Chapter 35 Something in the Lockers
Luna’s POV
The radio crackled again.
“Hallway C. We have another incident.”
Kai’s hand locked tighter around mine. I didn’t even think…I just moved with him.
Mr. Halden called after us, “You two…stop! Stay here!”
But Kai didn’t stop.
He pulled me down the corridor like he already knew what was coming. Like he’d smelled it.
Behind us, footsteps followed, and guards, teachers, and Ethan’s slow, unhurried pace.
Of course, Ethan came too.
He didn’t run, he didn’t panic, he just walked like he was watching a movie he’d already seen.
Hallway C was usually quiet. Just lockers, bulletin boards, and the faint smell of disinfectant.
Now?
It was chaos.
Students were pressed against the walls, whispering, shaking, and filming with their phones like it was gossip instead of danger.
A girl sobbed near the water fountain.
A guy kept saying, “I swear it moved…bro, it MOVED.”
Kai stepped in front of me automatically, his shoulders squared.
“What happened?” he demanded.
A teacher pointed at the lockers.
One of them, on the third row from the bottom, was dented inward as if something had punched from inside.
Then it happened.
The locker door rattled hard.
Everyone screamed.
My powers flared, buzzing under my skin like electricity. Not because I wanted them to.
Because whatever was inside that locker wasn’t human.
Kai’s voice went low. “Luna. Behind me.”
I didn’t argue.
I stepped back, but my eyes stayed locked on the metal door.
It shook again.
Then…
BANG.
The locker door exploded open.
A black shape shot out like a bullet.
Not a person and not an animal.
Something in between.
It hit the floor on all fours, jerking unnaturally, like its bones were wrong.
Its head lifted slowly.
And its eyes…
They weren’t normal, they were too bright and too empty.
A boy’s body… with something else inside it.
My breath caught.
“No,” I whispered.
Because I recognized him.
Not well but enough.
It was Tyler Grant.
One of the guys from Kai’s class, one of the loud ones, and one of the ones who laughed too hard in the cafeteria.
Now his mouth hung open like he couldn’t breathe properly.
Like he was drowning in air.
Kai’s voice turned sharp. “Tyler!”
Tyler’s head snapped toward him.
Then his lips stretched into something that wasn’t a smile.
A sound came out of him, wet and wrong.
Not a growl and not a scream. A gurgling laugh.
Ethan spoke behind us, calm as ever.
“That’s not Tyler anymore.”
Kai’s head turned slightly, with his eyes narrowing. “What did you do?”
Ethan lifted his hands in fake innocence. “Me? Nothing.”
My stomach churned.
Liar.
Even if no one else could see it….
I could feel Ethan’s energy like a stain in the air.
Tyler lunged fast and straight for me.
Not Kai and not the teachers.
Me.
Kai moved like lightning.
He slammed into Tyler mid-air, crashing them both into the wall.
The impact shook the lockers.
Metal screamed.
Students shrieked again and scrambled away.
Kai pinned Tyler with one arm and shoved his forearm across Tyler’s throat.
Tyler thrashed like a trapped thing, claws ripping at Kai’s sleeves.
Kai didn’t even flinch.
But I saw it.
His control was thinning, his eyes were getting darker, his breathing rougher and he was fighting the shift.
And I knew he was doing it for me.
Because if he shifted in this hallway….
In front of teachers, students, and cameras…
Everything would end.
Tyler’s head jerked toward me again.
And his mouth opened.
His voice came out in a rasp that wasn’t his.
“Luna Ashford…”
My heart stopped and Kai froze.
“What did you say?” Kai demanded.
Tyler’s eyes rolled back and then snapped forward again.
“Blood… moon… heir…”
My knees went weak.
Heir.
That word again. Always that word.
Kai’s voice shook with fury. “Who sent you?”
Tyler’s jaw cracked sideways in a way that made me want to throw up.
Then he whispered, almost gleeful…
“Ethan.”
The hallway went silent.
Even the screaming stopped for half a second.
Kai’s head whipped around and then straight to Ethan.
Ethan didn’t look surprised.
He didn’t look guilty.
He looked… amused.
Like Tyler had just told a joke.
“Wow,” Ethan said softly. “He can still talk.”
Kai’s voice dropped into something inhuman.
“You’re dead.”
Ethan finally sighed, like Kai was exhausting.
“I’m trying to help you,” Ethan said. “You just don’t see it.”
Kai surged forward…
And Tyler took advantage.
He headbutted Kai, slipped out of his grip, and lunged again.
This time, not at me, but at the teachers.
He slammed into Mr. Halden, sending him crashing into the lockers.
Mr. Halden cried out, clutching his shoulder.
A guard tackled Tyler.
And Tyler bit him hard and blood sprayed.
The guard screamed.
The smell hit me hot and metallic.
My powers reacted instantly and my vision sharpened.
My hearing zoomed in.
The whole hallway blurred except for Tyler.
Except for Ethan and except for Kai.
Kai’s chest heaved.
He was barely holding on now, his hands shook and his nails were sharper again.
I stepped closer, whispering urgently, “Kai… don’t.”
Kai didn’t look at me.
His eyes stayed locked on Tyler like he wanted to tear him apart.
Tyler’s body jerked again, like something was pulling strings inside him.
Then he screamed.
A full scream this time…not evil, not monstrous but human.
“HELP ME!”
My heart cracked.
That was Tyler.
For real and for one second, it was him.
Then his eyes rolled back again and the darkness snapped back into place.
Ethan clapped slowly.
Once, twice and mocking.
Kai’s head turned so fast I thought his neck would snap.
“Stop,” Kai growled.
Ethan shrugged. “I didn’t start it.”
I couldn’t take it anymore.
I stepped forward, voice shaking but loud.
“Why are you doing this, Ethan?”
Ethan’s gaze slid to me, warm and familiar. Too familiar.
Like he was still my childhood friend.
“You really want the truth?” he asked softly.
Kai moved in front of me again.
“You don’t get to talk to her.”
Ethan’s smile sharpened.
“I do,” he said. “Because she’s mine too.”
My stomach dropped.
Kai’s body went still. Deadly still.
“What did you say?” Kai asked.
Ethan took a step closer, hands still in his pockets.
“You heard me,” Ethan said calmly. “You think you’re the only one who can feel her? Protect her? Claim her?”
Kai’s eyes turned almost black.
I grabbed his arm.
“Kai…please.”
His breathing hitched, he didn’t move.
But I felt it.
The shift pressed against his skin like a storm trying to break through.
Then…
Tyler convulsed violently.
The guard holding him flew backward like he’d been kicked by something invisible.
Tyler’s body arched and his mouth opened.
And a thick, and shadowy mist poured out of him.
It swirled in the air, twisting like smoke with a heartbeat.
It wasn’t Tyler anymore. It was something that had been inside him.
Something Ethan had put there.
The mist turned.
And rushed toward me. Kai shoved me back.
“LUNA!”
The shadow slammed into Kai instead.
Kai grunted, stumbling.
His eyes widened like he’d been stabbed from the inside.
I screamed his name.
Kai dropped to one knee, shaking hard.
His hands clawed at his chest.
“Get it out,” he rasped.
My heart pounded. I didn’t think.
I just reached out.
My power surged like fire through my veins.
The shadows around the hallway responded—as they recognized me.
Like they belonged to me.
The mist hesitated and then it pulled back, writhing.
I pushed harder.
My head throbbed, my chest burned and the mist shrieked, an awful sound that made everyone cover their ears.
Then it snapped away from Kai and slammed back into Tyler’s body.
Tyler collapsed, limp.
The hallway went dead quiet.
Everyone stared at me.
At my outstretched hand.
At the shadows trembling around my feet.
Kai lifted his head slowly and his gaze locked on mine.
Not fear, not disgust. Something else, something intense, and something like awe.
Ethan’s eyes glinted with satisfaction.
“Good,” he murmured. “You’re getting stronger.”
I swallowed hard. “Ethan…”
He smiled gently.
Like a monster wearing my friend’s face
.
“This is only the beginning,” he whispered.
Then he turned and walked away.
Just like that.
Like he hadn’t almost killed someone, like he hadn’t infected Tyler with darkness and l
ike he hadn’t pushed Kai to the edge.
Kai grabbed my wrist.
His voice was raw. “Luna… don’t let him out of your sight again.”
My throat tightened. “I won’t.”
But deep down, I knew something worse.
Ethan wasn’t hiding anymore. Not from me, he wanted me to see him, he wanted me scared.
And he wanted Kai broken.
And prom night?
It hadn’t even started.