Kade Solarin arrived at Aurelian Academy well before most of the new students. He hadn't planned on that; he'd barely slept the night before. Every time he shut his eyes, he heard something breathing close to his ear, soft but heavy, like someone leaning over him in the dark. He kept telling himself it was stress. First day of a new school, new people, new rules. Anyone would be anxious.
But the sound felt too real.
His hand shook a little as he adjusted the strap of his bag. The front gate of Aurelian Academy stood high above him, a pair of iron doors etched with the school's crest-an eye inside a circle. Not a regular school logo. An actual eye. It always bothered him when he saw it on the website.
A strange motto was engraved beneath it:
TRUTH REQUIRES SILENCE.
He didn't know what that meant, and he wasn't sure he wanted to.
Students started to arrive in clumps. Some took photos in front of the fountain. Some consulted schedules with one another. Some were already gossiping. Kade hung back, leaning against a pillar, surveying the scene with careful eyes. He'd always been that kind of kid. Observe first. Act second.
A sudden voice stirred him from his thoughts.
"You're standing in front of the wrong building."
Kade turned.
A girl stood a few steps away, holding a cup of iced coffee. Her hair was jet-black and tied loosely behind her, and the wind kept pushing a few strands across her face. She didn't look like she was trying to impress anyone. Her expression was calm, almost uninterested, yet her eyes were sharp, like she noticed everything around her.
"I'm pretty sure this is the main entrance," said Kade.
"It is," she said. "But the orientation hall is the one behind it. You will end up with the engineering students if you walk into this one.
He blinked. "How do you know where I'm going?"
"You've checked your schedule four times in the last minute," she said. "People only do that when they're lost."
He hadn't known she'd been standing there, watching him. "Right."
"You're a new student," she said. "I can tell from the way you're scanning the buildings."
"Is that a bad thing?"
"No. Just obvious."
She moved past him as if the conversation was already over. Kade hesitated, then stepped forward.
"Wait," he said. "Which way is the hall again?"
She pointed lazily with her cup. "Straight down, turn left at the glass walkway."
"Thanks."
She nodded, yet still didn't smile. "Try not to get lost again."
"Can I get your name first?
She paused, turned around to him, and finally answered, "Mira."
For some reason, the name lingered within his mind. It was short and simple, yet familiar, as if he had heard it somewhere before. He wanted to ask more, but she had already mingled into the crowd.
---
Noise filled the orientation hall as hundreds of students packed onto the chairs and teachers climbed the stairs to the stage with piles of files in their hands. Kade sat down in the corner. He wasn't keen on any group conversations because he wasn't good at them.
He opened his notebook-the one in which he kept track of the strange things that occasionally happened around him-and flipped onto a fresh page.
Day 1 — Aurelian Academy
No sign of the… episodes yet.
Stay calm. Stay alert.
He didn't dare write the word "wolf." He didn't dare think about the night he couldn't remember-the night his whole town had burned down when he was ten. He was the only survivor. That alone brought enough attention to last a lifetime.
The headmaster stepped up onto the stage, interrupting his thoughts. A tall man with a stern face and a black suit that looked too heavy for the weather.
"Welcome to the new academic year at Aurelian Academy," he began. "Before we proceed, there is a matter we must address. Last year, three students—
Everyone's whispering started at the same second. Kade lifted his head.
"—went missing," the headmaster finished. "We have still not determined the cause. While investigations continue, extra measures have been put in place. You will be safe here. You have nothing to worry about.
The delivery of his words sounded forced.
Kade's stomach tightened.
The missing students weren't on the school's website. No one spoke about them online. But Kade recognized the tone the headmaster used — the tone grown-ups use when they're lying.
He scanned the hall and found Mira sitting by herself near the exit, her arms crossed, staring at the headmaster with a gaze that could cut glass. She wasn't shocked. She wasn't confused. She looked angry.
Like she already knew.
Immediately after the orientation, Kade followed the map on his phone toward the dorm. The campus was larger than he expected: long walkways, tall buildings, and empty fields that felt too quiet. There were hundreds of students around, but there were pockets of silence that didn't feel right.
Halfway to the dorm, he heard footsteps behind him.
He turned, expecting another student, but the hallway was empty.
"Kade," a voice whispered.
His chest tightened. The voice was right next to his ear.
He spun around again, this time faster. Again, nothing.
His hands were trembling. Not here. Not today. Not again.
He closed his eyes and took a slow breath. The whisper faded, but the air behind him still felt heavy, as if something stood there, watching.
"Kade?"
He jumped slightly. Standing a few meters away, Mira held a stack of files against her chest.
"You look like you saw a ghost," she said.
He swallowed. "It's nothing. Just tired."
"Right," she said skeptically. "Most people aren't startled by the mere mention of their name.
He forced a small laugh. "Do you always analyze people?"
"Only when they look suspicious," she said.
"Suspicious how?"
"You keep looking over your shoulder. You walk like you're expecting someone to follow you."
Kade didn't answer.
She studied him for a few seconds, then stepped closer. "Relax; this place is weird, but not dangerous during the day.
"What do you mean 'weird'?"
She shrugged. "You'll see soon enough."
She walked past him, and once again, he found himself following without thinking about it.
"You seem to know a lot about the school," he said.
"I've been studying it."
"For a project?
"For my brother," Mira said quietly. "He disappeared here last year."
Kade slowed down. "Sorry. I didn't know."
"No one knows," she muttered. "Because the school acts as if nothing happened."
"Vous croyez qu'il s'est enfui?"
She gave him a cold look. "He didn't run away. My brother wasn't the type to leave without telling me. Someone took him, and the school knows something."
Her voice was stable, yet Kade could tell she restrained herself.
He wanted to comfort her, but he didn't know how. He barely knew her. And he barely understood himself.
"What was his name?" he asked.
"Evan."
Something flickered across his mind: a memory he did not know he had. A shadow in a broken hall, a voice calling out an unseen name.
He shook it off.
"I hope you find answers," Kade said.
"I will," she replied. "With or without help."
She stopped walking and turned to him.
"You said you're new here," she said. "So here's some advice: if you hear strange things at night, ignore them. And whatever you do, don't wander near the West Wing."
"What's in the West Wing?"
"Nothing," Mira said. "Which is exactly the problem. Nothing should stay that quiet."
She left before he could ask any more.
Kade entered his dorm room, number 308. The room was small but neat. There was a single bed, a desk, and a window that overlooked the courtyard.
He sat on the bed and rubbed his eyes.
The whisper earlier unsettled him. It wasn't the first time it happened. He had spent years pretending the voice didn't exist. He thought it was trauma or imagination. But sometimes, especially on nights with no moon, the voice felt too real. Too close. Like it wanted something from him.
He opened his notebook again.
Strange sound again. Whisper.
Same word: "Kade."
Don't panic. Stay in control.
He closed the notebook and lay back.
The room was quiet for some time.
Then breathing came back.
Slow. Heavy. Right beside him.
But this time, something else followed — a whisper so low, he almost missed it.
"Let me out."
Kade shot up, his heart pounding. The room was empty.
His phone buzzed on the desk.
A message from an unknown number:
YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE COME BACK.
He stared at it, frozen.
Then another message came through:
I REMEMBER WHAT YOU DID.
Kade's breath stopped.
He didn't answer. He couldn't.
A knock sounded on his door. He got up slowly and opened it. Mira stood there, her expression unreadable. "We need to talk," she said. "About the West Wing." And for reasons he couldn't explain, Kade felt that whatever she wanted to tell him… had something to do with the part of himself he feared most. The part he couldn't remember. The part that whispered.