Page 12 of Shattered & Returned

“No kidding,” I said sarcastically.

The jeep crunched over bones.

The gates loomed ahead against the storm-choked sky. Iron spikes towered, woven with shimmering silver light.

“Open the gates!” Morrigan roared.

Two armed guards swung the two sides open, just as a skeletal hand grazed the jeep’s bumper.

The jeep rolled through, the ward’s energy prickling over my skin like static.

“The ward accepted you,” Orren said.

“What if it rejected me?” I asked. “Would it kill me?”

“Anyone with a drop of divine blood passes,” Dante said.

Divine blood.The words lodged in my chest. Then a wave of pain hit as a new reality sank into me.Mom. Alone in her grave.

An ocean away.

Chapter

Five

Bloom

Forsaken Academy

The gates closed behind us with a finality that resonated in my bones. This place didn’t just accept me; itconsumedme. Like a seed dropped into hungry soil, part of me recoiled while another, deeper part sighed in recognition.

I twisted to look back. The fog had swallowed the road whole, erasing any trace of skeletons or demons. But the prickling at my nape said they were still there. Watching. Waiting.

The jeep halted before a courtyard of polished black marble, its surface so flawless I could see my pale reflection staring back at me like a ghost.

Orren offered his hand. I let it hang in the air between us. Kidnappers didn’t get courtesy.

Then I looked up—and forgot to breathe.

Three distant towers speared the sky, their obsidian peaks forming a perfect triangle around the academy, their spires clawing at the sky in jagged pinnacles. Between them sprawled a nightmare of Gothic splendor: Victorian buildings carved from gleaming black stone, their tinted windows swallowing the light. Slate roofs shimmered like raven feathers, and each gargoyle’s grin seemed to widen as I stared.

I’d tumbled into a world of living shadow.

Sunlight dared not touch certain corners of the academy. Shadows spread like spilled ink, thick and permanent, yet instead of fear, they pulled at me, a whisper in my veins sayingremember.It was like I’d come home, even though this was far from home.

My gaze fell on the central building. Its onyx façade drank the sun whole, leaving only the illusion of windows: four stories of stained glass glowing with amber light, their midnight-blue patterns swirling like trapped spirits.

It was alluring, sinister, and splendid all at once.

I should have recoiled. Instead, my pulse thrummed in recognition.

A staircase of black marble led to double doors, flanked by dark cypress on either side. My gaze locked on the crest carved above the doors:

A porcelain mask, shattered.

Twin tears of blood streaking its cheeks.

An icon of torment.

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