-Alexia-
If you were walking down the hall, you'd probably turn around the second you saw us. We weren't exactly giving friendly, approachable student group energy. Tension clung to us like a second skin-sharp, restless, ready to snap. Even the air around us felt charged, buzzing faintly with the school's magic, like it was watching our every step.
Soren strode ahead of the group like a silent storm-focused, coiled, ready. Finn walked beside me, matching my pace with a steady calm I didn't quite feel. The rest followed close behind, and together we moved like a warning the halls hadn't seen in years.
The school felt different here. Colder. The Council's presence clung to the walls like mold, turning familiar corridors into something tight and airless. Yet underneath that, the school's pulse still beat-a soft, steady thrum beneath my feet, guiding me forward as if it wanted us deeper.
My wrist tingled where the suppression bracelet had been. The freedom felt unreal, like I was waiting to wake up back in that moment when everything was slipping away. But the school's magic-warm, alive, watching-kept anchoring me.
Soren glanced back once, eyes sharp. "Two more corridors," he murmured. "If they moved Shade, this is where they would've taken her."
Finn's hand brushed mine briefly, steady and grounding. "Stay close. If anything jumps out, Soren will clear it first."
Behind us, Asher kept close to Kaia and Jasper, the fox tucked safe in his arms. Even from here I could feel the faint glow it carried, like a pocket of warmth in all this cold.
I forced my shoulders straighter and kept walking. Fear was still there, quiet and insistent, but something stronger was beginning to rise with it.
Resolve.
The school wanted us moving. Soren trusted his instincts. Finn trusted me. And somewhere beyond these corridors, Shade was waiting.
"Let's go," I said softly.
The school's pulse quickened beneath my feet, as if answering.
Soren lifted a hand, signaling us to slow as the corridor ahead narrowed. The torches lining the walls flickered harder, guttering like they were trying to warn us. The school's magic pulsed under my feet again - faster this time, urgent.
Finn shifted closer, his ovice low. "It doesn't like what's ahead."
Neither did I.
Soren paused at the corner, body angled, listening. His senses were sharper than anyone's-when he stilled like this, it meant something was close.
"Two guards," he murmured. "Council. Stationed right outside Shade's door."
A tight knot formed in my stomach. Shade was here. Alive. Close enough that the air itself felt different-strained but hopeful.
Behind us, Kaia whispered, "If they're guarding her, she's important to them. That's good and bad."
"Mostly bad," Jasper muttered.
Asher shifted the fox, cradling it closer. Nthe little creature lifted its head and let out a soft, urgent whine-like it felt Shade's presence too.
Soren didn't wait for debate. "We go fast. Quiet. I take the first. Finn, the second."
Finn nodded, already rolling his shoulders.
Then Soren looked at me. "If anything goes wrong, you stay behind us. Understood?"
I bristled. "I can hold my own."
"Not the point," he simply. "You're the reason they're here."
Finn stepped subtly into my line of sight-gentle, but firm support. "He's right."
Annoying. And ture.
Soren's gaze softened just a fraction. "We get to Shade. Then you can be reckless."
I exhaled and nodded once.
Soren moved first-silent, lethal.
Finn followed.
As they disappeared around the corner, the school's pulse surged under my feet, beating like a drum.
The fox whimpered.
And then, from the corridor ahead, came the sharp crack of a ward shattering-bright, sudden, unmistakable.
My breath caught.
That wasn't Soren.
Or Finn.
Something hit the ward from inside Shade's room.
"Go," I whispered, already breaking into a run.
Soren and Finn ahd the guards down in seconds-two quick strikes, two bodies hitting the floor. The hallway snapped into silence, the kind that feels too sharp, too expectant.
But the air around the door…it wasn't right.
A cold pulse throbbed through the weakened ward, spreading across my skin like frost. Not Council magic. Not the school. Something darker. Something that made the small hairs on my arms rise.
Soren glanced back. "The ward's collapsing from inside. Shade tried to hold it."
"Open it," I said.
He didn't hesitate. Finn braced the frame as Soren tore through the brittle magic. The ward shattered in a burst of light, the force rattling the lanterns on the walls.
The door swung open.
Shade was on her knees, bound with glowing restraints, chest rising and falling in sharp, ragged breaths-but alive. Relief hit me like a punch, but it died instantly when I saw what flickered behind her.
A thin, jagged tear in the wall-dark energy seeping through in silent pulses.
A reach.
Not a location spell.
A connection.
My stomach dropped.
"Asher," I breathed.
He stepped to my side, the fox shivering in his arms. Its little body went rigid, ears pinned flat as the breach pulsed again-like a heartbeat trying to sync with mine.
Shade lifted her head. "Alexia, don't go near it."
"I'm not," I said, even as the school's magic wrapped around my ankles, tugging me subtly backward. Protective. Fierce.
Finn moved in front of me without thinking. "It's Gideon. He's trying to force a channel."
"He already knows where I am," I said quietly. "This is something else."
Shade nodded, eyes sharp with fear. "He's testing the boundary. Seeing how far he can push before he forces it open."
The breach flared, reacting to my voice-hungry, stretching wider by a fraction. A thin whisper slid through, cold and poisonous, brushing the edge of my mind. Not words. Just intent.
Possession.
Claiming.
Control.
The school reacted instantly.
A surge of warm magic rose from the floor like a shield, slamming into the breach. The tear snapped shut with a violent crack, and the blacklash hurled all of us backward.
Stone dust rained from the ceiling. The air vibrated. Then-stillness.
I pushed myself up, heart pounding, palms tingling with leftover magic.
Shade stared at the sealed wall, then at me. "He's growing stronger. If he can reach through a locked warded room inside the school-"
"Then he's closer to getting what he wants," I finished softly.
The fox whimpered, burrowing deeper into Asher's chest.
Finn stepped beside me again. "What do we do now?"
I stared at the place where the breach had been. The school's heartbeat pressed into my palms, warm and steady-waiting.
"We get Shade free," I said. "We regroup. And then…"
A spark flickered through my veins-fear and power tangled together.
"...we stop him before he pushes through again."