The rest of the school day passed with the usual exhaustion of classes approaching exam season. Students were sharper, tenser, and more easily irritated than they had been even a week before. Theory exams waited in a week, and the practical exams would follow the week after. No official format had been announced yet, which meant every student had started inventing possibilities in their own head.
When lessons finally ended, the academy bells rang across the grounds with a low, steady sound that rolled over the corridors, courtyards, and dormitory paths. Students poured out of classrooms in waves, talking louder than they had in the morning, either relieved to be done for the day or annoyed that their evening would still belong to studying. Liam moved through them without joining anyone, his books and assignment materials held beneath one arm as he made his way toward the dormitory side of the academy.
