The metal door slammed shut behind them with a loud CLANG, echoing through the emergency stairwell. Emiliano leaned against the rail, gasping for breath, his heart thundering in his chest. Daniela nearly collapsed beside him, her hands still trembling violently.
But the girl in the black hoodie—Ixchel—stood tall, listening silently to the monstrous scratching on the other side of the door.
The Watchers clawed and shrieked and snarled, their voices muffled but terrifying.
Ixchel raised the glowing silver amulet, whispering something in a language neither Daniela nor Emiliano recognized.
The scratching slowed.
The shrieking faded.
The hallway outside fell silent.
Finally, Ixchel lowered the amulet and turned to the two trembling teenagers.
"Those things can't enter consecrated spaces."
Daniela blinked. "Consecrated… what? Like a church?"
"Like protected ground," Ixchel corrected. "And this stairwell? It's one of the few places in this school where the spirits can't fully manifest."
"Why?" Emiliano asked, his voice cracking.
She tapped the amulet.
"Because I've been preparing this school for months."
Daniela stepped backward. "W–Wait. How do you know about all this? About the Watchers? About us?"
Ixchel's dark brown eyes glinted.
"Because my family has been fighting them for generations."
---
1. The Girl with the Secret
The stairwell lights flickered softly. Dust floated in the air. The silence pressed against Emiliano's ears until he felt like they were sinking underwater.
Ixchel crossed her arms.
"You two have no idea what you've stepped into."
Daniela shook her head. "We didn't step into anything. The shadows came after us."
"That's because you're marked," Ixchel said. "Both of you."
"Yeah," Emiliano whispered. "Herrera told us. Before he… before he…"
His voice broke.
Ixchel lowered her eyes respectfully.
"I saw it," she said softly. "The moment he used his blood to slow the Watcher… I knew he was done."
Daniela swallowed hard. "Blood?"
Ixchel nodded. "That flash of light? That was old magic. Cost him everything."
Emiliano clenched his fists.
Images of Herrera falling…
The shadow ripping through him…
His dying warning…
It all replayed in his head.
"Ixchel," he whispered. "You said you know how to kill them. How?"
Her lips tightened.
"I know how to hurt them," she corrected. "No one has ever killed a Watcher completely. They're not spirits. They're pieces of something much older."
"Older than what?" Daniela asked.
Ixchel stepped closer and lifted her amulet.
The blue glow flickered like a heartbeat.
"Older than this school."
"Older than the town."
"Older than Día de los Muertos itself."
She paused.
"They come from La Oscuridad Antigua."
Emiliano frowned. "The Ancient Darkness?"
Ixchel nodded.
"And tomorrow night, when La Hora Maldita starts… the barrier between their world and ours will thin until they can fully cross over."
Daniela hugged herself. "But why us? Why our school? Why this town?"
Ixchel's eyes burned with a mixture of anger and sadness.
"Because San Rafael sits on the remains of a pre-colonial sacrificial ground. A site of ancient magic. Rituals. Blood. You think the school's weird shape is an accident?" She scoffed. "It's built like a sigil. A gateway."
Emiliano shivered.
"So the school is a… portal?"
Ixchel nodded without hesitation.
"And tomorrow at midnight, it will fully open."
2. The Mark
Ixchel pulled a folded piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to Emiliano.
It was a drawing—a charcoal sketch.
A symbol.
A circle of thorns surrounding an eye-shaped flame.
"This is the Mark," Ixchel said. "All chosen sacrifices are born with it."
Daniela frowned. "Born with it? Where? I've never had anything like that."
Ixchel raised an eyebrow.
"You've never checked your back?"
Daniela's eyes widened.
She instinctively reached behind her shirt.
Emiliano felt a sudden chill.
He pulled up his sleeve.
And froze.
On his forearm, faint but undeniable, the symbol began to glow—
like ink beneath the skin.
Alive.
Burning softly.
Daniela gasped.
"Emi—you have it."
He looked at her.
"So do you."
Her hand trembled as she lifted her shirt slightly, revealing her shoulder blade.
A glowing circle of thorns.
The same symbol.
The Mark.
She jerked away as if burned. "No… no, no, no—this can't be real—"
Ixchel grabbed her shoulders firmly.
"Listen, Daniela. Panicking won't help. The Watchers already know. Running or hiding won't erase the mark."
Daniela's voice broke. "Then what do we do?!"
Ixchel let out a slow breath.
"We fight it. From inside."
3. The Forbidden Archive
Emiliano remembered Herrera's dying words.
"Señor said we need to find something," he whispered. "A book. El Libro del Silencio. Hidden under the library."
Ixchel's eyes widened sharply.
"How do you know about that book?"
"He told us," Daniela said. "Before he—"
Ixchel pressed her fingers to her temple.
"That book is the only written record of how La Hora Maldita can be disrupted. But the school sealed the archive decades ago."
Emiliano stepped forward.
"You know how to get in, don't you?"
For the first time, Ixchel smirked.
"Of course I do. I've been breaking into places since I was twelve."
She lifted her hoodie sleeve, revealing a series of cut scars on her wrist.
"The archive is dangerous. Filled with trapped spirits and old magic. But if we can get the book… we might have a chance."
Daniela's voice was small.
"A chance to survive?"
Ixchel shook her head.
"A chance to STOP it."
4. The Amulet's Warning
As Ixchel prepared to lead them down the stairwell, the silver amulet around her neck began to glow brighter—
and brighter—
and hotter.
She winced, gripping it tight.
"Emi—Dani—get back."
The amulet pulsed again.
A deep, resonant boom filled the air.
Dust shook from the rafters.
Daniela clutched Emi's sleeve.
"What's happening?!"
Ixchel's eyes widened.
"They're coming."
Emiliano froze.
"The Watchers?"
"No," Ixchel whispered.
Something worse."
A cold wind swept down the stairwell, extinguishing the lights one by one.
POP.
POP.
Darkness swallowed everything.
And then they heard it.
A deep, low, monstrous breathing.
Not like the Watchers—thin and sharp—
but heavy.
Ancient.
Hungry.
Emi whispered shakily, "What is THAT?"
Ixchel swallowed hard, stepping backward.
"El Oscuro…" she whispered.
"The Dark One. The Collector."
Daniela's knees buckled.
"No… he's not supposed to appear yet."
"He shouldn't," Ixchel said. "Not until midnight tomorrow."
"Then why is he here now?" Emiliano asked.
The stairwell filled with icy fog.
The air tightened—
as if something enormous squeezed through an invisible crack.
Ixchel's voice trembled.
"Because the ritual has already begun."
A towering shadow appeared on the steps above them—
ten feet tall, horns like twisted branches, eyes burning like white suns.
The Dark One.
El Oscuro.
He looked down at the three teenagers…
…and whispered:
"Mis sacrificios…"
My sacrifices…
The stairwell felt like it was collapsing inward, swallowed by icy darkness.
The presence towering above them wasn't like the Watchers.
This one…
had weight.
Had power.
Had PURPOSE.
El Oscuro—the Collector, the ruler of the shadows.
Emiliano could barely breathe.
His lungs tightened.
His legs felt like stone.
El Oscuro descended the steps slowly…
each footstep shaking the ground.
THOOM.
THOOM.
THOOM.
His enormous stature bent the shadows around him, twisting the darkness into writhing tendrils.
Daniela clung to Emiliano's arm, her voice a broken whisper.
"Emi… this thing is real… it's real…"
El Oscuro's burning white eyes locked onto them.
And he spoke—his voice echoing inside their bones.
"Veinte años…"
Twenty years…
"He esperado…"
I have waited…
"para reclamar lo que es mío."
to claim what is mine.
Emiliano forced his body to move.
"Ixchel—what do we do?!"
Ixchel's expression hardened. Her fingers tightened around the silver amulet, now glowing red-hot.
"We run."
El Oscuro extended a massive arm—its shadow stretching across the stairs like a black tidal wave.
The children ran down the stairs as fast as their legs could carry them.
---
1. The Descent Into Darkness
The stairwell darkened completely.
Not dim.
Not shadowed.
But blotted out—
like ink drowning the world.
Emiliano stumbled, nearly falling.
Daniela grabbed him. "Emi—keep going!"
Ixchel ran ahead, her amulet cutting a narrow path of blue light through the suffocating dark.
Behind them, El Oscuro's massive shape moved—slow but unstoppable.
Every step shook dust from the ceiling.
Every breath sounded like the wind from a collapsing cave.
Ixchel shouted over the roar:
"Don't let the darkness TOUCH you! If it gets inside your shadow—you're dead!"
Emiliano looked down.
Their shadows were being pulled…
stretched…
twisted along the wall…
reaching toward El Oscuro.
"OUTRUN YOUR OWN SHADOWS!" Ixchel yelled.
"How?!" Daniela screamed.
"MOVE FASTER!"
They raced downward, tripping over broken steps as the stairwell warped and bent, distorting reality itself.
El Oscuro's hand stretched after them—
a giant claw of pure shadow—
its tips scraping the railing.
A single touch of that darkness would mean the end.
"LEFT!" Ixchel barked.
"JUMP!"
"KEEP YOUR FEET MOVING!"
The stairwell twisted like it was alive, shifting shape in front of them.
Daniela screamed again. "We're not going to make it!"
Ixchel suddenly stopped.
"We don't need to!"
She slammed her palm against a door to the side.
The door glowed bright blue—
then exploded open.
"IN HERE!"
They dove through the doorway just as El Oscuro's shadow smashed into the wall behind them, sending cracks spiraling outward like spider legs.
Ixchel slammed the door shut and pressed her back against it.
There was silence.
And then—
A deep rumbling growl from the other side.
El Oscuro whispered again, his voice oozing through the cracks:
"No pueden huir… mis sacrificios…"
You cannot run… my sacrifices…
Daniela sobbed quietly. "Why us? Why us? Why us…"
Ixchel grabbed her by the shoulders.
"Get it together, Dani. Cry later. Survive now."
Daniela wiped her tears with shaking hands.
Emiliano tried to steady his breathing.
"We can't stay here," he murmured.
Ixchel nodded. "I know. But we bought ourselves a moment."
She turned and looked around the room.
It wasn't a classroom.
It wasn't a hallway.
It was something much older.
Something hidden.
Stone walls.
Old carvings.
Symbols etched into the floor.
Daniela whispered, "What… is this place?"
Ixchel answered quietly:
"The oldest part of the school. The ancient foundation."
Emiliano felt the weight of the air change.
"Are we underground?"
"Yes," Ixchel said. "Very deep. This is where the first rituals were performed."
Daniela backed away.
"No—no, I don't want to be here—"
Emi held her hand. "Dani… look at me. You're not alone."
Her breathing slowed.
Ixchel walked to the center of the room and knelt beside a stone slab. She brushed aside dust and dirt, revealing a carved crest.
A symbol of an eye shaped like fire.
Emiliano gasped.
"The Mark…"
"Our Mark," Daniela whispered.
Ixchel nodded.
"This is where the Mark was first burned into the chosen sacrifices centuries ago."
Emiliano felt his stomach twist.
"Burned?"
"Sí." Ixchel looked up. "Your ancestors were chosen willingly… or unwillingly."
Daniela stepped backward, shaking.
"I don't want this. I don't want any of this…"
Ixchel stood.
"None of us do. But we don't choose the curse. The curse chooses us."
---
2. The Ritual Table
Emiliano approached the stone altar. Touching it sent a shiver up his arm—cold, sharp, alive.
Suddenly—
FLASH.
A vision hit him.
He saw…
—five children kneeling in a circle.
—hooded figures chanting.
—blood dripping down the altar.
—fire rising from the cracks in the stone.
—a tall shadow looming behind them.
El Oscuro.
He reached for them—
one by one—
touching their heads—
claiming them.
Emiliano stumbled back, gasping.
"Emi?!" Daniela ran to him. "Emi, what happened?!"
He shook his head violently, trying to clear the images.
"I—I saw them—Dani, I saw the first students… the ones who were sacrificed here."
Ixchel looked at him sharply.
"That means you're already connecting to the mark faster than expected."
Daniela's voice cracked. "Is that a bad thing?"
"Very," Ixchel murmured. "If he touches your mind again… he'll take it."
---
3. A Warning from the Amulet
The amulet flickered again—
brighter—
then dimmed—
like a dying heart.
Ixchel touched it to her chest, frowning.
"He's getting stronger. His influence is spreading through the school."
"What does that mean?" Emiliano asked.
"It means we have less time than we thought."
Daniela shuddered. "But it's not midnight yet."
Ixchel nodded grimly.
"La Hora Maldita already began."
"But how?" Emiliano demanded.
Ixchel hesitated.
Then she whispered:
"Because someone performed the opening ritual early."
Emi stiffened.
"You mean someone inside the school helped El Oscuro?"
"I mean someone allowed him in," Ixchel corrected.
Daniela backed away.
"A teacher? A student? Who would do that?!"
Ixchel looked at both of them.
And her answer was the last thing they expected.
"It wasn't a teacher.
It wasn't a student.
It wasn't someone alive."
A chill crawled through the room.
Emiliano swallowed hard.
"What do you mean… not alive?"
Ixchel's voice dropped to a whisper.
"There is a spirit in this school who serves El Oscuro.
One who has been guiding him.
Feeding him.
Protecting him."
Daniela covered her mouth. "A ghost?"
"More than a ghost," Ixchel said.
She walked toward the old carvings and traced her finger over a name etched in stone.
A name that made both Emiliano and Daniela freeze.
VALERIA REYES.
Daniela gasped.
"That's my tía… the one who disappeared twenty years ago…"
Ixchel nodded slowly.
"She didn't disappear."
"She didn't die."
"She became something else."
Emiliano's voice broke.
"What… happened to her?"
Ixchel met Daniela's eyes.
"Your aunt became the Guardian of the ritual."
Daniela stumbled backward, tears spilling down her face.
"No… no—she would never—my mamá said she was sweet, kind, she—"
"She didn't choose it," Ixchel said gently. "She was forced. Much like the two of you."
Daniela collapsed to her knees, sobbing.
Emiliano knelt beside her.
Ixchel continued:
"She wanders the school now. A spirit bound to El Oscuro. And she is the one who opened the gate early. Because her duty is to deliver the marked sacrifices."
El Oscuro's voice suddenly echoed through the walls.
Soft.
Cruel.
Calling.
"Daniela…"
Daniela froze.
Her blood ran cold.
Her aunt was calling her.