Night at Blackthorne Academy was quieter than expected.
Not peaceful.
Just… controlled.
The corridors were dimmer.
The lights softened to a low glow.
Footsteps echoed more clearly.
Elara moved carefully.
Not rushing.
Not hesitating.
Just… deliberate.
She hadn't told anyone she was leaving her room.
Not Kai.
Not the instructors.
And definitely not Cassian.
I'll figure it out myself.
The thought from earlier returned.
Stronger now.
More certain.
If they weren't going to explain anything—
then she would stop waiting.
The administrative wing was further from the main halls.
Less used.
More guarded.
Elara slowed as she approached the entrance.
Two access panels.
Security markings she didn't fully understand.
She watched.
Not the system.
The pattern.
Students had entered earlier.
Staff too.
There was a rhythm to it.
Short pauses.
A hand placed on the panel.
A faint pulse of light.
Then access granted.
Biometric.
Elara exhaled slowly.
This is a bad idea.
The thought came clearly.
Logically.
She didn't ignore it.
She accepted it.
Then stepped forward anyway.
Her hand hovered over the panel for a second—
then pressed down.
Silence.
A faint hum.
For a moment—
nothing.
Then—
a flicker of light.
Yellow.
Not red.
The door slid open.
Elara stilled.
That shouldn't have worked.
She stepped inside before it could change its mind.
The door closed behind her with a soft sound.
The air inside felt different.
Colder.
Stiller.
Rows of terminals lined the room.
Screens dimmed.
Inactive.
This wasn't a place students were meant to be.
Elara moved forward slowly.
Her footsteps quieter now.
Her attention sharpened.
Not fear.
Focus.
She reached the nearest terminal.
Hesitated.
Then activated it.
The screen flickered to life.
ACCESS REQUIRED.
Elara frowned slightly.
Of course.
She glanced around briefly.
No one.
No movement.
Then looked back at the screen.
"…There has to be something simple," she murmured.
She tried the obvious.
Her name.
ELARA VEYNE
The system paused.
Processing.
Then—
ACCESS GRANTED.
Elara froze.
That's not normal.
The screen shifted.
Files appeared.
Personal records.
Classification logs.
Evaluation reports.
All under her name.
Her heartbeat slowed.
Not from calm.
From focus.
She opened the first file.
CLASSIFICATION: E-RANK
STATUS: ACTIVE
ABILITY TYPE: UNDEFINED
That much she knew.
She moved to the next.
EVALUATION LOG – INCOMPLETE
Her brows drew slightly together.
Incomplete?
She opened it.
Fragments of data.
Observations.
Test results.
But sections were missing.
Not empty.
Removed.
Elara's fingers hovered over the screen.
Why would they remove parts of my own evaluation?
She scrolled further.
Another file.
ORIGIN RECORD
Her breath stilled.
She opened it.
The screen flickered once.
Then—
FILE RESTRICTED
Elara's jaw tightened slightly.
Of course it is.
She stepped back slightly.
Thinking.
Not reacting.
There had to be something else.
Something they overlooked.
Her gaze shifted to the classification logs again.
Different timestamps.
Different observations.
One entry stood out.
SYSTEM RESPONSE: ANOMALOUS
NODE BEHAVIOR: UNSTABLE
REFERENCE MATCH: ———
The last line was incomplete.
Cut off.
Elara leaned closer.
"…Reference match to what?" she whispered.
She tapped the line.
Nothing.
Restricted.
Her frustration flickered—brief, controlled.
They're hiding something.
Not a suspicion.
A fact.
And for the first time—
that didn't confuse her.
It clarified things.
A faint sound echoed from the corridor outside.
Elara froze.
Footsteps.
Someone was coming.
Her pulse quickened slightly.
Not panic.
Timing.
She moved quickly—closing the files.
The screen dimmed again.
Silence returned.
The door opened.
Elara didn't turn immediately.
She already knew.
"You are not authorized to be here."
Cassian's voice.
Of course.
Elara exhaled slowly.
Then turned.
He stood at the entrance.
Unmoving.
Watching her.
Not surprised.
That was the unsettling part.
"You knew I'd come here," she said.
Cassian didn't deny it.
"You are no longer reacting," he replied.
A pause.
"You are seeking answers."
Elara held his gaze.
"They're hiding things," she said.
Direct.
No hesitation.
Cassian stepped slightly into the room.
The door closing behind him.
"That is not new information," he said.
Elara's expression tightened slightly.
"Then why not tell me?" she asked.
Silence.
Cassian studied her.
"Because information does not equal understanding."
Elara frowned.
"Then help me understand."
Another pause.
This time longer.
Then—
Cassian's gaze shifted briefly to the terminal.
"You accessed your file," he said.
"Yes."
"What did you see?"
Elara didn't look away.
"That it's incomplete."
A pause.
"That parts of it are missing."
Cassian nodded slightly.
"Correct."
Elara's frustration sharpened again.
"…And you're just going to stand there and act like that's normal?"
Cassian met her gaze fully now.
"It is normal."
The words landed cold.
"Then that means something is wrong with this place," Elara said.
Silence.
For a moment—
Cassian didn't respond.
Then:
"Yes."
Elara stilled.
That wasn't the answer she expected.
Her thoughts shifted instantly.
"You knew," she said.
Not a question.
Cassian didn't deny it.
But he didn't explain either.
Instead—
he stepped closer.
"Your file is not incomplete," he said.
A pause.
"It is edited."
The words settled heavily in the air.
Elara's breath slowed.
Edited.
Not lost.
Not missing.
Changed.
"…Why?" she asked quietly.
Cassian held her gaze.
"That," he said,
"is what you are not ready to understand yet."
Frustration surged again.
But this time—
she didn't let it control her.
Because now she knew something important.
The problem wasn't her power.
The problem was the truth around it.
Elara stepped back slightly.
"I'm not going to stop," she said.
Cassian's expression didn't change.
"I know."
Silence.
But this time—
it wasn't resistance.
It was alignment.
Not agreement.
But awareness.
And as Elara walked past him toward the door—
her thoughts were clearer than they had ever been.
Not confused.
Not lost.
Focused.
Because now she had something solid to hold onto.
Her past wasn't gone.
It had been changed.
And that meant—
someone had decided what she was allowed to be.