"I don't want to talk to any of you. So, get lost," Ivy snapped, her voice sharp as she grabbed her handbag from the car and marched toward the classroom.
Mona caught up quickly. "I didn't mean for any of that to happen, Ivy. I needed to be there for my sister that night. Please, just understand."
"I know… I've been out of sorts, and I'm sorry for dragging this out. It's just, I didn't mean to hurt you," Julia added, her tone pleading as they all walked into class.
The three of them slid into their seats, Ivy sitting in the middle. The air between them felt heavy, but Ivy exhaled slowly, her frustration dissipating as she said, "I'm sorry too. I worked so hard for those tickets, and I thought it would bring us closer. I guess I was just being... selfish. I'm sorry for overreacting."
Mona and Julia exchanged relieved smiles, and for a brief moment, the tension seemed to ease.
But before they could settle, the door swung open, and a boy walked in. His presence commanded attention, handsome, confident, yet strangely unfamiliar. Even Mona, who was usually indifferent to such things, couldn't ignore the pull. Ivy and Julia, on the other hand, couldn't tear their eyes away.
He took a seat, looking calm and collected, but then the door opened again. A blonde girl entered, followed closely by the new Literature teacher, Mrs. Jasmine.
"Good morning, class," Mrs. Jasmine's voice was smooth, but there was something unnervingly intense about it. "I'm Mrs. Jasmine, your new Literature teacher. And I like my students to be... very, very attentive. This is going to be an interesting year." Her smile was tight, too tight, like she was hiding something beneath the surface.
The blonde girl stood up as if she owned the room. "Sorry to interrupt, but I'm Kelly Stones, and this is my cousin, Jonathan Fall," she said, her voice cutting through the air with an odd certainty, as though compelling the class to listen.
Ivy leaned towards Julia and whispered, "Did she just… take control of the room? That girl, there's something about her… it's like she's... manipulating everyone."
Julia's eyes darted to Kelly, her head tilting slightly as if something was tugging at her mind. "I feel it too," she murmured. "It's like she's... affecting me somehow."
"She's being compelled," Ivy said, her voice taking on a darker, more resonant tone. The words felt like they weren't coming from her, but from somewhere deeper, someone else.
Mona's eyes widened in fear. "I-Ivy… what was that?" she stammered, suddenly unnerved by the change in her friend.
"That wasn't me," Ivy replied, her gaze distant and unnerving. "But I know what I felt."
The tension in the room thickened as Mrs. Jasmine smiled too broadly. "Yes, a formal introduction would be lovely," she said, gesturing for Kelly to sit.
Everyone clapped politely, except the three girls, Mona, Julia, and Ivy, who exchanged wary looks. Something was wrong.
The strange boy, Jonathan, leaned toward Kelly, whispering something in her ear with an intensity that seemed almost… confrontational.
Ivy shifted in her seat, her voice low but insistent. "Something is off about them."
Julia nodded, her instincts screaming that Ivy was right. "I can feel it too."
Kelly and Jonathan settled into their seats, but the sense of unease didn't fade. Mrs. Jasmine continued, her smile never reaching her eyes. "Now, let's get started, shall we?"
....
That afternoon at the library
The library smelled like dust and forgotten time, the kind of place where silence sat heavy and secrets waited to be discovered between shelves.
Ivy sat between her best friends, Julia and Mona, in the farthest corner where few students wandered. She hadn't touched her coffee. Her fingers trembled as they clutched the cup, and her eyes scanned the room like she expected someone, or something, to emerge from the shadows.
"Okay," Ivy said at last, her voice low, serious. "There's something I have to tell both of you."
Julia didn't react. She already knew.
Mona leaned in, curious, twirling a pencil between her fingers. "You're being dramatic. Just say it."
Julia exhaled, staring blankly out the window. She'd had a vision earlier that morning, flashes of blood, fire, and Ivy's face, unrecognizable in its darkness. That was the thing about visions: they weren't always linear. They didn't always explain themselves.
Ivy swallowed. "Remember how we promised no more secrets between us?"
"You're stalling," Mona said.
"I haven't been myself," Ivy said finally. "Something's happening to me. I've been having these… dreams. Or maybe nightmares. But they don't feel like dreams. They feel real."
"Real how?" Mona asked, suddenly still.
Ivy leaned forward, her voice barely above a whisper. "In the dream, I kill someone. I don't know who. I just know it's me doing it. And I don't feel guilt. I feel, free. Like I've finally become who I was meant to be."
Silence fell. Even the air seemed to hold its breath.
"I wake up drenched in sweat," Ivy continued. "Like I've run a marathon. I can't breathe. My heart's racing. But the worst part is, I want it to happen again."
"That's not just a dream," Julia muttered.
Mona turned toward her. "What do you mean?"
Julia's eyes narrowed. "Because the same night Ivy started dreaming… was the same night I started seeing."
"Seeing what?"
"Things," Julia said simply. "Visions. Like flickers from another time or reality. Sometimes it's things that happen later. Sometimes it's like I'm watching someone else's life. But this morning… I saw Ivy. Covered in blood. Smiling."
Ivy's mouth opened, but no words came out.
"On our fifteenth birthday?" Mona asked, trying to catch up.
"Yes," Ivy whispered. "That's when it all started."
Mona sat back, her face pale. "What the hell is going on?"
"I don't know," Julia said. "But we're changing. All of us. And if we don't figure out why, we're going to lose control, of ourselves."
Mona asked the question that was on all their minds. "How do we stop it?"
Ivy hesitated, then looked toward the hallway. "There was a man. This morning. Outside the car park."
Julia straightened. "What kind of man?"
"I don't know. He was just standing there, like he'd been waiting for me. Said he knew what was happening to me… to you. He told me we're not safe."
"Did you talk to him?" Mona asked.
"Only for a second. He said, 'They're watching. The first seal is breaking.' Then he gave me this."
Ivy reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a small, silver pendant shaped like an eye, cold to the touch, ancient in its design.
"I noticed he dropped this in my pocket, while we were in class earlier"
Julia stood up abruptly.
"What's wrong?" Mona asked.
"We're being watched," Julia said, her eyes darting to the back of the library.
Following her gaze, they all turned to see the new girl standing behind the bookshelves. The one who'd transferred just this morning, Tall. Quiet. Always alone.
She wasn't reading.
She was watching.
Her eyes locked on Julia's, unblinking.
"I've seen her before," Julia said, her voice hollow.
Mona frowned. "She's in our chemistry class."
"No, our literature class" Julia said
"But I saw her in chemistry too, except she's stalking us " Mona said in frustration...
"No way" Julia said, her heart racing. "I saw her… in my vision. She was the one Ivy killed."
Ivy recoiled. "What?"
"She was smiling," Julia added, "even while she was dying."
As if hearing them, the new girl tilted her head to the side with a strange grace, then smiled, soft, unsettling. Then she mouthed a single word:
"Soon."
And with that, she turned and disappeared behind the stacks.
Ivy's breath caught.
Mona grabbed her arm.
Julia stared into the empty aisle where the girl had been and whispered:
"Something's coming."