-Alexia-
"'Regroup' is a nice thought, Lex, but this room just became a glass box," Finn said, his voice cutting throught the ringing in my ears. He was already on his feet,his hand hovering near the hilt of his blade, his eyes scanning the ceiling as if expecting Gideon himself to drop through the rafters.
I didn't answer him immediately. My lungs were still burning from the stone dust, and my skin felt like it had been scrubbed with live wires from the magical backlash. I looked over at Asher, who was curled protectively over the small, silver-furred fox we'd rescued. The creature was trembling, its large eyes fixed on the spot where the breach had flared-it knew that cold, poisonous scent better than any of us.
Then my gaze shifted to Shade.
The Headmistress stood rigid near the center of the room, her expression a mask of frustrated power. The school's wards, sensing the breach, had spiraled around her like iron bands, anchoring her to the floor to "protect" the heart of the institution. In its panic to keep its leader safe, the school had effectively paralyzed her.
"He's growing stronger," Shade said, her voice strained as she fought the very magic she usually commanded. "The wards didn't hold him back. They only reacted after he'd already touched me. If he can reach through a locked warded room inside my own school…"
"Then he's closer to getting what he wants," I finished for her.
I knelt on the floor, ignoring the grit of pulverized stone against my knees. I didn't reach for my own silver and gold light. Instead, I flattened my palms against the cold floorboards and reached for the school itself.
Help me, I thought, closing my eyes and searching for that warm, steady heartbeat I'd felt beneath the floor. You're hurting her. He's coming for us, and I can't protect her - or any of us - if you keep her bound.
The school's magic didn't feel like a tool; it felt like a sleeping giant shifting in its dreams. I felt the pulse of the foundations and the jagged, lightening-strike fear of the present.
Let her go, I pleaded, focusing on the invisible tethers keeping Shade pinned.
For a heartbeat, nothing happened.
Then the floor answered.
Not violently - not the explosion that had ripped through the room moments before - but with a deep, resonant shift, as if something ancient had rolled over beneath us. The air thickened, humming low in my chest, and the pressure around Shade wavered.
She went still.
The iron-bright bands of magic around her flickered - not in resistance, but in hesitation.
I felt it then - the school's awareness brushing against mine. Not words. Not commands. Recognition.
You belong here.
The wards trembled.
I didn't push harder. I didn't need to. I just steadied myself and let the connection exist, the way it always had since the school had claimed me. Since it had decided I was part of its spine, not a threat to it.
She's not the danger, I thought, steady and deliberate. He is. And you're hurting her.
The magic shuddered once more.
Then the bindings loosened.
They didn't shatter or snap - just unraveled, like threads finally released from a clenched fist. Shade staggered forward as the pressure vanished, catching herself on the edge of a fractured table. The light faded, leaving only the faint hum of wardstone settling back into place.
The room went quiet.
Shade straightened slowly, one hand pressed to her sternum. When she looked at me, there was no anger in her expression - only something sharp and assessing.
"So," She said evenly, "it's deepened."
I swallowed, my alms still warm against the floor. "I didn't mean to override anything. I just - felt it locking down, and -"
"I know," she interrupted, then exhaled. "You didn't force it. The school listened to you."
Finn muttered, "That's…comforting. And terrifying."
Asher finally lifted his head, tightening his hold on the trembling fox. "It reacted faster this time," he said. "Like it recognized the threat."
Shade's jaw tightened. "Because it did."
She turned toward the scorched mark on the floor where the breach had torn through reality. "Gideon didn't just test the wards. He reached through them. He wanted to see how the school would respond. How you would respond."
A chill crept down my spine.
"And now he knows," I said quietly.
Shade met my gaze, her expression grim but steady. "Yes. he knows the school has chosen you."
The fox let out a low, uneasy sound, ears flattening.
"And that," Shade continued, "means you are no longer just under its protection."
She paused.
"You're part of it's defense."
The wards pulsed faintly around us - not in fear this time, but in readiness.
And somewhere deep beneath the stone, the school stirred, awake and watching.