Chapter 28
Twenty-Eight
The moment I shoved the Ouija board into my closet, the room felt wrong. Not just eerie—wrong. The dim candlelight flickered against the walls, casting shadows that stretched too long, moved too unnaturally. My breath came shallow, every sound amplified by the silence pressing in around me.
I should’ve burned that damn board. Should’ve left the second Aeron did. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that turning my back on it now would make it worse.
I gritted my teeth and grabbed my coin, flipping it between my fingers. The cool metal grounded me, the repetition keeping my thoughts from spiraling. Heads. Of course.
Then, the air shifted.
Heavy. Suffocating.
A sharp chill wrapped around my spine, creeping up the back of my neck like icy fingers. My ears popped, pressure pressing against my skull like I’d been plunged underwater. The candlelight warped, flickering wildly, and the closet door creaked as if something pressed against it from the inside.
I tightened my grip on the coin. Just my imagination. That was all.
Then came the whisper.
You don’t have a choice.
My blood turned to ice.
I spun around, my chair scraping against the floor, but nothing was there—just me and the too-quiet room.
The darkness in the corners stretched deeper, unnatural shadows clawing their way up the walls. My pulse pounded in my ears, drowning out everything else. I wasn’t alone.
A sharp gust of air rushed past my ear, carrying something cold and wrong.
They did this. They let me fall.
My breath caught. “Lilith?”
The candles exploded.
A loud pop, then darkness swallowed the room. My body jerked back, my heart pounding, breath coming too fast. The scent of burnt wax filled the air, thick and cloying. A sharp sting bloomed across my cheek. I pressed my hand to it, my fingers coming away wet.
Blood.
A guttural creak pulled my gaze to the closet. The door, which had been shut, now stood open an inch. Just enough for darkness to bleed out, stretching toward me. My stomach twisted.
I needed to get out.
I grabbed my keys and coat, shoving my way out of the dorm. The second I stepped into the hallway, the air felt too still. Like the entire building was holding its breath.
A laugh slithered through the air.
Soft. Mocking. Too close.
I didn’t stop to check where it came from. I bolted for the exit, the weight of something unseen pressing against my back.
The cold night air hit me like a slap, but it didn’t shake the feeling of being watched. My fingers curled tighter around my coin as I made my way to my car, my hands shaking by the time I unlocked the door and climbed inside.
I locked the doors. Flipped the coin again. Heads. Again.
I needed sleep. Just a few hours. But the moment I closed my eyes, the world refused to let me rest.
An owl hooted too close—its cry warped, elongated, twisting into something almost human before cutting off abruptly. My eyes snapped open, my breath sharp in my throat.
Just a bird. It had to be just a bird.
A group of students stumbled past, laughing too loudly, but the sound distorted, like a record played backward. My skin prickled. The voices warped, stretching into something not quite human before fading into silence.
The air inside the car thickened, pressing down on me, the chill seeping deeper into my bones. It wasn’t just cold—it was wrong. Too still. Too empty. My breath clouded in the air, but my body felt feverish, too hot beneath my skin.
Every time I drifted off, something pulled me back—a sudden tap against the window. My eyes flew open. Nothing there.
An engine revved in the distance, but the sound dragged, like a deep growl reverberating through the night. A dog barked, a frantic yelp that cut off too suddenly, like something had stopped it.
And then there was the whisper—low, drawn out, curling into the small space like smoke.
Kael.
I bolted upright, my heart hammering. No one was there.
I locked the doors—again.
I clenched my jaw, rubbed my face, and stared at the empty streets around me. If I stayed here, I’d lose my mind. Maybe if I kept moving, she’d leave me alone. Maybe it was the stillness she liked, waiting for me to sink into exhaustion before closing in.
I climbed into the driver seat, started the car, hopefully leaving the bullshit behind me.
I drove aimlessly, my fingers gripping the wheel so tight my knuckles ached. The streets blurred together, each stoplight stretching longer than it should, each turn leading me somewhere I didn’t remember choosing.
Shadows played tricks in my mirrors—flashes of movement that vanished when I looked directly at them. The streetlights buzzed, flickering as I passed beneath them, like something was following me, shorting them out one by one.
I forced my breathing steady. Just drive. Just keep moving. But it didn’t help. The engine hummed too low, the street signs blurred, and the clock on my dashboard flickered between numbers that didn’t make sense. 2:47 AM. 3:16 AM. 1:59 AM. Back to 2:47.
And then the whisper came again right against my ear.
"You can’t outrun me, Kael."
The wheel jerked in my hands. The tires skidded as I swerved, my pulse spiking like ice through my veins. I slammed the brakes, my breath ragged, my heart hammering.
I couldn’t do this. I had to stop.
I pulled into an empty parking lot, gripping my coin like a lifeline. By the time the first light crept over the horizon, I felt like a corpse in my own skin. My limbs ached, my head pounded, and exhaustion clawed at me, but sleep never came. Not when all my thoughts revolved around her .