> "There are those who speak, and there are those who remember. But the most dangerous are those who do both."
— Student Proverb, origin unknown
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🕰 Reina's Run
The footsteps grew louder.
Reina's heart slammed against her ribs as she backed away from the locked black room, her fingers brushing over the faint outline of the speaker embedded in the concrete. Eliora's voice had gone silent — cut mid-word.
A shadow spilled around the corner of the corridor.
"Don't move," a low voice ordered.
Not a prefect.
Not staff.
Bianca.
She stepped forward slowly, red wristband glinting under the cold light.
"You weren't supposed to hear that," Bianca said. She didn't sound angry. She sounded… resigned.
"Why was she recorded?" Reina demanded. "Why store her voice here? What are they—what are you hiding?"
Bianca's jaw flexed. She looked past Reina, toward the sealed door.
"I didn't choose this," she said finally. "I was born into it. Just like she was."
Before Reina could ask what that meant, Bianca turned and walked away.
No threats. No warnings.
But her silence said enough.
---
🔗 Zuri Connects the Dots
In the library's old storage files, Zuri had found something strange: a partially erased audio file, labeled "E.S_24.3.exp"
It was voice analysis — rhythm, tone, and pitch. But the voice wasn't mechanical.
It was real.
She played it through her tablet's cracked speaker.
> "Do you hear the bells, Mara? They only ring when something ends."
Zuri froze.
She'd heard that sentence before.
In Mara's diary. One of the entries had started the same way. Only now, it was clear — Mara hadn't written it. She had recorded it from Eliora.
She checked the time stamp.
The recording was from six months before Mara's supposed expulsion.
"But Mara wasn't expelled," Zuri whispered. "She disappeared… after this."
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🪞Jayden's Reckoning
Jayden stood in the east wing's hall of portraits — where every former prefect stared down from dusty frames. There, in the top left corner, was a face most students didn't recognize.
But he did.
Jolomi Adedeji.
Prefect. Class of 2021. Jayden's mentor. And the only person who had ever told him to walk away.
He hadn't.
And Jolomi had vanished shortly after.
Now, Jayden knew why.
Inside the frame, tucked behind the backing, he found a small folded slip of paper. On it: a series of numbers, scribbled like coordinates.
And one word: "Observe."
Jayden stepped back, pulse racing.
If Jolomi had left him this… it meant he had planned for Jayden to one day take his place.
But as what?
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🎭 Sharon's Choice
When Sharon got the message — a single word on a piece of paper slipped into her locker: "ROOM 107" — she almost ignored it.
Until she noticed the ink. It was the same kind used in Jayden's encoded notes.
She waited until the halls were empty and slipped into Room 107, one of the old examination rooms no longer in use.
And there, waiting in the dark, was Kelechi — a former hall monitor dismissed weeks ago for "behavioral irregularities."
"You shouldn't be here," Sharon said, stepping back.
But Kelechi raised both hands. "I didn't call you here to hurt you," he said. "I called you because… you're the only one who ever asked questions out loud."
"I'm not looking to be a savior."
"You already are," Kelechi whispered. "They're watching you. Because they're scared of you."
Sharon's throat tightened. "Scared?"
He nodded. "Because you're making the others remember."
---
🕳 Down the Vault
Ugo finally did it.
He broke in.
The server basement, protected by four biometric locks, had a weakness: the third lock accepted mirrored prints — reversed scans — something he'd learned while tinkering with old tech upstairs.
He entered the vault.
Rows of old hardware buzzed faintly. Flickering screens lined the walls. And in the center sat a chair — sterile, padded, with a screen above it playing an endless loop of footage.
Eliora.
Reading. Walking. Sitting in class. Smiling once.
And then—screaming silently.
A black-suited figure leaned over her. Then another.
Ugo's hands curled into fists.
There was no sound.
But the look in her eyes was louder than any scream.
---
📌 End of Chapter Twenty-Four
> A voice rises from the shadows.
A name reappears in more than one file.
And someone is preparing to bring the truth into daylight — no matter the cost.
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🔜 Coming in Chapter Twenty-Five: Operation Re-Eliora
Bianca leaves a trail Sharon can't ignore.
Jayden finally finds what happened to Jolomi — and the secret he died protecting.
And Reina? She'll risk the consequences to broadcast Eliora's story… to the entire student body.