Chapter 5

• Chapter five
• From a voice beyond their world
• Nova Amara Aldridge had just celebrated her 14th birthday, yet she carried herself with a presence far beyond her years. Not because she was precocious in the way of ordinary gifted children, but because she was extraordinary in ways no one, not even her parents, fully understood.
• Nova wasn’t just a genius.
• Her mind worked in dimensions, threading together knowledge across various fields with almost supernatural ease.
• She could solve complex mathematical equations in minutes, seeing patterns where others saw chaos.
• Mastered languages after hearing them only a handful of times, her brain absorbing them as if she were remembering, not learning, nothing challenged her enough.
• Nova was raised by what the world perceived as a conventional mother and father.
• Lysara and Nathaniel Aldridge, both brilliant and distinct, had provided their daughter Nova with a stable, comfortable life.
• Theirs was a love story woven from the threads of three worlds, a union as rich and intricate as the cultures they carried in their blood, which shaped the environment in which Nova thrived. Lysara, an Amazigh woman, bore high cheekbones and hazel eyes that reflected the endless skies. Nathaniel, a man of Black and Asian descent, moved with composed strength.
• Together, they stood as a striking contrast yet in perfect harmony.
• Unbeknownst to most, Lysara was born into one of the last surviving bloodlines of Lunar Wolves. In secret, she had spent her life studying their history, and the celestial power that bound them to the moon goddess, poring over old scrolls and knowledge passed down by her own mother. She had come to understand that the power of a Lunar Wolf was not given freely.
• It only passed through every second generation and manifested in the firstborn daughter.
• Lysara was not a firstborn and unsure about which generation she actually belonged.
• Her older sister may have been the rightful heir to the lunar blessing, but she had died young. Their mother, too, had never witnessed the lunar power awaken in herself, leaving Lysara in an uncertain space, connected to the power but unable to wield it.
• She had convinced herself that any lingering traces of their Lunar Wolf heritage were too faint to stir in Nova, so she remained silent, never revealing their past. Yet Nova’s striking features, keen mind, and the world’s uncanny response to her revealed she was far from ordinary.
• Nova was beautiful, but in a way that was still becoming.
• At fourteen, she was in that awkward liminal space between childhood and the striking presence she would eventually grow into.
• Nova’s eyes held an unsettling depth that captivated even adults. Her flawless skin, with subtle undertones reflecting her mixed race, shimmered.
• Though her mother upheld the sacred tradition of uncut hair, Nova’s mane grew strikingly thick, luminous, and preternaturally long.
• At Blackwood Academy, where she was expected to blend in, Nova found no true peers or challenges, making school feel like a mere obligation.
• Among students from wealthy, powerful families, scholarship recipients like her were often scorned as outsiders, deemed unworthy of sharing their elite space.
• But Nova dismissed their judgements.
• Right now, Nova’s focus was an exclusive school trip to Iceland, a land of stark landscapes and ancient myths. Her studies of its folklore had sparked a thrilling curiosity about its unexplained mysteries. In a few weeks, she would also attend Blackwood Academy’s Zenith Awards, where she was set to receive a coveted internship. With these prospects, Nova’s heart raced with anticipation.
• Nova
• Growing up, I knew my childhood wasn’t like other girls’. No pop star posters adorned my walls, no fairy lights twinkled above a vanity strewn with lip gloss and nail polish. Polaroids and corkboards? Nowhere in sight. Instead, towering bookshelves lined my room, crammed with research journals, classic literature, and advanced physics texts. In one corner, my sleek workstation hummed, its multiple monitors casting a soft glow over my latest algorithms and research models.
• The only personal touches were a few small trinkets, a worn-out music player, a photo of my parents and brother, and… a locked drawer I never opened when anyone was around.
• Inside that drawer, hidden beneath neatly stacked books, was something no one would ever expect from me.
• A collection of magazine cutouts.
• Not of pop stars or models or teenage heartthrobs, but of him, Seylan Vaelthorn, the tech visionary and CEO of VaelTech Industries.
• My biggest crush!
• I had never admitted it to anyone, not even to myself, really.
• It was ridiculous, a crush on a man who didn’t know I existed. He wasn’t just a businessman, he was a legend, whose mind operated on a level most people couldn’t even fathom.
• For years, I had followed his career, studying every move he made, every breakthrough his company achieved. He had once been a student at Blackwood Academy, the youngest prodigy the school had ever seen, until me.
• And in a few weeks, I would finally meet him in person at the Blackwood ceremony.
• A quiet thrill ran through me at the thought, but I shoved it down. It wasn’t like he would notice me, I was just another intern candidate, another student in a sea of scholars.
• Still… a part of me hoped.
• I sighed, shaking off the thoughts as I got ready for school.