By six, the library was empty except for Eydis. Everyone else had gone to the dining hall, mandatory if you were tired of subsisting on instant noodles.

  She stayed behind the counter, her workspace neat and labeled, her notebook lay open. She tapped her pen against her chin, staring at the page until the obfuscated meaning finally cleared.

  “There it is.” Eydis copied the glyph into her notebook neatly. It was different from the symbols she knew—leaner, sharper, more elegant—but the logic was the same.

  Magic is a language. Every language has grammar.

  And logic was her sword and shield.

  The floorboards near the biography section had a distinctive creak. She stopped writing.

  Closing the text and slipping the notebook into her worn leather satchel, she moved through the aisles. She found Amanda hovering near the end of the row, pretending to read a spine she was holding upside down.

  Eydis remembered Amanda, Tiffany’s former accessory. When their eyes met, the girl jumped, nearly dropping the book.

  She took a single step forward, leaned in, and pressed a palm against the shelf by Amanda’s ear. “If you insist on lurking, you might as well invest in a… camera, was it? Less effort. Less pathetic.”

  Amanda stiffened. "Stalking? I wasn’t—”

  “You were.”

  “How did you—”

  “If this is about homework, the answer is still no. And even I have my limits when it comes to quadratic equations. Shocking, I know.”

  Amanda’s cheeks flushed red, but still she inched closer, determined. “Eydis… are you free tonight?”

  That baffled her. “Depends.”

  “On what?”

  “Your reason,” Eydis said, allowing a small smile.

  Amanda twisted her fingers. “I was thinking… maybe we could… I mean, obviously you don’t have to, but if you wanted to, like, just, you know...” She batted her eyelashes. “Spend time together?”

  "Spend time together?"

  Amanda nodded eagerly. “Yeah. Like… not in a weird way. Just. Like. As friends! Or maybe, uh… a date?”

  Eydis’s teasing smile faded.

  A date. A fruit. Or some convoluted social ordeal designed for maximum suffering. (The two were not, upon reflection, mutually exclusive.)

  “I could,” she said, letting hope flicker in Amanda’s eyes, “but I will not.”

  Hope murdered swiftly. Eydis smirked, and started to leave.

  Amanda’s damp hand closed around her wrist. “Please."

  Eydis regarded the hand, damp with sweat, then the pleading brown eyes.

  “Well?” She shifted the strap of her bag on her shoulder. “Don’t just stand there. Show me this ‘date’ of yours.”

  Amanda let out a breath and fell into step beside her.

  They walked in silence. Well, Eydis walked in silence. Amanda valiantly tried to fill it with chatter about the weather, anxious giggles, and desperate stabs at dialogue like, “So, uh, seen any good movies lately?”

  Yeah, starring in one right now.

  Eydis responded with nothing more than a sidelong glance, a vague “mm-hmm,” and the occasional “Why?” that thwarted her attempts. It worked well enough.

  Together they left the main path, where the dining-hall light no longer reached. Past the tennis courts, they followed the only paved pathway towards the cricket ground. As it was a mandatory dinner hour, there was no practice going on in this wide, open grassy space. Perfect for unwanted incidents.

  How convenient.

  Eydis stopped. “Notice anything odd?”

  Amanda glanced around. “I… no?”

  “Exactly. No witnesses.”

  Amanda’s breath hitched.

  “Not that I mind a little mystery,” Eydis added, amused, “but you do realise this is how horror stories start, don’t you?”

  “W-what? No! It’s just… a shortcut.”

  “A shortcut to hell?”

  Amanda’s laugh came out as a squeak. “Do you always speak like that?”

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  “Only when awake.” Eydis stepped forward. Amanda swallowed hard, backing away.

  “Good night, Amanda.” She turned on her heel and walked off. “I did rather enjoy the date.”

  The sky burned red as the sun died behind the field. Beneath that bruised sky, the bleachers stood empty save for two students.

  Tiffany sat cross-legged on the top row. Her smile was just shy of sane. "Tonight, justice will be served."

  Jillian knelt at her feet, her thin frame trembling. One hand pressed a stained shirt to slow the dark blood seeping through the cloth.

  Gross, really.

  “J-justice? Please, Tiff,” Jillian croaked. “It was a mistake.”

  "Mistake means accident. Don’t insult me.” Violet smoke wound from Tiffany’s fingertips, elegant, hypnotic power that answered only to her.

  Jillian flinched.

  “We were best friends,” Tiffany went on. “At least, you played the part. Then you talked, so eager to betray me.”

  “I never meant to betray you. You have to understand—”

  “Oh, please. You and Amanda both. You couldn’t keep your mouths shut. You exposed me. You humiliated me. And for what?”

  “I can fix it. Anything you want, I can get it.”

  Tiffany laughed, a girlish sound that didn't reach her eyes. “I already have everything I want.”

  The ink-shadows crawled up Jillian’s chest. They whispered, a thousand overlapping voices scratching against Tiffany’s mind.

  Take it. Break it. Ours.

  Tiffany’s eyes blazed purple. The shadows teased Jillian's neck, almost playful—

  She screamed.

  —not that Jillian appreciated it.

  Jillian scrambled back, eyes darting between Tiffany and the black smoke that reached her throat. “Please. Please.”

  Tiffany clicked her tongue. “I said silence.”

  They forced their way into Jillian’s mouth, sealing the scream, filling her throat.

  She shall be one with us.

  The voice stirred in her mind. She wasn’t sure whether it was her own inner voice or the entity. Lately, it was… complicated, as though she was no longer alone in her thoughts.

  A shard of doubt began to form. Tiffany remembered being happy once. From late-night sleepovers with the girls, Jillian giggling over nail polish, to sharing secret crushes and….

  Mocking a loser named Eydis.

  Eydis. The same loser Tiffany’s own best friends—Jillian and Amanda—had reported her for bullying.

  The doubt vanished completely.

  “Do it,” Tiffany whispered.

  The shadows expanded, cutting off Jillian’s cries and breath, swallowing her from the inside out. All that remained was her bloodied green blazer.

  Tiffany curled her trembling hands into tight fists until the sting registered. “How did it taste?”

  The answer purred through the air, sending her heart racing.

  “Delicious," it said aloud, then slipped back into the curve of her ear. Her soul, I mean. Polyester? Not quite.

  Tiffany was about to ask something else when she heard frantic footsteps approaching. Amanda burst into view, alone, pale and panting.

  "Where is Eydis?" Tiffany demanded.

  “I tried but... but she got suspicious."

  Tiffany slapped Amanda. "One job! You had ONE job!"

  "She's... she's too sharp," Amanda whimpered, clutching her cheek. "I think she knows..."

  Tiffany’s nails bit into her palms. If Eydis reached Astra… No. That could not happen. “Where did you see her last?”

  Amanda pointed toward the tennis courts. Tiffany set off immediately, the cold swirl of violet smoke at her heels pulling a smile from her.

  This power was hers.

  And no one, no one, would take it from her. Not Eydis. Not Astra.

  Not even Athena.

  Tiffany marched down the footpath. Up ahead, Eydis walked calmly, her dark braid against one shoulder.

  She looked so arrogant. So untouched.

  “EYDIS!”

  Eydis stopped and turned slowly.

  Tiffany threw her hand out. The violet ink crossed the distance instantly. It wrapped around Eydis’s limbs, hardening into violet chains.

  Eydis calmly observed the magical bindings and smiled. “A date proposal with bondage this time?” she teased. “Such deviance.”

  What? Tiffany’s gaze darted around. Is this a trap? The court is surely empty.

  She snarled. “Gross. Don’t flatter yourself. Unlike her, you’ll die slowly.”

  “Her?”

  “She was my friend!” The shadows yanked Eydis to her knees. The impact tore Eydis’s stockings. “But she’s a liar! She backstabbed me!”

  Eydis shook her head. Even now—especially now—there was no fear in her eyes. “Birds of a feather, then.”

  “Shut up!”

  "Did you ever understand loyalty, Tiffany? Even once?”

  Rage filled Tiffany’s vision. The smoke wrenched tighter, until Eydis’s breath came strained, until her lips turned blue.

  “Shut up! Shut UP!”

  Eydis forced out the words. “It’s a forgotten virtue… for those who wear… borrowed power. All you have is alliance.” Her lips twitched. “And alliance shifts.”

  A twig snapped.

  Amanda stood at the edge of the court, hands over her mouth.

  “Tiffany… stop…”

  Tiffany let out a bitter laugh. “So… The freak is your choice.”

  “No, but… weren’t we just supposed to teach her a lesson?”

  “I am,” Tiffany said. “Her final lesson.”

  Amanda took a step back.

  And there was the fear, the hesitation, the disgust.

  Something inside Tiffany cracked. She sprayed her fingers. “In the end… you all choose her.”

  Amanda didn't even have time to run. A lash of shadow whipped out, wrapping around her throat and hoisting her into the air.

  Tiffany turned back to Eydis. She walked over and backhanded her across the face. Eydis's head snapped to the side, the blood welling from her lip.

  “Hiding behind power? I can break you with my bare hands, freak! It’s all YOUR fault—you and them!”

  Eydis spat blood onto the court. She looked at the red splatter, then up at Tiffany. And then, she smiled.

  "Blaming everyone but yourself?” she said, “How utterly pedestrian. A broken record playing the same tired tune of self-pity."

  Tiffany’s chest heaved. The shadows, sensing her instability, pulsed. They released Amanda, who collapsed on the grass, and swarmed around Tiffany instead. They caressed her face, loving and possessive.

  Don’t listen to her lies.

  Tiffany growled. “How do I make this bitch suffer the most?”

  Ah, an acquaintance once told me… nothing brings sweeter music than the fading gasp of a stolen breath… slowly slipping away.

  Tiffany’s lips twisted. Yes. Yes, that would do.

  “Then… Make it slow.”

  Her eyes blackened.

  "Make her wish she were dead!"

  The smoke obeyed.

  And Eydis screamed.