Thornhill Academy (By Sheridan Hartin) novel Chapter 156

Chapter 156

Cage

I don’t remember walking back to my dorm. One minute, I’m in the hall with that demon bastard’s claws at my throat, and the next, I’m slamming my door shut so hard the glass rattles. The sound echoes through the empty room, too sharp, too loud. I lean against it, chest heaving. Humiliation burns like acid. He’d thrown me-literally thrown me-like I weighed nothing. In front of her. The look on Allison’s face won’t stop replaying behind my eyes. I hate her for that. Hate that she keeps getting under my skin. Hate that she keeps winning.

I kick the chair beside my desk, and it topples with a crash. “Godsdamn it!”

The bond hums back at me like it’s laughing. I press the heel of my hand to my chest, but it doesn’t help. She’s still there, in the background of my mind. No matter how much I want to tear her out, she stays. I pace the same stupid loop between the desk, the bed, and the window. My thoughts spiral with every turn. She played the victim. She let that demon protect her. She didn’t even flinch. And then I remember it-the glow. That faint, electric blue crawling under her skin for a split second before the demon showed up. It wasn’t light. It wasn’t a reflection. It was her. I stop pacing.

“That’s something,” I mutter, grabbing my phone from the desk. My hands still shake when I dial, but not from fear. Not anymore. It rings once. Twice. Then

“Cage.” My father’s voice, crisp and cold as a blade. “This better be important.”

“It is,” I say quickly. “You told me to keep you updated. I’ve got something.”

There’s a pause. “Go on.”

I start pacing again, the words tumbling out faster than I mean them to. “I confronted her today. The girl-Allison. She wouldn’t tell me anything, wouldn’t

even admit she’s hiding something, but-”

“But?”

“She did something. Or maybe it happened on instinct, I don’t know. Her skin-it lit up. Blue. Just for a second. Like these weird little markings”

There’s silence for a moment. Then my father’s voice, lower now. “Markings.”

“Yes. Lines, patterns-faint, but real. They disappeared almost immediately. Do you know what they mean?”

He hums, and I can picture him now-leaning back in that leather chair, steepling his fingers, dissecting every word I say, “Tell me,” he says finally. “Does the Demon King still parade around with those markings of his? The ones along his arms?”

I frown. “Yeah. Everyone’s seen them. What does that have to do with her?”

“Everything.”

I blink. “What?”

He exhales slowly, like he’s explaining something to a child. “Think, son. You say she has faint blue markings beneath her skin. And her… mate, if we must use the word, carries identical ones across his own body.”

“So what? He’s a demon. He probably marked her. Isn’t that what they do?”

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Chapter 156

“Only when it’s possible,” my father says smoothly. “And do you know what must be true for that to happen?”

“I don’t care about demon rituals, Father-”

“You should.” His tone sharpens, cutting through mine. “Because a demon cannot mark anything human. Their magic rejects mortal flesh. The body would burn, the blood would rot, the soul would split in two. The only way a mark like his could appear on her is if she was like him. If she could take that magic

and hold it.”

Something cold slides through my spine. “You’re saying she’s a demon?”

“No.” His voice lowers to a murmur that sounds like satisfaction. “She’s clearly not a demon. But there’s only one kind of creature that can absorb a power they were never meant to wield and survive it.”

I swallow hard. “What kind?”

There’s a beat of silence that stretches between us, heavy and final.

“A siphon,” he says.

The word lands like a physical thing.

I grip the edge of my desk. “That’s not possible. They’re extinct, aren’t they?”

“Extinct,” he echoes. “Or very well hidden.”

The memory hits-her eyes flaring silver during training, the heat that rolls off her when she’s angry, the way the air bends around her when she loses

focus. Gods.

“Are you sure?” I ask, even though I already know the answer.

“I don’t speak in guesses, Cage. You’ve been standing next to the most dangerous thing on this campus for weeks and didn’t even know it.”

Dangerous. The word sinks into me, sweet and sharp. All that fury, all that power… no wonder the council’s coming.

“What do you want me to do?” I ask quietly.

“You already know,” he says. “You’ve been preparing for it since the day she arrived. Make her show it. Push her. The council needs proof, and you’ll give it to them. When she breaks, you’ll be the one standing with her blood on your hands, not your own.”

A sick sort of pride twists through his tone. I hate that it makes something in me flicker. Approval… Recognition… The things I’ve been chasing my whole damn life. But in the same breath, the idea of her blood on my hands…That makes my gut twist uncomfortably.

“I can do that,” I say, my voice steady even though my heart’s pounding.

“I know you can.”

The call clicks dead before I can say anything else.

I stare at the phone in my hand until my vision blurs. A siphon. I drop heavily into the chair. My mind races, every scene with her replaying in new, sharper colours. The way her power swells around others. The way she doesn’t just use magic-she becomes it. It’s terrifying. It’s brilliant. It’s everything Father’s

ever warned me about…And I’ve been bonded to it.

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