The ceremony ended as abruptly as it began. The moonwater chest was carried away, the bluish flames in the chandeliers flared back to full strength, and Archmistress Serayne vanished through a side door without a farewell.
"Follow your guides," Warden Cael said. "Your quarters await."
The heirs began filing out, some in pairs, others alone. Theo noticed that the girl from House Verrane and the boy from House Drexmoor didn't so much as glance at each other — and yet, they walked with the same predator's awareness.
Theo's guide was a small, sharp-featured woman in a gray uniform, her hair pulled into a severe knot. "This way, Your Highness," she said without warmth.
Magda trailed them like a shadow, her boots making no sound on the black stone floor.
They passed through twisting corridors lit by lanterns whose flames shifted from blue to silver to gold as they walked. Some halls smelled faintly of parchment and ink, others of metal and smoke. Every so often, Theo glimpsed a door with no handle, carved with strange runes that made the skin on his arms prickle.
At last, they reached a narrow stairwell spiraling upward into one of the towers. The climb was long, and when they emerged into a circular chamber, Theo was startled to see that the walls were made entirely of glass — or something like it — offering an unbroken view of the moonlit valley below.
"Your quarters," the guide said, opening a tall arched door.
The room beyond was modest for a prince — a bed with a carved headboard, a desk stacked with blank parchment, and a single wardrobe. The window stretched from floor to ceiling, offering a view of the eastern mountains, where mist clung like shrouds.
"You'll find your class schedule here by dawn," the guide added, placing a sealed envelope on the desk. "Meals are taken in the Great Refectory. Do not wander after the midnight bell."
Theo frowned. "Why not?"
The woman's expression didn't change. "Because the school changes after midnight."
She left without further explanation.
Magda walked the perimeter of the room, checking shadows and corners. "Small, but defensible," she said. "We'll keep the window barred. No sense making it easy for anyone — or anything — to come in."
Theo dropped his satchel on the bed and sat beside it. "Do you believe what she said?"
"That the school changes? Oh, yes," Magda said grimly. "Places like this always do."
The midnight bell came sooner than he expected — a deep, resonant sound that seemed to vibrate in his bones.
And then… the air shifted.
The glass walls of the tower darkened until they reflected nothing but black. The moonlight outside vanished, replaced by a faint, reddish glow from somewhere far below. In the corridor beyond his door, footsteps echoed — slow, deliberate, and too heavy to belong to any student.
Magda's hand went to her axe. "Stay here," she whispered.
She slipped into the hallway, silent as a hunting cat. Theo waited, every muscle tense, straining to hear. The footsteps stopped.
Then — a knock at his door.
Three slow, deliberate raps.
Magda's voice came from outside — but softer, wrong somehow. "Theo. Open the door."
The knock came again.
He didn't move.
The voice repeated his name — and this time, it wasn't Magda's at all.