Chapter 2 The Boy Who Didn't Freeze

POV: Rory Hale

They think silence is peaceful. But this silence wasn't tranquilly. It was a scream without sound, a knife shoved to the throat of reality.

Everyone around me sat frozen. The teacher's chalk hovered midair, a white line dangling in space. The boy in front of me was stopped mid-blink, lashes barely touching. Even the clock on the wall had stopped ticking.

And yet he moved.

The boy with storm-gray eyes reclined lazily back in his chair, arms folded like the world bowing to him was nothing new. His stare focused upon mine, keen and knowing.

"You shouldn't have let them see it," he continued. His voice carried, even though he spoke quietly.

I swallowed, my throat was dry. "See what?"

"The mark." His eyes darted to my arm as if he could see right through my sleeve, directly to the flaming rune searing my skin.

My instinct shouted at me to deny it. To play foolish, fake, run. But something about the way he looked at melike he already knew all my secretsmade lying futile.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I muttered anyhow.

He smirked, but it wasn't unkind. More like he pitied me. "You're not good at lying. Don't worry, you'll get better. You'll have to."

The hush squeezed in tighter, making my skin crawl. I looked around eagerly, hoping someone would move. Nothing. Everyone remained frozen statues, stuck in a universe that had stopped spinning.

"What's happening to them?" I asked, my voice shaking. "Why... why aren't they moving?"

"Because time isn't moving." He inclined his head slightly, like it was clear. "For them, at least."

My pulse thudded in my ears. "And for us?"

His smile vanished. "We're not like them."

I blinked, his words sinking in. We.

"What do you mean we?"

"You'll figure it out soon enough," he murmured, his stare intensifying. "But right now, all you need to understand is this: you don't belong here."

I was tense. "Excuse me?"

"This place. This school. This... human world you keep claiming is yours." His voice deepened, more certain, more threatening. "It's not. And if you stay, you'll get yourself killed."

My stomach twisted. "You don't even know me."

"Oh, I know you better than you think." His storm-gray eyes deepened, like lightning flashing in a stormcloud. "Your name is Rory Hale. Seventeen. Broken home. Broken heart. Broken promises. You mutter to yourself to keep unseen, yet you're the loudest thing in the room. Loud enough that animals you've only seen in nightmares can hear you breathing."

The words knocked the air from my lungs. "Stop."

"I can't." His jaw stiffened. "Because the second that mark lit up on your arm, you stopped being invisible. You stopped being safe."

I tugged my arm lower, hiding the tiny glow that still pulsed beneath my skin. My whole body shook. "This isn't real. I'm justI'm just weary, or dreaming, or"

"You're not dreaming." His voice sank, steady and unshakeable. "And the faster you stop lying to yourself, the longer you'll live."

Something hot pinched the back of my eyes. I hated that I sounded small when I murmured, "Why me?"

For the first time, his look softened, almost like he wanted to reach across the space between us and touch me. "Because fate doesn't care if you're ready."

I glanced at him, heart thumping. There was something hidden in his words, something that felt less like a warning and more like a confession.

But before I could enquire what he meant, the air rattled.

A faint hum started in the lights above, flashing erratically. The boy's expression tightened, all gentleness gone.

"They found you already," he murmured.

My blood ran cold. "Who"

He stood so rapidly the chair clattered backward. He walked toward me, each stride calculated, predatory. My instincts screamed danger, but my body couldn't move.

He reached me in three strides, stooped so close I could see sparkles of silver in his storm-gray eyes. His hand came out, grabbing the desk edge near mine.

"Listen to me, Rory." His voice was urgent, frantic. "When they come and they will come, don't trust anyone. Not your teachers. Not your buddies. Especially not the ones who smile at you. Understand?"

I shook my head violently. "I don't understand any of this! Who are you? Why me? What's happening?"

The hum grew louder, filling the air like a swarm of bees trapped in the walls. My arm burned brighter beneath my sleeve.

"You'll understand soon." His jaw clinched. "But for now... survive."

The lights above us exploded.

Glass rained down, the sound deafening in the frozen silence. Sparks lit the air like fireflies. My scream caught in my throat as my knees buckled.

The boy lunged forward, catching me before I hit the ground. His hand was warm, grounding, but his eyes burned with a storm I couldn't read.

"Remember my name," he whispered against my ear as the world spun away. "Kael Draven. Because I'm the only one who can keep you alive."

Then everything went black.

When Rory wakes, the classroom will be back to normal. The teacher will be scribbling equations, students will be laughing, as if nothing happened.

But Kael Draven and the warning he left behind will haunt her.

And something in the shadows will already be waiting.