There was a groan from somewhere above and then a thud.
Everything came back to me in a heartbeat. I sighed in relief. I had succeeded in unlocking the door to the tower.
I was still doing something stupid, but at least I remembered deciding to do it. I twisted the knob before I could change my mind, and began climbing the stairs.
I don’t know what I expected. It’s not like I thought there would be a fancy elevator or anything. But I hadn’t pictured the endless circle of stairs winding up and up and up.
I gathered up my gown in my hands and moved as quickly as I could, pulled like a magnet to whatever was at the top.
At intervals I would pass a window showing me the darkened grounds of the school. As I got higher, the view shifted to one of the nearby treetops under a blanket of stars.
Here on the mountaintop, the stars were visible every night. It was nothing like the bustling suburban hub where I’d spent my childhood.
I could almost believe I was a real princess in a castle from medieval times, stealing away in the night. Except that storybook princesses were always tall and graceful with long, pale hair.
And I was short and curvy with a mop of dark, unkept curls and no innate grace or charisma to speak of.
If this were a fairy tale, I would be the luckless scullery maid, trotting up the tower stairs to bring the kindling for the princess’s fire, noticed only if I were eaten by a dragon or if the princess did me a kindness.
There was another groan from above and I redoubled my efforts, my panting echoing back to me on the cold stone walls.
At last, legs burning, I reached the top of the stairs. There was another door, just as sturdy as the one at the bottom.
Moonlight poured in a window at the landing, revealing strange etchings on the door.
No, they weren’t etchings. They were claw marks.
I lifted my hand to trace them in wonder. They were furrowed deep into the hard wood. Whatever made them must have been huge.
Suddenly something on the other side of the door rasped in a deep, panting breath.
I pulled my hand back quickly, forgetting that I had been tracing the claw marks. A splinter lodged itself in the pad of my index finger and I cried out.
The sound echoed around me as I ripped the splinter out. A drop of blood welled up in its place.
I was putting my finger to my mouth when the thing in the tower slammed itself into the door with a thunderous crash. I half expected the door to splinter to shreds and whatever it was to explode out.
I screamed and flew down the stairs, nightgown flying out behind me.
The steps were endless, and the darkness seemed to close in all around me. My heart pounded so loudly in my ears that I couldn’t even hear whether or not I was being pursued.
At last, I burst out of the lower door and back into the main corridor, crashing headlong into something.
“Ow, hey,” a familiar voice said angrily.
“Kendall,” I said in relief, patting her arm and then reaching behind myself to be sure the door to the tower was locked.
It was.
“Damn, Cori,” Kendall whispered. “Watch where you’re going.”
“I’m so sorry,” I told her, grabbing her arm. “But there’s something up in the tower.”
“Shh,” she said, snatching her arm back. “We can’t get caught in the halls after midnight.”
I watched in shock as Kendall hurried away to her room.
She was fully dressed, I realized belatedly, and wearing make-up.
Of course I had heard the rumors that Kendall had a townie boyfriend, but I hadn’t really believed them. The witches of Primrose Academy were supposed to remain celibate as we learned to harness our powers. We were told this was one more way to pay in advance for our magic.
Well, most of us were, anyway.
Of course, there was also the school’s arrangement with the guardian shifters who patrolled the forest to help us protect the sacred library.
Every month, under the light of the full moon, we held a ceremony in which a shifter could choose a mate from among the students. Only the the guardian shifters never showed up. At least, not in the time I’d been at the school.
Until Bella.
She’d been chosen last month, on her very first day at the school.
I felt a pang of sadness about losing Bella to the guardians. I would miss having her as a roommate. At least she was still coming to school during the day so I hadn’t lost her as a friend. And I knew she really loved Luke, the guardian who chose her.
Bella had her mate, Kendall apparently had her boyfriend in town. Who else was sneaking off for some action. Was I the only witch in the castle who wasn’t getting that kind of attention.
Of course, some fumbling townie boy probably wasn’t really worth the effort. A guardian, on the other hand…
The golden gaze from my dream came back to me and I gasped.
I did know those eyes. They belonged to the guardian who had come back to the school with Bella and her mate. The one who had stared at me until I flushed and looked away, overwhelmed by his masculine beauty.
I scurried back into my room and crawled into bed, expecting to feel afraid. I was alone, and there was something in the tower, something big. I had heard it, and practically felt it.
And it had noticed me. It had scented my blood.
But as I thought back to the gashes in the door and the anguished roar of the thing in the tower, somehow I didn't feel scared.
I felt exhilarated.
2
Cori
The cafeteria was bustling the next morning, like it was just another normal day. The scent of maple syrup and coffee filled the air along with the soft chatter and clinking silverware of my fellow students.
I grabbed my breakfast and stood at the end of the
