"Karina." Freya's voice came again—low, steady.
I looked at her. She gave me a look that said she wasn't pushing, but she knew. She knew I wasn't okay, and she was giving me space to admit it—or to lie.
So I did both.
"I'm fine," I said, softly this time. "Really."
Freya held my gaze for a second longer, then nodded and didn't push. I appreciated her for that.
Still, as the warning bell rang and we turned to head to class, I felt the weight of Xander's silent footsteps behind me.
And the colder, unseen weight of three Russian eyes I didn't have to turn around to feel.
The hallway buzzed with casual conversation, shoes squeaking against the polished floor, locker doors clanging shut. I was trying to hold it together, keeping my breathing steady and pretending my mind wasn't still spinning in a thousand directions.
Freya was saying something beside me—her voice soft, steady—but I didn't catch a word.
Then the world shattered.
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIINNNGG!!
The alarm split through the hallway like a knife through silence—loud, raw, blaring.
I flinched. The world tilted for a second.
Red lights stuttered to life above us, casting strobe-like flashes over the suddenly frozen corridor. Everything was still, like the building was holding its breath.
Then it exhaled.
Screams. Panic. Students pouring out of classrooms like floodwater, faces blurred in motion. Bags hit the floor. Shoes pounded against tile. Voices rose in sharp, frantic confusion.
It was chaos.
But I couldn't move.
My feet didn't listen. My lungs refused to work.
Everything was too fast.
This wasn't normal. It wasn't a drill. I didn't need anyone to say it—I felt it in my bones. The way the air shifted. The way the lights flickered. The way the sound didn't stop.
My thoughts tangled up in each other, knotted so tightly I couldn't untie one without making the others worse.
Why now? Why today? Is this connected?
I heard Freya shout something—my name, maybe—but her voice was too far away. Like it had to swim through static to reach me.
My hands trembled. I didn't know when that started.
Something slammed in the distance. A bang. A scream. Another crash.
What if this isn't about the school? What if this is about me?
Viktor. Nadya. Lev. The Russian words I heard earlier. Their strange behavior. My father's sudden paranoia. Xander.
What if I was right to be suspicious?
What if this has everything to do with me and I just wasn't ready to see it?
And then, like a cruel echo—
"Ты не готова." — "You're not ready."
The voice. The memory. Or was it something else? My head throbbed from the inside, as if my own thoughts were punishing me.
What if I'm the reason people are going to get hurt?
What if I mess this up?
What if I already did?
What if—
"Karina."
The voice was close. Real.
Firm. Sharp.
It cut through the spiral like a thread pulled taut.
I blinked.
"Karina." Again. Louder this time.
I turned my head.
Xander.
He was right in front of me, blocking the chaos with his body. One hand hovered near his jacket, where I knew he kept something—probably a weapon. His other hand reached for mine but didn't touch it, just hovered near, like he was waiting for permission.
His eyes weren't panicked. They were focused. Steady.
"Look at me," he said.
And I did.
Everything didn't stop—but it slowed. Just enough to let me breathe.
"Stay with me," he ordered, but there was something quieter under it. Not harsh. Not cold. Just… solid.
"I—" My voice cracked. I shook my head. "I couldn't think."
"You were thinking too much," he said simply. "It's overloading you. Ground yourself."
"I can't," I whispered. "I don't know what's happening. I don't know what's real—"
"You don't need to know everything right now," Xander said, stepping slightly closer. "Just focus on what's in front of you. Me. Your friends. The exit."
I stared at him, the hallway flickering behind him like a warning.
"Do you trust me?"
I wanted to say no. I didn't even know him. I didn't want to need him.
But I nodded.
He exhaled like he'd been holding it in.
"Then we move together," he said. "I'm not letting you out of my sight."
And I moved.
Because in that moment, even if I didn't understand anything else—
I believed him.
We moved through the swarm.
Xander's shoulder brushed mine every few seconds, guiding me without speaking. His movements were practiced, effortless—he knew how to move in a crowd, how to direct chaos around him without getting pulled into it.
And I stayed close. Not because I wanted to. But because I had to.
Every step we took, the alarm shrieked overhead. My ears rang. My pulse pressed against the inside of my throat.
People shoved past, yelling, panicking, but I barely heard them now. It all sounded like it was underwater.
Then something clicked.
I remembered—
My father's voice, years ago, echoing in the back of my mind.
| "People are like animals when they're afraid, Karina. Don't be one of them."
| "Don't scream. Don't show weakness."
| "If you panic, you lose. If you act normal, you survive."
| "If you're ever caught in the middle of something… be invisible."
I swallowed, hard.
He was a monster, in every way that counted. But he taught me how to live through hell with a straight face.
I could fall apart later.
Right now—
I blinked once. Sharply.
My back straightened. My hands—shaking only seconds ago—stilled at my sides.
I started scanning like Xander did. Eyes shifting from doorways to exits, to the smoke that was rising a little too fast from the lower west stairwell. My instincts started to push down the fear like hands pressing water back into a tank.
I started breathing slower. Intentionally.
Just like he taught me.
The panic was still there, thrashing inside my chest like a wild thing trying to get out. But it wouldn't. Not yet.
I wouldn't let it.
"South stairwell," Xander muttered beside me, turning sharply down a less crowded hallway. "There's an emergency door out back, near the sports wing. Fewer people. We'll go around."
I nodded once.
No hesitation.
He glanced at me for the briefest moment—like he was expecting me to still be barely holding it together.
But I wasn't.
Or at least, I didn't look like I was.
"Good," he said quietly. That was the only word he gave.
We ducked past a classroom door that hung open. The lights inside flickered, the room abandoned. There were bags left on desks. One was torn, like someone grabbed it too hard while running.
"I don't hear any faculty," I said under my breath.
"I know. Something's off."
We both picked up our pace.
Another loud bang came from the opposite wing.
And then—
A scream. Closer this time.
Not panic. Pain.
We both stopped.
My eyes flicked toward the source. I didn't mean to move forward, but my feet shifted instinctively, ready to go.
Xander's arm snapped out again, blocking me.
"No," he said. Firm.
"But someone—"
"That's not your job."
I wanted to argue.
But I didn't.
Because he was right.
And even if he wasn't—I didn't have time to be emotional.
This was bigger than me. Bigger than all of us.
My jaw tightened. "Fine. Let's go."
He nodded once.
We kept running.
I didn't look back.
We turned the corner near the emergency stairwell, the shrieking alarm still echoing behind us, and nearly collided with someone sprinting the opposite direction.
Xander stepped forward fast, hand instinctively moving toward the inside of his jacket.
"Wait! Wait, it's me!" the figure shouted, skidding to a halt with hands raised.
It was a girl. Short, flushed, hair in a messy ponytail. A second later, my brain caught up—Riley. She wasn't close with us, but we had a few classes together.
"Karina?" she gasped, eyes wide. "You're okay?"
I nodded, catching my breath. "What are you doing here?"
"I—I was looking for my little brother. I told him to stay by the gym, but I couldn't find him when the alarm went off. The halls got crazy—someone said there was a fire, then someone else said there was a fight—I didn't know who to believe."
"No fire," Xander cut in. "Smoke, yes, but it's from something else. And we didn't see your brother on the way here."
Riley's face fell, but she nodded quickly. "Okay. Okay. Maybe he already got out. I just… I couldn't leave without checking."
My eyes flicked toward the stairwell door.
We couldn't stand here long.
"We're heading outside," I said. "Come with us."
She hesitated. "But—"
"If he's smart, he's already out," I added, tone flat. "If you stay, you're risking more."
Riley chewed her lip, clearly torn. But after a beat, she nodded. "Okay. Okay, lead the way."
Xander glanced at me once before pushing the door open with his shoulder, scanning down the stairwell like a soldier entering unknown territory.
We moved fast.
The metal stairs clanged under our shoes, but there was no one else here. The thick walls muffled the chaos from the rest of the building. Every breath of silence felt temporary.
I caught Riley stealing glances at Xander.
She didn't know who he was. Just that he moved like he knew what he was doing. Like this wasn't his first time running through halls with alarms blazing.
Honestly, I barely knew who he was either.
But right now, I was grateful for it.
We hit the bottom step, and Xander pushed through the final door leading out behind the gym. Cold air slammed into us like a slap.
Freedom.
At least for now.
But I knew better than to think it was over.
Because something was happening.
Something real.
And if my gut was right—we'd only seen the first crack in the surface.
The cold air burned the inside of my nose as we stepped onto the pavement.
Behind the gym, everything felt… wrongly quiet. No panicked students. No teachers yelling roll calls. Just the hum of the distant alarm bleeding through thick concrete walls.
Riley slumped to the side, bracing herself against the brick wall, chest heaving. "We made it. Thank God, we—"
"Stay close," Xander said, eyes scanning the open space like a hawk. "We're not out yet."
I looked at him. His entire posture had changed. His shoulders were tighter, jaw tense. He wasn't just being careful.
He sensed something.
"What is it?" I asked under my breath, moving beside him.
He didn't answer at first.
Then, slowly, he nodded toward the far edge of the sports field, just past the fencing where the trees thickened. "There."
I squinted in the direction he pointed.
At first I saw nothing—just the usual line of trees and the shimmer of the chain-link fence in the low sunlight.
But then…
Movement.
A shadow pulled back quickly, vanishing behind a tree. Too fast to identify.
"Probably just someone running away," Riley said, though her voice wavered. "Right?"
Xander didn't answer.
His hand shifted slightly toward the back of his belt, but didn't draw anything. Just the idea made my stomach turn.
He still stared toward the trees. "That wasn't a student."
"How do you know?" I whispered.
"Because they weren't running like one."
I blinked.
"They were watching," he added.
A strange chill passed through me—not from the air this time.
We stood there for a moment longer.
I was starting to breathe faster again.
But then Xander turned to me, locking eyes like he was flipping some kind of switch.
"We move," he said. "Now."
I didn't question him.
We followed.
And this time, I didn't look back either.