Together, we left the train station and took off on a road that led right into the woods. Streetlamps stood every few yards or so, illuminating the road but not the forest, which seemed to edge closer to us from both sides. I kept throwing wary glances into the woods every time I heard a creak or a snap, but there was nothing to be seen except shadows and even darker shadows.

“You would think this rich-ass school would have some sort of shuttle to get us there,” Seth grumbled.

“Probably part of the discipline thing they’re all about,” I chuckled. We were walking uphill, and I was out of breath already. “This is just the first endurance test.”

Seth’s only response was a stream of colorful swear words as he pulled his hood farther over his face. Keeping my head down, I dragged my two suitcases along with me. My left shoulder was hurting from the heavy bag slung over it, the strap digging into it, and the rain was soaking through my clothes to the point where they clung to my body like a second skin.

Lightning flickered across the sky, followed by deafening thunder that made us both jump. The rain fell even heavier now and I dimly worried about the books in my backpack, when Seth suddenly let out an incredulous laugh.

“Are these the gates of heaven?”

Blinking against the rain clinging to my eyelashes, I raised my head enough to see what he was talking about. Seven Hills was an old castle with protruding alcoves and sprawling turrets that reached into the night sky, the windows in them a hundred unblinking eyes watching us warily as we neared the entrance.

On the mild summer day I had come here with my parents, the building had looked enchanted with its arched doorway and the ivy climbing its stone facade; however, with the thunder roaring in the distance and lightning tearing through the sky behind it, right now it just looked haunted.

“Lovely, you said?” Seth grimaced. “This looks a little less Hogwarts and a lot more Dracula than I expected.”

“Let’s just go inside,” I said, my teeth chattering.

“Do you want to go first, or . . . ?”

“Oh, I’m good.”

With a sigh, Seth reluctantly walked up the steps leading up to the front door and pushed down on the handle. He made a surprised noise when it swung open just like that, luckily without the scary creaking sound I had already braced myself for.

Instead of the gloomy vault the outside of the castle suggested, the hall in front of us was drenched in the warm glow of a chandelier hanging overhead. The stone walls were covered in certificates from several sports tournaments Seven Hills had won and photos hung in golden frames, each one showing widely grinning teenagers from all different decades. There were large doors on each end of the hall that led to the different wings of the building, and then there were two flights of stairs leading to the first floor.