Page 14

It was moving—fast. Leaves crunched in the distance, branches snapped, and the wind carried an eerie whistle that made the already-tense atmosphere unbearable.

Y/N didn't realise how close she had gotten to Calixto until she practically felt his breath near her ear. He, of course, looked completely unfazed, his golden eyes scanning the darkness ahead like a predator sizing up its prey.

Aisha, gripping the torch tighter, whispered, "Should we go back?"

Cressida, arms crossed, was still eerily calm. "And tell the faculty what? That we heard leaves moving?"

Julia, who had been gripping Aisha's hoodie for dear life, mumbled, "I mean... yeah? There could be a beast out here!"

Calixto rolled his eyes. "Pathetic."

Y/N shot him a glare, but before she could say anything, the noise suddenly stopped.

Dead silence.

The kind that made your skin crawl.

For a long moment, none of them spoke.

Then, without warning, the lantern's flame flickered—then died.

Darkness swallowed them whole.

"Crap—?!" Aisha's voice came first, followed by Julia's panicked whisper, "No, no, no, no, no—!"

Y/N's pulse skyrocketed. She couldn't see anything—not her hands, not her friends, not the trees around them. She reached out blindly, fingers brushing against the first thing she could find—

A firm chest.

A very solid, very male chest.

Oh.

A second later, an equally firm hand wrapped around her wrist.

Oh no.

★

The darkness was too thick to see, but she knew exactly who it was. The familiar, cold touch was unmistakable. Calixto exhaled sharply. "You're clinging."

Y/N immediately let go, but his grip stayed firm around her wrist. Before she could snap at him, a low growl came from the trees ahead. Her once retracted arms again reached out for comfort; gripping onto the soft fabric of his shirt as he too snaked an arm round her shoulders.

Everyone's eyes were glued to the one spot of darkness from where the sound came. The ancient oak, its gnarled branches clawing at the moonless sky, cast an impenetrable shadow.

The rustling of leaves, usually a comforting sound in the forest, now seemed sinister. The only sound was the ragged breathing of those present and the echo of that unnerving noise.

Not human.

Not normal.

"Cress." Calixto murmured, his voice calm but firm, "You hear that?"

Cressida's voice, eerily steady, came from somewhere close. "Yeah.."

Julia, on the other hand, was not calm. "What the hell was that..?!" shaking Aisha as she whispered in panic.

Another growl. This time, closer.

Y/N barely had time to react before Calixto tugged her closer, positioning her slightly behind him. It wasn't a protective gesture—not really—but it still sent a strange feeling through her.

His voice dropped lower. "We're being watched."

Aisha inhaled sharply. "..By who, or what?"

No one answered.

The growling sound morphed into something unnatural—something deep and wrong, sending ice down Y/N's spine. It sounded almost like—

Laughter?

Y/N barely had time to register it before a shadow moved between the trees.

Then, all at once—

Something lunged.

A blur. A figure. A flash of claws—

Julia and Aisha screamed, a flicker and flash of the torch which shattered, letting out a sharp echo as it fell from their grip. Then suddenly the group of five was circling, back to back, each of them eyeing a different corner of the darkness which seemed to loom over them and swallow them whole.

GRRR..

"What the fuck..." Y/N muttered backing away from the 'creature' not noticing the large shards of glass which slipped on with a yelp "AH—!"

★

His grip was tight, impossibly strong, one hand bracing her back while the other caught the back of her head, stopping it from hitting the ground. She was flat against him, practically pressed into his chest, her breath stolen right from her lungs.

What the shit. That was like a scene from twilight..

It took her a second to even process what just happened.

Then she realised—

He was on top of her.

Y/N's heart slammed against her ribs.

"Are you kidding me?" she hissed, shoving at his chest, but he didn't budge.

Calixto didn't even blink. His golden eyes were focused ahead, still watching the trees.

"Be quiet." he murmured. "It's still here."

Y/N's breath caught.

Sure enough, the shadowed figure hadn't left. It lingered just beyond the tree line, its silhouette barely visible against the darkness.

Watching.

Waiting.

Then, without a sound—

It disappeared.

Vanished, like it had never been there.

A long silence followed.

Then Julia let out a shaky laugh. "Oh..! Ohh.We're so dead!"

Aisha smacked her arm. "Not helping."

Y/N was still half-pinned to the ground by Calixto, who didn't seem to realize—or care—that she was still under him.She shoved at him again. "Get off me, Antoniou."

Finally, he pulled away, standing up as if nothing had happened. Y/N scrambled to her feet, brushing herself off, still feeling the ghost of his touch on her skin.

Cressida let out a breath. "We should head back."

Calixto, finally looking back at them, muttered, "Agreed."

Y/N folded her arms. "Oh, now you wanna go back?"

He smirked. "I got what I needed."

"What does that even mean—"

"—It means whatever was out here didn't attack us." he said lazily. "It was toying with us."

Aisha paled. "So... we were bait?"

Cressida turned on her heel. "Enough. We're leaving."

But even as they left the woods behind, Y/N couldn't shake the feeling.

The feeling that something—or someone—was still watching.

And worse?

It was waiting for them to come back.