes pale. "That's not one of ours."
"No. It's not."
The howl comes again. Closer this time.
And it's answered by another. Then another.
Multiple wolves. All with that same distorted, wrong quality to their voices.
"Rogues," I whisper. "They're at the border."
"How many?"
I focus on my mark, using the awareness Ryder taught me. Sensing. Reaching out.
Too many.
Way too many.
"At least twenty," I say. "Maybe more."
"Twenty?" Nova's voice rises in panic. "Luna, that's an army."
She's right.
Twenty rogue wolves isn't a random attack. It's not even a coordinated assault.
It's a siege.
Someone has brought an army of corrupted wolves to the Academy's gates.
And somehow, I know they're here for me.
The howls continue. Getting louder. Closer.
Other students are starting to wake up now. I can hear voices in the hallway. Confused. Scared.
An alarm starts blaring throughout the Academy. The emergency signal.
"All students report to the Great Hall immediately," a voice booms through the building. Professor Thorne. "This is not a drill. Report to the Great Hall now."
Nova and I exchange looks.
"We should go," she says.
"Yeah."
But neither of us moves.
Because we both know what this means.
The waiting is over.
Whatever's been building since I arrived at Silverwood. Since I was marked. Since I revealed myself as Eclipse.
It's all coming to a head.
Right now.
Another howl splits the night. This one so close it makes the windows rattle.
And underneath the distortion, I hear something that makes my blood run cold.
Intelligence.
These aren't mindless rogues.
They're being commanded.
"Luna," Nova says, her voice shaking. "We need to go. Now."
I nod and we run for the door.
But as we burst into the hallway, joining the stream of terrified students heading for the Great Hall, I can't shake the feeling that we're running toward something instead of away from it.
That whoever orchestrated this wants us all in one place.
Wants us trapped.
The howls continue outside. Surrounding the Academy.
And my mark burns brighter with every passing second.