Mixed— chapter six: The bugs curse

But Seraphina’s golden eyes never left me. 

I collapsed face-first onto my bunk, groaning into the thin pillow. “Well,” I mumbled, my voice muffled by the fabric, “that went great.”

Kael dropped onto the bed across from mine, still grinning like an idiot. “Are you kidding? You should’ve seen her face when I said EXPLOSIONAS. Priceless.”

I peeked at him through my hair, deadpan. “Kael, you nearly killed her.”

He sat up straighter, holding his stone in both hands like it was a holy relic. “Yeah, but did you see that? I did magic only you and the sixth-years can. Me!” He turned it over in awe, as if the glow might explain itself.

“You also nearly turned Seraphina’s head into confetti,” I muttered, tugging my jacket tighter around me. My Luminor throbbed in my pocket, shifting restlessly against my leg.

Juniper lingered by the door, quieter than both of us. She finally crossed the room and perched on the edge of my bed, brushing her long black hair behind her ear. “You didn’t have to stand up for me,” she said softly.

I pushed myself upright, rubbing the back of my neck. “Yeah, I did. She was out of line.”

Juniper’s eyes met mine, red irises flickering in the lamplight. “Your stone,” she whispered. “It shifted again. In the hall. I saw it.”

My chest tightened. “It was just the light.”

She shook her head, lips pressed thin, but didn’t argue. Instead, she reached for her own Luminor, the faint purple glow making her look even smaller in the dim dorm room. “Doesn’t matter. I won’t say anything.”

Kael looked between us, brows furrowed. “Say anything about what?”

“Nothing,” I said too quickly.

Juniper rose from the bed and slipped toward the door, tray of books tucked under her arm. “Get some rest. Tomorrow’s going to be worse.”

The door clicked shut behind her, leaving me and Kael in the silence.

Kael let out a long whistle, leaning back against the wall. “Ryder… you’ve got more people watching you than you think.”

I stared at the ceiling, my hand pressed flat over my pocket. The Luminor pulsed against my palm, its colors shifting in time with my heartbeat.

My Luminor flickered once, then glowed a deep, unfamiliar shade.

Orange.

Kael leaned over the edge of his bunk, nearly falling off in his eagerness. “The heck does that mean?” His eyes went wide. “Ryder—orange isn’t even a color of stone.”

My stomach lurched. “I… impossible…” I slapped my face with both hands and groaned. “What is happening to me?”

I lifted the stone into the lamplight, turning it over like maybe it was just a trick of the glow. No—it stayed stubbornly orange, humming faintly in my hand. Shoving it away, I set it on the nightstand, like distance could make sense of it.

“Things have been weird ever since I crushed that bug,” I muttered.

Kael’s jaw went slack. “Y-you killed a bug? Here? On campus?”

“Yeah. Why?”

He slid down from his bunk, clutching his own Luminor like it was a shield. “Ryder… what color was its blood?”

I frowned, remembering the sticky smear across the floor. “Purple. Why?”

Kael’s jaw dropped further. He took a step back like I’d just said the world was ending. “P-please tell me you’re joking.”

The orange glow pulsed once more on my nightstand, throwing crooked shadows across the room.

Kael’s face had gone pale, his eyes locked on the orange glow pulsing from my nightstand. “Everyone knows you don’t k-kill bugs on campus, Ryder! You idiot!”

I sat up, scowling. “That’s just an urban legend!”

He threw his hands in the air. “We literally l-live in a world where we have glowing magic stones! A legend is basically a p-promise!” His voice cracked, half panic, half outrage.

I groaned, dragging my hands down my face. “So what, I step on one bug and now my stone thinks it’s inventing new colors?”

Kael paced the length of the dorm, muttering to himself. “No, no, no, this is bad—this is worse than bad. Purple blood? Orange Luminor? This isn’t random, Ryder. This is connected.”

The stone on my nightstand gave another soft pulse, casting our shadows across the walls.

“Connected to what?” I asked.

Kael froze, his back to me. His knuckles went white around his own Luminor.

He didn’t answer.