Whispers Between The Walls

The snow hadn't stopped falling since the envelope arrived.

Thick and silent, it blanketed the school in a hush that felt almost holy-like the world was holding its breath. But there was nothing sacred about what waited under the stone arches and candlelight.

The Midwinter Gathering.

Petra fastened the back of my red dress with trembling fingers.

"I can't go with you," she whispered.

"I know."

"You shouldn't go either."

"I don't have a choice."

She paused. "You always have a choice. That's the trick they don't want you to learn."

When I turned to face her, she smiled weakly.

"You look like fire," she said. "They won't know whether to worship you or run."

The Gathering was held in the old cathedral. The one buried beneath Montclaire's first foundations. The one only used for Order occasions.

It had no altar.

No stained glass.

Just rows of chairs in concentric circles, a towering chandelier of frozen glass, and a massive mirror where the crucifix should have been.

Theo stood by the far arch, dressed in black.

He didn't smile when he saw me. He just stepped into my path like he was afraid I might vanish.

"You came."

"I told you I would."

He looked at me, and for the first time in days, he didn't seem distant. He looked scared.

"You don't understand what this is," he said.

"Then tell me."

He hesitated, then handed me something: a folded sketch. On it, a tree.

Roots in the shape of hands.

Branches made of blades.

At the center: a mirror.

Shattered.

"This isn't just a test," he whispered. "It's a tether."

"What do you mean?"

"They use the mirror to bind memory. To bind power. If you break it-"

"What happens?"

"They don't get to control who remembers what anymore."

The bell tolled.

Candles flared.

And the doors sealed.

The Headmistress appeared at the edge of the circle, her velvet robes trailing like smoke.

Julian stood beside her. Straight-backed. Silent. Maskless.

I saw the flash of conflict in his eyes when he found me across the circle.

I nodded once.

He didn't move.

Didn't blink.

But I knew he'd seen me.

Alvara raised her arms.

"Tonight, we gather not for tradition, but for transcendence."

"We look into the mirror not to find ourselves-but to be claimed by the truth of what we are."

She gestured toward the tall oval mirror at the center of the cathedral. It rippled like water, though there was no breeze.

One by one, students were called to stand before it.

Most just stared.

Some sobbed.

One boy collapsed and didn't rise again.

Then:

"Elena Harrow."

The name split the silence.

My heartbeat was louder than my footsteps.

The mirror didn't wait. It shimmered, drew me forward.

When I looked into it-

I didn't see myself.

Not entirely.

I saw Julian.

Theo.

Petra.

I saw Anastasia.

And I saw her standing between them all.

Her hand was outstretched.

Behind her: a door.

A door made of mirror shards.

She looked right at me.

And mouthed a word:

"Now."

My hand reached forward before I knew what I was doing.

The mirror hissed.

A fracture split down the center.

The glass began to bleed light.

Around me, students gasped.

Alvara shouted something, but the wind had picked up-wind from nowhere-circling like a cyclone.

The chandelier groaned above.

And then-

A voice:

"Break it."

I didn't know if it came from Anastasia or somewhere inside me.

But I obeyed.

I lifted both hands.

And I shattered the mirror.

The light burst outward in waves. A sound like metal tearing. Then silence.

When I opened my eyes, the cathedral had changed.

No more mirror.

No more velvet.

Just broken glass and stunned faces.

Julian had crossed the room to me.

He reached out-then pulled me into him.

I didn't resist.

Behind us, Theo was coming forward too.

Not to stop me.

To stand beside me.

Together.

For the first time.

I looked at the Headmistress.

She was pale.

But she didn't speak.

Because she knew.

Whatever spell had been cast on Montclaire...

Was breaking.

That night, I stood between Julian and Theo on the roof of the observatory.

Snow fell soft around us.

Below, the academy didn't know what had changed.

But we did.

The Order was fractured.

And the truth was waking.