Chapter 4 NOW YOU DO THE HUNTING.

Nerissa's POV

I stare at the students, trying to understand what could possibly be on their phones that has made every one of them look so terrified.

“What is it?” I ask again, but nobody provides an answer.

I step toward the girl that's standing next to me and reach out for her phone, desperate to see what they are all looking at.

She immediately pulls it away from me and pushes my hand aside. “Don't touch me!”

Then she hurries toward her room without looking back once. A second later, other students follow her almost immediately, walking away with their phones still in their hands.

Nobody says another word, and none of them throws another insult at me; they simply disappear into their rooms with frightened expressions written all over their faces, leaving me alone in the hallway.

I stand there for a moment, completely confused as to whatever they received that might have scared them enough to stop accusing me and walk away without saying another word.

I turn and enter my room, closing the door behind me.

I walk straight to my bed and pick up my phone from where I left it on the nightstand the night before to check if I received the same thing as the other students.

I unlock it and check my notifications, messages, and email, but there is nothing unusual. There's no strange message … no warning ... Nothing.

“What is going on?”

I decide to put the phone down after staring at the screen for another few seconds. But the moment I move it toward the nightstand, it vibrates in my hand.

My brows draw as I unlock the screen to see an unrecognized app loading itself on the screen.

I never downloaded it… I don't even think I've seen this app before; the app icon is black with a small rotating white symbol in the middle.

I tap on the symbol, expecting the screen to change, but nothing happens; the screen stays pitch black.

Suddenly, a loud knock lands on my door so hard my heart nearly jumps out of my chest.

For a moment, I don't move an inch, but my phone is still in my hand as I stare at the door.

“Who is it? "I call out.

There's no reply.

“Who is there?” I ask again, but there's still no reply from whoever that knocked.

Another second passes before I slowly walk toward the door, reaching out for the handle with my attention fully on it.

As I pull it open slowly … I find the hallway empty.

I look to the left, then to the right, but nobody is in sight. I step outside and look farther down the corridor, but the students have already disappeared into their rooms.

“Hello?”

There's still no reply … nothing.

Just as I start closing the door, something on the floor catches my eye… a black envelope.

My hand freezes on the doorknob as I stare at it lying directly in front of my room.

I look down the hallway again before bending to pick it up. I check for any means of identification, but there is no name written on it, no address… nothing that tells me about who left it there.

I quickly step back inside and close the door.

My hands feel cold as I turn the envelope over. I know quite well I shouldn't open a strange envelope, but something tells me I need to know what is inside, so I tear it open, and a card slides into my hand.

The first thing I see on the card is a photograph.

My breath catches at the recognition of who’s in the photograph… Maya! The same girl whose body was hanging outside my dorm this morning.

I look at the picture for several seconds before my eyes move to the words printed underneath it:

“YOUR HUNTER FAILED. NOW YOU DO THE HUNTING.”

I read the word twice … thrice.

“What does that mean?” My phone vibrates where I left it on the bed earlier.

I walk towards it to discover that the strange app I tried to open earlier is now running by itself. The screen goes completely black, except for a white number in the middle that shows 257 … then it disappears.

258… My grip tightens around the phone as the number changes again.

Then … 259. A second after, a name appears in front of it…

“NERISSA IVY”

"No," the words escape my lips before I can hold them back, as my eyes stay fixed on the screen.

Then the display changes, and a long list begins to roll upward. Names appear one after another, each with a number beside them; there are hundreds of them.

I swipe quickly, trying to understand what I'm looking at, but the list keeps moving, so I drag my finger harder and scroll all the way to the top.

The screen finally stops when I reach the top.

My eyes remain fixed to the top as I try to make sense of the semi-blurred title that's above every name:

“THE HUNTING LIST”