The fragment was smaller than Haru expected.
Thick paper, edges cut with a precision only magic could achieve, not scissors, not a knife, the kind of cut that leaves no loose fibers. Four fragments in his hand, each showing a different piece of the academy. Corridors. Rooms. Numbers along the edges that were coordinates, not decoration.
Haru stood in the middle of the dispersing crowd, everyone opening their own envelopes, looking, scratching their heads, turning the paper upside down as if orientation was the problem.
It wasn't.
"Each crystal requires enough fragments present at the location simultaneously... meaning: this isn't about having the complete map."
"It's about having the right people in the right place at the right time."
"And convincing them to go with you... split the points, and hope they don't betray you before you get there."
He looked at his four fragments.
Sector B — corridor, the same one he knew from weeks of sweeping. Two fragments from there.
