Emotional exhaustion from his meeting with the Wilkinsons had Hyperion drifting straight into bed the moment he returned to his dorm. He didn’t bother to change or even pull the curtains; he simply let gravity take him. Sleep claiming him almost instantly.He woke two hours later to the bell ringing in unbroken intervals. Hyperion blinked slowly, disoriented, turning his head toward his roommate. Malachi stood at the table, fastening the last button on his uniform jacket.“Can I ask…?” Hyperion muttered, still half-asleep.“There’s an assembly concerning the upcoming Ludus Gentium,” Malachi replied, knotting his tie. “The principal will be there. You might want to hurry, it starts in forty minutes.”That roused him. Hyperion sat up, shook the heaviness out of his limbs, and dressed quickly. His brain was sluggish and dry, still rattled from the conversation with the Wilkinsons.He headed toward a hall he’d never visited since his enrollment. A vast, circular hall made of whitesone. Th