Chapter 3 The invitation

The invitation slithered beneath Akira's door at midnight, its edges trimmed in black lace that prickled like spider legs against her fingers.

*Miss Vance is cordially invited to the Blackthorn Equinox Ball.*

*Dress: Living shadows preferred.*

*Bring your teeth.*

Akira exhaled through her nose. Three weeks at Blackthorn Academy had taught her two things: nothing here was optional, and every "tradition" left scars.

A knock rattled her door.

"Still alive?"

The girl leaning against her doorframe had violet-stained lips and a silver ring through her nose-strikingly out of place among Blackthorn's polished elite. **Lena Choi**, the only person who'd bothered showing Akira where the library's forbidden section was hidden.

"Unfortunately," Akira muttered, waving the invitation. "What fresh hell is this?"

Lena's grin revealed slightly pointed canines. "The Hunt's pre-party. Where the Vanthornes weed out the weak." She tossed a bundle of black fabric at Akira. "Wear this. Silk absorbs blood better than cotton."

---

**The East Tower – One Hour Later**

Akira adjusted the obsidian pins in her hair, watching Lena smear kohl around her eyes in the gilded mirror. The dress Lena had stolen fit surprisingly well-a waterfall of living shadow that whispered against Akira's skin like a second conscience.

"You never told me how you survived your first Hunt," Akira said, catching Lena's wrist. The girl's forearm bore a raised scar in the shape of a serpent eating its own tail.

Lena's smile didn't reach her eyes. "By being too vicious to kill." She pressed a vial into Akira's palm. "Drink this. It'll dull the pain when they come for you."

Before Akira could ask who *they* were, the tower bell screamed.

Lena went pale. "They've never started early before."

---

**The Ballroom – 11:13 PM**

Candles floated in midair, dripping wax onto the dancers below. Students wore masks that changed with their moods-smirks melting into snarls between steps. At the center of the room, Headmistress Voss sipped wine from a goblet carved from a human skull.

"Chin up, orphan." A boy with ice-blond hair and a smirk like a straight razor appeared at Akira's left. **Sebastian Thorne**, Lena had warned her-Kyler's cousin and the academy's most prolific poisoner. "You'll want to see this."

The music stopped.

A girl in a silver mask-**Mirabelle**, Akira recognized from Herbology-was dragged onto the dance floor by two masked figures. Her terrified gaze found Akira's.

"Please-"

Headmistress Voss flicked her fingers.

Mirabelle's spine arched as her skin began *peeling* itself away in translucent layers, floating upward like ghostly petals. The crowd cheered.

Sebastian leaned in, his breath reeking of candied violets. "They're making her into a living veil. Lovely, isn't it?"

Akira's magic surged-shadows lashing at her ankles.

A hand clamped around her elbow. **Kyler**, dressed in a black tailcoat lined with silver thorns, hauled her backward. "Touch your power here and you're next," he hissed.

---

**The Balcony – 11:47 PM**

Akira wrenched free. "What the hell was that?"

Kyler's mask slipped, revealing dark circles under his eyes. "An *example*." He nodded toward the gardens below, where figures in antlered masks stalked between the hedges. "The Hunt begins at midnight. They'll be hunting *you*."

"Why?"

"Because I asked them to."

Lena materialized from the shadows, her dress torn at the shoulder. "He's lying." She shoved Kyler hard enough to make him stumble. "They hunt the unclaimed every Equinox. Vanthornes always lead the pack."

Kyler's jaw tightened. "I didn't-"

The clock struck twelve.

A horn bellowed from the forest.

Lena grabbed Akira's hand. "Run."

---

**The Hedge Maze – 12:06 AM**

Brambles tore at Akira's dress as she crashed through the labyrinth. Behind her, hounds bayed-their cries too melodic to be natural.

Lena yanked her behind a statue. "They're not dogs. They're *changed* students. Failed experiments." She pressed a bone dagger into Akira's palm. "Aim for the eyes."

A shadow detached itself from the hedges.

Sebastian, his antler mask now fused to his face, licked blood from his fingers. "Found the strays, cousin."

Kyler stepped into the moonlight, a whip of braided silver in his hands. His eyes locked onto Akira's.

"Close your eyes," he mouthed.

The whip cracked.

---

**The Mausoleum – 12:33 AM**

Akira's knees hit marble as Kyler barricaded the door. Blood dripped from his split lip.

Lena crouched beside a sarcophagus, her dagger drawn. "You set us up."

"I kept you *alive*," Kyler snapped.

Outside, something scratched at the walls.

Akira's shadows erupted-filling the tomb with swirling darkness. For the first time, she didn't fight it.

Kyler's laugh was raw. "That's it. Let them see the monster."

The door shattered.