By the time Ren made it to breakfast the next morning, the story had already grown teeth.He caught the shape of it before he caught the words. Conversation dipped and shifted when he walked past. A table of first-years went quiet, then not-quite-quiet the second he was three steps clear of it. Two years of being invisible had taught him to read a room fast. This wasn't invisibility. This was worse."You hear the version where he attacked a monster bare-handed and came out covered in its blood?" Tomas's voice, not troubling to lower itself, from a table Ren hadn't meant to walk near. "Or the one where Griff's covering something up because Seat Thirty's dad donates to the Academy?""My dad doesn't donate anything," Ren said, before he could stop himself. "My dad drives a transport truck."A few people laughed. Not unkindly, which was almost worse. Tomas at least had the decency to look embarrassed. The laughter didn't kill the rumor. It just proved there was enough of an audience now t

Ren found her exactly where he suspected he would. The same storage room, an hour past curfew, going through a stack of confiscated gear like this was the most ordinary thing in the world to be doing after curfew."You're keeping a debt ledger," he said from the doorway. "Aren't you."Isolde didn't look up from the crate she was sorting. "I prefer to think of it as due diligence." A pause. "You look like someone who's about to pay a debt he'd rather not.""Dean Halvern pulled me in today." He stepped inside, letting the door click shut behind him. "There's a policy. Automatic review for flagged Gate anomalies. Mine's flagged. Someone's looking at my file within the week."That got her attention. She set the crate down and turned to face him fully for the first time since he'd walked in. "That's faster than I expected.""You expected this?""I expected something, eventually. Just not this soon." She crossed her arms. "Sit down. Tell me everything. All of it, the way you promised."So h

Priya caught him between classes, falling into step beside him without asking permission the way she'd started doing since the infirmary. "You've been disappearing at night," she said. Not a question."Studying," Ren said."Right." She didn't drop it. "You know Corbin's still watching for something to use against you. If you're doing something that could get you caught, I'd rather know than find out from him." She glanced sideways at him, taking in whatever the last few days had done to his face. "You look like you're carrying something heavier than exam prep."Ren weighed it. The same calculation he kept running with everyone who got close enough to matter. Priya had already paid a cost for standing near him once. He didn't want to hand her another one."There's a review," he said finally, giving her the shape of it without the whole truth. "Administrative. I'm trying to get ready for it. That's genuinely all the studying is.""That's not nothing to be nervous about." Her voice softe