Then, Brix gets to his feet. “Okay. We’re in.”
I blink at him. “What?”
“You heard me,” he says. “We’re not gonna let you get exiled. Screw that. You’re one of us. Whether or not you’ve got a power.”
Holly nods, fierce and unwavering. “We’re going to figure this out. Together. I agree with Brix. First, we need to get your sin power up and running, so that exile is off the table. One thing at a time.”
“I’ll hit the library,” Sly says. “Start digging into past cases, experimental trainings, anything weird or borderline illegal.”
“Same,” Tabby adds. “Also, I’ll monitor Alexi. If he so much as breathes near you again, I’m setting his bed on fire. I don’t care how powerful he is. "
“How very wrath of you,” Holly teases her.
I smile, full and real for the first time in weeks.
“So, the first thing is manifesting a sin power. We focus on that. Everything else can wait,” I agree.
My chest feels a little less heavy.
For the first time, the weight isn’t just mine. I don’t deserve them, but I have them.
15
Thou Shalt Not Let Shadows Bite
Arwen
The combat mats are slick with sweat, and Holly’s breathing hard across from me, grinning like she lives for this.
“Better,” she pants, lowering her fists. “You actually blocked that time.”
I nod, rolling my shoulder with a wince. “Progress.”
She tosses me a towel, and I catch it mid-air. “Hit the showers. You smell like death.”
“Love you too,” I mutter with a grin.
Holly continues to train me in combat on Saturdays to make up for the classes I’m missing. She waves as she heads toward the cafeteria, leaving me alone as I make my way down the hallway of the locker rooms right off the training fields.
Footsteps behind me cause me to pause and look around. I look both ways down the long hallway and find no one around me. Strange.
The locker room doors creak open with that familiar screech, and I step inside.
Something seems… off.
A feeling—an itch at the base of my neck. It feels like eyes are on me.Watching. Studying. Waiting.
I scratch the back of my neck and shake it off. “It’s fine,” I whisper. “You’re just tired. You’re not losing it.”
The lights flicker overhead. Just once. But it’s enough to send a ripple of cold down my spine.Why am I so jumpy today?
No one’s here. The locker room is empty. Silent except for the low buzz of old lights.
“What’s with the horror cliché?” I whisper into the silence.
I head to the showers and turn the knob, steam blooming. The warmth should relax me. It doesn’t. Every creak, every drip of water feels amplified. The echo of a whisper bounces off the tiles.
Then I hear it.
