The compass needle drifted slowly back and forth across the small brass face.
Eli turned it slightly in his hand, watching the thin red arrow wobble a little before settling again. Pale morning light spilled through the kitchen window behind him, catching the edge of the compass as he turned it in his hand.
Across the room Brad sat at the kitchen table as well, with the same tablet he always seemed attached to, one elbow resting beside a mug of coffee that still gave off faint curls of steam.
"You planning to navigate the apartment with that thing?" Brad asked without looking up.
Eli glanced over.
"Just seeing if it actually works."
Brad finally lifted his eyes from the screen.
"In a city full of steel and power lines?" he said. "Probably not."
Eli flipped the lid shut with a quiet snap.
"Yeah, I'm starting to figure that out."
Outside the window the city was already moving. Cars rolled steadily through the street below and the distant hiss of a bus stopping somewhere along the block drifted up through the glass.
Brad studied him for a moment before leaning back slightly in his chair.
"So," he said, "how was the museum yesterday?"
Eli slipped the compass into his pocket.
"It was good. Lila knew a lot more about the place than I expected."
Brad raised an eyebrow.
"That girl you met at the park?"
"Yeah."
Brad took a slow sip of coffee.
"See anything interesting?"
"There were a bunch of old battle paintings," Eli said. "Some of them pretty clearly showed Carriers in the fighting."
Brad nodded.
"That happens sometimes."
Eli leaned against the counter.
"One of them had musket fire bending away from a Somatic formation along a river. Another showed a commander in the middle of a fight where none of the hits were landing."
Brad set his mug down.
"Back before the Erasure Era, nobody bothered hiding it," he said. "Carriers showed up in paintings, journals, battlefield reports. Half the wars back then were planned around who had one and who didn't."
"And then people started pretending they weren't?"
"Pretty much," Brad said. "Once the governments started burying the truth, the old records stopped making sense to anyone outside the system. Now most people just assume those paintings are exaggerations or symbolism."
Eli nodded slowly.
"Guess it worked."
"For the most part," Brad said.
Brad picked the tablet back up after that and went back to scrolling through whatever report had been holding his attention all morning.
Eli stayed by the counter for another moment, then pulled his phone out of his pocket.
A new message from Lila sat at the top of the screen.
Lila: I'm stuck at school until lunch but I have a free period after that. Want the most exciting tour of Meridian Preparatory Institute you'll ever get?
Eli smiled at that.
He typed back.
Eli: Sure, I'll take the tour.
The reply came back almost immediately.
Lila: Perfect. Come to the front office and tell them you're here for me.
Eli slipped the phone back into his pocket and slipped on his shoes resting near the wall.
"Heading out again?" Brad asked without looking up.
"Yeah," Eli said, pulling the hoodie on. "Lila's giving me a tour of her school."
Brad nodded once.
"Meridian Prep?" he asked. "That the one? It's one of the better schools in the city."
Eli pulled the zipper halfway up and headed for the door.
"Yeah, I'll try not to get expelled."
Brad snorted quietly at that.
"Just keep your phone on hand."
"I will."
A few minutes later Eli stepped out of the apartment building and into the morning air of Aurelion.
The usual morning crowd moved through the streets, office jackets and laptop bags, everyone with somewhere to be.
Eli turned towards Radiant Way and started walking.
Meridian Preparatory Institute wasn't far from Brad's building. After a few blocks the glass towers and office buildings gave way to a quieter part of the city filled with older stone structures and tree-lined sidewalks.
The school stood near the center of it.
The main building rose three stories above the street, built from pale stone that had darkened slightly with age. It had tall windows that ran along the upper floors, and a wide set of marble steps led up to the main entrance where the Meridian star crest had been carved into the arch above the doors.
Students with bags moved across the front courtyard in small groups, some heading toward the entrance while others sat on the low stone walls with notebooks open on their laps.
Eli slowed slightly as he approached the gate.
For a moment he just stood there watching the place.
It looked exactly like what a school was supposed to look like. Students busy with school work, ordinary kids walking and talking like their only worry was midterms. Everything looked so normal to him.
He hadn't realized how long it had been since he'd seen something like that.
Eli stepped through the front gate and crossed the courtyard toward the main entrance.
Lila was talking to another group of students near the doors with a backpack slung over one shoulder. When she spotted him she lifted her hand to wave.
"Hey," she said as he walked over. "You actually found the place."
"Wasn't hard," Eli replied. "It's a pretty big target to look for."
Lila glanced back at the building behind her.
"Yeah, it kind of stands out."
Eli looked past her toward the entrance.
"So how official is this tour?"
"Official enough that you have to sign in," she said. "Don't worry, they do it for parents and visitors all the time."
They stepped inside the building together.
The front hall opened into a wide lobby with polished floors and tall windows that let the morning light fill the entire room. Lockers lined the walls further down the corridor, and the steady hum of voices carried through the building as students moved between classes.
Lila led him to a small office window near the entrance where a woman sat behind a desk sorting through a stack of papers.
"Morning," Lila said.
The woman glanced up.
"Morning."
"He's with me," Lila added, gesturing toward Eli. "Just showing him around during my free period."
The woman slid a visitor badge and a clipboard across the counter.
"Sign the sheet."
Eli scribbled his name on the clipboard and clipped the badge to his hoodie.
"Alright," Lila said once they stepped back into the hallway. "Welcome to Meridian Prep."
Eli looked down the long corridor that stretched ahead of them.
Rows of lockers ran along both sides while classroom doors stood open here and there with teachers talking inside.
"Looks dangerous," he said.
Lila laughed.
"Just wait until finals week."
Lila started down the hallway and Eli started walking beside her.
"So what exactly am I getting on this tour?" he asked.
"The highlights," she said. "Or at least the parts of the building that aren't painfully boring."
They moved with the flow of students heading through the corridor. Lockers slammed shut here and there while small groups of students gathered near classroom doors waiting for the bell.
A pair of teachers stood outside one of the rooms discussing something quietly over a stack of papers. A little farther down the hall a group of students leaned against the lockers arguing about a math test.
Lila raised her hand and gestured toward a wide opening ahead of them.
"Courtyard's that way," she said. "Everyone hangs out there when the weather's nice."
They passed the opening and Eli caught a glimpse of the outdoor space beyond it. Pink redbuds lined the walkways and a few students sat at the benches with notebooks open.
They continued on and as they passed one set of lockers a girl with dark curly hair looked up and spotted Lila.
"Lila," she called.
Lila turned.
"Oh hey."
The girl walked over with another student beside her, a tall guy carrying a stack of textbooks under one arm.
"This is Eli," Lila said. "He's visiting for the day."
The girl gave a quick wave.
"I'm Maren."
"Dylan," the guy added.
Eli nodded.
"Nice to meet you."
"You transferring here or something?" Dylan asked.
"No," Eli said. "Just getting the grand tour."
Maren smirked.
"Don't let her fool you. Half the building looks the same."
"That's not true," Lila said. "Only the boring parts."
Dylan glanced toward the science wing.
"Bell's about to ring," he said. "We'll see you later."
"Yeah," Maren added. "Try not to get lost."
They disappeared into a classroom a few doors down as the bell echoed faintly throughout the hallway.
Lila started walking again.
"Sorry," she said. "People usually want to talk when they see someone new."
Eli shrugged.
"Better than everyone staring."
They passed a classroom where a teacher stood writing equations across a whiteboard while students copied them down.
Farther down the hall another teacher stepped out of a room carrying a stack of graded papers. He moved slowly, supporting most of his weight on a dark cane as he walked past them.
Lila gave a polite nod as they passed.
"Morning."
The man returned the gesture and continued down the corridor without stopping.
The quiet tap of the cane against the tile floor faded as he turned into another hallway.
"So where are we going first?" he asked.
"Science wing," Lila said. "That's where I'll have my next class after this "
They continued deeper into the building where the noise from the main hall started fading. Most of the classrooms here had already started their periods, leaving the corridor quieter except for the occasional student hurrying toward a door.
Lila slowed near a set of wide windows that looked into one of the chemistry labs.
"This is where all the lab classes are," she said. "My partner almost blew up a burner last month trying to heat something she wasn't supposed to."
Eli peeked through the glass as they walked past. Pairs of students seated at lab tables that filled the room while a teacher moved between them checking student work.
They kept going.
A little farther down the corridor they passed another group of students sitting along the lockers with notebooks open while they compared answers on a worksheet.
The hallway stretched on ahead of them in a long straight line.
Lila kept talking while they continued on.
They had been walking way longer than he expected.
The hallway ahead of them still looked exactly the same.
Identical rows of lockers, classroom doors alternating between open and closed, bulletin boards covered with club flyers and student announcements.
He turned forward again and kept walking beside Lila.
Another thirty seconds passed.
Then Eli noticed a sports poster taped to one of the lockers as they walked by.
A Meridian basketball schedule. The bottom corner of the paper had torn loose and curled slightly away from the solid wall and the metal door beside it had a small dent in the edge.
He glanced at it briefly and kept walking.
They moved another stretch down the hall.
And then Eli saw the same poster again.
Eli slowed without realizing it.
The Meridian basketball schedule was taped to the locker at the same crooked angle as before. The bottom corner of the paper curled away from the metal door, and a faint crease ran across the center where someone had clearly folded it before taping it up.
He glanced back over his shoulder.
The hallway behind them stretched away in a long straight line of lockers and classroom doors.
"Lila," he said.
She stopped and turned back toward him.
"What?"
Eli pointed at the poster.
"We already passed this."
She looked at the locker, then down the hallway.
"There are a bunch of those around the school," she said. "They put them everywhere."
"Maybe," Eli said feeling his nerves start to rise.
They kept walking.
The corridor stayed the same. Lockers, classroom doors, the occasional bulletin board. The farther they went, the quieter it became as the sounds of the main building faded behind them.
After another minute Eli noticed something else.
A trash bin sat against the wall with its plastic lid bent slightly to one side. Someone had drawn a thick blue line down the side of it with a marker.
They passed it.
A short time later the same bin appeared again.
Eli stopped.
Lila turned around more slowly this time.
"What now?"
He pointed.
She looked at the bin, then down the hallway.
"Okay that is a little strange, my locker should have been just up ahead," she said quietly.
Neither of them moved for a few seconds.
A couple of students farther down the corridor walked past a classroom door and disappeared inside without noticing anything out of the ordinary.
Eli felt the ring move against his chest.
The small crow pendant shifted under his shirt, the metal suddenly warm against his skin.
Eli looked ahead again.
The hallway kept going.
"How long is this wing supposed to be?" he asked.
"Not this long," Lila said.
They started walking again, a little faster now.
Another stretch of lockers slid past them. The same basketball poster appeared ahead on the wall.
This time Lila stopped before Eli did.
She stared at the locker.
"Yeah," she said under her breath. "That's the same one."
Across the hall the same teacher they saw earlier stood near the far end of the corridor with one hand resting on his cane.
He wasn't hunched over anymore. His shoulders were straight, the cane resting lightly in his hand like he didn't actually need it.
His expression remained calm as he studied them from across the hall.
Lila frowned in confusion.
"Mr. Volkov?"
He tapped the cane once against the floor.
The hallway jolted.
Lockers slid sideways for a split second, classroom doors sliding across each other like two identical hallways trying to occupy the same space. The movement snapped back just as quickly, leaving everything looking normal again.
Eli could feel the difference in the air around them.
The teacher's eyes settled on him.
"So you noticed."
Lila frowned.
"Mr. Volkov, what—"
He ignored her and looked past them down the hallway where confused voices were starting to rise from other students.
"Stay where you are," he said calmly.
Several locker doors tore loose from the wall.
They split themselves apart mid-flight, the metal dividing into several pieces as they shot down the corridor toward Eli and Lila.
Eli stepped forward and raised his hand.
The first piece of metal stopped hard in front of him. He flicked his wrist and sent it snapping back down the hallway.
Another fragment came in low. Eli caught that one too and redirected it into the lockers beside him.
A third followed.
Then a fourth.
The pieces kept coming, spreading wider across the corridor like shrapnel.
He redirected them one at a time, forcing each piece away before it could reach him or Lila.
Across the hallway Volkov barely moved. He watched quietly while the metal fragments spread through the corridor.
Halfway down the hall the pieces split again.
One shard became three.
Three became six.
Eli caught another and threw it toward the empty wall.
Behind him Lila gasped.
He turned around to find her.
A thin strip of metal had buried itself in her thigh. She grabbed the locker beside her to keep from collapsing, dark blood already soaking through the denim.
Farther down the hallway another fragment slammed into the wall beside a student who had frozen near the lockers. The metal punched into the drywall inches from his chest.
The hallway erupted into shouting as students backed away from the flying debris.
Eli looked from Lila to the other students scattered down the corridor.
Then he looked back at Volkov.
More locker doors were already tearing loose from the wall behind him.
And this time there were far more of them.