Chapter 6 #2
“I knew I was going to like you! You ooze mischief,” Then he turns as I smile to myself.
Maybe making friends isn’t so bad after all.
***
The blanket feels too heavy against my skin, like it’s pressing me into the mattress rather than warming me. Moonlight spills across the room, soft and silvery, making the shadows crawl, sliding from corner to corner, never settling, always shifting. My heart won’t stop thudding.
It’s been hours since I left Corden in the common room.
We had another late-night chat, tucked into that same nook beside the library shelves, the fire crackling, casting golden light across his grin.
Just like my second night here. Students drifted past us, moving between the turret and the kitchen, carrying mugs and biscuits, barely sparing us a glance.
I loved it.
More than I should have.
I can’t remember the last time I spoke to someone without needing to measure every word, without calculating every angle. Even with Marlowe, conversation was always lopsided, her moods, her drama, her endless orbit around herself. But with Corden, it felt... different.
We tried convincing Deena to take a break, but she waved us off, buried in homework. Homework. In the first week. I don’t know how she’s drowning in assignments already, but maybe I’ve just missed too many normal teenage milestones to judge.
When we finally said goodnight, I crept upstairs, sticking to the shadows, pausing at every doorway, as if I might be caught doing something I shouldn’t.
Because the truth is, I am here for a reason.
This is all just a temporary stop, one more chore before I can disappear far, far away from my father, his polished lies, and our bloodstained family empire.
But I’ve found nothing. No whispers. No fragments of conversation. Not even a mention of Marlowe.
And that’s the strangest part.
Someone vanishes in the final months of school and no one even gossips? No hushed rumours or awkward silences? It’s like she never existed here at all.
I didn’t like her. That’s the truth.
I loved her, because I had to, because she was mine to love, but I didn’t like her. Still... I’d give anything to know what happened. To know if she’s still out there. To understand why she left.
And more importantly, why it feels like she was never here in the first place.
I exhale sharply and flip onto my back, frustration burning through me.
Something isn’t right. And I’m starting to think this place is keeping its secrets very well.
It’s freezing in here.
The single pane of stained glass does nothing to keep the chill out, and the thick stone walls seem to trap the cold like a secret. I may as well be sleeping outside. I’ve layered myself in my long pyjamas and a worn blue knit jumper, something I’d never wear to bed back home this time of year.
And yet, despite the miserable grey skies and the ever-present bite in the air, I find it... charming. Almost beautiful in its own bleak, haunting way.
I close my eyes, willing sleep to take me. I have an early class, and I cannot afford to drift off like I nearly did in Mr. Chapman’s lecture on my second day. That first night at Marrowton, I slept like the dead, heavy and undisturbed. But since then, something has changed.
I can’t settle.
Every hallway I walk down, I feel it…eyes. Watching.
In class, it prickles across the back of my neck.
In the dining hall, it crawls over my skin, even as I pretend to focus on my food.
Even here, in my room, wrapped in layers and darkness, I am not alone.
I feel them now.
Watching.
Always watching.
But this isn’t like his gaze. Not like Asher’s.
Asher’s stare is heat, searing and relentless.
Like it wants to strip me bare and study the bones beneath.
Like he could burn me away completely if I let him.
And part of me wants to. Desperately. Whatever it is he sees when he looks at me, I don’t think it’s something he plans to keep safe. But I don’t hate it.
This gaze, though, this one is different.
This one is cold.
Ice sharp and cruel, like the chill of winter breathing down my neck.
It doesn’t want to consume. It wants to dissect.
And I don’t know which is worse.
A scream pulls me from my thoughts.
I sit up, heart hammering, and freeze.
I listen.
Nothing.
Only silence.
Did I imagine that?
I stay frozen in bed, breath shallow, as the quiet stretches on. Minutes, or maybe seconds, drag past. My jaw aches clenched so tight it’s beginning to throb. My body is locked, tense with the weight of something I can’t name.
Eventually, I shift. Slowly, carefully, I rise and pad across the freezing floor to the door. My fingers hover on the handle. I take a grounding breath before pushing it down and cracking the door open just enough to peek out into the stairwell beyond.
Darkness greets me. Stillness.
But I felt it, that scream. Not only in my ears, but in my bones. Like it rattled something deep in me.
I shake my head, trying to dispel the creeping paranoia. I haven’t slept properly in two nights. This is exhaustion turning shadows into ghosts.
Turning away, I begin to retreat to bed, but something stops me mid-step, a flicker. Light. Outside.
I hurry to the window, pressing my face to the glass. The cold shocks my skin, stealing my breath for a moment. Condensation fogs most of the view, but I wipe a small circle clear with my sleeve, gaze straining.
There. In the trees.
A faint amber glow, bobbing through the dark like a will-o’-the-wisp. A torch, or lantern. Moving. Slowly. Steadily.
I glance at the clock.
2:04 AM.
Too late for a student.
Too early for a groundskeeper.
I shift my gaze left, to the caretakers' lodge tucked near the edge of the property. It's dark. Empty. Not a single light on inside.
I turn back to the forest, staring down from my high perch in the turret.
And then I freeze.
It’s gone.
There’s nothing.
No light dancing around between the trees. Just a dark forest that goes on for as far as I can see.
I pull back and cross my arms over my chest.
Maybe this is all a bad dream. I decide to give myself a little nip and immediately feel the pinch.
Ouch.
Okay, I’m awake.
I make my way back to bed with unhurried steps, going over the past hour in my head.
I pull the covers up to my chin as I sit with my back against the headboard, an uneasy feeling sitting low in my gut.
I am lost in my thoughts until the sun rises and the sound of birds chirping has me finally coming back to reality. My alarm starts to scream at me from its perch on the bedside table and with a tired groan I hit it off.
Without waiting around for more creepy shit to happen, I hop from the bed and quickly get ready.
I glance at my timetable pinned to the chalkboard near the door before I leave and roll my eyes when I see what I have first.
Chapman.
Fucking great.
At least seeing Asher will brighten my day though. He might have a girlfriend or at least a friend with benefits already, but that doesn’t stop me from enjoying his attention. And if today goes the same as the past couple, then I will have his attention. A lot.
I smile as I pull my bag over my shoulder and quietly make my way to the dining hall before anyone else steals the fresh coffee.
Today I am going to search the walls with sporting pictures and trophies on. Marlowe was a great gymnast, one that did competitions. Surely there will be some sign of her somewhere, she attended here for three years for Christ’s sake.
The more I search for hints of her and come up short, the more I am sure the faculty has something to do with this. They know more than they pretend to.
How much they are involved; I am not sure. But I will find out.