9
Alina.
If there was a trick to making yourself invisible at Umbra Noctis, I never found it. No matter how small I made myself, no matter how quiet, someone always noticed. And when people notice you here, it's rarely for good reasons.
It started slowly at first. A look here, a whispered joke there. By now, a few weeks into the term, the novelty of a new "human boy" in North Tower had worn off, but the hunger for entertainment never faded. I tried to keep my head down, walk the halls fast, stick to the edges. I knew the patterns of the teachers and the safe hours for the library. It didn't matter. The predators at Umbra Noctis always found their prey.
The girls started It, and it was almost a relief at first. They circled me after spellwork class, faces painted perfect, hair glossy and shining in ways I could never achieve, even if I tried. The leader, a vampire noble, with razor-sharp cheekbones, leaned in close and smiled, all fangs and condescension.
"You're too pretty to be a boy, Elowen," she purred, loud enough for everyone to hear. "Are you sure you're not in the wrong dorm? Or maybe you're just lost."
The others giggled, some genuinely amused, some nervous, all eager to watch. My cheeks burned. I focused on not reacting. That only seemed to encourage them.
"Maybe we should dress him up," another girl suggested. "I bet he'd look darling in a skirt."
I didn't answer. I stared at the ground, willing the stones to swallow me whole.
When I didn't fight back, they got bolder. One flicked my hair, another traced a cold finger along my jaw. "Such smooth skin. Are you hiding something, pretty boy?"
I didn't flinch. I didn't move. I just waited them out, heart pounding, hands balled in my pockets. Eventually, they got bored and drifted off, satisfied with their little victory.
The boys were a different story. They weren't interested in teasing. They wanted to prove something, and that meant violence. It was never a direct attack, nothing that would get them caught by staff. Instead, it was "accidental" bumps in the corridor, a shove when my back was turned, a well-aimed book or bag to the gut. Once, a pair of wolf boys "challenged" me to a sprint in the yard, then tripped me mid-run so I landed hard in the mud, the whole crowd howling with laughter.
Kael saw the tail end of that one. He shouldered through the ring of laughing students, glared them down until they slunk away. "Next time, don't fall," he muttered as he pulled me up. I almost thanked him, but the moment passed before I found my voice.
Sometimes it was subtler. A glamour slipped into my drink that made my voice crack in class. A hex scrawled on the underside of my desk that gave me a pounding headache for hours. It was relentless and exhausting. I could never let my guard down. Even in my own dorm, I felt exposed. Rowan and Lucien were too wrapped up in their own rivalries to notice. Kael's protection, if you could call it that, was unpredictable. It was there when he felt like it, gone when I needed it most.
Through it all, Mira floated in and out of my days like a shy ghost. She always seemed to know when I needed company, appearing at the edges of my worst moments with an awkward smile and some small kindness. Once she found me sitting alone in the library, head in my hands, trying not to cry after a particularly bad class.
"Hey," she said softly, sliding a warm pastry onto the table in front of me. "You looked like you could use this."
I managed a weak smile. "Do I look that bad?"
She blushed, ducking her head. "Not bad. Just… tired. Or sad, maybe. I get it."
For a few minutes, we sat in companionable silence, nibbling on pastries and pretending nothing was wrong. Mira never pushed, never asked questions I couldn't answer. She told me about her latest book obsession instead, describing the characters in breathless detail, her hands flying as she spoke.
"I think you'd like the heroine," she said once, cheeks pink. "She's braver than she thinks. Not because she wins every fight, but because she keeps trying, even when it hurts."
I almost laughed. "Sounds exhausting."
Mira just shrugged. "I think it's the only way to survive here."
Her friendship became a lifeline. I clung to those little moments of warmth, the whispered jokes in the dining hall, the gentle encouragement before exams. She made the place feel almost bearable, at least for a little while.
But the bullying didn't let up. If anything, it got worse. One day, someone left a bloody animal heart in my locker. Another time, my books were scattered down the stairs, pages torn and ink smeared. I cleaned up the mess in silence, jaw clenched so tight my teeth hurt.
The worst was always the boys who wanted to prove themselves. One afternoon, in the dueling arena, I was paired against a fae boy with cruel eyes and a smile that never reached his mouth. He circled me like a shark, taunting me under his breath.
"Careful, Elowen. Wouldn't want to break that pretty face of yours."
I held my ground, fists tight. The whistle blew. He lunged, faster than I could react. I dodged once, twice, but he caught me with a shove that sent me sprawling. I scrambled up, only to find him already there, his foot lashing out toward my ribs.
Time slowed. I saw the kick coming, knew it would hurt… maybe worse. Panic rose in my throat, thick and helpless. For a split second, I wanted to scream for help.
Then, something strange happened. The boy's foot slipped at the last possible second, his leg skidding out from under him. He crashed to the ground, hard, surprise and pain twisting his face. The crowd laughed, the instructor barked at us to keep moving, and the moment passed.
I stood, heart pounding, dizzy with relief. I caught Elias watching from the sidelines, his face carefully blank. Our eyes met, and for just a second, he nodded. I understood. He'd done something. Shielded me. Saved me.
I wanted to thank him, but he'd already vanished into the crowd.
After practice, I limped to the locker room, knuckles throbbing, mind spinning. I washed my hands at the sink, watching the water run red and clear. My reflection looked tired and my eyes shadowed, cheeks pale, mouth set in a stubborn line. I wondered how much longer I could keep this up.
On my way back to the dorm, Mira caught up to me, out of breath. "Are you okay?" she whispered, glancing nervously around as if someone might overhear.
I tried to shrug it off. "Fine. Just a bad day."
She touched my arm gently. "You're not alone, you know."
Something in her voice almost broke me. For a second, I wanted to spill everything, to tell her who I really was, to confess how hard it was to keep pretending, to ask her how she survived. But I couldn't. Not yet.
Instead, I squeezed her hand. "Thanks, Mira. I mean it."
She smiled, shy and bright. "Anytime."
When I got back to the room, Kael was already asleep, sprawled across his bed like he owned the place. Lucien was reading, eyes flickering up just long enough to register my limp before returning to his book. Rowan was nowhere to be seen, but I found a small charm tucked into my pillow; a pressed flower, wrapped in a scrap of r ibbon. I didn't know what it meant, but it made me feel a little less alone.