Sebastian's POV
I find Olivia's note under my door at dawn.
"Meet me at the North Tower entrance. Dawn. Come alone. Don't tell anyone. —O"
My first instinct is to ignore it. This is obviously a trap. Or a mistake. Or both.
But something about the urgency in those words makes me move. I throw on my uniform and head out.
The North Tower entrance is in the oldest part of the academy. By the time I arrive, the others are already there. Kira paces back and forth, looking anxious. Marcus types frantically on his tablet. Ash stands perfectly still, his dark eyes watching everything.
And Olivia. She looks terrible. Dark circles under her eyes like she hasn't slept in days. Her hands shake as she clutches a piece of paper.
"You all came," she breathes with relief.
"Your note said dawn," Kira snaps. "It's dawn. Now tell us why we're standing in front of the one tower Director Thorne specifically told us to avoid."
Olivia glances around nervously. "Not here. Follow me."
She leads us through empty hallways to an abandoned classroom. Dust covers everything. Clearly no one has used this room in years. Good. No one will find us here.
Once we're inside, Olivia closes the door and locks it.
"I had a vision last night," she says.
"A vision?" I cross my arms. "Like a dream?"
"No. More real than a dream. I saw students being trapped in crystal pods. Hundreds of them. They've been asleep for centuries." She looks at me directly. "I saw Edmund Thornwood. Your ancestor. He's one of them."
My blood runs cold. "That's impossible. Edmund graduated in seventeen twenty-five. He became a Council member."
"That's what your family was told. But it's a lie." Olivia's voice is urgent. "He's trapped, Sebastian. They all are. And last night, I met someone. A ghost. Her name is Elara Thornwick—"
"Elara Thornwick?" I interrupt. "The founder's daughter?"
"Yes. She's been waiting three hundred years for someone to free them. For us." Olivia holds up her wrist. A glowing symbol pulses on her skin. "The map marked me. It's counting down. We have six days left to complete five trials. If we don't, Director Thorne is going to Recalibrate all of us. Erase our magic forever."
Silence falls over the room.
"How do you know this?" Marcus asks quietly.
"I overheard Thorne and Master Chen talking. They know we found the map. They're just waiting for us to fail so they have an excuse to erase us."
Kira's fists burst into flame. "Let them try."
"Put those out," I say sharply. "We can't afford to draw attention."
She glares at me but the flames die.
I look at Olivia. She's telling the truth—I can see it in her eyes. But this is insane. We're talking about breaking into restricted areas, defying the Headmaster, and trusting a ghost.
"Show me the map coordinates," I say.
Marcus pulls out his tablet. "I hacked the academy database last night. Couldn't sleep after what happened in the archives." He brings up a holographic display. "The first location matches the North Tower exactly. But here's the problem."
He zooms in on the tower's blueprint. Fifteen floors are clearly marked. Then he overlays the map's coordinates. A sixteenth floor appears—but only on the map.
"According to official records, the sixteenth floor doesn't exist," Marcus explains. "But the map insists it does. The coordinates point to a specific room on that impossible floor."
"How do we get to a floor that doesn't exist?" Kira demands.
"That's what the trial is," Olivia says. "We have to figure it out."
I study the holographic display. There's something familiar about the architecture. The way the stairs spiral. The placement of the windows.
"There," I point. "The main staircase ends at the fifteenth floor. But look at this wall. It's thicker than all the others. By exactly ten feet."
Marcus's eyes widen. "Space for hidden stairs."
"Hidden how?" Kira asks.
"Magic," Ash says suddenly. His voice startles us all—he speaks so rarely. "Hidden by magic. Old magic."
"Can you sense it?" Olivia asks him gently.
Ash nods slowly. "When all five of us are together. Our combined power can reveal it."
I process this. It makes sense in a twisted way. The map scanned all five of us. The voice said "five gathered, five needed." We're not meant to do this alone.
"When do we go?" I ask.
Olivia looks surprised that I'm agreeing. "Tonight. After curfew. We meet at the North Tower at midnight."
"That's in fifteen hours," Marcus says. "I can create a digital distraction. Make it look like we're all in our rooms."
"I can disable the security cameras in that section," Kira adds. "One good electromagnetic pulse from my fire magic will fry them."
Everyone looks at me. Waiting for my decision. I'm the oldest. The most powerful—at least I was before we found out Olivia is Level 10. Somehow I've become the de facto leader.
I hate it. Leadership means responsibility. It means people counting on you. It means failing them when things go wrong.
But Olivia is right. If we don't do this, Thorne will erase us. She'll take away the one thing that makes us special. The one thing the Council fears.
Our power.
"Tonight at midnight," I agree. "We find the sixteenth floor."
Olivia smiles at me. It's a small, tired smile, but it's genuine. Full of trust.
Trust I don't deserve.
She doesn't know the real reason my family was exiled. Doesn't know what my father did. What I did.
But she's looking at me like I'm someone worth believing in.
I look away before she can see the guilt in my eyes.
"Everyone go to your classes," I say. "Act normal. Don't give them any reason to suspect we're planning something."
We split up and leave the abandoned classroom one by one. I'm the last to leave. As I'm walking out, I feel something.
A presence. Watching.
I turn around. The classroom is empty. But the air feels wrong. Cold. Like someone just left.
On the dusty chalkboard, new words have appeared. Written in frost:
"THEY'RE WATCHING THE TOWER. THEY'LL BE WAITING FOR YOU."
My heart pounds. Someone knows our plan. Someone heard everything.
I should warn the others. Call it off. This is too dangerous.
But then I remember Olivia's words. Edmund Thornwood is trapped. My ancestor. The man my family thinks graduated and lived a full life actually spent three hundred years in a crystal pod, frozen and forgotten.
The Council lied to us. The academy lied to us.
How many other lies have we been told?
I leave the message on the board and walk away. Tonight, we find out the truth.
Even if it kills us.
I'm halfway back to my dormitory when I hear footsteps behind me. Fast. Running.
I turn just as someone crashes into me.
It's a young girl. Maybe thirteen. A first-year student. She's crying, terrified.
"Please," she gasps. "You have to help me. They took my sister. They took her to the North Tower and she hasn't come back. They said she needed 'special testing' but that was three days ago and no one will tell me where she is and—"
She breaks down sobbing.
My chest tightens. "What's your sister's name?"
"Lily Chen. She's fifteen. She just awakened last month. They said her power level was too high. Level 8. They said—" She looks up at me with desperate eyes. "Please. You're Sebastian Thornwood. Everyone knows you're powerful. If anyone can find her, you can."
Before I can respond, a professor appears. Master Aldrich.
"Miss Chen, return to your dormitory immediately," he says coldly.
"But my sister—"
"Your sister is fine. She's undergoing advanced testing. Now go."
The girl looks at me one more time, silently begging. Then she runs off.
Master Aldrich watches her leave. Then he turns to me. "Stay away from the North Tower, Thornwood. For your own good."
He walks away.
I stand frozen in the hallway.
Lily Chen. Level 8. Taken to the North Tower three days ago.
Never came back.
Just like all the students in Olivia's vision. Dragged into crystal pods. Frozen forever.
It's still happening. Right now. They're still taking students.
And tonight, we're walking right into their trap.