It’s a full five minutes before I’ve decoded the first few lines.

"Unbound. The fifth affinity. Mender and the breaker. Dangerous, powerful, and essential."

My breath catches in my throat. The fifth affinity. My affinity.

The small scrap of information is already more than I've managed to learn after pouring through half the academy’s library. And this is only the beginning. I already feel myself getting faster with the key Bastian provided in neat, precise handwriting. But at this speed, it will take me days, if not weeks to decode the entire book.

It’s half an hour before I’ve managed my way through the next passage.

"I mark these words in secret, for the tri-emperors have deemed the truth too dangerous to be known. I refuse to let the truth be destroyed. The real story is one of betrayal, love, destruction, and creation. It’s a story that centers around the most powerful to ever claim the title of unbound: a story of Lorkan Grace. The truth they wish to hide is how a man seen as a hero single-handedly led to the death of thousands upon thousands, nearly breaking our world in two.”

A ball of ice forms in my stomach as I process the words, dread coiling through me like a serpent.

Destruction. Thousands dead. Is that what I'm capable of? Is that what waits inside me?

I push my burning eyes a little more, decoding the next two sentences to finish the first page.

"But that is where the story ends. This is where it begins..."

I sit back, closing the book as the excitement I felt mingles with a new feeling of dread. I thought this book would teach me how to excel. How to use the power I’ve been given. Now… Now I’m terrified it’ll simply show me what nature of monster I can become.

A sudden yawn cracks my jaw. The candle flickers beside me, casting dancing shadows across the common room.

I don't remember falling asleep, but I jolt awake with a gasp, nearly knocking the unbound book and Bastian's written key from my lap.

Water. Everywhere. Filling my lungs. Something ancient watching from the depths. Waiting. Hunting.

Hunting for me.

I gulp for air that feels too thin, my uniform clinging to my sweat-soaked skin, heart hammering against my ribs like it's trying to punch its way out. The nightmare that woke me lingers, even as my brain switches itself back on. I can still see the dark water, the watching eyes, and feel the sensation of being hunted by something ancient and patient. The words that thing whispered still echo in my mind.

“Come to me. Find me. Free me.”

"Fuck," I hiss, swiping at the cold sweat on my forehead. My hands are shaking.

The common room suddenly feels too exposed, too vulnerable.