Page 1 of Creatures of Chaos

One

I never would have enteredthe tunnels if I’d known what was going to happen. But that’s the thing about making stupid decisions, they never seem that way at the time.

The faelight torches that illuminate the underground passageways crisscrossing beneath Nightlark Academy are only just bright enough to keep me from face-planting into the rough stone walls. I move as quickly as I can in the low light; the echoes of the rocks crunching beneath my shoes the only sound as I shuffle-run down the long corridors.

I can’t be late to my next class. Last week Mr. Sullivan threatened to fail me if I show up late again, and if that happens I’ll be forced to take summer classes to graduate. That’snotan option. I’ve endured the torture that is Nightlark Academy for four excruciating years. I’m not spending a single day longer here than I have to.

Rounding a corner, I skid to a halt. The tunnel ahead is completely dark. Since faelight is eternal, it doesn’t extinguish on its own. Someone had to have removed the torches or used magic to douse the flame.

My breathing sounds unnaturally loud in the stillness. I strain my ears, trying to pick up a hint of movement or the faintest whisper. The passageways are indisputably creepy, and the darkness makes them even more so, but normal Nightlark students wouldn’t be as on guard as I am right now.

But normal students have magic. I do not.

The underground tunnels that connect the academy’s outer buildings and the main castle might technically be a shortcut, but they aren’t popular. They’re dark, dank, and dusty, the three D’s that usually keep students topside, but that’s not what keeps me taking the long way between classes each day. No, I’ve done my best to avoid the tunnels since freshman year because I’d been jumped in them too many times to feel safe down here anymore.

A beat passes as I try to make up my mind: turn back or keep going? The only thing worse than racing through pitch-black corridors alone would be finding out too late that I’mnotactually alone.

My classmates might not get physical out in the open academy hallways, but what happens in the tunnels stays in the tunnels. But even so, I chanced it today because I was running super late to Elemental Chemistry and was left with no choice. Since there are only a few precious minutes before the period starts, I assumed any other student traversing the tunnels would be long gone by now.

It seemed like an educated risk at the time, but as the hair begins to rise on my arms I start to regret my decision. I may not have the natural instincts of a shifter, but what instincts I do have are suddenly screaming at me.

“Run, little bunny,” a taunting voice whispers from the yawning abyss in front of me.

Jules.

Fear hits me like a tidal wave, flooding my veins with equal parts fire and ice. I know that voice. I know what’s coming.

I twist to flee, but before I take my first step it’s already too late. My back foot sinks into the solid ground, trapping me in the confined space with a psychopath. I yank at my leg that’s buried hallway up to my knee in a solid twelve inches of dirt and stone. The crazy wolf shifter must be using her magic to keep the ground sealed around my foot.

A chorus of eerie detached chuckles floats toward me as I continue to tug.

Oh no. She’s not alone.

I double my efforts, struggling in vain because I know that even if I manage to free myself she’ll just use her earth magic again to sink my other foot into the ground. But I don’t give up. I’m many things, but a quitter isn’t one of them. That’s probably one of the reasons the wolf shifter won’t leave me alone. As an alpha female in her pack, her natural instinct is to dominate. She wants to see me broken, in body and spirit. But that will never happen. I’ll never give her the satisfaction of breaking my spirit.

The crunch of loose gravel reaches my ears and I look up to see Jules and two of her minions appear from the darkness, smiling maniacally. They’re all dressed similarly in camo cargo pants, sneakers, and tight crop tops that just touch the waist of their pants. It looks like they’re trying too hard to look both fashionable yet tough. I’m not impressed.

Jules has been a thorn in my side for years. All because I punched her in the nose for picking on a small fae girl in our first year of elementary school. She’s had it out for me ever since, but it wasn’t until she came into her powers roughly nine years ago—and I didn’t—that the real trouble started. It was worth it though, because the small fae girl, Ensley, and her dragon shifter twin brother, Becks, have been my ride-or-die besties ever since.

Realizing I’ve run out of time, I straighten to my full height, which isn’t much and even shorter with one leg sunk into the ground, and I face them head-on.

“What have we here?” Jules asks, flipping a chunk of her wavy brown and gray-streaked hair over her shoulder.

“Looks like a whole lotta nothing to me,” Dina, her friend-slash-lackey answers, and Jules and the other redheaded wolf shifter, Freya, laugh.

I don’t bother asking what they want, because I already know. To see me bleed.

Clenching my jaw, I size them up. If magic wasn’t in the picture I’d have a chance, even against all three of them. Creatures like Jules who have strong magic tend to be poor fighters, relying on their magic to protect them. But Jules’ earth magic, however untrained she is, is still powerful. Dina’s and Freya’s less so, butsomemagic still trumpsnomagic.

If only my father’s shifter strength or my mother’s fae magic would finally manifest in me. I’d even welcome some distant ancestor’s creepy vampire powers if it meant I could face off with these girls on an equal footing, but here I am, almost eighteen and well past the age creature powers emerge and still not presenting even the smallest spark of magic.

Familiar resentment at my magical impotence rises in my gut like bile burning my esophagus, but like always I choke it down. It won’t do me any good to rage against something I have no power to change. At least that’s what my parents always tell me before reminding me how strong I am even without magic, but in times like this physical strength will only get me so far.

Jules steps closer but stays out of reach. I squeeze my fists in frustration. If she’d only come a few feet closer so I could nail her in the face with a left cross. A hit in the right spot could put her down, but they know what I can do with my fists, so all three shifters stay out of range.

Jules lifts her hand and a stone the size of my fist floats into the air in front of her. Dina and Freya follow suit, the rocks they chose only slightly smaller than Jules’.

Showy. If they want to throw rocks at me, they could just use their hands.

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