Olivia's POV
The screaming stops as suddenly as it started.
Sebastian and I stand frozen in the locked hallway. The red emergency lights make everything look like a nightmare. The alarm keeps blaring.
"What was that?" I whisper.
Sebastian's face is pale. "I don't know. But nothing good happens in the North Tower."
We wait for ten minutes. Twenty. Finally, the alarm stops. The regular lights flicker back on. The metal doors slide open.
Master Chen appears, looking shaken. "Back to your dormitories. Now. Classes are cancelled for the rest of the day."
"What happened?" Sebastian asks.
"That's not your concern." But Master Chen won't meet our eyes. "Go. Both of you."
As we walk away, I hear him mutter into his communication device, "Yes, Director Thorne. The Hart girl absorbed Thornwood's shadows. I witnessed it myself."
My stomach drops. They're talking about me.
That night, a note slides under my door. "Detention tomorrow. Restricted Archives. 7 PM. All five remedial students must attend."
All five. Me, Sebastian, Kira, Marcus, and Ash.
The voice was right. Five gathered. Five needed.
The next evening, I arrive at the restricted archives early. The door is massive and covered in warning signs. "Authorized Personnel Only." "Magical Artifacts - Dangerous." "No Students Beyond This Point."
Kira arrives next, then Marcus, then Ash. Sebastian comes last, his face unreadable.
A bored graduate assistant opens the door. She's young, maybe twenty, chewing gum and looking at her phone.
"You're the detention kids?" She doesn't wait for an answer. "Fine. The archives need organizing. Books go on shelves by date. Don't touch anything glowing. Don't open anything sealed. Just... don't break stuff, okay? I'll be back in two hours."
She leaves before we can ask questions.
The archive is enormous. Shelves stretch up to a ceiling we can't see. Some books are normal leather and paper. Others glow with magic. Some float. One shelf holds tablets that look ancient but have holographic screens.
"This is insane," Marcus breathes. "These artifacts are worth millions. They just left us alone with them?"
"Maybe they think we're too stupid to cause real damage," Kira mutters.
Sebastian walks deeper into the archives. "Or maybe they want to see what we'll do."
I don't like the sound of that. But he's probably right.
We spread out and start organizing. Most of the books are boring. History texts. Spell theory. Magic regulations from centuries ago.
Then I find it.
A leather book tucked behind others on a high shelf. I have to stand on a stool to reach it. The moment my fingers touch the cover, the symbols carved into the leather start glowing.
The book burns hot. Then ice cold. I yelp and drop it.
It hits the floor with a heavy thud.
"You okay?" Kira rushes over.
"The book—it burned me. But look!" I point.
Where the book landed, the floor is glowing. Blue light spreads outward in a circle, forming the same symbols I saw in my room. The same symbols that appeared in remedial class.
"Everyone, get over here!" Marcus calls.
We all gather around the glowing circle. The light grows brighter. The stone floor rumbles.
Then a section of the wall slides open.
We all jump back. Behind the wall is a hidden chamber. Small, barely bigger than a closet. But inside, floating in the center, is a holographic map made of pure light.
"What is that?" Kira whispers.
I step forward. The map reacts to my movement. It pulses.
"Olivia, wait—" Sebastian starts.
But I'm already inside the chamber. The others follow.
The holographic map expands suddenly. Blue light shoots out and scans each of us. It moves over our bodies, our faces. Numbers appear above our heads.
Above Kira: Level 8.
Above Marcus: Level 7.
Above Ash: Level 9.
Above Sebastian: Level 7.
Above me: Level 10.
"Level ten?" I gasp. "That's impossible. I'm a Null-Spark!"
"Apparently not," Sebastian says quietly.
The map changes. The numbers disappear. Now it shows Thornwick Academy from above—every tower, every building. Five points on the map glow bright red.
Then words appear in the air: "SEVEN DAYS."
A countdown starts. 6 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes...
"Seven days until what?" Marcus demands.
The map doesn't answer. Instead, it shows the first glowing point in detail. The North Tower. Sixteenth floor.
"That floor doesn't exist," Sebastian says. "The North Tower only has fifteen floors."
"According to official records," Marcus adds. "But this map shows sixteen."
The map pulses again. More information appears. Coordinates. Times. Instructions we can't fully read.
"This is a quest," Kira realizes. "It's showing us five locations. We're supposed to go to them."
"Why?" I ask.
Ash, who never speaks, suddenly grabs my wrist. His touch sends a jolt through me. Then I hear his voice—not out loud, but in my mind.
"Because we're the ones who can break the seal."
I gasp. The others heard it too, judging by their shocked faces.
"What seal?" Sebastian demands.
Before Ash can answer, we hear footsteps. The graduate assistant is coming back early.
"Hide it!" Kira hisses.
But the map is already fading. The chamber door slides shut. By the time the assistant enters the archives, we're all standing innocently by different shelves.
"Time's up," she says. "Get out."
We leave silently. But as we walk down the hallway, Marcus whispers, "Did that really just happen?"
"Seven days," I say. "We have seven days to find all five locations."
"Or what?" Kira asks.
None of us have an answer.
That night, I can't sleep. I keep seeing those numbers above our heads. Level 10. I'm not weak. I never was.
They lied to me. The academy lied. They scanned me and called me a Null-Spark when I'm actually the highest level ever recorded.
Why?
I get out of bed and go to my window. In the distance, I can see the North Tower rising against the night sky. Our first destination. Sixteen floors when there should only be fifteen.
Something moves in my peripheral vision.
I look down at the courtyard below. Five figures in dark robes stand in a circle. They're too far away to identify, but I can see they're performing some kind of ritual. Magic crackles in the air between them.
Then they all look up at my window at the same time.
I stumble backward, my heart racing.
When I look again, they're gone. The courtyard is empty.
But on my window, written in frost that wasn't there before, are two words:
"THEY KNOW."