Evenly Blackthorn sat across from the principal of Saint Adelarde's Academy for Gifted Girls, arms crossed, trying not to set the office on fire with her mind.
Literally.
The temperature in the room had risen by at least ten degrees in the last two minutes. Sweat trickled down Principal Gray's bald head as he pushed a tissue into his collar and tried not to look terrified.
"Evenly," he said carefully, like she might explode if provoked—which, honestly, wasn't a terrible guess—"we appreciate your academic excellence. But after this... incident, the board has decided we can no longer—"
"It wasn't my fault," Evenly cut in. Her voice was flat, but the walls trembled just slightly.
"You levitated a teacher."
"I lifted her. Briefly."
"Out a second-story window."
"She landed in the fountain!"
Principal Gray stood, ignoring the scorch mark curling at the edge of his office rug. "This is your third school in two years, Miss Blackthorn. You're... not suited to our environment."
Evenly stared at him. "You think?"
Outside, rain slammed against the black iron gates like it wanted to be let in. Her duffel bag was already packed—someone had left it on the curb like a stray dog. A cab idled nearby, engine humming impatiently.
Evenly climbed in without a word.
The driver didn't speak. Didn't ask for a destination. Just handed her a small, unmarked envelope.
Inside was a note, handwritten in elegant script:
You've been accepted to Ravenlight Academy.You will not be expelled again.Because this time... you cannot leave.
She blinked. "That's ominous."
The driver smiled in the rearview mirror. His eyes glinted gold.
Definitely not human.
They drove for hours—out of the city, through foggy hills and tangled woods, until the world began to feel wrong. The trees leaned too close. The shadows didn't move right.
When they reached the iron gates of Ravenlight, Evenly could feel the air shift—like the land was breathing.
The cab rolled to a stop. No other cars. No people. Just a school that looked like it had been pulled from a Gothic horror movie: towers, gargoyles, creeping ivy. The kind of place where people vanished and were never spoken of again.
Evenly stepped out into the mist, dragging her bag behind her.
"I guess this is it," she muttered.
The driver rolled down his window. "They say Ravenlight was built to keep something in, not out."
Before she could ask what the hell that meant, he peeled off into the fog.
Evenly turned toward the school.
The gates creaked open on their own.
Because of course they did.
"Great," she said aloud. "Haunted Hogwarts, here I come."
She didn't know yet that monsters walked these halls.
She didn't know that she'd soon be more feared than any of them.
And she definitely didn't know that her greatest danger... was herself.