Rain hissed against the glass dome of Holloway A
cademy.
Inside, I clutched the stolen key and ran.
"Five minutes," I whispered.
That’s all I had before the wards locked down fo
r the night.
My boots splashed through puddles in the marble
halls.
The air shimmered with old magic and surveillanc
e spells.
I wasn’t supposed to be here.
I wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near this place
.
Born on the wrong side of the tracks in a 1920s
town still stuck in the Dark Ages.
Magic made you either a hero or a target. I was
neither.
I was a pawn.
And the king just called me back.
He’d find me.
Gangsters always do.
But Holloway was different.
Here, magic was a science. Power was a privilege
.
I wasn’t supposed to belong.
But I did.
Until tonight.
Tonight, I had to disappear.
"Going somewhere?"
The voice cut through the corridor like a blade.
I froze.
He stood in the archway, trench coat soaked, eye
s cold.
Vince Marlowe.
Mob enforcer. My past. My nightmare.
"You're slipping, kid."
He stepped forward, fingers flexing like he was
already choking me.
I backed away.
"Not your problem anymore."
His laugh was dry.
"You don't get to walk away from a
debt like tha
t."
"I didn't ask to owe you anything."
My voice shook, but I held the key tight.
He tilted his head.
"You were born owing me."
I turned and ran.
He was right behind me.
The library was ahead.
The portal was in there.
One shot.
That's all I had.
"Stop!"
Vince shouted, and the walls trembled.
Magic flared in my palm.
I threw it without thinking.
The explosion lit the corridor.
Glass shattered behind me.
I didn’t look back.
I couldn’t.
The library doors slammed open.
Books flew as I skidded to a stop.
The portal glowed blue in the center of the room
.
Five seconds.
"Wait!"
A voice called from the shelves.
I turned.
A boy—no older than me—stepped into the light.
"Please."
He held out a hand.
"Who are you?"
I didn’t stop moving.
"Cole Holloway."
The name hit like thunder.
"You're the founder’s heir."
The academy was his family’s legacy.
He nodded.
"I know what he wants from you."
I looked at the portal.
Then at Vince’s shadow in the doorway.
Cole stepped closer.
"You don’t have to run alone."
Tears blurred my eyes.
"I don’t know how to do anything else."
He took my hand.
"Then let me teach you."
Vince roared.
Magic crackled in his fists.
Cole turned, shielding me.
"You want her? Come through."
He slammed the book.
The portal flared, and we fell.
Darkness swallowed us.
Then light.
We landed in a forest.
Pines. Rain. Quiet.
I gasped.
He pulled me up.
"Where are we?"
I whispered.
"Somewhere he can’t find you."
Cole looked around, then at me.
"Why help me?"
I couldn’t trust him.
He smiled.
"Because fate doesn’t get to decide who you beco
me."
I stared at him.
And for the first time, I believed I could be fr
ee.
Wind rustled the trees.
Somewhere far behind us, the world was burning.
But here?
We had a chance.
I took his hand.
And we walked into the unknown.
