a mirror in the sun ☼ l.s.

seventeen - the alpha

The very moment that Harry stepped into the school building on Monday, the lights flickered and shut off.

He cursed as the world plunged into darkness, instinctively crouching down lower, staying close to the ground. The rest of the students in the hallway immediately started talking to each other, a resounding roar of fifty panicked voices: a school-wide blackout.

It wasn't even eight in the morning yet, but Harry's sluggish and sleepy brain was electrocuted with adrenaline. He took a steadying breath, wishing that he had waited for his other friends in the parking lot instead of walking into school in search of them.

The person beside him slammed him sideways, making him stumble. The main hallways didn't have any windows, and all of the classroom doors were locked, so the building had gone from a normal Monday morning to a game of ghost in the graveyard.

Another person pushed him from behind, nearly sending him sprawling across the floor. Harry took two steps to the right, waving one hand out blindly until he found the wall. If he followed the wall, he could get back to the door without getting trampled by his classmates.

By feel alone, he started trying to move back toward the entrance. He could barely process the fact that he was groping around in complete darkness right now, but he could focus on simple things like walking and not getting shoved to the floor.

His fingers met a corner, and he frowned. He definitely should have found the door by now, he thought, but he was distracted by someone calling out his name.

"Harry?"

It took him a moment to place the voice. "Zayn?"

He squinted when the dark-haired alpha held a phone up to his face, the pale light barely enough to cast shadows over his nose. "Oh, thank the stars. I thought I saw you walk in before the lights went off." Zayn waved the pathetic light side to side, searching. "Is Louis with you?"

"No, it's just me. Do you know what happened?"

"No idea. How far are we from the main doors? We need to get out of here."

"I thought I was going back toward the entrance, but I think I went the wrong way. This must be the corner of the second hallway."

"H? Is that you?"

He blew out a relieved breath at the sound of Louis's voice. The older alpha's words seemed to cut through the chaos, ringing louder than all of their classmates' voices combined.

"I'm here," Harry choked out. "Where . . ?"

Louis's hand found his arm, holding tight, and Harry exhaled another sigh of relief. He couldn't help leaning into Louis; he hadn't even realized how badly he was shaking until he felt Louis's steady form beside him. The older alpha squeezed his arm twice reassuringly.

"Thought I heard you. What the absolute fuck is going on?"

"I have no idea."

On cue, their headmaster's voice crackled through the ancient speaker system. "Students, we apologize for the inconvenience. Our wonderful maintenance crew is rebooting the electrical system as we speak. For now, if you're close to an exit, please head outside. If you can't find your way to an exit, sit down where you are for your own safety."

"Seriously? That's their standard protocol for this situation?" Zayn complained. "Ridiculous."

"Just sit down where you are," Louis snorted. His thumb rubbed circles into Harry's arm as he spoke. "Right, just sit down and get stampeded. Oh, stars, they're going to have us do blackout drills after this, aren't they?"