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WARNING: Mature content in almost every chapter starting now. I'm not going to put this warning on any other chapter because I don't want to include things that will be spoilers for the chapter, but if you didn't see the warning at the beginning, here's some things that might be in this book, so please read something else if this could hurt you: murder, heavy swearing, sexual references (only references, no scenes), dark magic, torture, suicide, violence, death, and plot twists. You have been warned.

It was one in the morning, and Caleb and Nikita were surrounded by cookbooks and alcohol. 

While exploring the school, the two had went into the kitchen, trying to find something that would satisfy their hunger that night, and found a crease in an unusual spot on the wallpaper. So, being the curious teens that they were, they pushed on it and suddenly found what would satisfy more than just their hunger. 

"Why do we have school on the weekends?" Nikita asked. "You'd think that they would give us some time to, I don't know, just be teenagers?"

"Yeah, because so many people will show up if we have a party."

"I didn't necessarily mean party. Just... doing teenager things. Exploring. Just hanging out. I don't know."

"This is a boarding school, and the teachers are strict as hell. I'm surprised we haven't gotten busted yet."

Nikita shrugged. She took a sip of her drink, immediately spitting it out. "Oh damn, this tastes like shit!"

"Did you really think that plain alcohol was going to taste good?"

"Screw you, Caleb."

Caleb took a shot. Nikita scrunched her eyebrows. "How can you drink that?"

He shrugged. "Used to it, I guess."

Nikita pushed her bottle away. "I don't think I'd want to get used to this... this old shit. It's probably been in here for centuries."

Caleb took another shot. Nikita rolled her eyes. Then, she spoke again. "Want to explain what you and Eli were doing in the bathroom together?"

That caught his attention. "Don't believe that we were doing it?"

"You weren't, right?"

"Hell no."

"Then what were you doing?"

Caleb shook his head. "You're so nosy. It's pretty annoying." He sighed. "Well, I stole Mr. Suarez's cigarettes-"

Nikita's jaw dropped, letting out an amused gasp that interrupted Caleb. "You what?"

"Interrupt me again and I'll slam that jaw shut for you. Anyways, he stole them from me and I wanted to put him in his place so that he would know not to mess with me."

"So did it work?"

"Half. Got the cigarettes back-"

"Where are they?" Nikita asked impatiently.

Caleb stood up, leaving his bottle on the ground. "Did you not just hear what I said? Shut the fuck up."

Nikita stood up as well. "Make me."

Caleb grabbed Nikita by the collar, Nikita staring him directly in the eye. She punched his side, making Caleb groan and releasing his grip. "Bitch," he spouted out,  jabbing her shoulder. She started to laugh, the first genuine laugh since arriving at that school. She held out her hand, and he slapped it away. 

"So you and Eli aren't a thing? Good. I was worried that the one sane person here fell into the dark side."

"How could you even think that? He's not even my type. I'm not into skinny ass-faces that think they're better than everyone else just because they wear 'cool and retro headphones' all the time."

"Fair. You're smart. Wouldn't waste your time with a wanna-be like him."

Caleb laughed a little. "Why didn't you tell everyone? It would have really made us look bad, you know."

Nikita thought about it for a second. "Well, the thing is, sure, I don't like Eli and would love to ruin his reputation, but you're, like, the only person at this school that doesn't put up with bullshit. I respect that."

Caleb grinned. He picked up his bottle, shoving it in Nikita's face. "Try mine. It's much better than that crap you just had."

Nikita raised an eyebrow, but Caleb didn't budge. She sighed, taking it and sipping straight from the bottle. She choked, pushing it back into his hands. "You dick!" She yelled. He erupted into laughter, quickly setting the bottle on the ground before Nikita punched him in the stomach. However, he kept on laughing. 

"It's not funny!" She protested.

"It totally is," Caleb said between laughs. Nikita glared at Caleb, then, without meaning too, let out a tiny chuckle. "See? It's hilarious."

Nikita bit her lip. "Okay, maybe a little." She smiled, punching him once again in the stomach.

xxx

It was nine in the morning, and Caleb and Nikita were passed out at their desks.

"Should we wake them up?" Mira whispered to Oliver. 

Caleb put up his hand, not moving his head. "Don't you even dare."

Oliver turned back to Mira. "Mrs. Hendrix is almost here, she'll deal with them." Her eyes went wide. She wouldn't want to be them. 

Lukas tapped Cameron on the shoulder. Cameron's heart jumped. However, he didn't turn around. Lukas did it again. And again. 

"Cameron," he said. Finally, the boy turned to face him.

"Me?" he asked, not believing that somebody wanted to talk to him.

"Yes you. Who else's name is Cameron in this room?" Cameron frowned. Lukas quickly continued. "I'm just joking." 

Cameron bit his lip uncomfortably. Lukas cleared his throat. "Me and Parker didn't know if you wanted to go to the library after this."

The blond crossed his eyebrows. "Why?"

"Because we wanted to look at some books?"

"No I mean why invite me."

Lukas gave him a confused look. "Cause? Why wouldn't we?"

Cameron stared at him, thoughts circling his mind. Were they really inviting him to go somewhere? And it wasn't out of pity? Or was it out of pity? No, it didn't look like it was. He seemed like he genuinely wanted Cameron to go. Why would he want Cameron to go? Were they friends? Did Lukas-

"So?"

Lukas snapped Cameron out of his thoughts. "You in?"

"Sure," Cameron said, hoping his voice didn't crack too much. Lukas turned to Parker, mouthing "he said yes!" to them, and they smiled excitedly at Cameron.

Was Parker his friend, too?  Cameron questioned, his thoughts taking over his brain again.

Suddenly, the clock struck nine, and the students saw the slender, black haired woman enter the classroom. She frowned when she saw Nikita and Caleb.

"It looks like we have a couple sleeping beauty's in our midst," she said in a deadpan tone.

"Oh boy, here we go," Avalon muttered. 

But nothing happened.

"Well, I presume karma will be on my side around test time." She turned around to face the chalkboard, writing something in another language. Mira and Oliver looked at each other in surprise. 

"Did you all do the reading?" Everybody nodded. Without looking around, she said, "Irving that isn't asleep, tell me the name of the man that discovered the dark magic possession."

Lukas gulped. "Rubert, um, N-Navarro?"

"Correct. Mrs. Sable, what year did Navarro discover that theory?"

"In 1223," Avalon said confidently.

"Correct. Mrs. Bowers, is that theory still in place today?"

Devin thought about it for second. "Yes, but it was modified."

"How so?"

"Well, originally, Rubert had invented the wrong anti-possession spell. It was published in books around the world before it was fixed, leading to the death of many innocent people."

Mrs. Hendrix stopped writing on the chalkboard. She was completely still.

The class was silent in confusion. "Mrs. Hendrix?" Mira asked. "Are you alright?"

Mrs. Hendrix started writing again. "Yes, of course." She turned around to face everyone. "Can anybody tell me what this is?"

Turns out, she wasn't just writing nonsense. She was drawing it, too. Behind her was a symbol like none any of them had ever seen before. It was like a double s, stacked on top of each other. It actually looked rather elegant, kind of like a serpent. 

"Now, does anyone know what this drawing means?"

Avalon raised her hand. "Oh, I know! It's a text symbol that is used to refer to a specific section of a document."

"That is absurd. Any other guesses?"

The classroom was silent. Mrs. Hendrix sighed. "Wake up Mrs. Irving and Mr. Ruiz, will you? They need to hear this."

Before anyone could get there first, Lukas ran over to Nikita and licked his hand, touching her shoulder. She jolted away. "Oh shit,"she said, realizing she had fallen asleep. She looked at Lukas. "Wait... did you..." She quickly grabbed her shirt and wiped her shoulder. "Ugh! I swear, Lukas, you haven't grown up since we were five."

Nobody went to wake up Caleb at first, so Nikita leaned over to Caleb and whispered to him. He leaned up, drowsily. "How long has it been?"

"Five minutes since class started," said Devin. He rolled his eyes. 

"Way to ruin my sleep."

"I let you sleep away five minutes of valuable class time, Mr. Ruiz, so please stop your complaining before I cut your grade down five points."

"Damn," was all Caleb said. He crossed his arms.

Mrs. Hendrix cleared her throat. "Anyways, this symbol is a very important one in history of dark magic." Caleb's eyes widened when he saw it. "This symbol originated in the first ever society of black magic. To them, it was a reminder of what they could do. Members wrote that symbol everywhere, and some still do today."

"Did they ever get tattoos of the sign?"

"I'm sure a lot of them did. It was a way for them to recognize each other without anyone else realizing what was going on."

Eli nodded. "Oh, I understand. So Caleb was able to recognize others on the street just by seeing a mark on their skin?"

Caleb's head shot up.

"What the hell are you talking about?" He snapped.

"Nothing, now I know why you have that tattoo on your shoulder."

The class fell silent.

"My tattoo? It's just a design I found at a tattoo shop."

"You have a tattoo?" Nikita asked excitedly. "How did I not know this? Can I see?"

Caleb hesitated, then rolled up his right sleeve. It was the symbol Mrs. Hendrix had drawn. Nikita moved back.

"I swear, I'm not with some psycho black magic gang or anything. My friends saw the design on the internet while we were looking for cool symbols, and I wanted something unique. So I chose it."

"This symbol isn't on the internet," Mrs. Hendrix contradicted.

"Well we found it there!" When nobody responded, he continued. "Why would I come here if I already worked with dark magic? To find out ways to slaughter my friends? Yeah right. I have the picture on my phone with the source if you don't believe me."

"I do," Mrs. Hendrix said, though it wasn't too convincing. "The tattoos are always made with a special ink that disappears whenever another who isn't wearing one is looking. And as everyone can see yours, unless they all have it too, you are safe." 

Caleb gave Eli an "I told you so" look. However, nobody seemed quite the same around him after that.

Mrs. Hendrix picked up her book. "Let's move on to the first anti-spirit curse, shall we?"

xxx

The school day was finally over, all the students filed into the cafeteria in a hurry. Nikita stayed with Caleb, while everyone else stayed far away from him. Emery gave him a small smile, but went right back with Eli. Caleb rolled his eyes, grabbing bread and green beans while avoiding all main courses.

Nikita and Caleb sat at their usual table, and even though they always sat alone, they felt more lonely than ever.

"You don't seriously think I'm with those people, do you?" Caleb asked Nikita, not touching his food.

She shook her head, taking a sip of water. "They don't get it. Sure, you can be an ass, but you wouldn't murder people. I know that."

"Great. One out of ten believes me."

Nikita nudged his shoulder. "Hey, don't worry about it. Even if you were in that cult thing, what more danger would you bring to the already extremely dangerous school where we fight off dark magic on the daily? And I promise you, nobody thinks you're that smart."

"You don't have to be a complete bitch about it."

"It's just who I am, I can't help it."

Caleb leaned back in his seat. Nikita rested her head on her arm. The two sat through the rest of lunch in silence, not eating anything.

xxx

Caleb couldn't sleep. He had tried. For a long time, actually. But his paranoia kept him awake.

Maybe if you weren't such an asshole, people would have more faith in you. They would believe your story. Wait, why do you care what they think?  You never did before. Why now? Maybe because now they might actually do something to you besides stealing your stolen cigarettes.

It wasn't going to happen. He wasn't going to fall asleep.

And it was all that red haired boy's fault. 

Trying not to wake anyone up, Caleb slide out of his bed and made his way towards Eli. He nudged his shoulder.

"What?" Eli asked sleepily.

"Come with me, ass-face. And don't say anything."

"What if I scream? Right now? What would you do?" Eli asked without moving.

"I would tell everyone about your secret pharmaceutical stash I found under the sink. Testosterone, was it?"

That caught Eli's attention. He tried to calm himself, stepping out of his bed. "I hate you."

Making as little noise as possible, Eli and Caleb slipped out of the room and walked down the stairs. Caleb led Eli to a room, closing the door.

Eli crossed his arms. "What, are you going to kill me with your demon powers or something? Because that would be extremely stupid, since everyone would know it was you."

"When did you see that tattoo?" Caleb said, unamused.

"When you were assaulting me in the bathroom. Not cool, by the way."

Caleb glared at him. "I'm not joking around. This is a big deal. A far bigger deal than your small, egoistic brain could comprehend. Everyone thinks I'm some murderer now. So stop messing with me before you do something you'll regret."

"You know, threatening me won't help your case."

Caleb, without hesitation, grabbed Eli by the shirt, pushing him up against the wall. He raised his voice to a yell. "Nobody makes me look bad! So you better get off my back right now! You got that, Alaska? You got that?"

The smaller boy was in shock. He pushed up against Caleb's arms, but he was too strong. "Okay, I get it! Just let me go!"

"Look me dead in the eye and tell me that you understand!"

Eli stopped struggling. He panted as Caleb kept him pinned to the wall. Sure, he had thought Caleb was tough, but at that moment, he felt something he had never felt from Caleb.

Fear.

"I-" Eli stopped.

"You what?" Caleb spouted angrily. "Finish, you-"

"Shut up." Eli whispered.

"What did you say to me?"

"Seriously," Eli said as aggressively as he could while keeping his voice down. "Be quiet."

Caleb's nostrils flared. "Why should I listen to you?"

"Because I hear someone, and as much as you want me to get in trouble, this situation doesn't look too good for you, either."

Caleb dropped Eli onto the ground. Eli grunted, brushing his shoulders where Caleb's hands had been. When nobody came to the door, Caleb creaked open the door. He fell back.

"Caleb, what happened?" He tried to check it out, but Caleb pushed him back.

"Stay still," he whispered as quietly as possible. "Don't talk."

Eli did as he said. Then, they heard something that was barely audible.

"I'm in."

Eli and Caleb did their best to calm their huge breaths. They both shook in fear. Caleb pushed Eli behind the door, quietly moving there himself. Under the door, Eli saw black shoes walking cautiously across the floor. He let out silent scream, Caleb putting his hand over his mouth.

Then, the sound of the shoe stopped completely. Eli and Caleb froze. Suddenly, the sound came back, but accelerated. He was running. And the sound changed.

To a scream. 

Eli and Caleb jolted back, unable to catch their breath. Their hands shook more as they heard another shoe sound.

"Caleb, Eli, you're alright," a familiar voice said.

Not believing it at first, they stayed put. Then, Caleb touched the door with his foot, slowly pushing it to the side. 

There was Professor Suarez, hands completely purple and standing next to a motionless man.

"I... we... what..." Eli couldn't think of what to say. 

Soon enough, all the students were running down the stairs. Mira was the first one to see the man, screaming. "Professor, what the heck did you just do?" Mira cried, putting her hands to her mouth. She stared at the corpse of the boy.

"What happened?" Oliver yelled, stopping when he saw the man. Emery was next, then Devin, who both choked on a gasp. Devin stared in shock, while Emery looked around in confusion. Everyone else arrived, looking at the scene.

"W-Who w-was that?" Caleb stuttered, still shaking.

"I don't know," Professor Suarez said calmly.

Cameron's mouth fell open. "So you just killed him?" He yelled. 

"He could have been here to help us! Or he could have been a teacher!" Mira yelped, tears running down her face at the horrible sight.

"No, he couldn't have. You see," Professor Suarez started, walking around the body. "The only way to enter this school is if you're a student, which he is far too old for, you work for the school, which only six people ever have, or..."

"Or?" Oliver said.

Professor Suarez sighed. "Or you're some sort of dark spirit."

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I say this every time but I'm not deaddd

This chapter took forever but overall I'm rather happy with it. Hope you enjoyed :)

(also the person who made Lukas deleted their account, so if someone has contact with them please lmk, I want to make sure they're okay)