CHAPTER TWO: AN OMEGA AMONG ALPHAS

ANNA'S POV

Claudia smile vanishes as she sniffs the air. "Omega blood, how did you steal the admission letter." She goes to the slut to inspect what I put in.

"I didn't steal it. It was addressed to me and if you don't want me here, that makes both of us I don't want to be here either." I turn around and make an attempt to walk out, I know it's stupid considering the suffering I went through to get here.

"Don't waste your time." Claudia says boredly cleaning invisible dirt from her nails. "The academy has lunar magic that locks you in. Once you step through that gate there's no turning back until after graduation."

"And if you don't graduate?" Nadia asks in my head.

Claudia laughs but it lacks humor. "You die. I doubt you will make it past the first two weeks. Oops! Did I say weeks? I meant days." She makes to walk away then stops and looks at me. "You may think of watching your back."

"Why?"

She shrugs. "You never know who may want to stab you at night while you sleep. Follow me."

I look around and notice high fence surrounding the vast space that house towers upon towers. The academy is surrounded by the enshrouded cliffs, towering rock formations that rise like jagged teeth from the ocean. The cliffs appears to be covered in constant fog, making it nearly impossible to see more than a few feet ahead.

"I bet the only sounds that reaches the academy are the howling winds and the occasional distant crash of waves against the rocks below." Nadia teases.

"The cliffs are steep and nearly impossible to navigate, it keeps the academy isolated from the outside world, you only saw it because of the invitation you got." Claudia says curtly.

Why does she only respond when my wolf speaks?

"Many students who have dared to venture beyond the cliff’s edge never return, their bodies never found, but if you think that is a fast way of ending your torture you're even more cowardice than I thought." Claudia says as she moves towards the first building and I follow her inside.

"This is Jessica." Claudia points to a brown haired who I hadn't noticed leaning on the wall. "She is the principal's daughter and secretary of the student's body. Jessica, Anna new student guide you through." Claudia leaves us.

Principal's daughter, she doesn't look like one of the mean girls to me. Nerd glasses, short brown bulb, brown warm eyes, braces on her teeth showing beneath her wide smile. I hope she won't freak when she finds out in omega too. "I'm Jessica."

"I know... the vice principal said that."

Jessica looks around awkwardly, unsure of what to say. "Let me show you around." She interlink arms with me, the shining state of her white chiffon dress is a mock reminder of the ragged clothing I have on and my stomach grumbles in hunger. "This is the great hall." She waves her hands in the air.

Its vaulted ceiling arches high, large stain glass window curved beside it. The ceiling is held up by massive, weathered stone columns, each one carved with figures of legendary Alphas and warriors from ancient myth. The floor is covered in an ancient mosaic, depicting a celestial battle between light and darkness.

"The mosaic is a constant reminder of the academy's purpose: to train the gifted, the cursed, and the forgotten. We hold school meetings here sometimes, we organized dance and plays down here too. Over there is the dinning hall."

The long dining tables are set for hundreds of students, but the hall is almost empty, as though only a select few dare to eat here. My legs and throat are itching to move to the dinning. "You will have enough to eat later on my friend." Someone calls in my head.

"Your wolf?"

She nods.

"You can start a mindlink? I can't start a mindlink."

"It's pretty easy. You will be taught everything, all you need is concentration." We continue moving.

A Spiral Staircase of worn stone leads from the Great Hall to the higher levels of the castle. The staircase twists upward in dizzying circles, its steps uneven and steep, the iron railing blackened and covered in patches of moss. There are no windows, and the only light comes from the faint glow of torches along the walls. The air here is thick, heavy with the scent of damp stone and the distant sound of dripping water.

"It’s said that, at night, students hear whispers and strange sounds emanating from the staircase, though no one ever sees who—or what—makes them." Jessica's voice is low., I think she is trying to be scary? "Each of the doors upstairs are used as lecture halls, to an extent you can call this the academic wing."

She turns around and leads us out of the building. "The dorms are behind the Great Hall, all students live there except the predators they live in the dark chambers, mostly Cruel and Ruthless anyway. The academy’s Dark Chambers are a set of rooms deep within the castle, far from the reach of light and warmth. They are reserved for the most dangerous students or those who are seen as “lost.” These rooms are completely isolated from the rest of the academy, as if locked away from the world."

"Hold up." I raise my hands to stop her, she just keeps talking non-stop like an Ai. "You lost me there, Who are the predators?"

"Cruel, Ruthless, Dark and Graves, the School bullies, rich, hot, popular, psychopath who treats everyone else like trash. They are dangerous. Words can't destroy how vile they are and all the evil they have done. Anna, avoid them at all costs. If they are coming right, you go left. It's the only way to survive. The only things they use pretty girls like you for is sex and death."

"And the school authority?"

She scoffs. "My dad is an ass licker. This place used to be great but it's now messed up. It's like you don't know the kind of personalities in this school. Cruel is the alpha of the entire Westward pack."

I know a person who is the alpha of the entire Westward pack. Jace CruelHart. "Jace?"

"Who's Jace?"

I shake my head. "Sorry." It's certainly a coincidence, it can't be Jace, he is kind, sweet.

"The stairs of eternal darkness." Jessica whispers in my ears. We stop and look ahead in the distance where a tall, narrow tower stands separate from the main structure, strange lights flicker from within its high windows. "Students who have ventured too close have reported hearing disturbing sounds—clashing metals, crackling energy, and the murmurs of voices not entirely human. And everyone who ascend the stairs never descend. Rumors has it that the demons that the alpha king slayed during the first war of the undead were buried there."

I know the story, that was Jace's favorite folklore as a child, it was his bloodline that ended the war. "How do you know all these?"

Jessica beams. "I'm not the secretary of student's body for nothing."

I raise my hands and wave at the student standing behind the window.

"Who are you waving at?"

"The girl."

"There's nobody there." Jessica hands flies to her ears as a frightened scream leaves her mouth. "Don't you hear that sound? Loud... howling...wolves...death." She cries and falls to the ground and hugs her knees to her chest for a few minutes before standing up. "Let's leave here and stop staring...i saw my whole fears...hallucinations."

What just happened, I saw things she didn't see and she heard things I didn't hear.

A loud howl rings in my ears. I turn to Jessica. "Oh it's time for the first meeting of the session. I guess we won't be able to complete our tour today. But Mooncrust Academy is an easy place to navigate especially if you know where not to trespass." She drags my wrist and leads me back to the Great Hall where students are filing in, some clad in leather suit, leather pants and jacket and others wearing simple chiffon shirt and black pants but everyone seems to have a weapon on display.

"Where's yours?" I turn to Jessica who noticed me staring. She lifts her dress up slightly and there are three knives strapped around her right thigh. "That's too close to your private parts. What do you need all that for?"

"You never know." She groans. "This meeting will be so boring."

"I thought the principal is your dad?"

"Because he's my dad doesn't mean I should tell a lie."

I scoff. I like Jessica.

Shoulders hit us from behind. "Eww... What are you wearing?" The girls cringe their noses. Wavy blond shoulder length hair, pink lips, glowing skin, plait skirt, knee length boot, jewellery laden wrist and heavy makeup...I know their type of girls. Rich, mean, popular and treat everyone else like trash. "What pack are you from?"

"Bloodmoon pack."

"Liar! There's only one alpha of Bloodmoon pack and it's certainly not you."

"I'm not an alpha. I'm an omega." Oh shit, what did I just say in front of the whole school?

"Ewww. What is this place turning into? They are admitting omegas now." Her friend makes a show of throwing up before rushing inside the wall along with other students while they look at me like some vector causing disease.

"You're an Omega?" Jessica moves away from me.

I move with her to the side. "Yes." I'm waiting for her to look at me like I have a communicable disease and walk away like the rest of the students but she just laughs and wraps her arms around my shoulders. "My dad will be so pissed, if it makes you any better he is a Beta. By the way, you just met Madison Darkwater nicknamed dark queen of the academy and her errand girl, Taylar Graves nicknamed Graves."

Something silver catches my eyes, silver hair sways in the air, my breathing stop as a domineering MAN in capital letters takes my whole attention. "Jace." Without thinking, my legs starts moving.