And then, after a beat, quieter:
“I won’t tell anyone. Not K. Not Ash. Not the warden. No one.”
Another pause.
“But Seph… if anything like that ever happens again — if anyone touches you, hurts you, tries to use you — you tell me. Not because I deserve it.”
His gaze flicked away for half a second, then back.
“But because you shouldn’t have to handle that alone.”
For a moment I looked at him. At Dev.
One of the scariest people at Darkmoor.
And I felt safe.
Maybe I was the strange one.
“Thank you Dev. I appreciate it.”
Across the court I heard shouting.
I looked up.
People were sprinting toward the building, panic in their steps.
I stood immediately and followed.
“What’s going on?” I called. “Not another monster, I hope?”
Dev and I pushed through the crowd funnelling into the hall.
When we stepped inside, we saw it —
a massive screen dragged out from storage, glowing in the dim room.
The news was on.
Everyone was silent.
Staring.
“Breaking news,” the reporter said, her voice tight. “Windfell has been attacked by vicious creatures in what officials are calling a potential act of biological warfare by the Equinox Front.”
The newscaster — a blonde Light-user — leaned forward at the desk, genuine fear etched across her face.
“Be advised,” she said, breath trembling. “What you’re about to see is disturbing.”
A grainy video filled the screen.
A hooded figure wearing the Liberty symbol stood beside a teenager lying in a hospital bed in the Windfell town clinic. Doctors moved frantically in the background — an ER ward mid-chaos.
The hooded person glanced around, nervous, checking for witnesses. Something small glinted in their hand.
They leaned over the girl. A syringe flashed.
The image cut — then resumed nearly an hour later as the teen began to stir.
