Netherbeast Academy {REBOOT}

Twilight: The portal

Chapter 1

I was running as fast as I could, the world around me a blur. What had once been a beautiful blue gown was now soaked and stained with filthy water. Tears streamed endlessly down my face, blurring my vision, but I didn't stop. Laughter echoed from the school hall behind me, growing fainter as I fled.

This wasn't how my first school dance was supposed to go. My so-called friends had abandoned me for the popular crowd—the same group who bullied me despite the principal's warnings. I had been too shy, too scared to report them again. But tonight... tonight had been the final straw.

Stumbling along in my broken high heels, I tried desperately to hail a cab, but none were in sight. In the end, I had no choice but to take the shortcut home—a path that led through the dense, dark woods.

The forest felt different tonight: colder, heavier, almost as if it were watching me. I kept my eyes wide, heart hammering against my ribs. I sensed something moving among the trees and spun around, expecting to find my tormentors following me. But there was only a sleek black cat slipping silently through the underbrush.

"Who's there?!" I shouted, my voice trembling.

There was no answer. The night pressed closer. I turned back toward home, my pulse quickening—and froze.

A cougar, silent and deadly, prowled between the trees, its eyes locked on me.

Panic seized me. My body trembled uncontrollably. Run. The thought screamed through me. Run! But my mind and limbs refused to work together. Could I outrun it? Could I even survive this?

The cougar advanced, muscles rippling under golden fur. I shifted my weight, steeling myself—and ran.

The forest blurred as I sprinted, my heels catching on roots and stones. Suddenly, my foot snagged on a thick tangle of roots, and I crashed to the ground, face-first into the dirt.

I struggled frantically to free myself, but the roots were like iron shackles. The cougar was seconds away, muscles coiled to pounce. I closed my eyes, bracing for the end—

Instead, I heard the sounds of a fierce struggle.

Opening my eyes, I gasped. A Siberian tiger—no more than three feet tall but powerful beyond belief—had leapt between me and the cougar. With three swift, brutal strikes of its massive claws, it sent the cougar reeling.

I didn't wait to see how the fight ended. Kicking off my useless high heels, I scrambled to my feet and ran.

I burst from the forest and stumbled up to my house, breathless and shaking. I rang the doorbell frantically.

My mother opened the door, her eyes widening in shock at the sight of me.

I staggered inside and collapsed onto the white couch, gasping for air.

"What on earth happened to you?!" she demanded.

"I was attacked by a mountain lion," I panted, grabbing the water jug from the table and gulping it down. "But... but a tiger—a tiger saved me, I think."

Before she could respond, a loud pounding rattled the door.

"Open the freaking door!" a familiar voice shouted from outside.

Jake.

I rushed to open it—and screamed.

Jake collapsed into my arms, badly injured.

"Bring him inside," my mother said urgently.

"We need to take him to a hospital!" I cried, cradling his head in my lap, tears streaming freely.