The aftermath of Damon's fall had left Betrayal High in a state of raw, electric chaos. No classes. No order. No council. Students wandered the halls like shell-shocked soldiers after a battle, whispering about the gunshot, the betrayal, and the girl who had ripped the kingdom apart.
Selena paced her room, the overhead light flickering with each tremble in the ancient building's walls. On her desk lay Damon's phone — unlocked, open to the video that had detonated her entire world.
Her mother. Smiling. Plotting.
Selena's knuckles were bloodless around the phone. Luna sat nearby, silent for once, her usual quick wit dulled under the weight of the revelation.
"We have to go to the police," Luna finally said.
Selena laughed, a sharp, bitter sound. "And tell them what? That the queen bee of Betrayal High's secret council was working with my mother to run a high school coup? They'd lock us up."
"Then what?" Luna asked. "We sit here and wait to get picked off next?" She flung a folder across the desk. "This isn't over, Sel. You know it."
Selena exhaled shakily. She grabbed the folder and stuffed Damon's phone inside. "We need Xavier."
---
They found him in the old gym, blood still crusted on his knuckles, face pale under the harsh overhead lights. He was alone, sitting against the wall, gun laid beside him like a discarded toy.
"It wasn't supposed to go that far," Xavier muttered as they approached. "I just wanted him out."
"He's out," Selena said grimly. "But there's someone worse." She threw the phone down in front of him, the video playing on loop.
Xavier's eyes widened. "Your… mother?"
"Yeah," Selena ground out. "And they planned something for tomorrow."
Luna crouched beside him. "We're running out of time. If she takes control now, it won't just be Betrayal High. It'll be every school in this district. Every council. The whole underground."
Xavier looked up. "Then let's finish what we started."
---
Word spread faster than wildfire. By nightfall, every student with a grudge, a scar, or a lost friend had gathered in the underground courtyard. Makeshift weapons. Flashlights. Cellphones lighting up faces filled with rage and fear.
Selena stood before them, the moon a pale coin in the black sky above.
"We were born into this system," she said, voice steady. "Built by lies. Protected by fear. Ruled by tyrants. It ends tonight."
A cheer rose.
Luna stepped forward. "At 4 a.m., they'll strike. We strike first."
Plans were made in hurried whispers. Teams formed. Patrols established. Selena felt every second ticking closer to dawn like a blade against her throat.
---
At 3:45 a.m., the school was a storm waiting to break. Selena crept through the east wing with Luna and Xavier, their footsteps silent over cracked linoleum.
They reached the old principal's office — long abandoned, repurposed for the council's darkest dealings. A light glowed inside.
Selena pushed the door open.
Inside, her mother stood over a desk, flanked by three unfamiliar faces — adults. Not students. Men in sharp suits with cruel eyes.
"You're early," her mother said without turning around.
Selena's stomach dropped. She knew this voice. Calm. Cold. The same voice that had read her bedtime stories. Now, it was the voice of a monster.
"You betrayed us," Selena spat.
Her mother turned, and for a moment Selena glimpsed something like sadness in those eyes. "I did what I had to do. This place… these people… they ruined our family. Your father died in a rigged council coup. I swore I'd burn them down. Damon was a pawn. And you… you were supposed to be my heir."
"By killing Damon? By turning on me?"
"By surviving," her mother snapped. "But you proved soft. Weak. Falling for friends. For rules. I needed a killer."
Selena's blood boiled. She stepped forward, but one of the men blocked her path.
"You don't own this place," Xavier snarled. "We do."
Selena's mother laughed. "Then let's see how long you hold it."
A sudden crack of glass shattered the moment. Luna had hurled a lamp through the window. Students poured in like a tide, weapons ready, faces set.
The suited men drew guns.
Selena's mother raised a hand. "No. Not here."
But the students advanced.
A standoff.
Selena felt it — the school itself holding its breath.
"You think you're the hero?" her mother said softly. "You think this ends with me? There's a council above this council, Selena. A world above this world. Damon was a foot soldier. I was middle rank. You just started a war you don't understand."
The students hesitated.
Selena didn't.
She lunged, grabbing a broken chair leg, swinging it hard. The first man went down. Chaos erupted.
A fight, messy and brutal. Blood on the walls. Xavier wrestled a gun from another. Luna tackled a third.
Selena and her mother collided.
"I loved you," her mother gasped as they grappled.
"You tried to destroy me," Selena growled.
A gunshot split the air.
Selena froze.
Her mother's eyes widened. Blood bloomed on her chest.
Behind her stood Luna, trembling, holding the gun.
"She was gonna kill you," Luna whispered.
Selena caught her mother as she fell. "Why? Why didn't you tell me?"
Her mother smiled faintly. "Because monsters… don't get happy endings."
She died in Selena's arms.
The room went still. Students stared, some dropping their makeshift weapons.
Selena rose slowly.
"It's over," she whispered.
But Luna's phone buzzed.
She checked it, her face draining of color.
She turned the screen to Selena.
A message.
"Round 2 begins at dawn. New players arriving. No kings. No queens. Just blood. - R"
Selena's heart stuttered.
"Who the hell is R?" Xavier demanded.
But Selena already knew.
She whispered the name like a curse.
"Ronan."
The boy they'd buried last year. The one who had supposedly died in the council coup. The one Selena herself had left behind.
He was back.
And he was coming for them all.