Option One: Gas Leak. Option Two: Magic College.

The girl. The one with the katana and the clone trick. Ryoko.

Why the hell would she vouch for him? Rome had tried to kill her. Or the demon wearing his face had tried to kill her. Same difference as far as the evidence was concerned.

Amelia reached out. Her fingers wrapped around the zip ties binding his wrists.

She pulled.

The plastic snapped like it was made of paper. The pieces fell away, clattering against the concrete. Rome's hands were free. He could feel blood rushing back into his fingers, pins and needles spreading across his palms.

He didn't move. Just sat there, staring at his freed hands like they belonged to someone else.

"So here are your options, Rome Angelo."

She crouched down. Put herself at eye level. Those eyes held his, and he could see the lotus pattern spinning lazily underneath, purple petals rotating in the depths.

"Option one: I follow my orders. I kill you right here, right now."

She reached up. Brushed a strand of white hair away from his forehead with one finger.

"It will be quick. I promise. Your story ends before it even begins. You become a statistic. A case file that gets buried so deep no one will ever find it. Your foster family gets a notification that you died in a gas leak."

Her finger trailed down from his forehead, traced the line of his jaw.

"Or, option two."

She leaned in. Close enough that Rome could count the individual petals in her eyes. Close enough that her breath ghosted across his lips.

"You come with me. You enroll at New Pacifica Shaman College. I will personally teach you how to control that hunger inside you. How to wield it. How to master it. How to become the predator instead of the prey."

Oh.

Oh that's...

Rome's brain tried to process. Failed. Rebooted. Tried again.

This is either the best thing that's ever happened to me or the worst trap in human history.

Her finger continued its path along his jawline, tracing a delicate line that felt like fire against his skin. The touch sent waves of electricity racing down his spine, branching through his nerves and pooling in his stomach.

"And maybe, just maybe." Her smile shifted then, the playful curve of her lips transforming into something with edges that could cut glass. Her eyes gleamed with dangerous promise. "We'll find out who you really are. Where you came from. Why someone went to such extraordinary lengths to put that little leash around your neck and keep you in the dark for seventeen years."

She straightened up. Gave him space to breathe.

Rome sucked in air. Hadn't realized he'd stopped.

She stood there. White hair catching the light from the bare bulb. That impossible, beautiful, terrifying figure offering him a choice between a swift death and a dangerous unknown.

The emptiness in his chest cracked. Something leaked through. More like desperate, clawing curiosity. The same impulse that made him go back into the warehouse when every survival instinct screamed to run.

Jake was dead. Rome's normal life, his civilian life, whatever pathetic illusion of belonging he'd scraped together, was dead.

He could join them. Quick and painless, according to Amelia. Just close his eyes and stop existing. Stop being the problem. Stop being the weird kid that attracted monsters.

Or…

He could lean into this. Into whatever he was. Whatever that purple light and those black markings meant. Figure out why he'd been sealed. Who sealed him. What he was supposed to become before someone decided he needed to be locked away.

Rome's hands were shaking. He pressed them against his thighs to make them stop.

"If I say yes." His voice came out rough. "If I go to your school. What happens to Jake? To the others?"

"They'll be remembered as victims of a gas leak in an abandoned building." Amelia's expression didn't change. "Their families will receive compensation. There will be funerals. Closed caskets, obviously."

Obviously.

Because there wasn't enough left to bury.

"And if I say no?"

"Then you won't have to worry about it."

Fair enough.

Rome looked at his hands. Still shaking. The black markings he'd seen in the warehouse were gone now, hidden beneath normal skin. He could feel them underneath though. Waiting. Hungry.

What would Jake tell me to do?

Jake who'd dragged him into this mess because he wanted to believe in something beyond the mundane. Who'd been excited about ghost hunting and urban exploration and all the weird shit Rome had spent his whole life trying to avoid.

He'd tell him to go. To figure it out. To stop running from the weirdness and start running toward it.

Probably with some stupid joke about college girls and dorm parties.

God, Rome missed him already.

He raised his head. Met Amelia's gaze.

Those twelve lotus petals spun in her eyes like a galaxy waiting to swallow him whole. She looked patient. Predatory. Like she already knew his answer and was just enjoying watching him squirm.

Okay, Rome. Last chance to be smart. Last chance to just take the quick death and be done with it.

Or you can jump headfirst into the supernatural deep end with the hot terrifying instructor lady and see what happens.

Guess which option sounds more appealing after the night I've had.

"I have one question."

"Oh?" Her eyebrow arched.

"Do I get my own room, or is this a roommate situation? Because I have a cat, and she's kind of the only family I have left."

Amelia's lips twitched. Almost smiled.

"Single occupancy. Your cat can come."

"Then I guess I'm in."

The words left Rome's mouth before he could second-guess them. Before the smart, rational part of his brain could point out all the ways this would probably end with him dead or worse.

Amelia's smile bloomed into something genuinely pleased. She extended her hand.

"Welcome to New Pacifica Shaman College, Rome Angelo."