The sky was a soft mix of orange and purple as the sun dipped beyond the treetops. A gentle breeze drifted across the campus, rustling the leaves with a whisper that made the air feel alive. I stepped out of the gym, my arms aching pleasantly from the weight training I had just completed. My sneakers scuffed softly against the pavement as I walked, the rhythmic beat grounding me after the mental whirlwind of the past few days.
There was something about walking alone after a workout that felt like reclaiming peace until I saw her.
She was standing a little to the left of the pathway, near the signpost pointing toward the girls' dormitories. At first, I barely gave her a glance. Just another student trying to find her way. But there was something about her that made me look again.
She looked... stranded.
A petite figure dressed head-to-toe in pink pink shoes, pink jacket, pink phone pouch dangling from her wrist. Even her rolling box was pastel pink with tiny stickers shaped like butterflies and clouds. Her blonde hair shimmered like sunlight in the twilight glow, falling in soft curls over her shoulders. She looked like someone who had stepped out of a Disney movie and got dropped right into the wrong scene.
Still, I kept walking. I'm not the kind of girl who goes out of her way to be friendly. That's not because I'm mean or proud. It's just... a policy. My personal rule.
Strangers are unpredictable, and life already has too many surprises.
I adjusted my hoodie and picked up my pace slightly, hoping she'd get the hint. But before I could get too far, I heard soft footsteps behind me. Light but persistent.
I stopped walking.
The steps stopped too.
I turned around, my brows knitting together. "Why are you following me?"
She looked startled by my bluntness but quickly tried to hide it with a small, nervous smile. "Oh! I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to scare you or anything. I just... I'm trying to find the Flora Room. I'm kind of new here."
Flora Room?
My heart did a subtle skip. I knew that room. That was my room.
My eyes studied her again carefully this time. I remembered seeing her name on the door list the day I moved into Flora Room. Lisa... Lisa something. Her full name had been scribbled neatly beside mine in the administrative printout.
So, this was her. My new bunkmate.
I blinked, slightly embarrassed at my earlier suspicion. "Oh. You're Lisa?"
Her face lit up. "Yes! That's me. And you're...?"
"Emerald Martins. Your bunkmate," I said, trying to soften my tone. "Sorry if I seemed cold earlier. I wasn't expecting company."
She nodded, her expression now more relaxed. "No, I get it. I've been kind of lost since I got here. This place is... bigger than I imagined."
I gestured toward the path leading to the Flora dormitory. "Come on. It's this way."
She fell in step beside me, her suitcase wheels squeaking faintly. We didn't talk for a few moments, but I noticed her stealing glances at me every now and then. I decided not to comment. People were always curious about me—sometimes it was the way I carried myself, other times it was the look in my eyes. I've been told they're "piercing." I just think they're tired.
Still, Lisa didn't strike me as one of those overly friendly girls who forced conversation for the sake of it. She was quiet but observant, and the way she walked—light on her feet, shoulders squared—spoke of discipline.
"Are you an athlete?" I asked eventually.
She blinked, surprised. "Yeah, I do track. How did you know?"
"You've got the build for it. Long legs, steady posture. You walk like someone who's used to moving fast."
She chuckled. "Guilty as charged. I also do a bit of volleyball on the side."
I nodded. "Makes sense."
There was another pause. Then I noticed it—something off in her expression. A wrinkle between her brows that hadn't been there before. Her smile had faded a bit.
"You look... worried," I said, unsure if I should press further. "Something on your mind?"
She hesitated. Her fingers curled tightly around the handle of her suitcase. Then, as if catching herself, she waved her hand and gave a faint, forced smile. "Oh, it's nothing. Really. Just tired from the trip. You don't have to worry about me."
That answer didn't sit right with me.
But I didn't push.
We reached Flora Room in silence. The corridor was quiet—most girls were probably still out or holed up in their rooms. I opened the door and stepped aside so she could enter first.
The room was modest two bunk beds, two desks, two wardrobes. Mine was already set up neatly on the far-left corner. The upper bunk was hers.
Lisa wheeled her suitcase in and looked around with a small sigh of relief. "Finally."
I watched her for a moment as she unpacked a small pink pillow and placed it gently on her bed. Everything she brought was color-coordinated, dainty, delicate. Even the scent of her perfume light and floral was consistent with the image she portrayed.
But something didn't add up.
Behind the perfection of her looks, her accessories, and her polished demeanor... there was a shadow.
Something hidden.
Something she didn't want anyone to see.
I sat on my bed and pretended to scroll through my phone, but I was thinking thinking hard. About Lisa. About the strange girl Millicent from earlier that week. About the dream. About the black wolves. The white wolves. Being "chosen."
Everything was tangled. Everything was strange. And now here was Lisa pink and pretty and confused moving into my world like an unanswered question.
I didn't know if she was friend or threat.
But I was going to find out.
That night, I couldn't sleep.
Lisa had gone to bed earlier, curled under a pink blanket like a character out of a fairytale. Her breathing was slow, calm almost too calm.
I lay on my bunk, staring at the ceiling fan spinning above me, casting fleeting shadows against the pale walls.
My thoughts ran wild.
That dream I had the night before... it still lingered in my mind like fog. The voice of the mysterious guy who had warned me. His words echoed again and again:
"Don't join the Millie-wolves. You don't belong with them. You were chosen for something else. You're one of the white wolves."
Chosen.
What did that even mean? Why me?
And then there was Millicent.
The blonde girl who had approached me after I left the library. She'd spoken my name like she'd known me her whole life. Her confidence had been unsettling, her promises even more so.
Leader of the Millie-wolves. Second-in-command position dangled like bait. A recruitment pitch disguised as prophecy.
I almost laughed when I remembered it except I didn't find it funny anymore.
Because that night, in my dream or whatever it was a different guy had appeared. His presence was intense, his voice commanding, his words sharp like cold wind.
"You were chosen."
He hadn't asked. He had told me.
And I had believed him.
Even now, part of me believed him more than I wanted to admit.
I turned my head and looked across the room.
Lisa was asleep.
But her brow was furrowed, her fists clenched under the blanket.
Even in her dreams, something troubled her.
And I couldn't shake the feeling that Lisa wasn't here by chance. Maybe we were both drawn to this room, to this school, to each other… for a reason.
I finally drifted off to sleep just before dawn.
The next morning, I woke to the sound of soft humming.
Lisa was brushing her hair in front of the mirror, already dressed in a peach-pink crop top and faded jeans. Her accessories sparkled under the morning light, and the scent of her perfume wafted again through the room sweet and too perfect.
She turned when she saw me sit up.
"Oh! Good morning," she said brightly. "Hope I didn't wake you?"
I shook my head. "Nah. I was already up."
She smiled. It looked genuine. But then again, so had Millicent's.
"You heading out early?" I asked, nodding toward her makeup kit and packed purse.
She paused for half a second just long enough for me to notice.
"Yeah," she said eventually. "I'm meeting someone... in the sports office. Gotta finalize my team application and all that."
"Cool," I replied, even though my instincts whispered something else.
She slipped on her sneakers and gave me a small wave. "See you later, Emerald."
I watched her leave.
As the door clicked shut, I sat in silence.
My thoughts swirled faster than ever now.
Millicent. Lisa. The white wolves. The black wolves.
What was happening in Maryville College?
Why did I feel like I was standing on the edge of something... ancient?
Something dangerous?
I reached for my journal a battered leather-bound notebook I'd had since secondary school. Whenever things got overwhelming, I wrote. Not for clarity, but for survival.
September 14th
Lisa moved in. Too pink, too polished. Seems nice... too nice?
Dream still bothering me. That guy was it a vision?
He said I was chosen.
I want to believe I'm normal. I want to believe I'm safe.
But nothing about this feels safe anymore.
The day passed in a blur.
Classes. Lunch. Small talk with my roommate from another room. Every now and then, I spotted Lisa across campus laughing with new girls, answering questions, waving politely at the staff.
She was blending in. Too easily.
But at night, as we settled in again, I decided to try something different.
A real conversation.
"So," I said casually as we sat in our bunks, both pretending to scroll through our phones, "what do you think about all these rumors on campus?"
Lisa looked up. "What rumors?"
"You know. The ones about... wolves."
Her eyes didn't widen. She didn't gasp. Instead, she gave a small laugh.
"Oh, those. I heard some people talking about it near the library. Super weird. Like something out of a teen novel."
"Yeah," I said. "Super weird."
We didn't speak for another five minutes.
Then she added softly, "You don't believe in all that stuff, do you?"
I turned my head slowly.
"No," I said. "But I've seen enough strange things lately to stop dismissing them entirely."
Lisa didn't respond.
Instead, she turned off her lamp and curled under her blanket.
But I noticed something strange.
The moment her lamp went off, she whispered something.
A word.
Or maybe a name.
I didn't catch it fully but it sounded like... Arvenna.
Whatever that meant.
And as I lay there in the darkness, my eyes wide open, my heart heavy with questions, I realized something:
I was no longer afraid.
Just curious.
And determined.
This wasn't just about rumors or dreams anymore.
This was real.
And I was in the middle of it.