The brambles of the Forbidden Woods clawed at Santiago’s uniform, the thorns dragging across his skin like icy needles. He gasped for air, his lungs feeling like they had been scrubbed with sandpaper. Beside him, Nadia was hunched over, her silver hair disheveled and matted with forest grit. Between them, Jax lay slumped against a gnarled root, his breathing shallow and rattling."We can't stay here," Nadia hissed, her eyes darting toward the looming, obsidian silhouette of the Academy. "The woods aren't an exit, Santi. They’re a perimeter. Look at the canopy."Santiago looked up. The trees weren't swaying with the wind; they were leaning inward, their branches weaving together to form a living, suffocating dome. "You’ve got to be kidding me. Even the trees are on the payroll?""It’s a biodynamic ward," Nadia said, grabbing his arm to pull him upright. "If we stay out here for more than ten minutes, the forest will register us as invasive pathogens. The ground will literally swallow u

Santiago’s boots scraped against the inner lining of the brass-rimmed vent, the sound echoing like a drum inside the narrow, metallic tunnel. He hauled himself upward, his muscles screaming in protest, the gray light in his arm pulsing with a rhythmic, sickening heat. Behind him, he could hear the muffled, violent vibrations of magic slamming against the iron door of the Forbidden Wing—the sound of the Headmaster’s fury."Nadia! Are you up?" Santiago hissed, his voice cracking as he reached for the ledge."I’m in," Nadia’s voice drifted down, tight and strained. "But Santiago, you need to see this. It’s not a bypass. It’s a dead end."Santiago lunged upward, his fingers hooking over the edge of the crawlspace. He pulled himself into a small, cramped square of stone and dust. The air here was stagnant, smelling of ancient ozone and the metallic tang of dried blood. It wasn't the way to the roof. It was a secondary containment cell, barely six feet wide, tucked into the hollow space bet

The massive, mechanical hand of the mana-construct tightened around Nadia’s shoulder with a sickening, metallic screech. She let out a sharp cry, her staff clattering across the concrete floor as she was yanked backward into the thick, swirling steam."Nadia! Let her go, you junk pile!" Santiago roared, the gray light in his arm exploding into a violent, jagged halo of silver.He didn't think. He didn't calculate the risk of neural feedback or memory loss. He simply lunged, slamming his palm directly onto the construct’s chest plate."Drain it, Santi! Don't let it cycle!" Nadia choked out, her face pale as the construct’s other arm began to glow with a deadly, crimson charge."I’m working on it! Hold on!" Santiago gritted his teeth, feeling the raw, artificial energy of the construct flood into his system. It felt like drinking liquid needles. "Come on, give me everything! You’re empty!"The construct’s red eyes flickered, the mechanical hum in its chest turning into a high-pitched wh

The heavy oak door of the dormitory room shuddered under the force of a Warden’s gauntlet. The sound was like a rhythmic hammer against a coffin."Open the door, Pratama!" a voice barked from the hallway, muffled but vibrating with magical authority. "By order of the Headmaster, this room is under immediate seizure. Do not make us breach!"Santiago’s arm was a jagged pillar of silver light, the stolen refraction from the sub-levels hissing off his skin like white-hot steam. He stood centered in the room, his knees slightly bent, ready to unleash the vacuum."Leo, get behind the wardrobe," Santiago rasped, his eyes fixed on the splintering wood. "Nadia, if they break that seal, I’m going to drop the localized pressure. You grab Leo and get out the window.""Santi, wait!" Leo scrambled forward, ignoring the warning hum of energy radiating from Santiago’s skin. He shoved the crumpled stack of papers he’d been clutching into Santiago’s peripheral vision. "Don't blast them yet! Look at the

The glass of the dormitory window hadn’t even finished hitting the cobblestones three stories below before Santiago hit the ground, rolling into a tight ball to dissipate the kinetic shock. Behind him, the silver-black afterglow of his pulse still flickered in the air of the room he had just vacated, a ghostly reminder of the Wardens he’d just tossed like ragdolls.Nadia landed a second later, her boots clicking softly on the stone, her staff already glowing with a jagged, defensive violet. Leo tumbled out last, groaning as he collided with a decorative hedge."Don't stop! Move!" Santiago hissed, grabbing Leo by the collar and hauling him toward the shadows of the North Wing."Santi, my ankle—" Leo started, but stopped when he saw the look in Santiago’s eyes. They weren't brown anymore. They were swirling with a cold, metallic gray that looked like liquid mercury."Walk it off, Leo. We don't have a choice," Santiago snapped. He turned to Nadia. "The woods are out. Sasha said they were