Chapter 3 The Prediction
Aria barely heard the rest of the conversation. One name echoed through her mind.
Ethan Holloway.
She slowed to a stop in the middle of the courtyard while students streamed around her in every direction.
“Aria?” Nora turned back.
“You okay?”
“Who’s Ethan Holloway?”
Nora looked surprised. “You already know his name?”
“I overheard those guys.”
Nora followed her gaze to a group of students gathered around the academy fountain.
“Oh… Ethan.” She sighed. “He’s impossible to miss.”
“What do you mean?”
“Captain of the debate team. Straight-A student. Student council treasurer.” Nora rolled her eyes. “Also one of the biggest jerks on campus.”
“Why?”
“He treats everyone like they’re beneath him.” As if summoned by the conversation, several students suddenly stepped aside. Someone was approaching.
He looked about eighteen. Perfectly tailored uniform. Immaculate blond hair, confident smile. The kind of student who clearly knew people watched him wherever he went.
Three boys followed behind him, laughing at something he had just said.
“Ethan Holloway,” Nora muttered.
Aria studied him. There was nothing unusual about him.
He looked healthy, relaxed and very much alive. She almost laughed at herself. The recording had to be fake.
It had to be.
“Come on.” Nora nudged her shoulder. “Dorm orientation starts in twenty minutes.” As they crossed the courtyard, Ethan brushed past them without so much as a glance.
A folded paper slipped from the stack of files tucked beneath his arm. Neither he nor his friends noticed.
Aria bent to pick it up. “Ethan!” He turned impatiently.
“You dropped this.” He walked back, took the paper from her hand and gave her a brief nod. “Thanks.”
For a split second… Their eyes met. Something flickered across Ethan’s face.
Recognition? No. It was stranger than that. He looked…
Uneasy. As though seeing Aria had reminded him of something unpleasant.
Before she could understand the expression, he turned away and disappeared into the crowd.
“That was weird,” Nora murmured.
“What?”
“He never thanks anyone.”
The afternoon passed in a blur of campus tours, dormitory introductions and endless rules. Lights out at ten. Attendance checks twice daily. Restricted areas. Library hours. Emergency procedures.
Aria tried paying attention. Instead, fragments of the recording replayed endlessly inside her head.
Secret, warning.
Ethan Holloway will be dead before tomorrow’s sunset.
Ridiculous, she needed to stop thinking about it. That evening, she unpacked the last of her belongings inside Dormitory C.
Her roommate hadn’t arrived yet. The quiet should have been comforting. Instead, it made her thoughts louder.
She opened her notebook, hoping homework preparation would distract her. It didn’t.
Eventually, she pulled out her phone. The academy’s student portal loaded after a few seconds. She typed one name into the search bar.
Ethan Holloway.
His profile appeared instantly. Academic Excellence Award, debate Captain, student Council Treasurer, chemistry Olympiad Finalist. Nearly every achievement Blackwood offered carried his name.
Below the awards sat his class timetable. Tomorrow’s final lesson… Chemistry Laboratory.
Aria froze.
The boys near the fountain had mentioned chemistry too. Coincidence, yeah... It had to be. She closed the website. Sleep refused to come easily. Rain tapped softly against the dormitory windows.
Wind whispered through ancient trees outside. Just after midnight… A sharp sound jolted Aria awake.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Someone was knocking. Not on the dormitory door, on the window. Her heartbeat quickened. She sat upright.
The tapping stopped. Silence then settled over the room. After several tense seconds, she climbed out of bed and walked toward the curtains.
Slowly… She pulled them aside. Nothing seen, only rain.
The courtyard below lay empty beneath dim security lights. She let out a slow breath.
“Nerves,” she whispered.
“You’re imagining things.” Turning away, she noticed something lying on the windowsill. A tiny cassette tape, her blood ran cold. She hadn’t left anything there. Hands trembling, she picked it up. Black marker covered one side. Only three words had been written.
Don’t warn him.
Morning arrived far too quickly. By breakfast, news of an overnight incident had spread across campus. Students clustered around their phones, whispering anxiously.
“What happened?” Nora asked a passing classmate.
“The chemistry lab.”
“What about it?”
“There was some kind of accident overnight.”
Aria’s pulse stumbled. “Was anyone hurt?” The student shrugged. “They closed the whole science building.”
He hurried away before either of them could ask another question. Throughout breakfast, Aria barely touched her food. Every instinct screamed at her to find Ethan.
Tell him. Say anything, even if he laughed in her face.
At least she would have tried. The words written on the cassette flashed through her mind.
Don’t warn him.
Who had left it? How had they entered her room? And…
Why did they know what she was thinking?
The academy bell rang. Students rose from their seats.
As Aria stepped outside, a black motorcycle rolled through Blackwood’s front gates. The rider removed his helmet. Conversations around the courtyard died almost instantly. Even teachers paused.
Nora leaned closer. “You asked yesterday who everyone talks about?”
Aria nodded. Nora’s voice dropped to a whisper. “That’s Lucien Cross.”
Lucien looked across the crowded courtyard. His sharp gaze passed over dozens of students… Before stopping… Directly on Aria.
He didn’t smile. He didn’t wave. He simply held her gaze for one long, unreadable moment.
Then he walked straight toward her.
