Chapter 28: The First Missing
Chapter 28: The First Missing
The academy was in chaos.
Lena knew it the second she stepped out of Caleb's car.
Police vehicles filled the front parking lot.
Students crowded the walkways.
Teachers stood in clusters whispering to one another.
Nobody looked normal.
Nobody looked relaxed.
Fear hung over the campus like a storm cloud.
Lena felt it immediately.
Something had happened.
Something bad.
"What now?" she muttered.
Caleb's expression had already darkened.
He was listening.
Not to the students.
Not to the teachers.
To something else.
Lena had noticed him doing it more often lately.
Like he could hear things nobody else could.
A moment later Liam appeared.
Moving fast.
Far too fast for someone trying to look casual.
His eyes immediately found Caleb.
Then Lena.
Then Caleb again.
Something passed between them.
A silent conversation.
Neither looked happy.
Lena folded her arms.
"Okay."
Nobody answered.
"That's it."
Still nothing.
She stepped directly between them.
"What happened?"
Liam finally sighed.
"One of the students disappeared."
The words landed heavily.
Lena froze.
"What?"
Nobody replied immediately.
That alone told her how serious it was.
Her stomach twisted.
Another student.
Another disappearance.
Just like the others.
Only this time something felt different.
Worse.
Liam glanced around before lowering his voice.
"He vanished last night."
A chill crawled through Lena.
"Who?"
"Jacob Mercer."
Her heart skipped.
She knew Jacob.
Not well.
But enough.
Everyone knew Jacob.
Star athlete.
Senior class president.
Popular.
Confident.
The kind of person who seemed untouchable.
The kind of person who wasn't supposed to disappear.
"Maybe he ran away."
Even as she said it she knew it sounded weak.
Liam shook his head.
"No."
The answer came instantly.
Certain.
Absolute.
Lena didn't like that certainty.
Not one bit.
"What aren't you telling me?"
Caleb looked away.
Wrong move.
She immediately noticed.
"What."
Neither answered.
Her pulse began climbing.
"Caleb."
Silence.
"Tell me."
Finally he spoke.
"We found blood."
The world seemed to tilt.
For a second all the noise around her disappeared.
Blood.
Not missing.
Not vanished.
Blood.
A horrible image flashed through her mind.
Jacob screaming in the darkness.
Something dragging him away.
Silver symbols.
Claws.
Eyes glowing in the night.
The image vanished.
Leaving nausea behind.
"How much blood?"
Liam and Caleb exchanged another look.
Too much.
The answer was written all over their faces.
Too much.
The first bell rang.
Nobody moved.
Nobody cared.
The entire school buzzed with rumors.
Fear spread from group to group.
Questions.
Speculation.
Panic.
Lena could practically feel it.
Then she saw Ethan.
He was standing near the administration building.
Talking to two police officers.
The second he noticed her, he immediately started walking over.
Something about his face made her stomach tighten.
Ethan looked scared.
Not worried.
Scared.
And Ethan wasn't easily scared.
"What happened?" Lena asked.
Ethan ran a hand through his hair.
"They found something else."
Her pulse jumped.
"What?"
He hesitated.
"Jacob left a message."
Silence.
"What kind of message?"
Nobody answered.
Which somehow made everything worse.
Finally Ethan pulled out his phone.
Opened a photo.
And handed it to her.
The image nearly made her drop it.
A tree.
Deep inside Blackwood Forest.
Covered in blood.
Words carved into the bark.
Three words.
THE LAST ONE.
Lena stopped breathing.
The photo trembled in her hands.
The Last One.
Not the last victim.
Not the last student.
The last one.
Her mind immediately returned to the silver-eyed girl.
You are the last.
The same words.
The exact same words.
A wave of dizziness hit her.
Impossible.
Coincidence.
It had to be.
Except she didn't believe that anymore.
Not after everything.
Not after the visions.
Not after the mirror.
Not after the forest.
"The police think Jacob wrote it."
Ethan's voice sounded distant.
Lena couldn't stop staring.
The Last One.
The Last One.
The Last One.
Something was trying to tell her something.
Something important.
Something she was missing.
The hairs on the back of her neck suddenly stood up.
Watching.
Someone was watching.
The sensation hit her so hard she nearly spun around immediately.
Instead she forced herself to stay calm.
Slowly.
Carefully.
She looked across the courtyard.
Hundreds of students.
Teachers.
Police officers.
Parents.
Nothing unusual.
Then she saw him.
A man standing near the far fence.
Tall.
Dark coat.
Face hidden beneath a hood.
Watching her.
Not the crowd.
Not the school.
Her.
The moment their eyes met, a sharp pain exploded through Lena's head.
A memory.
Silver fire.
Ancient ruins.
A throne.
Screams.
The hooded man.
Standing there.
Watching.
Always watching.
The vision lasted less than a second.
But it was enough.
Lena staggered backward.
The hooded man smiled.
Then disappeared.
Gone.
Vanished.
Like he had never been there.
Her heart slammed against her ribs.
"What happened?" Ethan asked.
Lena barely heard him.
The man.
She'd seen him before.
Not here.
Not in Blackwood.
Somewhere else.
Somewhere impossible.
Before she could process the thought, a scream erupted from the opposite side of campus.
Everyone turned.
Students began running.
Teachers shouting.
Police rushing forward.
Pure chaos.
"What now?" Liam growled.
Another scream.
Then another.
People were pointing toward the gymnasium.
A crowd surged backward.
Fear exploded through the school.
Lena followed their gaze.
And immediately wished she hadn't.
A symbol had appeared on the gym wall.
Thirty feet tall.
Burning silver.
Glowing in broad daylight.
The exact same symbol that kept appearing in her visions.
The exact same symbol that appeared on her skin.
Gasps spread through the crowd.
Phones came out.
Teachers shouted.
Police tried to clear the area.
Nobody listened.
The symbol brightened.
The silver light intensified.
Lena couldn't look away.
Something about it felt alive.
Calling to her.
Recognizing her.
Then the symbol began to move.
The crowd screamed.
Silver lines shifted across the wall.
Rearranging.
Changing.
Forming words.
Lena's blood turned to ice.
Because she already knew what they were going to say.
Before the final letter even appeared.
The message completed itself.
And every person in the courtyard saw it.
WELCOME BACK, PRINCESS.
Silence.
Absolute silence.
The entire school stared.
Nobody breathed.
Nobody spoke.
Lena felt the world stop around her.
The silver letters glowed brighter.
Almost happily.
As if celebrating.
As if they had finally found her.
Then every symbol across the wall exploded into light.
And vanished.
Leaving only one thing behind.
A handprint.
Silver.
Burned into the brick.
Exactly the size of Lena's hand.