Page 7 of A Touch of Darkness (Chronicles of the Cursed #1)

I can’t breathe. The air in the room feels stifling, pressing against my ribs, squeezing the breath from my lungs. I keep telling myself that this can’t be real. That there has to be a reasonable explanation for everything—the dead silence that’s followed Lara’s disappearance, the cold, lingering presence that feels like it’s following me through the halls of Blackthorne. The overall unease I’ve had from the moment I stepped foot on campus. But the longer I wait, the more I feel like I’m drowning.

I try to focus on something else. I try to pull myself together, but it’s impossible. Lara’s not coming back on her own. I can feel it in my bones. It’s like she’s been erased from existence, her absence a hole that I can’t escape. I should have done something. I should have?—

“I don’t understand, Nicole,” I say, the words rushing out in a panicked gasp. I hate how weak I sound. “Why would she just disappear? No one’s telling me anything. No one cares. I feel like I’m in this secluded fucking castle, and I’m losing my mind.” My words rush out in one singular breath.

It’s been a full day since Lara didn’t come back to our dorm. It’s now after seven p.m. the next night. Twenty-four hours without her. With no contact. The mysterious, broody professor proved to be zero help. His demeanor was cold and unbothered. The guidance counselor had a kinder vibe, but he seems clueless. He said he filed a report and sent it up to administration. I wasn’t about to just sit around and wait for the higher ups to take things into their own hands and do something, so I took it upon myself to inform local law enforcement, who came out last night and took a report. The problem is that Lara is nineteen. She isn’t a minor. She has every right to “leave on her own,” as the police officers said, which apparently happens a lot at Blackthorne—people don’t like the place. Would’ve been nice to know before coming.

I know the truth, though.

Lara didn’t leave on her own.

She would never leave me.

Not after everything we’ve been through.

Nicole’s gaze is steady, but it doesn’t ease the knot tightening in my chest. “I don’t think the issue is that no one cares,” she says, her voice soft, clearly trying to calm me, but it’s no use. “You can’t force people to tell you what they don’t know. You need to be patient.”

Patient?

Patience is a foreign concept to me right now. I can’t sit idly by and wait. Not while I have no answers. Not while my sister is missing, gone without a trace, like a shadow swallowed by the dark that is touching every inch of this strange university.

Rebecca’s voice cuts in, quieter than Nicole’s as she adjusts how she’s sitting on Lara’s bed across from me. “You’re not seeing it, Sylvie,” she murmurs. “There are things here—things you don’t know about. Blackthorne isn’t just a university. It’s... more.”

The words hit me like a jolt of electricity, like the spark that could ignite something much bigger than all of us. I glance at Rebecca, but her face is unreadable, her eyes distant, like she’s speaking from a place far beyond this room.

“What do you mean, more ?” I ask, my heart racing. “What are you talking about?”

Nicole moves, her discomfort evident, and glances at Rebecca. Their expressions give it away before they even speak. They know something they aren’t telling me.

“You don’t understand yet, Sylvie,” Nicole says, her tone even softer now, like she’s trying to break something to me gently. “Not everything about Blackthorne is meant to be understood. Some things... aren’t meant to be found. Things happen here. With no explanation. I wish I could explain more but I’m bound to?—”

“You’re bound to what, Nicole?” I ask, then look at Rebecca. “Rebecca? Honestly. Why are we talking in fucking riddles?” I can’t stop myself. My mind is a whirl of questions, each one chasing the next in an endless cycle. “Where is Lara?” I press, louder than intended. “Why isn’t anyone helping me? I can’t just?—”

I stop, my voice catching in my throat as the door to my room slowly creaks open. I whip my head toward the sound, startled by the intrusion. I haven’t heard anyone approaching, and yet... here she is.

A girl—someone I’ve never seen before.

What the actual hell?

She’s tall, almost unnaturally so. Pale skin that seems to glow in the dim light of the room. Her light brown hair is gathered in a single braid down her back, loose strands falling out here and there, and her eyes—deep, dark, and full of something I can’t quite place—lock onto mine as though they’ve been waiting for me.

A shiver reverberates up my spine, and then down, dying out as she speaks.

“Can I talk to you, Sylvie?” Her voice is smooth, calm, too controlled for someone who’s just walked into a dorm room uninvited.

Nicole stands immediately, her posture stiffening like she’s ready to intervene. Rebecca’s eyes narrow, but neither of them say anything. It’s like they’re waiting for me to react. For me to decide if this person—this stranger—can be trusted.

I stand, slowly, unsure as to why, but something about the girl’s presence tugs at me. It’s an odd sensation—one I can’t explain. Something unseen pulls me toward her.

“You can’t just walk into someone’s dorm,” Nicole says, breaking the silence and crossing her arms over her chest.

I stand and place a hand on Nicole’s shoulder, turning to the girl in the doorway. “I’m sorry, but do I know you?” I ask, my voice hoarse, raw from everything I’ve been holding back. I should ask her why the hell she just walked right into my dorm. I should tell her to get out. But something inside of me twists—makes me feel like I need to talk to her. I can’t describe the feeling; it’s just an unease I can’t name.

She doesn’t flinch at the question, only steps farther into the room, like she belongs here, her eyes never leaving mine, as if we’re the only two here. I straighten my spine, unsure of why she’s here at all. Why she feels so comfortable walking in like she owns the place.

She smiles—just a miniscule curve of her lips—but it’s distant, almost…cold, uninviting. “My name is Isabel,” she says. Her gaze sharpens, zeroes in, and I swear her dark eyes are nearly glowing, like she’s sizing me up. “I think we need to talk.”

Nicole opens her mouth, but Rebecca beats her to it, her voice sharp and clear. “What do you want with Sylvie?” Rebecca asks, standing now, and a warmth surges through me at how defensive they both are. I’ve never had that before—aside from with Lara.

Isabel doesn’t react to Rebecca’s challenge. She doesn’t seem the least bit threatened. In all honestly, she acts like the other women aren’t even in the room with us, disregarding Rebecca’s question as she looks at me. “I’m not here to cause trouble,” she replies, her tone smooth, measured, rehearsed. She places her palms in the air as if to say she isn’t a threat. “I’m here to help you find what you’re looking for.”

I frown, my instincts prickling as my pulse ramps up. “And what exactly am I looking for?”

Isabel cocks her head, her gaze unblinking. “Your sister, Lara,” she says softly, and my heart pangs when I hear her name. “She’s not just missing. She’s been taken.”

The words hit me like a punch to the gut. My heart skips, then stutters, a cold shiver racing down my spine. “Taken?” I repeat, my voice trembling despite my best efforts to hold it steady in front of this stranger. “What do you mean, taken ?” I need all these women to stop talking in riddles. I’m about to lose my damn mind. “How do you know anything about her?”

“Your sister is missing, Sylvie,” she repeats. “I’m aware of this. You’re aware of this. These two…” She pauses as if she’s trying to decipher Rebecca and Nicole. “These two women are probably aware of this. No one is helping you, am I correct in that assumption? Your twin is missing, and you are no closer to finding her than you were when she first didn’t turn up for your dinner plans last night.” Isabel stops, clearly trying to let her words sink in, but I’m so confused and disoriented my head is spinning.

She gives me a small, eerie smile, and it chills me to the bone.

“How do you know we were going to have dinner?” I ask her, as if that’s the important question here. “How do you know any of this at all?” I can’t make sense of how this person, that I’ve never even seen let alone spoken to, knows anything about me—or Lara.

She completely disregards my question and continues, “Things are happening at Blackthorne that you couldn’t possibly understand, Sylvie,” Isabel says, her voice gentle but firm, knowing. “There are forces at work here, things older than the university itself. And they’ve taken Lara—they’ve taken your sister —for a reason.” Isabel emphasizes weird buzz words, like it’s going to make me trust her. This entire thing only makes me even more wary.

I open my mouth to ask more, but Nicole is already stepping forward again, a protective wall between Isabel and me. “You don’t know anything,” she snaps. “You’re just an outsider coming in here and acting like a damn savior. You’re trying to manipulate her. I bet I know exactly who you are…” She trails off as she ties her curly hair up, like she’s getting ready to brawl with this girl, and I can’t help but feel a flicker of gratitude for her.

Isabel’s eyes shoot briefly toward Nicole, then back to me. “She’s right about one thing,” Isabel says, acknowledging Nicole for the first time, her voice soft with amusement. “I am a stranger. But I know more than you think. Haven’t I proven that? And you need to hear me, Sylvie. If you want to find Lara, you have no choice but to listen to my words.”

Her words are strangling. Nicole’s face is twisted in distrust, and Rebecca looks like she’s waiting for something to break. But something inside me—something primal, raw—compels me to step forward, to push past the uncertainty, to hear her out. It can’t hurt anything.

“What are you talking about?” I ask, my voice steady now. “What do you want from me? Stop talking in vague circles and say what you mean if you really have something to say.” My words come out harsher than intended, more ballsy than I’ve ever been, but I guess that’s what this situation is doing to me. I feel myself changing, shifting, and I don’t know that it’s for the better.

Isabel’s gaze flickers with something akin to satisfaction, like she’s been waiting for me to ask, to give in. “The Solstice Society,” she says, her words hanging heavy with meaning as if she’s dangling something shiny in front of a toddler—though I don’t understand. “We’ve been watching you, Sylvie. We know what you are.”

I freeze, my spine tingling. They’ve been watching me?

They know what I am?

“What I am ?” I repeat, confusion and fear swirling together in my chest. “What the hell does that mean, Isabel?” I shake my head and run my fingers through my hair, incapable of staying strong in this moment. Incapable of ever fucking staying strong. If there’s ever been a time when Lara has needed me, it’s now. And I’m falling apart.

“I think it would be better if we speak in private,” Isabel says, but I shrug it off.

“You can talk to me in front of the girls,” I tell her. I’ve only known them a couple days, but they are the only two people in this entire place that I feel have good intentions toward me, that I’ve made any kind of connection with at all. Everyone else either keeps to themselves, is incompetent, or is affecting me in ways I can’t even begin to fathom—aka the man in the window…Professor Draedon.

Isabel sighs, as if she would much rather be talking without Nicole and Rebecca, but she humors me all the same. “You’re not just some ordinary student,” Isabel continues, shrugging as her voice drops low. “Your bloodline—your family—it’s tied to something much older. Something incredibly powerful. Something you cannot possibly understand, but we can help with that.”

The room spins in time to her words, and for a moment, I feel like I’m going to collapse from the pressure surrounding me. I sit back down on the bed and shake my head. I feel like I’m in a glass cage, with people looking in, unable to have a second to think on my own.

I take a deep breath, like Lara would tell me to do.

“What are you saying? I don’t understand.” I bring my fingers to my temples, trying to soothe the dull ache that’s beginning to roar, to take on a life of its own inside my head.

“I’m saying that you have certain… abilities ,” Isabel says, her voice soft but full of an unsettling certainty as she looks from me to the girls, and back to me again. “Abilities you haven’t tapped into yet. Abilities that the Solstice Society can help you unlock to use for the greater good. Abilities that will help get your sister back while helping all of mankind.”

“Abilities?” My breath catches in my throat. What the hell is this chick on? I really need to remember to lock my door.

Rebecca chuckles, and the three of us turn to her. Nicole shoots her a glare and Isabel shakes her head.

I’m apparently the only one lost—go figure.

The only one not in on the joke.

“What kind of abilities?” I ask, deciding to circle back to Rebecca later. “I honestly have zero interest in the greater good right now. I want to find my sister and get through these next four years. That’s it.”

The look in Isabel’s eyes is knowing, too knowing. Unsettling. There’s something about it that makes me second guess allowing her to stay in this room.

“Sylvie. You’re part of a bloodline that’s been protecting the world from creatures like vampires, witches, and other supernaturals for centuries. Your family—your ancestors—were among the first to stand against them. But that’s not all. You’re connected to something much bigger. To the vampire relics, to the very heart of the ancient magic that controls their blasphemous kind.”

I go to stand up again but immediately fall back to the bed, my mind reeling. “You’ve got it all wrong,” I whisper, my hand instinctively flying to my chest. “I’m just a student. I’m just... just Sylvie. My sister is missing. That’s what matters.” I can’t look back up. Can’t meet her eyes—can’t meet any of their eyes. I think about Isabel’s words, running them over and over in my mind, truly taking in what she said.

Vampires.

Witches.

Supernaturals.

This Isabel woman is absolutely out of her mind. I’m sure of it. And now? Now I’m just pissed off that this woo-woo bitch is using my sister’s disappearance to try to gain something. What? I have no idea, but she’s talking about witches and vampires.

Freaking vampires.

“Vampires, Isabel? Witches?” I ask, standing and straightening my spine. “What are you on about?” I shake my head, exasperated and utterly exhausted from this conversation, from these past twenty-four hours of nonstop terror. “Look, you’ve walked into my room uninvited. I heard you out like you asked. And now, I am asking you to leave. I have no idea what your agenda is, but using my sister’s disappearance for your gain is so beyond fucked up.” I take a breath and the moment that surges by only serves to piss me off more. “Vampires and witches.” I scoff. “I’ll admit,” I tell her, stepping closer to where she stands just over the threshold, “you had me for a second. Knowing things about my sister. About our plans. Knowing things you definitely shouldn’t know. But the minute you start trying to Twilight your way into my life is the minute I’m asking you to see yourself out.”

Isabel slowly shakes her head, her eyes dark and brimming with something unspoken. “You are refusing to hear my words, Sylvie. Just Sylvie? You’re much more than that. You’re the key to unlocking the ability to help mankind. And I’m here to offer you the chance to learn how to use that power.”

“Sylvie,” Nicole starts. “I don’t trust this.” She looks at me, something dark inside of her gaze. Something I can’t name. “But she knows something, and we need to figure out what it is.”

I don’t understand the sudden change of heart.

Isabel tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear, waiting on me. As much as I want to tell her to get lost, to force her out of my room, to focus on Lara and not this…whatever this is…there’s something deep within me that is telling me I need to listen. That right now is a time to listen, and later there will be a time for action. I don’t know where it’s coming from, but I know I need to honor it. To trust my gut.

Just like Mom always said.

“Why would you want me?” I ask, entertaining her insanity, my voice barely audible.

“Because,” Isabel says, stepping closer, “you’re the last of your bloodline. And the Solstice Society believes you can help us rewrite the rules of the supernatural world.”

Rebecca scoffs but Nicole quiets her.

I’m silent for a long moment, my heart wildly pounding in my chest. I glance over at Nicole and Rebecca—both of them are stiff, their expressions hard to read. But there’s something else there now. Something... familiar.

The room seems to tilt, and her words start to sink in. I can’t make sense of anything. Nothing feels right. Everything is jumbled and messy, and I can’t see straight—it’s like everything is suddenly skewed, off its axis.

“You want me to join you?” I ask quietly, my voice trembling as I meet Isabel’s gaze, trying to put the pieces of this puzzle together but feeling like I’m missing the corners. “To help you?”

Isabel nods once, slowly. “Yes. But it’s not just about helping us. It’s about understanding what’s at stake. You’re not just some ordinary human, Sylvie. You’re something more. You have the potential to destroy what we’ve built—or protect it. But you have to make a choice.”

This is all happening so fast. I feel like I’ve been plucked out of my normal life and dropped into a fucked-up Sci-Fi movie.

“What about my sister?” I ask her. “What about Lara? That’s literally all I care about right now. I don’t care about what you’ve built. In all honesty, I simply don’t give a damn. I don’t care about your delusions of vampires and witches. Supernaturals. You’re out of your mind. The only thing I need to know is if you can really find my sister. Nothing else matters.”

Part of me doesn’t even know why I’m entertaining this. She’s talking about creatures out if Grimm’s Fairy Tales . She’s clearly incredibly unstable.

Isabel nods again, a soft smile stretching across her face. “Let’s start there then. Ease you into things. We can help you find her. I know she’s important to you.”

Important to me? Understatement of the century. She’s all I have.

My head pounds, the ferocity of the dull ache expanding into a hurricane inside my mind. Thunder cracks through my skull. The pull to accept her offer—to find Lara, to understand what’s happening—grows somehow stronger. But I also feel the weight of something else, something dark.

All-consuming.

I open my mouth, but the words won’t come. I don’t know what the right choice is. It feels like no matter what I do, it won’t be right. But this woman in front of me is at least giving me a shred of hope about my sister.

I just don’t want to be disappointed.

“You just need to leave. I need time to process all of this—” I gesture vaguely. I need to talk to Nicole and Rebecca in private. I want to know what it is they’re keeping from me. Then, maybe I can make a better, more informed decision.

Isabel nods, her expression unreadable. “Take your time. But remember this, Sylvie: whatever choice you make, it will shape the future. For all of us.”