Chapter 1
The sign at the entrance was polished brass, gleaming under the grey sky: COLUMBIA ACADEMY. To the world, it was a sanctuary for the elite. To Snow Kong, it looked like a graveyard that had forgotten to bury its occupants.
Snow sat in the passenger seat, her eyes fixed on the dash. Beside her, her father, Thomas, was dead silent. His head didn't move, but his eyes were darting—left, right, then up toward the stone gargoyles lining the roof of the main hall.
"Three on the lawn," Thomas whispered, his voice strained. "One by the fountain. She’s... she’s wearing a graduation gown from the seventies, Snow. But her face is gone."
Snow Kong gripped her backpack. She didn't have the gift—or the curse—of the Sight. To her, the lawn was just perfectly manicured grass and the fountain was just cold water. But she could see the way her father’s hands shook on the steering wheel. That was real enough.
"I have to go in, Dad," Snow said softly. "You promised this place would be different."
"Columbia is old, Snow. Places this old have long memories," he replied, finally looking at her. He reached out and tucked a stray hair behind her ear. "They can’t hurt you if you don't acknowledge them. If you feel a sudden cold, or if you hear a whisper in an empty hallway, you keep your head down. To them, you are a shadow. Keep it that way."
Snow looked up at the towering brick buildings of Columbia. She felt a prickle at the back of her neck, a heavy sensation of being watched by a thousand invisible eyes.
"What if they don't want me to be a shadow?" she asked.
Her father didn't answer. He was staring at the school’s front doors again, where the air seemed to ripple and thicken, as if someone—or something—was standing there, waiting to welcome the new student.
