Vivienne's hand is too close to mine on the spell diagram.
I pull back. She doesn't notice. Or pretends not to.
We've been at this for two hours in the empty classroom she borrowed. The candles have burned down to stubs. My phone died an hour ago so I don't know the exact time but my chest knows. It's getting tight. The air tastes like copper.
"You need to visualize the thread before you pull," Vivienne says. She's so damn patient it makes me want to scream. "Like suturing. You've done thousands."
"Suturing doesn't fight back."
"Bad patients do."
Fair point. I look down at the diagram again. It's supposed to be a basic binding spell. The kind first-years learn in week two. I'm week one and already behind every child in this place.
Vivienne leans closer. I can smell her shampoo. Something floral I can't name. Her shoulder brushes mine.
I stand up fast enough that my chair scrapes.
"You should go," I say.
"We just started the practical portion."
"It's late."
"It's only—" She checks her pocket watch. Her face changes. "Oh."
Eleven fifty-three.
"Yeah," I say. "So. Go."
She closes the watch. Doesn't move. "What happens at midnight, Alex?"
"Nothing. I'm tired. You should be in your dorm."
"Rena said you scream."
Of course Rena told her. I'm going to murder my roommate. "Nightmares. It's not—"
"She said your side of the room gets cold. That frost forms on your window even though hers stays clear."
The tightness in my chest is spreading to my throat. I can feel it. The thing that isn't me. Waking up.
"Vivienne. Please."
"I want to help."
"You can't."
"Let me try."
She reaches for my hand. I jerk back hard enough to hit the desk. The candles flicker. One goes out.
"Don't," I say. My voice doesn't sound right. "Don't touch me."
"Alex—"
"I'm serious. Get out. Now."
She stands. Doesn't leave. Takes a step closer instead.
"Whatever you're afraid of, you don't have to face it alone."
"Yes I do."
The second candle goes out. Then the third. The room is dark except for the last candle and the moonlight through the window. I can see my breath now. Vivienne's too.
"Alex, you're shaking."
I am. I can't stop. It's eleven fifty-eight and I'm out of time.
"Run," I whisper.
She doesn't run. She closes the distance between us and puts her hand on my arm.
The last candle goes out.
I feel it rip out of me like something with claws. The dark spreads across the floor in a wave. It's not shadow. It's solid. Wrong. The kind of cold that burns. I try to pull back but I can't move. It's using me as an anchor.
Vivienne gasps. The sound cuts off halfway.
The dark has her throat.
No. No no no—
I try to grab it but there's nothing to grab. It's mine and it's not. It's me and it's using me and I can't—
Vivienne's eyes are wide. She's clawing at her neck but there's nothing there. Just cold. Just pressure. Her lips are turning blue.
"Stop," I choke out. "Let her go. Let her—"
It doesn't listen. It never listens. Midnight doesn't care what I want.
Vivienne's knees buckle. She's still looking at me. Not at the dark. At me.
Her lips shape my name. No sound comes out.
Something breaks inside my chest. Not the tightness. Something deeper. I reach into the dark and I don't care if it takes me too.
I grab it barehanded.
It burns. Cold fire up both arms. I can feel it laughing. It wants this. Wants me to fight. Wants me to feed it.
I don't care.
I drag it back. Inch by inch. It fights every step. My arms are numb to the shoulder. I taste blood. Mine or Vivienne's I don't know. Don't care. I pull harder.
The dark screams. It doesn't have a voice but I hear it anyway. It pours back into me like water down a drain. My ribs crack. My knees hit the floor.
The room is silent.
I can't see. Can't breathe. Everything is white noise and copper.
Then I hear it. A broken inhale. Vivienne.
I force my eyes open. She's on the floor six feet away. Gasping. Alive.
I try to stand. Can't. My legs won't hold me. I crawl instead. The floor is freezing under my palms.
"Vivienne."
She flinches. I stop.
"Don't," she whispers. Her voice is shredded. "Don't come closer."
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I told you to run. I—"
"What are you?"
The question sits between us like broken glass.
I don't have an answer. I don't know what I am. ER nurse. Dead girl. Fake summoner. Midnight monster.
"I don't know," I say.
Vivienne touches her throat. Her fingers come away shaking. There's no blood. Just red marks. Fingerprint bruises that shouldn't exist.
"I heard it," she says. "Inside my head. It was looking for something."
"What?"
"I don't know. It stopped when—" She looks at me. Really looks. "When you pulled it back. How did you do that?"
"I don't know."
"Alex—"
The door slams open. Light floods the room. I throw my arm up against it.
Cassandra stands in the doorway. Wand in hand. Her face is carved ice.
Her eyes go from me to Vivienne. To the marks on Vivienne's throat.
The wand comes up. Pointed at my chest.
"Step away from her," Cassandra says. Her voice is winter. "Now."
I raise my hands. Still on my knees. "It's not—"
"I said step away."
"She's not going to hurt me," Vivienne says. She's on her feet somehow. Unsteady but upright. "Cassandra, put the wand down."
"Look at your throat."
"It was an accident."
"She nearly killed you."
"She saved me," Vivienne says. There's steel under the rasp. "Whatever came out of her, she pulled it back. For me."
Cassandra doesn't lower the wand. "That's worse."
"How is that worse?"
"Because now we know she can control it." Cassandra's eyes lock on mine. "Which means every other time, she chose not to."
My blood goes cold.
"That's not true," I start.
"Isn't it? Every midnight. Every scream. Every frozen window. You let it out."
"I don't let it—"
"Then why is tonight different?" The wand tip glows. Not bright. Just enough to promise it's loaded. "What made you fight back this time, Miss Morris?"
I don't have an answer she'll believe.
The truth is too simple. Too damning.
I fought because it touched her.
Vivienne steps between us. Puts herself in the line of fire. "If you're going to hex her, you'll have to go through me first."
"Move, Vivienne."
"No."
The air crackles. I can feel Cassandra's magic like static before a storm. She's serious. She'll do it.
I try to stand. My legs are jelly but I manage. "Don't. This is between us. Leave her out of it."
"She's already in it," Cassandra says. "And if you care about her at all, you'll stay away. Because the next time midnight comes, you might not pull it back. And I will not lose another student to the Summoner's curse."
Another student.
The word hangs there.
Vivienne's face goes white.
"What do you mean another?" I ask.
Cassandra's jaw tightens. For a second I think she won't answer.
Then she lowers the wand. Just an inch.
"Three hundred years ago, the Midnight Summoner didn't just vanish," she says. "She took twelve students with her. Drained them dry at the stroke of twelve and left nothing but frozen corpses in her wake."
She looks at the marks on Vivienne's throat.
"You have until morning to pack," she says. "Then you're gone."
She turns and walks out. The door swings shut behind her.
The silence is suffocating.
Vivienne touches her throat again. The marks are darkening. They'll bruise by morning.
"I should go," I say.
"Alex—"
"She's right. I'm dangerous. You should stay away from me."
I walk to the door. Every step hurts. Not my legs. Something deeper.
Vivienne's voice stops me at the threshold.
"You pulled it back," she says quietly. "For me. That means something."
I don't turn around. If I do, I'll break.
"Yeah," I say. "It means next time I might not be fast enough."
I leave before she can answer.
The hallway is empty. Cold. I lean against the wall and slide down until I'm sitting on the floor.
My hands are still numb. I can see the veins through the skin. They're too dark. Black instead of blue.
I don't know what I am.
But Cassandra's right about one thing.
I'm running out of time to figure it out.