Evening settled over Crimson Academy like ink sinking into water, heavy and irreversible.
The corridors felt different in the wake of Sequence I. They were quieter, the usual youthful arrogance of the heirs replaced by a brittle, watchful tension. Students walked in smaller groups now, their voices lowered and their movements deliberate. They moved like people who had discovered a rot within themselves—some dark secret they were desperate to keep others from noticing.
Aeris walked alone, her footsteps echoing against the stone. The candlelight reflected in the polished floor, casting long, trembling streaks of gold that looked like cracks in the dark surface. Through the tall arched windows, the violet sky was fast surrendered to the night.
"You're thinking too loudly." Liora's voice drifted from the shadows behind her.
Aeris slowed her pace, allowing the other girl to catch up. Liora looked pale, but she carried herself with a brittle sort of composure—the kind people build in the moments immediately following a total collapse. She reached up, tucking a few loose strands of hair behind her ear with a hand that still trembled slightly.
"You didn't look surprised," Liora said, her eyes searching Aeris's profile.
"By what?"
"Your reflection."
Aeris kept her gaze fixed on the corridor ahead. "Should I have been?"
Liora hesitated, the silence stretching thin between them. "It knew exactly what to say to me," she admitted, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Things I didn't even realize I was afraid of."
Aeris said nothing. She couldn't tell Liora that her own reflection hadn't needed to guess. It didn't search for hidden fears; it simply mirrored the dark truths she already carried.
They turned into the academy's west courtyard, where black ivy climbed the walls, swallowing the ancient stone in slow, deliberate patterns. A few dozen students had already gathered near the central fountain, their voices rising in cautious bursts of conversation that died away as soon as they grew too loud.
Rowan was there, leaning against the fountain's edge with his arms crossed over his chest, his posture rigid. Lucien stood beside him, looking as though he hadn't just survived a brush with his own soul.
Nearby, Keenan sat on the stone rim, swinging one foot idly. He watched the crowd with a smirk, looking as if the academy—and the life-threatening trials it provided—existed purely for his own entertainment.
All three looked up the moment Aeris and Liora approached.
Rowan spoke first.
"Twenty-seven percent eliminated," he said. "That's higher than usual."
Lucian nodded slightly. "Sequence I rarely removes more than fifteen."
Keenan tilted his head at Aeris. "You're the reason, aren't you?"
"No."
He smiled. "Interesting answer."
The water in the fountain began to ripple.
It wasn't the wind. The air was unnervingly still.
Aeris felt it immediately—a subtle, familiar tightening beneath her ribs. It was the Academy reaching out again, its presence pressing against her skin like a physical weight. Her pulse ticked upward in a slow, rhythmic count.
Rowan's eyes sharpened. He shifted his weight, his gaze darting from the water to Aeris. "You feel that too?"
Beside him, Lucian's casual posture vanished. He straightened, his hand drifting toward the hilt of his blade as his eyes swept the darkening courtyard.
Liora looked between them, her face clouding with a mix of confusion and fresh dread. "Feel what? What are you talking about?"
Aeris didn't look at her. She kept her eyes on the dark, vibrating surface of the fountain water.
"The Academy isn't finished with us," she said quietly.
The ripples grew larger, forming perfect, concentric circles.
"It's hungry again."
[End of the chapter 11]