Page 3 of We Hunt the Night

I watch as the wind blows the fog around the haunted-looking castle, and even in the daylight, it’s nothing short of a gothic wonder. Architecturally, it’s beautiful and stunning, but it looks like a million people might have lived and died in those walls, and they very likely have. They likely still haunt it to this day. The towers themselves look like a step for a god to stand on,and the black stone makes it look like a prison that I’m going to get lost in.

I feel an icy chill to the air—magic—and I turn around to see that I’m not alone. Across the cliffside are one hundred students just like me, all in dark cloaks, a line of witches with a single suitcase. They weren’t here a minute ago, and by the looks of them turning around to stare too, they didn’t see anyone else here either when they arrived. I can taste the magic in the air as I watch in awe as black tendrils of magic appear in the sky, swarming down into the sea and exploding in a flash. I hold my arm up against my eyes to shield myself, and when I lower it, there’s now a bridge leading straight across the sea. A black stone bridge, as old and well-made as the academy. Snake pillars, literal snakes that look like they are frozen in black stone, mark every few feet of the bridge over the sea. The other end of the bridge leads straight to the castle, over the tree line.

I don’t wait, I don’t second-guess this decision, and I walk straight onto the bridge and to my future. A future I get to choose, and I will survive the academy; I will help end and win this war, for my parents. For my family. I hold my head high, just like my parents would have wanted me to do as I pull my suitcase across the pebbled bridge. The wind is chilly as it blows against me, threatening to push me right off the bridge, but I keep going. I don’t stop. I look behind me to see everyone else is following—no, running. It’s only then that I notice the bridge is disappearing.

Oh, fuck.

Screams from people falling echo to me, and I run as fast as I can make my legs go. My cloak threatens to trip me up, and my suitcase slams on the stone as my heart races.Don’t stop, Juniper. Run, run, run!I hear my mother’s voice in my mind, repeating the same thing she told me on the day she died, and I don’t let myself do anything but listen to her.

The screams behind me are short, horrible, and a girl pushes into me, sending me crashing onto the stone. I wince, only seeing her blonde hair, as I dare to look back. The bridge is collapsing faster, getting closer. The stormy sea is waiting for me, and I will die down there. No. I push off the ground, grabbing my suitcase, and I run, feeling the ground shaking under my feet with every step, threatening to take me down with it.

The moment I cross into the forest, the bridge stops falling. I pause, looking back into the sea, wondering if I can help anyone, but the sea is vicious in its gray beauty, and everyone appears to have sunk. No spells can save them when magic doesn’t work outside the academy, not this close.

“Hey, I’m sorry I knocked you over.” I turn at the new voice, a girl the same age as me, with long blonde hair and a guilty expression. She has a dark gray cloak covering her with the mark of the Venus clan over her chest. She puts her case down and steps closer, bowing her head once, a sign of respect from witches. “I came back, but that doesn’t make it better. I’m just sorry. I was scared.”

“So was I. I’m Juniper.” I bow my head once back to her. “I might have knocked someone over too in that chaos. Why would they do that to us?”

She looks over my shoulder at the sea. “My father warned me they did this, and you got lucky the bridge appeared in front of you. Only twenty-five percent of the four hundred first-years survive the first year. This is how it begins. They don’t want weak witches fighting in the war and just becoming another powerful, controlled soldier for the enchantress to use against us.” She blinks. “Oh, I’m going on again. I’ll stop. I’m Winifred Venus, of the Venus clan. What’s your clan?”

Here we go. I knew I would end up having to tell someone, and I know they will have heard about my clan.

I pick up my suitcase handle and begin dragging it with her at my side. “Daygan clan.”

Her eyes widen, and she stops for a second. I don’t stop with her, and she catches up after a brief pause. “I’m so sorry for what happened to them?—”

“I don’t like to talk about it.” I stop her.

Her cheeks brighten. “No, of course not.” We are quiet for a long part of the walk. “I’ve made it awkward. I’m not good at making friends. My father says it’s because I talk too much and that annoys people. He always says, ‘Wini won’t stop.’ My brother tells me it’s because I’m shy. I think it’s both, but I know I’ve put my foot in my mouth with you.”

“You haven’t.” I really look at her. She is tanned, likely from all that Texas heat I’ve heard about—at least, I think that’s where the Venus clan is based. Her eyes are hazel, there is a line of freckles across her cheeks, and she is shorter than me, which is surprising because I’m pretty short myself. “I’m nervous and I’m not used to anyone asking me about my clan. You came back when most wouldn’t have, and I think that’s cool. I’d like a friend going into the academy too.”

She beams, and I smile back. It takes us probably another fifteen minutes of fast-walking to catch up with the crowd and follow behind them as we cross the edge of the forest and over the lower parts of the academy. At the end of the path is a huge courtyard with old, weathered metal gates that are pulled open, with hundreds of sharp spikes on top, which line the walls too. The courtyard is all black, along with the black brick floors that are chipped in places, and green plants have crawled up through the gap. My eyes lock on the towering statues of knights in each corner, each of them holding a lantern in their hands that glows a dark green.

We all spread out around the courtyard, and I look back, seeing the metal gates lock shut on their own, the road vanishinglike it was never there. Bloodstone Academy students are sitting on a row of steps leading up to a big, arched door. My eyes drift down their uniforms. They wear tight, all black clothes that show off every inch of their toned and muscled bodies, with red lines down their arms and the side of their legs. The red emblem on their chests matches the one on my neck. Most of the students have a cloak clipped to their shoulders, and I watch as a few of them walk right past us, not giving anyone a second glance. I guess they aren’t interested in the first-years.

I don’t blame them. Any one of us could die pretty early on. A familiar man’s laugh makes me turn, looking straight ahead to a man standing on the steps. His uniform is the same, but instead of the red lines and emblem, it’s all silver, which matches his very silver hair. Golden skin, high cheekbones, and a tall, muscular body draw my attention, but it isn’t how attractive he is that has me staring. He’s familiar. I don’t know why. When he turns, his dark silver eyes locking onto mine, I remember, like a key unlocking a door, a memory I’ve never seen before comes flashing into my mind.

“Stop, stop, Juni. We can’t go too far, you know that!” I laugh, turning around to see Kane Ardian chasing me with a grumpy expression, his silver hair flashing in the sunlight. It isn’t fair that he is only two years older than me, yet somehow he is so much taller. Racing is no fun when you’ve got short legs. He catches up to me in a minute, grabbing my arm and stopping me. I laugh, pushing him away, and he shakes his head. Something changed last year when he turned nine. He just got older—serious.

“You don’t smile anymore, Kane!” I frown. “Why not? What happens when you turn nine that I don’t know?”

“You’ll know when you’re older, Juni.” He sighs. “Come on, our parents will be mad if they know you came out this far.”

“I know, but it’s boring here. We never leave.” I cross my arms. “And you’re my only friend, and now you’re grumpy all the time. I think you don’t like me.”

He offers me his hand. “You’re my Juni. That will never be true.”

I stumble on my feet, and Winifred catches my elbow, steadying me. Kane was my childhood friend…before my parents died. I don’t remember what happened, but we grew up together and I adored him. Kane is here…and I remember him. I shrug Winifred’s hold off me, leaving my suitcase, and run to the bottom of the steps. “Kane! It’s me, Juni.”

He lifts his head, his silver locks moving with him, and he frowns. Slowly, he rises to his feet, and he is so much taller now. Imposing even. But this is Kane, who was kind and sometimes grumpy, but kind. The frown stays perched on his beautiful face, and he takes my breath away. He’s changed a lot since we were kids. “Get fucked, first-year.”

I wince at his deep voice, at the chuckles from the two girls sitting on the step behind him, both of them watching. I frown right back. “Don’t you remember me?” I close the space between us, and even when I’m on the same step as him, I have to arch my neck to meet his arresting eyes. His frown stays, though. No recognition, no nothing. “It’s Juniper. Come on?—”

“I don’t know anyone named Juniper,” he growls, and the hairs rise on the back of my neck as his eyes brighten, the dark gray turning almost white. “And this is low, even for first-years. Pretending to know me won’t make me bond with you.” He shoves me hard, and my feet leave the ground, right before I smack onto the ground with a cry. Laughter bursts out of everyone except Winifred, who runs over to help me up. I’m grateful to have a friend in this moment, but my embarrassment and confusion outweigh everything. Kane stares down at me.“Thank you for marking yourself as the first person I’m going to kill in the forest tomorrow night, Juniper.”

Fear sends my heart smacking in my chest, and I can’t hear anything Winifred is saying as she helps me up. My head and shoulder hurt from the fall, but nothing feels like more than a bruise. I’m so confused. “Juniper, seriously, you had to make enemies with the most dangerous unbonded shifter in the first ten minutes in the academy. It might have been better if you fell off the bridge into the sea,” Winifred hisses. “Don’t you know who that is?”

“Apparently not,” I mutter.

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