Chapter 1
The first thing Eli noticed about Blackwood Academy was that nobody smiled.
Not the students. Not the teachers. Not even the woman at the front gate who checked his
admission papers without saying a word. “Welcome to Blackwood,” she finally said.
Eli looked up at the enormous stone building behind her. Three floors. Hundreds of windows.
Ivy crawling up the walls like dark veins. “Thanks.”
The woman stared at him for another second. Then she looked down at his papers.
Her expression changed. “You're in Room 318.”
Eli nodded. “Third floor?” “Yes.”
She hesitated. Then, quietly, she added: “Whatever you do, don't go into 317.”
Eli smiled awkwardly. “Why?”
The woman didn't answer.
Instead, she handed him his key.
As Eli walked toward the dormitory, he noticed something strange.
Every room had a silver number attached to its door. 315. 316. 318.
He stopped.
He looked back.
There was no 317.
Just a blank section of wall between 316 and 318.
Eli frowned.
Maybe it was a mistake.
He continued walking.
That night, at exactly 12:17 a.m., someone knocked on his bedroom door.
Three times. Knock. Knock. Knock.
Eli sat up. “Hello?”
Silence.
2He walked toward the door and looked through the small glass panel.
The hallway was empty.
Then he noticed something on the floor.
A photograph.
He picked it up.
It showed Blackwood Academy.
The same courtyard. The same fountain. The same stone building.
And about thirty students standing in front of it.
Eli stared at their faces.
Then his heart stopped.
Because one of the students was him.
Same face. Same eyes. Same scar above his eyebrow.
And underneath the photograph, someone had written: “Eli Carter — 2006.”
Eli slowly turned the photograph over.
On the back were four words. “You shouldn't have come back.”
