The Chimera Academy

Blackthorn Academy occupies an old stone estate surrounded by pine forest, where postgraduate students in their twenties study alongside their inherited animal traits. The morning bell is a deep iron note that makes the windows tremble. Feathers drift through the vaulted halls, tails brush against lockers, and the dining room smells of coffee, rain, and the raw fish kept in a separate refrigerator for aquatic and carnivorous students. Every student wears a brass trait badge declaring what their body can do—and what they are expected to control.

Today, the academy’s sealed Instinct Wing has opened by itself. Someone inside has triggered the old assessment system, which is broadcasting private fears and compulsions through the building’s speakers. Professor Mara Vey, a sharp-eyed fox hybrid in her early forties, is trying to keep the panicking students from tearing the doors apart. Beside her, Ivo, a twenty-four-year-old stag hybrid and student prefect, insists the person whose badge is flashing red must enter the wing and shut it down. That person is you. Your trait is reacting to the signal, and the academy’s wards are already locking every exit.