MONSTER HOUSE: MY MONSTROUSITY FAMILY

Elian didn't notice the mark until his third pass down the science wing.

It was just above the water fountain. Small. Angular. At first glance it looked like an accidental scratch in the paint- But when he walked past it again on his way to art class, it moved.

Not physically. Not visibly. But it changed positions higher on the wall.

It pulsed once, faintly. And his stomach clenched.

He stopped walking. Other students passed him by, laughing, scrolling their phones. No one looked at the symbol.

He stepped closer.

The mark was etched into the wall, not over it. Deep, like something had burned it with a needle of molten light. Three intersecting lines, each hooked and jagged, forming what looked like a sideways antler or a broken crown.

He reached out to touch it.

"Don't."

Korrin's voice made him jump. His older brother leaned against a locker like he'd been waiting there the whole time, or had simply stepped out of a shadow and become solid again.

"You can see it?" Elian asked.

"Yeah," Korrin muttered, examining the glyph. "So can Thing. And Willow saw it before it formed."

"What is it?"

Korrin didn't answer right away. He pulled a pen from behind his ear, not to write, but to scan. The tip glowed orange as he ran it over the lines.

"It's a tag," he said. "A hunter's glyph. Obscured to human eyes."

"Hunter of what?"

"Whatever bleeds weird," Korrin muttered. "It's old magic. And not ours."

Elian stared. "So someone marked me?"

"Someone marked this whole school. But it's centered here. Where you are."

A moment passed. Then, without changing his tone, Korrin said, "You need to start walking slower in the mornings."

"What?"

"You pass this wall three times between second bell and homeroom. The mark adapted to your pattern. It's learning your route."

Elian's throat went dry. "Korrin… What happens if it finishes tracking me?"

Korrin didn't blink. "Then whoever made it will know exactly when to find you alone."

He raised his hand and scrawled a sigil beside the glyph. His own. It glowed briefly, then fizzled.

"Temporary counter-ward," Korrin said. "Won't last more than a few hours."

"Can't you break the original?"

"I could. But then he'll know we noticed it."

They stood in silence for a moment.

Then Elian asked the question that had been sitting in his chest since the hallway encounter days ago.

"Korrin... Who do you think Mr. Cane is?"

Korrin didn't answer. He simply pointed at the glyph. Then, very softly, he whispered, "I think he didn't come here alone."