The Lunar Crest Academy: Marked by The Lycans
Chapter 42: Whispers

Chapter 42: Chapter 42: Whispers

I walked back to the dorm alone.

Kieran had vanished after we stepped out of the administrative building and he dropped the fact that Avelar was the first lycan king

I stood alone in the cold with only the weight of what we’d seen, and done, pressing down on my shoulders. It was strange. When I’d been with him, it was like he’d blocked the worst of it out. I hadn’t realized until now that even his presence could feel like a shield, whether he meant it to or not. But now that he was gone, everything came flooding back in brutal waves.

The moment I stepped into the feral dormitory, it hit me.

Grief. Guilt. The suffocating silence of absence. It clung to the walls, soaked into the air like blood that refused to wash off.

I dropped onto my bed, curling on my side. I wanted to sleep. I needed it. But the moment I shut my eyes, the faces came. Callum’s bloodied, terrified expression. The feral girl clutching torn Lycans’ uniform fabric. Adrian, shaking and furious, haunted by memories of a sister who reminded him of me.

I turned. Then turned again.

And again.

My mind wouldn’t shut up.

The list. Astrid’s list of the dead. Some were truly gone. But some, Selene Ashthorne, Elise, a few others, they were alive. So why were their names there? Was it a list of deaths past... or deaths planned?

And then... the secret room.

I sat up in bed, pressing my hands against my face. The carvings, the ancient scribbles, the strange symbols that whispered something long forgotten. I didn’t know the language, but the markings stirred something in my gut, like I should know them, like I was missing something.

But what haunted me most was that name.

Maeryn.

I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Kieran had said the male in the carving, Avelar, was the first Lycan king. His ancestor. The founder of the academy. Avelar Draven Valerius, that was his name.

Then who the hell was Maeryn?

Why was her name written beside his in the wall carvings? Why did it sound so.... familiar?

I’d never heard it before. Not in my waking life. But something about it felt like a heartbeat echoing in the back of my mind

I laid back down, staring at the cracked ceiling.

The whispers in my head weren’t stopping.

Maeryn.

Maeryn.

Who are you?

And why can’t I stop hearing your name?

....

The blaring of the academy siren tore through the silence, yanking me out of what little rest I’d managed to scrape together. My body ached, stiff from a night of tossing and turning, but there was no time to lie still and mourn in the safety of my thoughts. Today was the burial.

Callum’s face flashed in my mind, his shy grin, his broken body.

Today, we’d give them peace, the peace that was denied of them while they still lived

I dressed in silence and met Elise and Felix at the dorm entrance. No words were exchanged. There was nothing left to say. The pain was raw, and it draped over us like a heavy, black veil. Together, we walked through the academy grounds, the weekend air too quiet, the skies too gray, as if the world itself knew what was meant to happen today.

We reached the hospital quickly. The hallways smelled of sterile coldness and blood beneath the scent of antiseptic. We headed straight for the morgue. Felix opened the door.

And froze.

I walked past him, only to stop cold.

Empty.

The room was... empty.

Every metal drawer was wide open. Hollow. Every single body, gone. No white sheets. No still limbs. No ferals. No Callum.

"What the hell...?" Felix whispered behind me.

I staggered back a step, my chest tightening. "No... no, this can’t be—" My voice broke. "Where are they?"

"We were just here yesterday," Elise said, her voice shaking. "They were here. I saw Callum’s body, we all saw it."

I turned and ran out into the corridor. The questions clawed at me like thorns, panic, rage, disbelief swirling in my head. And then I saw her.

Astrid Voss.

That same composed, cruel expression. Her posture was as rigid as her voice, her every step dripping with superiority. Beside her was the doctor, nodding along to something she was saying.

I stormed toward her.

"Where are the bodies of the ferals?" I demanded.

Astrid didn’t even blink. Her gaze slid to me as if I were something unpleasant on the sole of her shoe.

"You seem to be bad manners personified," she said with a sneer, and then, dismissed me. She turned back to the doctor. "The incineration was handled?"

The word hit me like a blade.

"Inci... what?"

She didn’t respond.

"Yes ma’am, the disposal of the bodies was efficiently handle" The doctor replied meekly.

"Disposed?" I repeated, louder. "Which bodies? What did you do?"

"We were going to bury them!" I cried, stepping forward. "You had no right to—"

Her eyes snapped back to mine, this time filled with cold fury. "Enough."

Elise grabbed my arm, trying to hold me back, but I was shaking. "You just threw them away? Like they were garbage? They were people! My people! My friends!!"

Astrid took a step toward me. Her voice dropped, dangerously quiet. "I will not be spoken to that way. You, feral girl, are not in a position to question me. You are a student in this academy, barely that. A parasite on our resources."

Her crimson eyes glowed. "And if you insist on behaving like a stray with no discipline, then I will treat you as one."

I barely had time to register the movement before two hulking guards stepped out from the shadows behind her. Towering, stone-faced men in white uniforms that gleamed under the corridor lights.

"For your blatant disrespect," Astrid said, "you are hereby sentenced to five days of solitary confinement in the White Room. No food. No water. Nothing. And no one will come to save you."

Elise screamed, shoving forward. "You can’t do that! She didn’t do anything wrong!"

Felix snarled and tried to shield me, fists clenched. "Get your hands off her!"

But the guards didn’t even hesitate. One knocked Felix aside with a single blow. The other shoved Elise against the wall and grabbed me by both arms.

"Let go of me!" I struggled, tried to kick, bite—anything. "I said let go!"

It didn’t matter.

My screams echoed as they dragged me down the hallway, away from my friends, away from anything familiar.

Elise was still yelling. Felix was roaring. But their voices were swallowed by the walls, fading with every heavy step the guards took.

No one stopped them.

No one came to help.

Just the rhythmic slam of their boots... and the sinking feeling that I was being pulled into a place that was rumored to be worse than hell.

The White Room.

I’d heard whispers about it. Every student had. A place for punishment, silence, and madness. A place where sound didn’t exist and companion was a luxury. Where you were nothing but your thoughts.... and your thirst.

And now... I was being sent there.