CHAPTER 49: NOT HUMAN

"Let me in."

The voice outside was eerily familiar. Soft. Urgent.

It repeated, just a little louder—"Let me in."

No one moved. No one breathed.

Felix, curled up near the fire, whispered, "Did anyone else hear—"

"It’s me! Let me in!"

A different voice. Still familiar.

Julien tensed. "That’s—"

Mira’s expression darkened. "No."

She wasn’t the only one who recognized it. The voice outside? It belonged to "Daniel Norn" one of the noble brats that take pride in his noble status.

Wallace who had been silent until now, finally spoke. His voice was steady, but there was something unreadable in her tone.

"Daniel Norn wouldn’t beg."

He was right.

Daniel was a noble through and through—arrogant, entitled, and insufferable. He wouldn’t plead for help, not even if he were bleeding out.

Yet, the voice outside sounded desperate. Too desperate.

Felix shifted uncomfortably. "So, uh... we’re all agreeing that’s not him, right?"

No one answered.

Then—

"Professor... please..."

Another voice.

Mira’s hands clenched into fists. "That’s Alice."

Alice Fairmont. Another noble from Class B. She was sharp, calculating, and cold. She wouldn’t plead.

"I’m hurt. I—please, I can’t—"

The voice cracked. Weak.

Julien muttered under his breath, "No way."

Then the knocking started.

A slow, deliberate tap.

Then another.

Tap.

Then—

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The sound echoed against the cave walls, rhythmic and patient, as if whoever was outside had all the time in the world.

Leo swallowed hard. "It’s trying to get in."

Wallace let out a shaky breath. "No shit."

Felix scooted further from the entrance. "Why does it sound exactly like them?"

No one had an answer.

Then the voices overlapped.

"Let me in."

"It’s cold."

"Please, I don’t want to die."

"Professor—"

The pounding turned frantic. Clawing. Scraping.

Something dragged across the stone, nails or something worse scratching against the entrance.

Then—

"Lucian."

I froze.

That voice—

"Lucian. Let me in."

I knew that voice.

It shouldn’t be here.

Roderick Vaughn.

My breath came slow, measured. That was impossible. Roderick was at the Academy.

The fire cast flickering shadows along the walls.

The pounding stopped.

Silence.

The air felt thick, suffocating.

Then—

A single, final knock.

Tap.

Then—

"Lucian... please..."

The voice cracked. Splintered.

It was still Roderick’s voice. But it wasn’t.

The warmth was gone. The familiarity twisted. It was wrong.

A wet, gurgling inhale came from beyond the cave’s entrance.

Then—

"Let me in let me in letmeinletmeinletmein—"

The words folded into themselves. Overlapping, warping. It didn’t sound like one voice anymore.

It sounded like dozens.

Mira dug her nails into her palms. Leo was shaking. Felix had squeezed his eyes shut, like blocking it out would make it stop.

It didn’t.

The voices kept breaking.

"It hurts—it hurts—it hurts—"

A choked sob. A jagged laugh.

Then Alice’s voice again—except it wasn’t Alice.

"Please, I don’t want to die."

Julien let out a slow, unsteady breath.

"They’re just voices," I murmured, more to myself than anyone else.

Wallace, still too still, whispered, "No."

And he was right.

Because the fire flickered.

The cave walls shrank.

The voices weren’t just sound anymore.

They were seeping in.

"Lucian... help me..."

Something scraped against the stone.

A claw. A nail. A limb that wasn’t human.

"Lucian—"

Then the voice cracked apart. It began to distort even more as the time ticked away.

The desperation in its tone fractured into something worse.

"LUCIAN—"

A whisper. A scream. A rasping hiss.

Then a gurgle. Like someone choking on their own blood.

Felix pressed his hands against his ears. "Shut up. Shut up. Shut up."

But it didn’t.

"Letmeinletmeinletmein—"

The words blurred into a sound that wasn’t speech anymore. A wet, grinding distortion, like a voice being crushed under its own weight.

It lurched.

"I’m colddddddd."

A voice like ice cracking apart.

"It’s dark."

A voice like something buried alive.

"You left us."

A voice that dripped with something new.

Something hungry.

The shadows near the entrance stretched, reaching, twisting. The fire—our only light—dimmed.

Julien gritted his teeth. "It’s trying to mess with us."

Leo’s breathing hitched. "It’s working."

Mira suddenly stood. "Shut up."

The thing outside laughed.

No.

It mimicked laughter.

A warped, stuttering sound, repeating too perfectly.

"Let me in—letmein—letmein—letmein—"

The cave walls quivered.

I inhaled slowly.

Then I exhaled.

"Stay together," I murmured.

Because whatever was out there?

It was losing patience.

The thing outside moved.

Not away.

Closer.

The slow, deliberate tap against the stone shifted—became a scrape. A long, shuddering drag of something hard and sharp running across the rock.

A claw.

A bone.

A tooth.

"Letmeinletmeinletmein—"

The words slurred, twisting in ways that didn’t fit a human throat. They bent wrong.

Flesh tearing.

Bones snapping.

Then the voice cracked apart.

"Hh-hhhhhhhhggg—"

A jagged, stuttering inhale.

The sound of something breaking itself just to keep speaking.

Felix was whimpering now. Julien had gone pale. Mira stood rigid, fists clenched so tight her nails had drawn blood.

Then—BANG.

The entire cave shook.

A sudden, violent impact against the entrance.

Felix yelled.

Dust rained from the ceiling. The fire guttered. The walls shuddered under the force.

Then—another.

BANG.

The thing outside was hitting the cave. Testing it.

The scraping turned erratic—frantic. Deep gouges tore into the stone.

Then the voice changed.

"Hh-hhhuuuaaaahhh—"

No longer human.

A low, guttural snarl.

A wet, bubbling growl.

Felix was shaking his head violently. "No. No, no, no—"

Then—

Silence.

The scratching stopped.

The voices stopped.

The cave was too quiet.

Like the world outside had been erased.

Leo swallowed hard. "Did it... leave?"

No one answered.

Because none of us wanted to find out.

The silence stretched.

Too thick. Too heavy.

No wind. No rustling leaves.

Just the slow, uneven breathing of the people inside the cave.

Felix’s hands were still clamped over his ears. Leo hadn’t moved. Julien’s fingers hovered near his weapon, though we all knew it wouldn’t help.

Mira finally spoke, voice low. "It’s still there."

No one questioned her.

The fire flickered again.

Then—a breath.

Low. Ragged.

Not from us.

It came from the entrance.

A slow, dragged-in inhale.

Like something scenting the air.

I forced my breathing to stay even.

The darkness outside felt thicker now. Heavier.

Then—

Tap.

Not a knock.

Not a scrape.

Something stepped inside.

Felix sucked in a breath.

Leo’s knuckles went white.

Julien’s shoulders locked up.

Then—

A whisper.

Soft. Almost gentle.

"Lucian."

The fire died.

Darkness swallowed the cave.