“I don't care about you.”
The words slipped out.
Damon’s expression emptied.
“What?”
Lyanna realized too late.
“I said I don't care.”
His jaw tightened.
“Everyone cares.”
“I don't.”
That was the truth.
She feared what he might do.
But she did not value him.
Those were different things.
Damon stepped close enough that she smelled mint gum.
“You need to learn something.”
“No.”
His hand struck her shoulder.
Hard.
Lyanna stumbled into the lockers.
The metal rang.
Two students at the far end turned.
Damon stepped forward again.
“Say you're sorry.”
“For what?”
“For thinking you're different.”
Lyanna’s breathing changed.
Not fear now.
Something older.
Memories.
Hallways.
Phones.
Moving vans.
People shouting about dangerous animals.
Her mother crying when she thought Lyanna was asleep.
“Leave me alone.”
Damon pushed her again.
This time she fell.
Her books scattered across the floor.
A notebook slid ten feet.
Someone shouted.
Students came out of classrooms.
Phones appeared.
Lyanna sat stunned against the lockers.
Damon stood over her.
“This is what happens when people don't understand the rules.”
Leo came running from the stairwell.
“Get away from her!”
Damon turned.
“Stay out of it.”
Leo stopped several feet away.
He was terrified.
Everybody could see it.
But he did not leave.
“You pushed her.”
“She tripped.”
“I saw you.”
Damon took one step toward him.
Leo flinched.
Then Mia appeared.
Then Aaron.
Then three more students.
For the first time, Damon looked around and realized the audience was not laughing.
He looked back at Lyanna.
“This is my hallway.”
Outside, beyond the athletic field, something black moved through the grass.
Nobody saw it at first.
Shadow had broken through the reinforced service barrier at 10:31.
Mara saw the alarm on her phone at 10:33.
She was already in her truck by 10:35.
Shadow crossed nearly two miles of forest without touching a public road.
He followed scent.
Sound.
Memory.
Then he reached the edge of Ridgewood’s sports field.
Inside the school, Damon leaned toward Lyanna.
“My school.”
Lyanna heard something.
Not a roar.
Not a growl.
A low chuff.
Her blood went cold.
“No.”
Damon looked confused.
Lyanna’s eyes moved toward the open athletic doors.
“No, no, no.”
Leo looked behind him.
“What?”
Lyanna stood too quickly.
“Shadow!”
A black shape passed across the doorway.
Students screamed.
Damon turned.
Shadow entered the corridor.
He did not run.
That was what everyone remembered later.
The animal slowed the instant he saw Lyanna.
He walked.
Calmly.
Silently.
A hundred and thirty pounds of muscle and black fur moving beneath fluorescent lights as if school hallways had been built for him.
Students flattened against walls.
A phone clattered to the floor.
Someone began crying.
A teacher pulled two students into a classroom.
Another slammed a door.
Shadow kept moving.
His eyes never left Lyanna.
Then Damon moved.
Just one step.
Shadow’s head turned.
Golden eyes locked onto him.
Damon froze.
Shadow stepped between Damon and Lyanna.
Tail low.
Shoulders high.
No roar.
No attack.
No teeth.
Only presence.
Damon backed up.
“What is that?”
Lyanna’s voice shook.