GLASS || The Catalysts, #1 [REWRITE]

XIV

The first thing she that triggers her senses is the rough surface digging into her skin. And the first thing she feels is fear, then irrational panic.

This feels familiar, the fact that she has no control on the downward spiraling fall—

The strange feeling of being lost settles in her gut in a very twisted way, and she feels the urge to throw up. It must be her body reacting to one of her fears before she's lost her memories—her fear of heights was evident enough, but what is this terrible fear? It's suffocating. Lena can't quite place this feeling, but she is afraid of something that fall and this whole uncertainty have given her; that she's unable to reach something, that she's incapable of breaking out of this dark place.

Something's triggering the fear from her. But when Lena tries hard to remember something—anything—she comes up empty. Still no memories, then.

With a gasp, Lena forces her eyes open, finding the world in distortion. Her head heavy, she feels relieved at being back in touch with reality. She peels herself from the ground, sitting upright to mend her dizziness.

After a few good minutes, her head eventually begins to work, forming the questions she needs to ask in her head: What happened? Where is she? Where is everyone else?

She finds herself sitting upright against earth, and on it, too. All around her, it appears that she's in a dark cavern, with hardened dirt grounds and walls so high up she isn't able to make out the above—nothing but a slit in the distance, a little blue peeking beyond.

However far beneath she has fallen, it feels as though part of the academy has, too. Seems like the entire field was swallowed up by this newly formed cavern.

Lena's first thought flies to the possibility of someone powerful enough to change and twist Arcane Academy's landscape—some student who's behind this.

"Good deduction but unfortunately, I'd have to say you're wrong," someone says from behind her.

Instinctively, Lena kicks as she turns, her body somehow knowing what to do. The attack doesn't land; a firm grip grabs a hold of her leg, and she loses her balance and nearly falls.

"Relax, I'm on your side."

Lena glares into a pair of dark, almond-shaped eyes behind a pair of frameless, round glasses. It's only at this proximity that she can make out his features due to the dim lighting in their current predicament. His short cropped black hair blends into the darkness in the makeshift cavern, but his pale skin makes up for it, making him look like a ghost. He flushes red the moment Lena finishes her observations.

"I know I'm pale, but I'm not a ghost," he says, reading her mind.

Lena blinks, trying to back away. He just read her mind.

She shivers, trying to pull away again, but he holds her still.

"Be quiet," he whispers in alarm.

There's a sound in the dark. Footsteps approach, but the boy holding Lena still ultimately relaxes and lets her go almost instantly.

"Neesha," the boy announces.

Sure enough, Neesha steps out of the darkness, her brown skin and golden eyes appear as if they are glowing starkly in the dark. Lena is so relieved to see a familiar face that she almost missed the first words out of Neesha: "I rarely see you in classes, but here you are when there's trouble. Jumpy are we, Fai?"