Chapter 1: The Scholarship Student
The first thing Lena Vale noticed about Blackwood Academy was that everything looked expensive.
Not beautiful, simply expensive.
The difference mattered.
The Gothic buildings rose beyond the iron gates like something pulled from an old photograph.
Gray stone walls covered in dark green ivy, large curved windows, narrow towers disappearing into the cloudy morning sky, and ancient trees lining all through the driveway, while their branches formed a canopy over the arriving students.
Blackwood wasn't simply a university, It looked like it had been built to remind people who belonged there, of their wealthy background
Lena tightened her fingers around the handle of her suitcase.
Around her, sleek black cars drove slowly toward the main courtyard. Chauffeurs opened doors for students adorned with tailored coats, polished shoes, and watches that probably cost more than everything Lena owned.
A girl stepped out of a silver car wearing sunglasses, despite the cloudy weather. Another student laughed beside a black luxury vehicle, while two people unloaded his luggage.
Lena looked down at her own suitcase.
One wheel was slightly crooked.
“Oh.. great.” She muttered.
She pulled it behind her.
The wheel produced an irritating creaky sound against the stone path.
Lena ignored it.
She had spent years dreaming about standing within the Blackwood Academy. She just hadn't imagined everyone would look at her, as though she had wandered into the wrong university.
As she approached the registration tent, a student in dark leather jacket, glanced at her scholarship identification card.
“Full scholarship?” He questioned.
Lena raised an eyebrow.
“Is that obvious?”
He gave an awkward smile.
“I didn't mean to..”
Lena immediately interrupted.
“It's fine.”
She took the folder he offered.
“Dormitory C." He said.
“Second floor... Room 214.” He directed.
Lena smiled slightly.
“Thank you.”
She turned away before he could say anything else.
Suddenly, a voice behind her whispered.
"That's one of the scholarship students."
Another voice answered quietly.
“Its quite evident.”
Lena kept walking.
She had learned a long time ago, that pretending not to hear people was easier than proving them wrong.
At the entrance to the main courtyard, she stopped.
Blackwood's central building stood tall above her.
The university's crest was carved into the stone, above the large wooden doors.
A shield surrounded by twisting ivy.
Her heart tightened.
For a moment, the courtyard disappeared. All she saw, was some other place, and some other photograph.
Her elder brother, Daniel, standing beneath the Blackwood clock tower years ago, smiling at whoever had taken the picture.
Her brother had only been twenty-one then, same age she was now.
Lena reached into the pocket of her coat, her fingers touched the edge of an old photograph.
She pulled it out.
There was Daniel, his dark hair falling over his forehead, a crooked smile over his face, while his both hands tucked casually into his jacket.
He had always looked as though the world couldn't possibly hurt him.
Lena stared at the photograph.
“I made it, brother." She whispered.
Her thumb moved across the worn edge of the photograph.
Daniel had attended Blackwood six years earlier.
He had been brilliant, professors had praised him, students had admired him, His research had supposedly been promising.
Then everything changed.
He was accused of stealing research materials.
Later expelled, publicly disgraced, and eventually, died.
The official report had tagged his death an accident.
Lena never believed it, not for a second.
She slipped the photograph back into her pocket, then she felt something hard beneath it.
Her fingers grasp around the small object.
The silver ivy leaf.
It was no larger than her thumbnail, attached to a thin chain.
Daniel had once owned it.
Lena still remembered finding it among his belongings after his death. There had been no explanation, no note, or anything at all, but just the strange silver symbol. And now she was standing beneath the same symbol carved into the walls of Blackwood Academy.
Could it possibly be a coincidence? She thought.
Lena didn't believe in coincidences anymore.
“First day?” A voice said.
She looked up.
A tall blond boy stood several feet away, watching her.
He wore a perfectly fitted navy coat and carried no luggage.
His blue eyes stared briefly towards her suitcase.
“Unfortunately.” Lena replied.
He laughed.
“Julian Cross.”
He extended a hand.
Lena hesitated before shaking it.
“Lena Vale.”
He nodded.
“Scholarship student, right?”
There it was again.
She pulled her hand away.
“Yes.”
Julian didn't seem embarrassed.
“Good... We need people who actually earned their way here.” He said.
Lena studied him suspiciously.
“That's an unusual thing to say for someone who looks like he owns half the university.”
His smile widened.
“Only half of it.”
Lena almost smiled.
Julian glanced towards the main building.
“You should be careful around here.” He warned.
Lena looked, confused.
“Why?”
His expression changed.
Suddenly, his playful attitude disappeared.
“Because Blackwood isn't what it looks like.”
Before Lena could respond, someone called his name.
“Julian!”
He looked over his shoulder.
A group of wealthy-looking students stood near the stairs.
Julian sighed.
“Duty calls.”
He began walking away, but then he stopped.
“Oh, and Lena?”
Lena glanced at him.
“Stay away from the old humanities building after midnight.”
She stared, puzzled.
“Why exactly?”
But Julian was already walking away, toward the others.
Lena watched him disappear into the crowd.
She glanced at the distant building.
''Old humanities, after midnight..Interesting'' She thought.
“Lena?” Some other voice called.
She turned.
A faculty member stood at the entrance.
“Professor Adrian Blackwell is beginning orientation for first-year students. You should hurry.”
She looked towards the stone building, then to the ivy-covered crest.
Adrian Blackwell.
Daniel's old university records had mentioned that name.
Although, only once.
Lena had memorized every page.
Her heartbeat quickened.
She followed the faculty member inside.
The interior of Blackwood was even more impressive than the outside.
High ceilings stretched above the polished floor. Portraits of former professors lined the walls, their stern expressions following students as they walked through.
Lena entered the lecture hall near the back, students had almost filled the rows.
She chose an empty seat.
Moments later, the room fell silent.
A man entered through the side door.
Tall, broad-shouldered, dressed in a dark suit. His black hair was neatly styled, his expression remained unreadable, while his gray-blue eyes swept across the lecture hall.
Then, it stopped briefly on Lena.
Something changed in his expression.
Maybe, recognition.
Lena felt it.
Then he placed his notes on the podium.
“Welcome to Blackwood Academy.”
His voice was calm, deep, and controlled.
“Here.. you will learn history... study institutions.. and examine how power shapes societies.”
His gaze moved across the room.
“But remember something.”
The room became completely silent.
“Power rarely announces itself.”
Lena's fingers tightened around the silver ivy leaf hidden within her pocket.
Adrian's eyes found hers again.
This time, he stared longer.
Not like a professor looking at a new student, but more like a man who had just seen a ghost.
Lena slowly pulled Daniel's photograph from her pocket.
Her brother's face stared back at her.
Then suddenly, she understood
Professor Adrian must have known exactly who she was, or even worse.
