The Human Among Wolves (Aurora) novel Chapter 116

Chapter 116

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I crouched slowly, reaching toward it, my fingers trembling. Just before I touched the cover, a hand shot out from the shadows and

slammed it closed.

I jerked back, my breath catching in my throat.

The hand was pale. Too pale. Veins ran beneath the skin, black instead of blue, like rot spreading through marble. My eyes followed the arm upward, dread curling in my stomach. A figure stepped into he dim light–tall, shrouded in robes that shifted like smoke.

Its face was smooth, blank, featureless.

“You shouldn’t,” it said.

The voice wasn’t one voice at all. It was layered, hollow, echoing from every direction at once.

“You shouldn’t dig where the ground bleeds.”

My chest tightened painfully. “What… what does that mean?” My voice cracked.

The faceless head tilted at an unnatural angle. “You don’t want to know who you are.”

The torches on the walls sputtered and went out all at once, plunging the corridor into suffocating darkness. Only the faint glow of

the book at our feet remained.

My pulse hammered as the figure leaned closer, so close I swore I could feel its presence pressing against my skin.

“Turn back. Forget. Before it swallows you whole.”

The floor shifted beneath me. Cold wetness spread up my ankles, then my calves. I looked down–stone was dissolving into black

water, rippling outward. My legs sank, dragging me deeper no matter how hard I tried to move.

“Stop!” I gasped, my hands clawing at the empty air around me.

“You’re already drowning,” the voice whispered.

The book snapped open on its own, pages fluttering so violently they cut the air like wings. They stilled on a single line, words

written in ink so dark it bled into the page like fresh wounds.

You shouldn’t have come here.

The water surged higher, over my waist, my chest, my throat–until closed over my mouth and nose. My scream was swallowed

whole.

I snapped awake, lungs tight, sheets knotted around my legs like I’d been fighting them in a dream. For a few seconds, I just sat there in the half–dark, staring at nothing, trying to convince myself hat it had only been a dream. My nightshirt was plastered to

my back with sweat, and the air in the room felt heavy, almost damp, though I knew that wasn’t possible.

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Chapter 116

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The gray light of morning was already bleeding in through the curtains. I turned my head to check the clock on my nightstand and groaned–it was a few minutes before my alarm. Of course. Always before the alarm.

I slid out of bed carefully, so I wouldn’t wake the others, and grabbed the clothes I’d set aside the night before. The floor was cold under my feet as I padded outside the doorm room and toward the bathroom.

One look in the mirror almost made me laugh–almost. I was pale and I looked like I hadn’t slept in days. I splashed cold water on my face, letting it sting, forcing myself to breathe as the chill spread across my skin. It didn’t chase away the heaviness in my chest,

but it kept me grounded.

Skincare next. Always skincare. It was the one part of my morning that felt steady, something normal I could cling to. Cleanser, toner, moisturizer–extra moisturizer, because my skin felt weirdly tight, like the nightmare had wrung the life out of me. I moved through the steps like muscle memory, trying not to think too hard. Trying not to think at all.

When I was dressed and had braided my hair over one shoulder, my alarm finally went off in the bedroom. I hurried back, shut it off

before it could wake anyone, and slung my bag over my shoulder.

The girls were still asleep, each of them looking so peaceful it almos hurt.

I stood there for a second, just watching them. I wanted–god, I wanted–to crawl back into my own bed, pull the blanket over my head, and forget that I had to be anything other than tired. But it was Wednesday. Classes wouldn’t wait, and if I skipped, people

would notice. People always noticed.

So I straightened my bag, slipped out the door, and let the noise of the hallway swallow me.

Students were already stirring, doors opening, footsteps echoing against the walls, voices carrying down the corridor. The normalcy

of it almost made me feel steady again. Almost.

But no matter how hard I tried, the words from the dream wouldn’t leave me.

You’re already drowning.