Chapter 102: The Walk to Midnight
The campus at night didn’t look like the same place we’d been walking through earlier that day.
Gone were the crowds of students rushing between classes, the chatter spilling out of the cafeteria, the buzz of ordinary life. Now it was shadows and echoes, a world that belonged to something older than homework and dorm parties. The old science building stood in the distance, its windows black, its outline sharp against the fog that had rolled in from the forest.
We moved as a unit—Aidan at my side, Elena and Ethan bickering softly behind us, Echo quiet as a ghost, and Rhea trailing just close enough to prove she wasn’t backing out. Mara had stayed behind, claiming she “wasn’t built for midnight hikes across cursed college campuses,” though the truth was she didn’t want to slow us down.
“Okay, so just to confirm,” Elena whispered as we cut across the courtyard, “we’re walking into the creepy abandoned building at midnight because some mysterious hybrid boy asked nicely?”
“No,” Ethan muttered, adjusting the strap on his laptop bag. “We’re walking into the creepy abandoned building because Roxanne insisted we needed answers.”
“Which we could’ve gotten by not doing this,” Elena shot back. “Like, I don’t know, interrogating Damien in broad daylight when ghosts and serial killers aren’t usually on the prowl?”
“You watch too many horror movies,” Ethan said.
“And you don’t watch enough,” she countered. “If you did, you’d know this is how the main cast gets wiped out.”
Aidan exhaled sharply. “Both of you, shut it.”
I glanced at him. “Let them talk. Noise is better than silence right now.”
He looked like he wanted to argue, but he didn’t.
\---
Halfway there, we passed under a row of streetlights. Only two of them worked, their glow pale and flickering. The rest were dead, like even the electricity didn’t want to touch this part of campus.
Echo suddenly froze. Her hand went up, a silent command. We stopped instantly.
“What?” Elena whispered, pulling her crossbow from under her coat.
Echo tilted her head, listening. “Someone’s following.”
I felt my pulse spike. “Where?”
She didn’t answer with words—just pointed toward the trees lining the edge of the courtyard.
For a moment, I saw nothing. Then, a flicker. A shadow darting just out of the lamplight.
Aidan’s hand brushed mine, then tightened around his blade. “Not hybrids. Too quiet.”
“Hunters?” Rhea asked softly.
“Or Creed,” Echo murmured.
We waited. Listened. Nothing moved again.
“Maybe it’s just a squirrel,” Ethan offered weakly.
Elena scoffed. “Yeah, a six-foot squirrel with night vision and combat boots.”
Still, no one came out.
Finally, I forced my legs to move. “If they’re following, they already know where we’re going. No point waiting here.”
Echo didn’t look convinced, but she nodded.
We moved again.
\---
By the time we reached the old science building, midnight was seconds away.
The place looked worse up close. The stone steps were cracked, vines crawling up the walls. The doors were chained but broken, like someone had forced them open years ago and no one had bothered fixing them.
“Lovely,” Elena muttered. “Really cozy vibe. Ten out of ten, would not rent.”
Ethan adjusted his glasses. “I’ll go first. Tech check, make sure the floor isn’t rigged or anything.”
Aidan stopped him with a hand on his arm. “No. I go first.”
I put my hand on Aidan’s shoulder. “We go together.”
For a moment, his eyes softened, but then the edge returned. “Fine. But if anything moves wrong, you run. Got it?”
“I’ll run when you do,” I said.
“Roxanne—”
“Don’t fight me on this,” I whispered. “Not now.”
His jaw flexed, but he nodded.
\---
Inside, the air was thick with dust and damp, the kind of cold that sank into your bones. The main hall stretched out before us, its ceiling arched, the walls lined with old classrooms. Broken glass crunched under our boots.
“Wow,” Elena said, sweeping her flashlight across the walls. “This place just screams ‘haunted.’ Who wants to bet the janitor’s ghost shows up first?”
“Do you ever stop talking?” Aidan muttered.
“Nope,” she replied cheerfully.
At the end of the hall was a staircase, its railing broken in places. A faint light flickered below, like someone had lit a single lantern in the basement.
“That’s him,” Echo said quietly.
“How do you know?” I asked.
“I just do.”
We descended slowly. Each step groaned under our weight. My fingers tightened around the knife Echo had given me, the runes warm against my skin.
When we reached the bottom, we saw him.
Damien.
Sitting on a metal chair in the center of the old lecture hall, the faint lantern glow casting shadows across his sharp features. His hair fell across his face, and his golden eyes reflected the light like fire.
“You came,” he said simply, his voice smooth, calm, too calm.
“I said I would,” I replied, stepping forward.
The others spread out behind me—Elena and Ethan near the back, Aidan at my side, Echo watching like a hawk, Rhea clutching the journal like it was a shield.
Damien smiled faintly. “Good. Because now the real game begins.”