The academy solved impossible hallway mouths the way noble families solved murdered daughters.
It sent paperwork.
By dawn, three sealed notices had arrived at my room. The first declared the previous night's incident a "localized resonance leak." The second advised Team Seven to report any auditory hallucinations to Healing Hall staff. The third confirmed our Gate Eleven boundary survey would proceed as scheduled.
Comforting.
Nothing said safe like an institution refusing to cancel the field trip after the wall tried to eat Niko.
Ren delivered the notices with a new tea tray and the expression of a boy who had spent all night practicing not shaking.
The tray held six cups.
I looked at it.
Ren looked at the tray too, then paled. "I counted wrong."
"No."
His face worsened.
Five students had been expected in my room after the incident: Aiden, Liora, Seraphina, Elara, Niko. Six if the academy counted me. Seven if it counted Ren. Tea trays knew politics because servants did.
