Blackwood Academy

li Walker's skin like a

e him was not the sterile white ceiling of the hospital, nor the water-stained plaster of his leak

ard, carrying an unnatural warmth. He looked down. A black envelope, sealed with twisted bla

ptance

his mailbox three days ago-

-red ink beneath the seal: "Enrollment grants an unconditio

called him into his office an

e." The doctor's voice held exhausted sympathy. "We've exhaust

mo

d him brother with a smile, who dreamed of

market. But the astronomical medical bills loomed over him like a mountain. He had stood on the hospital roof t

ng it was some cruel scam. But the

: "Be at the downtown crossroads at midnight with th

en the black mist ha

replaced by the same endless fog. From within it came faint, drifting crie

trembling voice cut

e deathly pale, clutching an identical black envelope. He looked no older t

wning man reaching for driftwood. "I was doing homewo

thers emerged

eyes sharp and alert as she scanned their surroundings. Mud caked her jeans, and

the fog. "I'm a journalist investigating the Blackwood Ridge disappearances. I

erce as a wolf's. He surveyed the group with a cold sneer and said nothing. Eli recognized him immediately: Kane Roy

lderly man with white hair... fifteen people in total, each clutching a bl

med, his voice cracking with hysteria. "I have

charged into

" Eli s

s too

uptly, as if someone had clamped a hand over his mouth. A pool of black,

lor. Junior collapsed to the ground, his

s expression hardened, and his hand drifted to hi

hool bell

DONG

yet somehow right beside them. The fog b

in twisted Gothic let

y. A man in a perfectly pre

Not

kel

h an eerie red light. He wore a crisp black tie, and a black ring glinted o

rom his lipless mouth came a cold, flat

o Blackwoo

a line and

o tries to

he dead man slowly sink into the ground, vanish

nched. Eli took a deep breath, forcing himself to stay c

t burned in his

t the million dollars. Only b

The group stared at each other, no one daring to

him, then Dr. Irene, then Kane... Thirteen people forme

ehind them with a

closed over the

at kind of hell they