✨ Chapter 23 – The Greenhouse of Echoes
The old greenhouse stood on the far eastern edge of the academy grounds — a towering structure of cracked glass and twisted metal frames.
Ariana had seen it from afar her first week at Elmwood, but she never got close.
Students whispered about it.
Teachers ignored questions about it.
And no one ever stepped inside.
Now, under moonlight, it looked monstrous.
Half the roof had caved in.
Vines crept along its frame like skeletal fingers.
The glass walls glowed faintly, as if reacting to the corruption Aster warned them about.
Aster was in Ariana's arms, unusually quiet.
Kai walked beside them, eyes scanning every shadow.
"Everyone stay alert," he murmured. "Corrupted magic is unpredictable."
Rylan cracked his knuckles, flames flickering at his fingertips.
"Let it try something. I'm ready."
Calen snorted. "You say that now. Wait until it spits acid."
Ariana gave him a horrified look.
"It spits *what*?"
"Nothing," Zane said sharply. "Don't listen to him. Not yet."
Ariana frowned. "Not yet?!"
Zane didn't answer. Which was answer enough.
They reached the massive double doors at the greenhouse entrance.
The handles were rusted, the metal etched with symbols that looked like warnings.
Aster clutched Ariana's shirt tightly.
Kai gently brushed Aster's hair aside.
"Aster," he whispered, "you don't have to go in. You can stay outside with Ariana."
"No," Aster murmured, pointing toward the glass.
"She… needs me."
"She?" Ariana asked softly.
Aster nodded.
"The person crying. She's in there."
Ariana's wolf stirred.
Everyone froze.
"Aster," Zane said carefully, "you can sense them?"
Aster nodded.
Ariana swallowed.
"Are they alive?"
Aster nodded again.
"Yes. But she's… sick. Scared. Hurt."
Ariana felt her heart twist with fear.
"Then we have to help her."
Kai pushed open the greenhouse doors.
They groaned loudly, echoing like a warning across the grounds.
---
## **Inside the Greenhouse**
The moment they stepped inside, Ariana gasped.
The air was thick — humid, twisted, wrong.
Plants grew wildly through broken tiles.
Black vines pulsed faintly like veins under skin.
Flowers wilted only to regrow moments later, petals dark and dripping with something like ink.
Calen whispered:
"…This is not natural."
Zane stepped carefully.
"Don't touch anything. Even brushing against corrupted plants can—"
Rylan accidentally smacked a hanging vine with his arm.
It hissed.
Rylan jumped back.
"WHAT WAS THAT?!"
"Told you," Calen muttered.
Ariana wrapped her arms around Aster.
Aster pointed again.
"She's that way."
They followed her small outstretched finger deeper into the greenhouse.
The glass panes flickered pink and purple with the rising moon.
Shadows darted between the plants.
Roots creaked beneath their feet.
Ariana felt her light flicker weakly.
"Kai… the air's too heavy."
"I know," he murmured. "Stay close."
Zane's eyes glowed faintly.
"There's something in the air. Something muting magic. The corruption is strongest here."
Aster shivered and buried her face in Ariana's shoulder.
Ariana kissed the top of her head reassuringly.
"It's okay. I've got you."
Kai glanced back, his eyes softening as he watched the two of them.
Finally, they reached the heart of the greenhouse —
where plants grew too large, too quickly, and too wrong.
And there…
Aster pointed to a huge, stone wall that didn't belong.
"There," she whispered.
"She's behind it."
Zane frowned.
"That's… impossible. There was no wall in the original layout of this greenhouse."
Calen touched the stone.
"It's not a wall. It's a barrier. A magical one."
Kai stepped forward, claws extending slightly.
"Then we break it."
Ariana grabbed his arm.
"Wait. It's too quiet. Something's off."
Rylan flamed his hand.
"Should I try burning it?"
Zane shook his head sharply.
"No. If it reacts, it could explode."
Aster wriggled out of Ariana's arms and toddled up to the stone.
"Aster!" Kai lunged. "Don't—!"
Before he could reach her, Aster placed her tiny palm on the barrier—
—and the stone *shimmered.*
A ripple spread outward like liquid light.
The false wall dissolved.
Vanished.
Revealing—
A small room.
A chamber within the greenhouse.
Everything inside was sterile stone.
Completely empty except—
A person.
A girl.
Maybe sixteen.
Trapped in the center of the room.
Her wrists and ankles bound by black vines.
Her eyes closed.
Her breathing shallow.
Her skin pale as moonlight with veins darkening like cracks of ink.
Ariana gasped.
"Oh no—"
Kai whispered.
"Rebirth's experiment."
Zane knelt beside the girl immediately, scanning her aura with shaking hands.
"Her magic core is almost gone. She's been drained."
Aster sniffled.
"She was crying…"
Ariana stepped closer, heart breaking.
"She's a student… she has a uniform…"
Rylan stared, horrified.
"Why would they take a student…?"
Calen clenched his fists hard enough for frost to form.
"To test corruption on a living mage."
Ariana felt sick.
Kai cupped the girl's chin gently, checking her pulse.
"She's fading."
Ariana reached toward the vines.
But the moment her fingers brushed them—
They recoiled violently, hissing.
Kai stepped between Ariana and the vines, eyes flashing.
"Don't touch them. They'll infect you."
Ariana swallowed hard.
"Then… how do we get her out?"
Zane stood.
"We don't cut them. That will kill her."
Calen nodded.
"We don't burn them. That will release spores."
Rylan threw up his hands.
"So what do we do?!"
Aster tugged Ariana's sleeve.
"I can open a little door," she whispered. "To bring her out."
Ariana turned to her.
"Aster… are you sure?"
Aster nodded.
"I do little doors. Baby doors. Safe doors."
Kai knelt in front of his little sister.
"Aster," he said softly, "this could be dangerous. If you feel even a tiny bit sick, you stop. Immediately. Promise me."
Aster looked into his eyes seriously.
"I promise, Kai-Kai."
Ariana placed a hand on Aster's back.
"I'll help you."
The tiny girl nodded, took a deep breath, and held out both hands.
A sparkle formed.
Then a glow.
A swirling blue circle appeared—
small, trembling, but stable.
A *portal.*
Aster whispered:
"Come out, sister. Come out…"
The portal slid under the girl's body—
—lifting her gently—
—and pulling her through.
Ariana caught the girl in her arms as the portal closed.
The vines shrieked, reaching toward Ariana in rage—
Kai leapt forward, claws glowing.
He slashed the air.
A wave of energy burned across the vines, forcing them back.
The greenhouse screamed—
a terrible sound of collapsing corruption—
And then—
Silence.
Ariana held the unconscious girl close.
"Is she… alive?" she whispered.
Zane placed two fingers on the girl's neck.
He let out a breath.
"Yes. Barely."
Aster wrapped her arms around Ariana's waist.
"I saved her," she whispered softly.
Ariana hugged her tight with one arm.
"You did. You were amazing."
Kai stepped closer, eyes full of something between pride and fear.
"We need to take her to the Headmaster. Immediately."
Ariana nodded.
Rylan rubbed his face.
"We found a student used as a test subject…"
Calen added quietly:
"And if Rebirth is experimenting on students…"
Zane finished grimly:
"…this is only the beginning."
Ariana held the girl tighter.
Her wolf whispered inside her:
**"Save her. Save them all."**
Ariana swallowed.
"We will," she whispered. "We have to."
Kai gently touched Ariana's shoulder.
"We go. Now."
And together—with Aster leading the way—they ran back toward the academy…
carrying the first survivor of Rebirth's nightmare.