1 Chapter One

Crestfall.

One of the oldest towns you'd ever come across. Stone grey buildings peppered the sides of the roads with vines creeping up the sides. Churches appeared on every other corner, and they were almost as common as homes for the insane. Sprawling architecture was increasingly seen as you neared the town square, with flying buttresses and gargoyles perched on the edge of the battlements. Their mouths gaped open, dark discolouration around the crooked teeth that resembled blood. And there was a distinct smell of rust in the air no matter where you walked, mixed with the occasional whiff of sulphur.

But that wasn't the most notable thing about the town. It was the people. They dressed like they came from a past era, in clothes made of sackcloth or suede. Women had black veils shrouding their hair, and the men strolled the streets with walking canes in their hands, permanent frowns affixed to their faces. There was not one person who seemed approachable, and if you delved into the history of the town, you'd know why.

In ages past, the town had a ruler, Genevieve. Such a sweet name, but her person? Well, she wasn't exactly graced with the best personality. She was the fairest lady of the town and rulers from other kingdoms travelled long distances just to set their eyes on her, even for a short time. She relished the attention she was shown, but no matter how much praise she received, she always found herself craving more, craving the next compliment, or the next piece of evidence that told her people set her apart from others.

But time passed, and a wrinkle showed up, before her first strand of grey hair appeared on her head. Despondent, she wrecked her dining hall and had every prison inmate hung for their crimes, even though some were only there on suspicion. She bellowed and bellowed through the night, until finally, an ingenious idea struck her. She would use dark magic to regain her youth, and that was when she summoned a notorious witch from the town.

The witch told her that there was only one way to regain her youth. She had to bathe in the blood of infants, and doing that would revitalise her and she would be young again. That night, she slaughtered her own child and bathed in her blood, and for the first time in decades, she laughed in sheer joy.

And her wrinkles seemed to disappear. She stared at herself everyday in the mirror, but when additional time passed, more liver spots collected on her arms. Furious, she sent her people to bring another infant to her. But the midwives of her castle were not like her - they feared God. So whenever she sent them on the task, they came back with excuses upon excuses.

In her chagrin, Genevieve had an order sent to all of her town, announcing to them that for every November henceforth, if a family wished to protect their infant, they would have to kidnap and bring the infant of another family to her alive with blood pumping in its veins. If they did that, their infant would be marked with a seal of protection on their foreheads, and any who dared harm the child would be hung. The massacre that ensued whenever November came was such a horrifying spectacle that there was not one moment where you did not hear the sound of wailing.

But that was centuries ago, and to this day, there were rumours that Genevieve still lived on, and every infant that died passed because her spirit was in the same room. This tale was written in the countless websites that talked about the town, but it did not deter Lucianne from deciding to move to it.

Dragging her luggage behind her, her heels clacked on the pebbled streets. The wind blew between the strands of her hair, and veiled women passed her by with glances of curious disgust. She adjusted the jewel green coat on herself and stared at the map she was holding in her hands.

She was lost, and she had to find her way to Ravenspire Academy, a boarding school for orphans who had nowhere to go. In return for free education, she would have to promise a decade of her life to the businesses of the town. She was fine with that, since she had also heard that they were known for having a great Literature department, and she had always wanted to study that.

Still staring at the map, she wrinkled her nose at the meaningless names of every street. She lifted her head to look around her, and saw the streets empty of signs with directions. Sighing, she turned to her left and saw a bookstore. She entered the store, her luggage skipping on the uneven ground behind her.

There was an old lady standing along a row of bookshelves with her front to a dimly lit room with a door slightly ajar, but she wasn't walking to it. She stood there, and as Lucianne approached her, she saw that she was glaring hard at the mahogany door, her expression marred with fearful hate. She was clutching onto a worn book in her dark hands, and her eyes were bloodshot.

"Ma'am," Lucianne called out to her.

She did not respond. So Lucianne stepped to the space before her and waved a hand across her face, up and down.

"Hello?"

The woman's lips spread in one instant, her white teeth glaring against her ebony skin. Her smile was so wide that it looked as if it hurt a lot, and the inside of her eyes shone with moisture.

"Favourable to meet you, my lady," she said. "How shall I be of service to you?"

Lucianne's brow raised and she cleared her throat. "Do you know how to go to Ravenspire Academy?"

The lady glared at her, the Cheshire smile still fixed to her face.

"Do you know how to go to Ravenspire Academy?" Lucianne repeated.

"Dreadful that you're going there, fair lady."

"What do you mean?"

"Fearful you should be, because that is where the Hex Beast resides."

"The Hex Beast?" Lucianne asked, perplexed.

"Grievous Novembers Crestfall has seen," she declared, her smile gone. "Bloodbath! Genocide! A purge! Woe to the people that cross paths with the Hex Beast, for he was born out of the despair of mothers whose infants were torn from their bosoms. The sea teems with their bodies, their untimely demises at their own hands to rejoin the souls of their babies in the afterlife. Woe! They did not find their babies there, and their rage has merged to vow revenge on the townspeople who sacrificed their children to protect their own."

Lucianne could not recall a single mention of any mythical creature like that in the websites she prowled. "Do you know the way to Ravenspire Academy?"

"Slowly shall you walk straight down this line of shophouses, and you will come upon the cursed school."

Lucianne smiled. Reaching a hand out to the lady, she held it open for her to grasp in a handshake. Her face split with the smile again and she touched her hand to Lucianne's, but before she could shake it, the lady's hand jerked repeatedly in her grasp, her fingers splaying outwards and shaking erratically.

In the next moment, the lady collapsed to the ground, her entire body jerking back and forth, shaking and trembling on the ground. Her hand was at her chest at a weird angle, and her body rocked across the ground. Foam collected at her mouth and her eyes rolled back to her skull. Weird sounds gargled from her lips and fear struck Lucianne hard.

What was going on?