City of Crows [h.s]

One.

Chapter One

"Controlled fires are the most dangerous. They consume you carefully and calmly, before you even realize you've been burned."

Aurora.

The thing about me was, I tried not to question my instincts.

If I had plans to go out with my friends, but something was telling me to stay home? Some odd, unexplainable urge that just made my palms sweat and my stomach turn and told me to stay the fuck home—well, I was flaking on my friends. No question about it.

If I had an exam in an hour and my gut was telling me I was going to fail? Just that unshakeable, sinking feeling in my stomach that made me want to throw up? I was emailing the professor and letting them know I'd come down with a sudden cold.

Needless to say, I always trusted my gut. It had never led me astray. In my twenty one years of life, my instincts had treated me pretty well.

So when I had the sudden craving for ice cream at eleven pm, I didn't think too hard about it before slipping on a jacket and leaving my apartment quietly.

I hummed to myself while I walked. Campus was relatively quiet and deserted, with most students in their dorms or off partying somewhere in the city. I lived in an apartment right at the edge of my university, making home the perfect walking distance between both the city and classes. I was headed in the direction of the city that night, knowing there was a small dessert shop just a few minutes away that stayed open extra late in hopes of a few extra sales from drunken college kids.

It was a chilly night, though the weather wasn't exactly unexpected for the middle of January. I tugged up the zipper of my jacket to just beneath my chin, shivering a little despite the warm fabric. I could see the ice cream shop in the distance. It was hard to tell if it was closed or not, but my feet carried me forward a little quicker at the sight of it.

I was passing by an alleyway when I heard it.

And really, it was at times like this that I wondered what possessed me to be so stupid. I didn't think about it—because maybe if I had, I would have realized how bad of an idea it was.

Not only did I pause, but I turned and stared directly into the alley.

No more than a dozen feet away, three men were beating the shit out of a figure covered by the shadows. The person was huddled close to the brick wall, arms lifted in a clear effort to shelter their face. I watched one of the assailants pull back his leg and drive his knee hard into the figure's gut, drawing out a choked groan from them.

Unable to stop myself, I let out a small gasp at the sight.

Almost in sync, the three heads immediately turned towards me.

I swallowed hard.

...Now would probably be a good time to run.

For once, it wasn't just a gut feeling. There was a voice in my head urging me to get the fuck out of there. My will to live, most likely.

I practically tripped in my hurry to scramble away.

The panic didn't really set in until I heard shouting behind me, the sound of feet pounding the pavement closing in quickly. Fear spiked through me, sharp and cold, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," I gasped, panting.

I forced myself to go faster, breath already coming out in short pants. I was a biology major, okay? I wasn't built to be running from thugs at eleven pm in the freezing fucking cold.