They arrived at Lincoln High after riding the bus for about thirty minutes. The main entrance was as busy and crowded as it always was.

And, just like every other day, no one seemed to pay any attention to Luther at all, even though the way he dressed did not match the weather in the slightest.

If he had been just a normal kid, he might have been bullied for that.

Luther walked past the gate and headed straight to the second floor of the north wing. Room 207 was both his homeroom and the classroom where his first-period chemistry class was held. That class was taught by Mr. Bryce, his homeroom teacher. Luther went to his usual seat in the very back row, close to the window, and sat down in quiet.

One after another, the other students started arriving, filling the room until it became crowded and noisy. Groups of them began talking about what they had done the previous night on Halloween.

“Oh my god, my mom was drunk since the afternoon, and my dad couldn’t come home from work, so I had to stay in and look after her. I couldn’t go out and do anything. It was so boring,” one student complained out loud.

“I went downtown with my cousins to watch the parade. There was a pumpkin float that was as tall as a two-story building. It was so cool!”

“And I went to Aaron’s birthday party! Those mansions in the Petersburg area are so massive, and the party itself was fire. I met a bunch of famous people, too. And you know what? Maria Evans was there! She signed my shirt!”

“Maria Evans??? Are you serious? If I had known she was going to be there, I would have begged someone to let me tag along!”

“I went trick-or-treating with Jenny, but she kept making me share the same lollipop with her. It was so gross.”

“Wait, are you for real??? You idiot!”

Acher glanced at Luther, who sat with his head buried deep in a thick book in front of him while all the other students chatted and laughed around them. The raven then asked:

“Luther, do you want to try living like a normal child?”

“Normal? What do you mean?” the boy asked as he lifted his head.

His deep, ocean-blue eyes fixed on Acher.

“Well, in theory, you are now a true reaper,” Acher explained. “That means you can try using your cloak of ambiguity. The reason why people don’t ‘notice’ you is because of that cloak’s unique property. If you withdraw it, they will be able to recognize your presence.”

Huh? Really?

Luther gave a small nod of agreement. His heart started beating faster and faster.

“Now, do as I say,” Acher instructed. “Close your eyes, focus your mind, and feel everything around you.”

The boy did what he was told. After a moment of concentration, a misty, smoke-like cloak made of raven feathers began to form around his body.

“Can you feel the cloak?” Acher asked.

Luther gave a small nod. He could sense something surrounding and wrapping him, as if it were a part of himself.

“Very good. Now, try to repeat the word ‘withdraw’ in your head, over and over. Don’t worry about your moon being exposed. Minos has already sealed it, and even if you retract the cloak, the seal will still keep it hidden from others,” Acher reassured him.

Withdraw. Withdraw. Withdraw …

The feathered cloak stirred a little bit, then stopped.

Luther tried again. This time it fluttered in the air, light as a whisper, like a breeze from nowhere had brushed against it, but then it stilled again.

On his third attempt, the raven-feathered cloak burst apart. More than half of the feathers flew out on their own and surrounded the crescent moon mark on his chest, forming a round sealing pattern around it.

The remaining feathers gathered and condensed behind him, shaping themselves into a pair of small, black wings.

Luther turned his head to look at them, his eyes opening wide in surprise.

What … what is this?

A strange, almost alien sensation rushed through him, as though he had grown an extra pair of arms or legs. He tried moving them, making the tiny wings give a gentle flap.

“There is nothing to be shocked about. He also had a pair of wings like that,” Acher said matter-of-factly.

Sitting on Luther’s right was a girl named Sarah Morrison. She had sand-blonde hair and mischievous eyes. She was quite good at math but hopeless at biology. Besides math, Sarah had another talent: she was excellent at talking to people.

If anyone remembered, she was the girl who had sat next to Luther on the bus back in chapter one.

Out of the thirty-five students in the homeroom, she could talk with thirty-four of them without effort. The only person she had never once spoken to was the invisible boy next to her.

Right now, Sarah was busy reading a manga she had hidden under her desk. Then, as if guided by some invisible force, she raised her head and looked to her left.

She froze for a full thirty seconds, her entire face turning red little by little. The manga in her hands slipped from her fingers and hit the floor with a thud, but she didn’t even care. Without hesitation, Sarah reached over and poked her best friend, Savannah Wright, who was sitting on the other side of her.

“Hey, Savannah, HEY!” she whispered under her breath.

“What? Can you give me a second? I forgot to do my chemistry homework last night, and I need to finish it before Mr. Bryce comes in,” Savannah grumbled.

“Forget the stupid homework. Who is the boy sitting to my left? Did a new student transfer here or something?” Sarah asked, her face still glowing bright red.

“I don’t remember Mr. Bryce ever saying anything about a transfer student,” Savannah replied, turning her head to look over Sarah’s shoulder.

The moment she saw Luther, she clapped her hand over her mouth to keep herself from screaming.

There was a boy sitting there whom she swore she had never seen before.

He had sharp, well-defined facial features, a straight and well-proportioned nose, strong eyebrows, and messy dog-chewed jet-black hair. But the most striking feature was his deep blue eyes that were so close to black they seemed to swallow the light. Savannah felt as though her very soul was being drawn into them.

On top of that, looking at Luther gave her a strange feeling of something unreachable yet breathtakingly gorgeous and captivating.

“When did he get here? How come I didn’t notice him at all?” Savannah asked in a hushed voice.

“I don’t know either. I just turned my head, and he was already sitting there,” Sarah whispered back.

As Sarah continued sneaking glances at him, her brows furrowed bit by bit.

“Wait, hold on … isn’t that … Luther?”

“Which Luther? Oh, wait, you’re right, that really is Luther. But … what?” Savannah was just as confused now.

It wasn’t just the two girls anymore; soon, other students in the classroom began to notice Luther as well. They whispered to one another, their eyes flicking toward him again and again. Even the boys were looking at him with open curiosity.

“How does it feel? Now you have awakened the power of a reaper and become a young cosmic being. The divine aura you radiate is not something mortals can resist. And you’ve only just awakened,” Acher said, letting out a raspy laugh.

Luther didn’t respond.

The fiery, focused stares from all directions made him feel as if he was sitting on a chair made of spikes. He had no idea how to position himself to avoid all those gazes.

In the end, he folded his arms on the desk and buried his face in them, pretending to be asleep. But his classmates did not leave him alone. Luther could still feel dozens of eyes sweeping over him.

At eight o’clock, Mr. Bryce entered the room. He walked up to the teacher’s desk and pulled out a stack of graded tests.

“Good morning, everyone. Did you all have fun last night? Got lots of candy?”

“Good morning, Mr. Bryce!”

“Oh, please, we’re too old for trick-or-treating now,” one student said.

“It was so fun!” another replied.

Bryce chuckled and nodded before speaking again:

“Anyway, I’m very pleased with the results of our last test. Especially with …”

His thick, bushy eyebrows drew together as his eyes landed on the top name on the score sheet.

After a few seconds, he exclaimed:

“… Luther Ravenswood! You still managed to get a perfect score as always. Excellent work!”

The students looked at each other in confusion.

“Wait, who is that?”

“‘As always’? What does that even mean??”