Chapter 48: Hangout

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I couldn’t help but blink, the warmth in Kael’s voice fading behind the weight creeping back into his chest.

Maybe she wasn’t the only one who remembered.

While I’d spent all this time hoping Kael’s memories would return… I never stopped to think what would happen if the others did too.

What if the rest of my class remembered?

What if Selina remembered?

The name alone sent a deep, guttural ache rolling through my chest. My whole body tensed, cold washing over me in a wave.

It started in my stomach, tight, painful, and spread outward, curling into my arms, my neck, my fingers. Goosebumps crawled across my skin.

I didn’t want to go through that again.

I didn’t want to feel so cornered again.

I could still feel it sometimes, those phantom sensations, creeping over my skin like a bruise that refused to leave.

Her breath closing in as I froze in panic, while she did whatever she wanted.

But the longer I thought about it, the faster the memory transformed. Thin, twitching antennae began to push up from behind her hairline, curling unnaturally.

Her limbs grew heavier, her skin hardening into that chitinous, glove-like armor I remembered too well, black and ridged, plates flexing as she pinned me.

My breath caught again.

The memory twisted, morphed, and suddenly I was staring into a face which didn’t belong to Selina’s. It was Yuki’s.

The burn where her bite had sunk in throbbed suddenly, as if reacting to the memory itself.

My hands gripped the tray tighter. My body locked down. I couldn’t move.

“Hey…”

Kael’s voice cut through the static, sharp and close. Her brows were drawn in concern now. “You okay? You look like you just saw a ghost.”

I blinked back to the present. Forced my fingers to unclench. Forced my breath to even out.

Why now? It wasn’t like I’d ever forgotten Yuki, but the memories had never clawed their way to the surface like this before. Not this vividly. I just hoped it wasn’t a bad sign or premonition.

I smiled at Kael. It was brittle, hollow. But I held it.

“Yeah,” I said quietly. “Just… spaced out.”

She didn’t seem to believe, but I didn’t expect her to. I forced my breathing to steady, shaking it off. Or at least trying to.

“Wait,” she said. “Did I say something that set you off earlier? Was it… something I did?”

There was a note of guilt in her voice, one she didn’t try to hide. I shook my head gently.

“No,” I said. “It wasn’t you. Just… something else I was thinking about.”

Her shoulders eased a little, though her gaze lingered on me, unsure.

“So,” I said, forcing my voice to shift the topic, “earlier you said something. About Anissa.”

Kael blinked, wetting her lips as she began.

“Oh. Right. That.”

She let out a breath, almost like a sigh.

Kael leaned back slightly, her expression tightening.

“Alright,” she muttered. “Let’s start with her family first.”

I watched her, spoon half-raised to my mouth, as she exhaled like she was preparing to spill out something awful.

“She’s a Blightscale,” Kael said, tapping the side of her tray. “As in the Blightscale family. You probably know they’re dragonkin, heavy prestige, the kind of name that people go clammoring around.”

I gave a small nod. I’d heard whispers. Hushed tones. But nothing ever concrete.

“But there’s more to them,” Kael continued. “Stuff people don’t say outright. Stuff you only hear if you spend long enough listening around corners. They’re cursed.”

I frowned. “So rumours, then.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Hey, hang on. I’m getting to that.”

I held up a hand in mock surrender, and she rolled her eyes.

“There were five people before you,” she said, voice lower now. “Five who took that assistant job under Anissa.”

I blinked. “Five?”

“Yeah. First one? Gone after a week. Fell from a stairwell. Broke her spine. She didn’t die, but she hasn’t walked since.”

The weight of her voice hit harder than I expected.

“Second?” she went on. “She had a car crash the same day she accepted the job. Never came back to campus after that.”

I swallowed, gradually losing my appetite with every word that followed.

“Third went missing. Straight up. Walked out one evening and never returned. No clues. Not even a goodbye text. Fourth…” she continued, tone growing grim.

“Had some kind of breakdown in the stacks. No one knows what happened, she just started screaming in the middle of her job. They say she doesn’t speak anymore. Not even to her family.”

I shifted in my seat, but Kael wasn’t done.

“And the fifth?” She leaned in. “That one’s the weirdest. She didn’t suffer anything... not directly. But everything around her started falling apart. Roommate got sick. Her best friend dropped out. Her grades plummeted. It’s like everything she touched just... decayed. She ended up transferring mid-semester.”

I stared at her, stunned.

“Now, even their whereabouts are unknown. It’s the Brightscale curse.” Kael’s voice dropped, “I also used to think they were exaggerated until I watched it happen. After that? No one touched the job. Not even for extra credit. Not even for the money.”

Kael’s spoon poked into my chest suddenly, pulling me out of my thoughts.

“Until you showed up,” she said, mouth twisting into a frown. “The one guy dumb enough, or unlucky enough, to take it.”

The silence stretched, and Kael added, a little more quietly, “I tried to stop you. Guess I wasn’t fast enough…” Her voice dulled to a murmur, filled with regret. “...I am sorry.”

A pang stirred in my chest. I didn’t want to see her look like that, like she was blaming herself for something none of us even fully understood.

But behind that concern was something colder, a lingering thought which had sprouted. What if this was like the others? What if those accidents, those tragedies Kael spoke of, were more than rumours? What if this really was the beginning of something I couldn't crawl back from?

I could feel the thoughts trying to devour me, but I couldn’t afford to sink into fear, not when everything I’d managed to barely hold together was hanging by threads.

I let out a short breath and tried to force a crooked smile.

“Maybe I’ll be the one to break the streak,” I said, nudging my tray slightly. “Be the first guy to survive the spooky librarian assistant voodoo.”

It came out lighter than I felt. But not by much. The joke hung in the air, cold and a little hollow.

Kael didn’t laugh. She just looked at me.

Her expression softened, shoulders easing, mouth pressing into a worried line. Pity, it was written on her face.

Her brows drew together, her mouth slightly parted like she wanted to say something, but wasn’t sure how.

Her eyes scanned my face for a second. Then, as if deciding against holding back, she leaned her elbows on the table.

“…You really think that’s gonna happen?” she asked quietly.

I didn’t answer.

She let out a breath, looked away for a beat, then back at me.

“Look, I’m not saying you’re weak or anything,” she said, voice slower now, more careful. “I know you’re trying to play it cool. But-”

Her voice dipped lower.

“I’ve been watching. And honestly… you look like you’re barely holding it together.”

Her fingers drummed once against her tray before she stilled them.

“I mean… you don’t talk to anyone.”

My head shook at her sudden jab at me, my eyes narrowing.

“You’re always by yourself. Every time I’ve seen you since… well, everything, it’s just been you. I know there’s that wolf girl but things between you seemed a little strained… but she is definitely not someone you could easily confide yourself into.”

Her voice dipped slightly, not mocking, just real.

“And I get it,” she said, finally setting her fork down. “You think it’s easier that way. But it’s not. It just makes you more likely to break.”

Her tone wasn’t pitying. Just honest. Frustratingly honest.

“We’re both knee-deep in stuff we don’t understand. You with your creepy dragon boss and whatever other problems you have, me with these scrambled-up memories.”

She glanced back up at me. “And whether you realize it or not… you need help.”

She nudged my leg lightly with her foot under the table. Then added, more firmly:

“We need help.”

She gave a short exhale, less a sigh and more like letting go of a thought.

“It just makes sense if we work through it together. Like you mentioned, good ol’ times, you and me. Sitting, talking, and figuring something out… At least I expect my past self did that.”

Something about the way she said it, soft and almost hopeful, settled weirdly in my chest. Kael caught my change in expression. Her lips curved faintly.

Then just as she was going to continue-

BGRRRGRRRRNGRRNG!

The shrill cafeteria bell cut the moment clean in half.

Kael flinched, eyes squinting in annoyance. “Tch. Of course.”

Around us, trays clattered and students started scraping back their chairs. The midday noise rolled in again like a wave. The quiet space we had carved out between us evaporated instantly.

Kael muttered under her breath, clearly irritated that our conversation ended so abruptly.

Then, a spark flickered in her eyes. She straightened slightly. “Wait.”

She turned to me, expression shifting into something more animated. “How about we continue this elsewhere?”

I blinked. “Huh?”

She grinned, already pulling her tray toward her. “Let’s keep talking at my place.”

“What, your place?!”

“Yeah,” she said, tone casual but eyes sharp. “We’ve got way more to go over than the cafeteria bell allows. And we need somewhere else private to talk at, there’s no better place than there.”

A pause. Then she added, “Unless you’d rather have this conversation surrounded by screaming first-years and microwaved monster slop.”

Still, I hesitated. My mouth opened slightly, and I managed, “I mean… maybe we could just talk later. Like, tomorrow, or-”

Kael cut in with a raised brow. “What? Gonna suggest your place instead?”

I froze mid-sentence, caught, and immediately shut up.

“No, it’s not that,” I muttered quickly, eyes flicking to the side.

Of course it wasn’t. I just didn’t want to admit the truth. That I’d never been to a friend’s house before. Much less of a girl’s. The idea of stepping into someone else’s room, their space, felt strange. Intimate in a way I wasn’t used to.

But Kael was already staring at me, like she’d peeled the thought right out of my skull.

Kael watched my face for all of two seconds before the corner of her mouth curled up.

“Oh. I see how it is.”

I looked back at her, caught off guard by the way her voice shifted, mischief lacing every word.

“You’ve never stayed over at a friend’s place, have you?” she said, practically grinning now. “Damn. I’m about to take your ‘friend hangout virginity.’”

My brow twitched. “Kael-”

She laughed, loud enough to draw a glance from the next table. “Hey, I’m serious! First time over at someone’s room? That’s huge, Markus. Big milestone. I should bake a cake or something.”

I glared at her, but she just kept grinning.

“Relax,” she said. “I am just joking. It’s kinda cute though, honestly. Innocent in that painfully awkward ‘I’ve-never-hung-out-like-this-before’ way.”

I rolled my eyes, but my ears felt hot.

Kael stood, grabbing her tray. “C’mon. Let’s go before I embarrass you so hard you crawl under the table. You’re definitely coming over, right?”

She waited, watching me expectantly, imploringly, like she was begging me to go along with her whim. Insistent, but too shy to admit it through her words.

I looked away, jaw tightening.

“…Fine,” I muttered. “I’ll go to your place.”

I hated how easily I caved in.

Kael lit up instantly. “Yay,” she beamed, swinging her tray up with exaggerated flair.

“I promise I’ll make you feel very, very welcomed.~”