Dance steps

In a bedroom on the third floor of Councilor Macht's residence, Hazel Macht sat curled up on a soft sofa, looking dispirited.

The ball downstairs had officially begun after her father's speech. The lively country music played by the orchestra drifted through the gap beneath the door into the young woman's ears, but failed to stir even the slightest interest in her.

It wasn't that Hazel had suddenly lost interest in coldly observing ordinary people's amusements, nor that her bandaged wrist made moving inconvenient. Rather, the bewilderment she had felt after her mysticism tutor—the Marauder who had taken the form of a rat—had bitten her in a frenzy at the manor outside the city still filled her mind, leaving her in a daze.

This was the teacher who had guided her into the world of mysticism, given her powers that set her above others, and sustained her pride. How could her teacher suddenly turn into a huge rat incapable of speech, then bite the hand of a student who had only wanted to embrace and comfort her?

Could it really be as the scenes that sometimes appeared in her nightmares suggested—that Beyonders' supernatural powers didn't elevate them above mortals, but brought them closer to monsters?

The thought that she might someday have bloodshot eyes and slurred speech, or even sink her teeth into her parents' necks, sent a chill through her.

Just then, a faint bump came from the windowsill bathed in crimson moonlight. Hazel, who had buried her head in her arms to shut out the music, abruptly looked up and saw a gray rat larger than others of its kind push open the window and leap into the bedroom.

Its eyes were an eerie dark red, and its fur gleamed. It was her teacher, who had volunteered to