Mass Hallucination

Aeris stepped into the grand hall and immediately wished she hadn't.

The ceiling arched so high it might've scraped the moon. Cold bled from the walls, prickling her skin beneath her sleeves. And above it all, a monstrous chandelier swayed gently, chains groaning like it remembered falling once and wouldn't mind doing it again.

So much for warm welcomes.

The woman behind the check-in desk didn't glance up. Her hair was tightly bound, like every emotion had been plaited and pinned into submission. She scratched something onto the clipboard. "Name?" she asked flatly.

Aeris hesitated because she didn't like watching the way people's faces changed when they heard it. The syllables always seemed to arrive like a warning bell.

She rolled her shoulder and tugged her damp bag higher. "Whatever you want it to be."

The scratching stopped. Then the woman finally looked up. Her eyes were silver and glassy, like a mirror that didn't reflect you back properly. "This is not a place for jokes, Miss…"

Aeris held her gaze. "Aeris Vexley."

The woman studied her for a heartbeat too long before returning to her writing. "Aeris Vexley. Transferred under Headmaster's exception clause. Room 306, East Wing, top floor. 

"Room 306. West Wing. Orientation is at 7 a.m."

That was it. No tour. No map. Not even you'll find the bathrooms this way, dear.

Just… cold stone and colder indifference. Totally normal. Not ominous at all.

Aeris turned on her heel and headed down the corridor, dragging her suitcase behind her.

Thunder grumbled outside, as if the sky itself disapproved.

They didn't use elevators at Noxmere. Only staircases — endless, winding, and dimly lit with lanterns that flickered as Aeris passed columns carved with beasts and saints. 

She reached the third floor, her breath hitching even though she wasn't winded.

Room 306. Room 306. Room..

A left turn. A corridor lined with gargoyles the size of toddlers. One stuck its tongue out. She side-eyed it warily.

Finally 306. The door was matte black, brass numbers dulled with age. Her key turned easily. No dramatic click, no puff of sulfur. Kind of disappointing, actually.

The room was tall-ceilinged like the rest of the building with bookshelves built into the walls, an antique desk, and a four-poster bed. A window that looked like it hadn't been opened since the plague.

Aeris stepped inside, and the lights flickered on of their own accord. "…Okay."

The air here was less ominous than downstairs, still cold, but not unfriendly. Her suitcase zipped itself open before she could touch it, and her clothes folded themselves neatly into the dresser.

Aeris blinked. "You could've done that when I was packing, you know." The suitcase didn't respond, but she swore it sulked as it zipped itself closed.

She flopped onto the bed with a sigh, her arm flung over her eyes.

Three schools. Three expulsions. And now this.

The last one had really done it — the mass hallucination incident. Aeris hadn't said a word in her defense. What was the point? It's not like they would believe her if she said, I don't know what caused it either, only such things happen when I get angry or scared or cornered.

 Aeris curled sideways, drawing the blanket loosely over her shoulders. The warmth did little to quiet the restlessness clawing through her chest. 

She hadn't meant to hurt anyone.

But the thing inside you doesn't care about meaning, does it?

Her eyes drifted shut. Just for a minute, Aeris told herself.

The darkness came quickly. Aeris was standing in the courtyard again.

It was raining. Her uniform clung to her, soaked through. Wet strands of red hair stuck to her cheeks. Her hands were trembling from that pressure again — low in her ribs, humming and insistent.

"…Aeris?" Mr. Lennox's voice came through the storm. He was standing a few feet away, rain trickling down his lined face. "That's not from our library," he had said gently, gesturing to the ancient volume in her hand. "Put it down."

Aeris looked down. The book was old. Older than old. "I didn't take it," she remembered saying. Her own voice sounded far away now. Garbled, dreamlike.

Mr. Lennox's jaw ticked. "That's not the point. You need to stop whatever this is before.."

Something moved behind him. Whispers..soft at first, like wind stirring leaves. But then louder.

A hiss: "Freak."

A snort: "She's doing it again."

Dozens of eyes turned to her, students spilling from the dormitories, drawn to the drama like moths to a flame. 

Mr. Lennox stepped closer. "Aeris, listen to me.."

But she couldn't. The book shook in her hands...once, twice and then the air snapped. The courtyard lights burst all at once, plunging everything into sudden darkness. A collective scream reverberated across the courtyard as panic erupted.

And then it began.

Mass hallucinations, they would call it later. 

A boy dropped to his knees, clawing at his forearms, shrieking, "They're under my skin..get them out, get them out…"

A girl curled into a ball, sobbing, bloodless lips whispering over and over, "He's dying, I saw him, he's bleeding, why won't anyone help him…"

But Aeris? She stood frozen at her place. The book had dropped from her hands, thudding wetly into a puddle. The power wasn't stopping.

Stop it. Stop it. Please, just..

"STOP HER!"

"Make it stop!"

"I'm not doing this!" Aeris screamed, her voice raw, broken. "I'm not…!" She collapsed to her knees, gasping, fingers digging into the wet ground.

******

Aeris gasped awake with a sharp inhale, drenched in sweat, the sheets twisted around her like vines.

It took a full minute for her to remember where she was. Noxmere. 

Not the courtyard. Not the hallucinations.

Her breath sawed in and out of her lungs. Aeris sat up, pushing the hair from her face. 

A wild part of her wanted to tear something, to rip the sheets, smash the mirror, break something just to remind herself she was real and here and not whatever the hell that dream had pulled her back into.

But she didn't.

She just sat. Breathing. Swallowing the sob clawing its way up her throat.

The past was a parasite. And tonight, it had sunk it.

A dull thud came from the door, but Aries didn't hear it. Not until the knock repeated, louder this time, and with the urgency of someone too polite to bang but too persistent to give up.

Another knock.

Aeris sat up, instinct prickling like cold fingers along the back of her neck. "Yeah?" she called, wary.

A boy's voice filtered through the door — friendly, if a little sheepish. "Uh… you're late for orientation. Thought I would come fetch you before the night patrols start wondering if the new girl's already dead."

Aeris frowned and pulled the door open only a few inches, just enough to get a look.

The boy on the other side leaned slightly back, he was maybe eighteen, tall but not in a threatening way. His hair was a chaotic mess of auburn and black, and his uniform looked like he'd been wearing it since the last war. A worn messenger bag hung at his side, half-unzipped, with what looked like blood tablets peeking out.

He offered a crooked, not-unpleasant smile. "I'm Casimir. Everyone calls me Cas." He paused, then added with a little wince, "I was told to make sure you didn't get lost or eaten or cursed. That's happened once. Sort of."

Aeris blinked. "That's... thoughtful."

"Yeah, well." Cas scratched the back of his neck. "I'm on orientation duty. Guess they thought a half-blood was less threatening than the full-fanged brigade."

Something about the way he said it made her stomach twist. Not in a bad way.

Cas gave a wry grin. "My mom's human, dad's not. Vamp side skipped the throne and went straight to dysfunction. It's a whole thing."

Aeris stepped into the hallway, shutting the door behind her. "I'm Aeris."

"I know," Cas said, without missing a beat.. "Everyone does. You're kind of a rumor in motion."

She rolled her eyes but couldn't help the twitch of a smile. "Great. Love that for me."

Cas started walking, waving her to follow. "Don't worry. Rumors die fast here. Unless they're interesting then they haunt you forever."

Aeris hesitated just for a second before following him. "What the hell kind of school is this?" She ran a hand through her still-damp hair, muttering under her breath.

Cas heard her. Of course he did. "The kind that doesn't usually accept humans."

Aeris slowed slightly. "Is that a problem?"

"Oh yeah." Cas gave her a look that was all deadpan sincerity. "Last week, someone ended up in the lake. No one's sure if it was a prank or an initiation ritual. But now the lake's cursed and we don't go there anymore."

Aeris was about to laugh until she saw his expression. "…You're not kidding?"

Cas turned when he noticed she wasn't beside him anymore. His expression softened. "I'm not trying to freak you out," he assured. "Just… don't expect the same rules. This place doesn't run on logic or mercy."

Aeris hadn't asked to be here but now she was in this damn academy filled with creatures who looked like they stepped out of a nightmare and runway show.

Great.

"So, Cas," Aeris said after a moment, "do all half-bloods get shoved into orientation duty?"

"Nah," he said. "I volunteered."

As they reached the grand, sweeping staircase that led down toward the main hall, Cas paused. "Oh…one more thing," he added.

Aeris turned to him.

"If anyone asks," Cas drawled with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, "tell them you're not afraid of blood or people who can bend fire with their minds."

She blinked. "Why?"

"Because fear is like a scent here," he hissed, "and some of them hunt by it."

Cas's words lingered in her mind. Fear is like a scent here and some of them hunt by it.