a huge thank you for getting awake to 30k! i really started writing this on a whim - it wasn't like anything i'd read before and definitely not a genre i've written. i really hope you're enjoying it 💕

I stayed with Isaac for a while. We spoke, our tones low and rushed murmurs about how we could do it. Every now and again the panic would break through, and he'd question reality. I was wondering whether my words were calming him down or if it was the power behind my words making him understand. Either way, I was already feeling better.

Eventually, his roommates returned, and their loud laughter echoed around the small apartment until I suggested I go home. It didn't feel right, for such normality to contrast the urgency of our conversation. They were oblivious to Evan's disappearance. Oblivious to what was going on.

It was dark as I walked across campus, this time sticking to the trail through the forest. The lanterns lit my way, but shadows cloaked my path, and every now and again I'd snap a branch or brush through leaves, sending waves of panic down my spine.

I wondered if I was alone in the woods. Maybe there were others, buried deep in the trees where their screams wouldn't carry.

An uneasy feeling blossomed within me when I reached the ground floor of our building. I'd left them alone. On an impulsive decision and a desperate mission, I'd left Gia to fetch groceries and Isobel to go off with her boyfriend. Did they come back? Had my instruction worked?

I ran up the stairs, my calves burning with every step. I was still on a high from my success with Isaac, and it pushed me to our front door.

When I unlocked it and stepped inside the most beautiful image greeted me. They were there, sitting side by side at the dining table with books spread out in front of them.

"Hey," Bel chirped. "Have you eaten?"

"I picked up pizza while I was out," Gia said, continuing Isobel's words. It was a habit the three of us had grown into. "I don't know about you, but our cooking sucks."

Relief filled me. I was so glad they were here and okay. Having them in front of me acting completely normal left part of me to believe things really were okay. Or they would be.

"Great," I said. The aroma of Isaac's half-cooked food filling his flat had made me extra hungry, and it was the first time I'd had an appetite in a long time.

I pulled the near-empty box of pizza from the fridge and placed it on the counter. My throat was dry, and I was parched from so much talking. I had just grabbed a glass from the cupboard when there was a knock at the door.

"Oh, that would be him," Gia said, standing from the table and pacing towards the door.

"Who?"

She looked at me and frowned, as if I was daft for not knowing.

"Gia, who?"

"Professor Blackwood," she said simply.

The glass fell through my fingers and shattered upon the floor.

"Gia," I hissed as she edged closer to the door. "Do not let him in."

Our eyes locked in a power struggle. The knocked sounded again, this time a little more demanding.

"God, if you won't let him in, then I will." Isobel strode across the room in two wide steps and twisted the doorknob.

No no no-

Conrad Blackwood was standing in our doorway, a broad smile widening over his handsome face. "Thank you, Isobel."

Without invitation, he stepped into our small living room space, his eyes sweeping over our furniture. He paused as he passed the single photograph hung on our wall, a picture of the three of us the summer we first met.

"What are you doing here?" I whispered, trying to circle around the room so I could be between him and my friends. Gia had fallen from her frozen stance and returned to the dining room table where she scooped together her notes.

"I thought I owed you a visit," he said, his dark eyes flickering to the girls and back to me. "I know you've been messing with things that are mine."

His. As if they were objects, my two best friends his toys. I stepped away, placing distance until I was in the kitchen, my back hitting the surface of the refrigerator.

"You said they could be safe," I said, my voice brittle. My eyes edged around me for anything that could be used as a weapon. Within me, I knew I'd never have the opportunity to inflict physical harm, but I had to protect them somehow. I couldn't overpower him with my voice.

"I didn't agree to anything," he said. With the only light in the room stemming from a small lamp in the corner, shadows passed over his face, casting him in a wicked light. Even so, it profiled his face and highlighted his high cheekbones, complementing the devilish glint to his eyes.

"I thought we negotiated," I said hoarsely. My hands inched towards the knife drawer--maybe I could at least scare him away. He might be good with words, but maybe not with brute force.

But I knew it wasn't just me against him. It was me against him and my friends. And, with the way he seemed to have some kind of control over me too, it was me against myself.

"I don't want you manipulating anybody," he said, his tone stern, "Not unless you're under my watch. I'm serious, Aspen, one wrong move and I'll tell Gianna to kill herself."

My heart stopped as we both looked towards where Gia sat at the table, her wide eyes flitting between Conrad and I, fear lingering behind them. I willed her to trust me. I couldn't--wouldn't let that happen to her.

"You don't have to threaten me," I said quickly. "I'll do what you say. It was my mistake. I didn't realise... the fine print. They're yours."

He stepped closer, entering the kitchen, the shattered glass crunching beneath his boots. "Are you sure about that, Aspen?"

I couldn't breathe, the air was jammed in my throat as he came closer, his face full of scepticism and his smile full of mirth.

"What we have is a delicate balance," he said, his expression twisting into concern. "I don't want you taking more than you can give."

A shiver crept along my spine.

"I'm serious, Aspen, this is life and death," he continued. The anger in his tone had me nervous. I'd seen what he could do, he was deranged. Unhinged.

"I understand," I said. "Please, if you don't hurt them I... I won't interfere."

How could he have known that I'd told them to stop going to class? Did he have some radar for picking up challenges to his power? How much did he know?

"I don't want to have to keep a closer eye on you," he said, his black eyes observing me closely, "Remember we're allies. You're uncontrollable, and that already gives me enough incentive to... end you."

I gulped, my moisture-filled gaze glancing to Gia and Isobel, who were resuming their homework as if there wasn't a man threatening me in our kitchen. Threatening them. I knew better than to anger him, especially with them here.

The sawing sound echoed through my mind, back and forth across bone.

I couldn't live with him doing it to them.

"You have me under control," I said shakily.

"Are you sure?" he asked, pacing around me in a circle. "Because if you put even the slightest foot wrong--if you get anybody else involved in this--I can make you and your friends drop dead with one word."

My heart was hammering. Isaac. I'd gotten Isaac involved.

"I didn't think I'd need to do this with you," Blackwood said, the volume of his voice dropping a little. His shoulders slumped, and he leaned against the counter. "We need to trust each other, Aspen. We're all each other has."

He was all I had.

In a way, it was very much true. I could do things, things I couldn't do before, and things I couldn't explain. I'd never had this kind of pull over people, the ability to persuade them with a string of words. And clearly I rendered some power comparable to his. Though I could confide in Isaac, Conrad was the only one who truly understood what I could do.

"I understand," I whispered in defeat.

If I didn't know better, I'd have classed Conrad's expression as sympathetic. "I don't want to hurt you or your friends, but I can't let you mess with the balance either."

The balance. Was that the same balance that made him kill people?

"Why can't you leave them out of it?" I said quietly. But I didn't drop his gaze.

"Leverage," he said simply.

He was using them against me. My weaknesses, my best friends.

Unexpectedly, Conrad reached forward to take my hand. The moment his skin connected to mine, a jolt of electricity soared through my body, emanating from the nape of my neck and traveling through every one of my veins, slithering through every artery and filling every capillary, exiting through my fingertips.

"Do you feel that, Aspen?" he asked. He was so close that his breath was cool against my lips.

I nodded, worried that if I opened my mouth to speak, all that would come out was a scream.

"We need to trust each other," he said, squeezing my hand gently as if in an affectionate caress. "We could be stronger together."

All I could hear was the thumping of my heart blasting through my ears, and when he released my hand I was hot all over, blood pooling at the surface of my cheeks and sheening my body in sweat.

"Please," he said, "Be patient, Aspen. Trust me. We can sort this out together. You don't need to be afraid of me, or afraid for your friends. I can take care of them."

He gestured to them, and they looked up, uncaring. I shivered, a cold contrasting to the heat flaming through my body.

I couldn't trust him. But I had no choice.

"Don't be scared," he said gently, and he reached forward to tilt my chin upwards with his thumb, the energy traveling through the print of his finger and into my bloodstream.

"I'm not scared," I said, the waver in my voice indicating I very much was.

"Good," he said, though his eyes were doubtful. "I'll send for you soon. Please stay out of mischief. I'll know if you mess with me again."

"I'll stay out of it," I confirmed, backing away from his touch.

"I know you will," he said with a smile. Then he turned away, and the rage refilled me again. He stepped past Gia and Isobel, nodding in their direction, before seeing himself out of the door.

I had half a mind to push him over the stairwell, but I knew it would never be that easy.

The dustpan and broom were in the linen-press in the hallway, and I wordlessly left to fetch it. But it wasn't just that. I was avoiding them.

Tears pricked at my eyes, the stability I felt before was snatched away. This was all supposed to keep them out of harm, but the small grasp I had on them was not enough. I couldn't risk trying harder. I couldn't trust them anymore.

When I returned to the kitchen I fell to my knees, careless of whether they landed on the glitter of shards spread over the tiles. Tears fell silently beside them as I swept them up. I hadn't just endangered my best friends further, I'd put Isaac and myself in grave danger. As far as I knew, Conrad had no control over him, and that meant it would be even more dangerous if he were to find out.

And then there was the physical connection I felt to him that left me drained and devoid of energy once his touch was gone. I was sure it had something to do with whatever in our genetics matched up.

The fact he'd come to the apartment at almost nine in the evening made me feel more vulnerable than ever. And somehow, Gia and Isobel had known to expect him. Maybe he had some way of remotely communicating with them, I just didn't know. I needed to learn more.

But more importantly, I needed to get to Isaac in the morning, before anyone else could.

Although in the apartment, accompanied by the lively bodies of my two best friends which weren't quite filled with the right people, it was easy to feel alone, I knew I wasn't anymore. Even if it was dangerous. I couldn't begin to think of what Conrad would do if he found out, and I was determined to keep him oblivious.

Maybe one day I could overpower him. If I could somehow learn, or practise, I could seize control over my friends and we could leave, just like Isaac and I were planning.

But then I remembered, it was a balance. I couldn't draw power from nothing. I needed to earn it.