Chapter 3 WELCOME TO EDEN FALLS ACADEMY

KIA

I'd been screaming for what felt like forever when the cobblestone road finally came into view. My stomach lurched. There was no version of this where I landed on my feet.

"Fuck!" The curse tore out of me just as I slammed face-first into the road. Pain exploded through my stomach and shot up my spine.

"Ow..." I groaned, rolling onto my back to stare up at the stormy sky. "Great." I sucked in a sharp breath. "Always making stupid choices, Kia."

For one horrifying second, I just lay there, waiting for the pain to tell me which parts I'd broken.

Nothing.

I blinked. "Huh."

Slowly, I pushed myself onto my elbows before patting my arms, legs and ribs. Everything was… Fine?

I rose to my feet and turned in a slow circle, taking in whatever this place was supposed to be. The buildings lining the road looked like something out of an old photograph that had been kept running past its time, tall and narrow with iron balconies, windows dark behind glass that hadn't been cleaned in years. Lightning cracked across the sky at intervals, throwing the street into stark light before dropping it back into shadow. There should have been crows somewhere, or rats, or anything. Instead there was nothing. Just dead leaves scraping along the cobblestones in the wind.

"Hello?" My voice came out smaller than I meant it to.

Nothing answered.

"Computer voice? You still there?"

Still nothing.

I searched the ground around me and spotted the card a few feet away, glinting faintly under the next flash of lightning. I picked it up, and this time my own name looked back at me. Kia Williams. My height, my details, all of it exactly right. But the space that had shown bloodline sat completely blank.

I frowned at it. I could have sworn there was something there. Renegan, or something like that. I shook the thought off, because right now I had bigger problems, like being stranded in a city I'd fallen into through a portal.

"Okay." I held the card up like it could actually hear me. "So I'm not exactly good at geography. Could you maybe point me to—"

A screech tore through the sky, followed by a heavy gust of wind that nearly knocked me off my feet. I ducked on instinct as something grazed my shoulder, close enough that I felt a sharp sting where its claws tore a sliver from my dress.

I whirled around.

At first, I thought it was a bird. Some oversized vulture circling above the rooftops. Then it landed directly in front of me and let out a roar that smelled of rusted iron and spoiled eggs, the force of it knocking me clean off my feet and sending me skidding across the cobblestones.

When I managed to sit up, I finally got a proper look at it.

Its head resembled a raven's, sleek and black, except its ears rose into sharp points. Coarse gray fur covered the rest of its body instead of feathers. Half raven, half fox... stitched together into one creature that had absolutely no business existing.

"Nice birdie." I pushed myself up slowly, holding my hands where it could see them. "Are you... maybe my ride?"

It cocked its head at me, watching, and for one incredibly stupid second it almost looked curious. Almost cute, in a way that should have set off every alarm bell I owned.

I took a step closer anyway. Then another. I stretched out my hand the way you would toward a nervous dog, and I was just close enough to touch it when its eyes dissolved into swirling black smoke.

"Get down!"

Someone grabbed me around the waist and yanked me sideways, and the ground dropped out from under me for the second time that night. The world blurred.

When it settled again, I was somewhere else entirely. Lights. Noise. People. Almost like a market.

"Are you crazy?” the guy snapped before stopping mid-sentence. He blinked down at me.

My eyes widened.

"You." I pointed at him before my brain caught up with my mouth. "I know you."

He just stared. Blue eyes, the kind that made half the internet lose its mind. Black hair, curly, styled like he'd meant for it to look effortless before running his fingers through it anyway, leaving half of it falling over his forehead. Even the all-black uniform he wore looked tailored to perfection.

"Rhys Wilde,” I breathed.

"Who the hell are you?" His gaze swept over the torn dress and fake blood coating it. "You're clearly not from around here."

I fumbled out the academy card and held it toward him. "Kia Williams."

"How do you have an academy pass without a bloodline?"

"I don't know what that means." Then my mind flashed back to the empty space on the card. "Wait... you mean that section? I swear it wasn't blank before. It said something like House Renega..."

His hand clamped over my mouth before I could finish, and he pulled me in close, his voice dropping low enough that only I could hear.

"House Renegan?"

My heart slammed against my ribs. A guy had never held me like this before. Let alone the Rhys Wilde whose face somehow managed to appear in every Seattle entertainment headline.

He released my mouth but didn't step away. "What are you doing here?"

"I came looking for answers."

He looked like he was about to say something else when that same familiar screech split through the air. Everyone nearby went still for half a second before the panic set in, people scrambling for cover in every direction.

"It's that bird thing." I grabbed his sleeve. "Please don't tell me it's after me."

"It's called a Griffith." He pried my hand off. "Right now I need you to shut up and trust me."

"You could at least say it nicely…”

The words died in my throat. His eyes were changing, the blue bleeding into a dull red, black veins spreading out from the corners like cracks in glass. His canines lengthened right in front of me.

I spun to run.

He caught my shoulder before I'd taken a single step and sank his teeth into the exact spot the Griffith had grazed. Pain exploded through me. Then he was gone. The rush of air whipped my hair across my face.

I collapsed to my knees, clutching the bite, certain I was about to die on a road in a city that I didn't even recognize.

"I'm sorry," I whispered to the empty sky. To my dad. "I'm so sorry.”

He returned so suddenly it was like he'd never left. His uniform was wrinkled now, streaked with blood and something thick, black, and far too dark to be blood. The screeching had stopped.

"Skip the dramatics."

He hauled me upright by one arm, then slid the other beneath my knees and lifted me effortlessly against his chest. He moved so fast the world became nothing but streaks of light. I buried my face against him just to keep from being sick.

When he finally stopped and I looked up, a massive stone academy buildings stretched out before us, older than anything I'd ever seen yet somehow untouched by time. Students dressed in uniforms identical to his crossed the grounds, completely unfazed.

He dropped me without warning. I landed squarely on my backside.

"I'm really glad I never had a good opinion of you," I muttered, rubbing my sore hip.

He didn't even look at me. His attention stayed fixed on the academy.

"Welcome to Eden Falls Academy." His voice was as cold as winter. "I hope whoever sent you here knows what the hell they're doing."