Chapter 6

Elara woke up to the sharp, pungent smell of crushed herbs and ozone.

Her eyes snapped open. Her body reacted before her brain did-she rolled violently to the side, pulling her knees to her chest in a tight, defensive crouch.

She was on a bed made of polished beast bones and thick, soft leather. The room around her was a chaotic mess of exposed copper pipes, hissing steam valves, and glowing glass vials. It looked nothing like the pristine, sterile infirmaries of the High Tower.

She looked down at her body. Her ruined uniform was gone, replaced by a simple gray tunic. The massive, jagged wounds on her arms and legs were closed, stitched together with rough but incredibly potent magical threads.

She closed her eyes and focused inward. The chaos core was spinning silently in her abdomen, heavy and full. It had absorbed the miasma from the fall and was stronger than before.

The heavy iron door of the room screeched open.

Elara didn't hesitate. She lunged off the bed, grabbed a heavy, rusted metal IV pole standing nearby, and dropped into a combat stance. She gripped the metal so tightly her knuckles turned white.

A tall man walked in. He wore a heavily frayed, dark red trench coat. His silver-gray hair was tied back in a messy knot, and his deep, dark eyes looked lazy, almost bored.

He stopped when he saw her aiming the pole at his head.

A slow, amused smile spread across his face. He slowly raised both of his hands, palms open.

"I'm Thaddeus Grey," he said, his voice a deep, gravelly rumble. "Principal of Elysium Academy."

Elara's eyes narrowed. She recognized the name from the restricted section of the Tower's library. Elysium Academy was the dumping ground for heretics, outcasts, and psychopaths.

She didn't lower the pole. "Are you going to sell me back to Silas for a bounty?"

Grey let out a loud, barking laugh. He pulled a rickety wooden chair from the corner and sat down backward, resting his arms on the backrest.

"Sell you back to those hypocritical pricks?" Grey scoffed. "Please. We collect the Tower's enemies like trading cards down here. You're Elara Vex. The dead prodigy."

"I'm not dead," Elara said coldly.

"Clearly," Grey smirked. "In this sanctuary at the bottom of the abyss, the High Tower's laws don't mean shit. You're safe here."

Elara's muscles trembled from the tension. She didn't believe in unconditional safety. "Why did you save me?"

"My student Jasper thought you looked like an interesting piece of salvage," Grey said casually.

Right on cue, two heads popped around the doorframe. It was the boy and girl from the glider.

Jasper bounded into the room holding a glass beaker filled with a bubbling, neon-green liquid. "I made you a nutrient shake! It only exploded once!"

Kira walked in behind him and slapped the back of his head hard. "Don't poison the patient with your biohazards, idiot."

Elara stared at them. The casual, chaotic affection between them was so jarringly different from the rigid, cutthroat hierarchy of the Tower that she slightly lowered the metal pole.

Grey stood up. He snatched the bubbling beaker from Jasper's hand and set it on a high shelf out of reach.

He turned back to Elara, his lazy demeanor vanishing. His eyes turned sharp and serious.

"You can stay here and heal," Grey offered. "No strings attached. Just don't blow up my school."

Elara stared into his eyes. She looked for the lie, the hidden trap, the greed that she was so used to seeing in Silas. She found nothing but a wild, unhinged honesty.

She needed a safe place to master the chaos core.

Slowly, Elara lowered the metal pole until it clattered against the stone floor.

"Thank you," she said, her voice raspy.

Grey nodded. As he turned to leave, his eyes flicked down. His gaze locked onto the silver bracelet on Elara's left wrist.

Grey's entire body went rigidly still.

For a fraction of a second, the lazy principal looked like he had been struck by lightning. Raw shock, followed by a deep, agonizing wave of grief, washed over his features.

Elara noticed the shift instantly. She pulled her arm back slightly.

Grey blinked, instantly masking his expression. He didn't say a word. He just turned on his heel and walked out the door, Jasper and Kira trailing behind him.

Elara sat back down on the bone bed. She rubbed her thumb over the cold metal of the bracelet.

Her new life had just begun, but the past was already catching up to her.