Yvessirae Pov
The morning was a blur of caffeine and fake smiles. I sat through a three-hour lecture on Advanced Calculus, staring at the professor's moving lips while my mind replayed the sound of clack-drag on loop. I didn't care about derivatives; I cared about the fact that in six hours, the lights would go out and I'd be a target again.
I had made a choice. I wasn't going to hide under the bed like a coward. If the only way out was to find the items, then I was going to find them.
"The Valedictorian's Speech," Maia had whispered to me during lunch. "It's the first item for the North Wing. It's a single piece of parchment, stained with old ink. It's usually in the Auditorium, but it never stays in the same seat twice."
8:00 PM.
BONG.
The darkness swallowed the room. I didn't hesitate. The moment the power cut, I was out of my bed. I didn't turn on a light. I kept my back to the wall, sliding through the shadows of the dorm hallway. I felt like a character in a stealth game—every breath was too loud, every floorboard creak sounded like a gunshot.
I reached the Auditorium. The massive double doors were unlocked, swinging open with a slow, mournful groan. Inside, the rows of velvet seats looked like hundreds of hunched shoulders in the dark.
"Okay, Rae," I whispered to myself, my heart thumping. "Find the paper. Break the loop."
I moved through the aisles. Row A... empty. Row B... empty. I was fast. I was focused. I checked under the seats, behind the heavy velvet curtains, and even on the podium where the Principal stood during assemblies.
Then, I heard it.
Clack. Drag.
He was in the back of the theater. I could see his towering shadow stretched across the white projector screen. He wasn't running. He was walking slowly, dragging his blade across the wooden floor, creating a trail of sparks that flickered in the dark.
I dove behind a row of seats, pressing my face into the dusty carpet. I crawled, inch by inch, toward the stage. My fingers brushed against something paper-like. Is this it? I grabbed it, but it was just an old candy wrapper.
Clack. Drag. He was halfway down the center aisle.
I looked at my watch. 8:15 PM. The "Game" usually lasted until midnight, but the air was getting colder, thicker. I realized with a jolt of horror that the Auditorium was changing. The rows of seats were shifting, moving like a maze. Every time I thought I was close to the exit, the walls moved.
I spent hours—or what felt like hours—sprinting between the seats. I checked every corner of that massive room until my fingernails were bleeding from prying at floorboards. I was playing like a pro, using the shadows to dodge the Seeker, doubling back when he got too close, and holding my breath until my vision blurred.
But the speech wasn't there.
I had checked every inch of the room. It was gone.
I stood in the center of the stage, exhausted and crying. "Where is it?!" I screamed into the darkness. "I looked everywhere!"
The Seeker stopped at the foot of the stage. He didn't attack. He just pointed a long, grey finger at the clock on the wall.
11:59 PM.
The shadow lunged. I felt a cold hand wrap around my throat, and then—nothingness.
7:05 AM.
I sat up, gasping for air. My throat felt tight, as if the fingers were still there. I checked my bed, my desk, my floor. No speech. No gold. Just another reset.
I found Maia and Dvora by the fountain an hour later. I didn't even say hello.
"I looked everywhere," I snapped, slamming my bag onto the stone bench. "I was in the Auditorium for four hours. I checked every single seat. I checked the stage. I checked the rafters. The Valedictorian's Speech isn't there. You lied to me."
Maia looked at me with a sad, tired smile. She didn't laugh this time. "We didn't lie, Rae."
"Then why couldn't I find it? I played perfectly! I didn't get caught until the very end!"
Dvora sighed, poking at her salad. "That's the 'Great Quality' of St. Jude's, Rae. The items aren't just hidden. They're impossible."
"What does that mean?" I asked, my voice rising.
"It means the school cheats," Dvora said. "The speech wasn't in the Auditorium because you were looking for a physical object. But at St. Jude's, the Valedictorian's Speech isn't a piece of paper anymore. It's a sound. You have to find the one seat where you can hear the ghost of the student reciting it, and you have to 'catch' the words in your hand."
I stared at her, stunned. "How am I supposed to know that?"
"You aren't," Maia said softly. "That's why no one wins. You can be the best gamer in the world, Rae, but you can't win a game where the rules change every time you learn them."
I sat back, the weight of the situation finally crushing me. It wasn't just a game of hide-and-seek. It was a game designed to make us fail so we'd stay here forever, providing the "energy" the school needed to keep its elite reputation.
"So what now?" I asked.
Dvora looked toward the North Wing. "Now? Now you realize why we just stay in our rooms most nights. But if you're still feeling brave... there's a rumor about a third student. Someone who found a way to cheat back."
end of chapter 3