Aditya pushed open the heavy wooden door of the old wing’s third-floor classroom, coughing as a thick cloud of dust immediately tickled his throat. The room looked less like an active school club and more like a graveyard for forgotten art supplies and broken string instruments."Hello?" Aditya called out, squinting through the dim, afternoon light filtering through the grime-covered windows. "Is anyone actually in here?""If I say no, will you turn around and leave?" a sharp voice replied from behind a towering stack of blank canvases.Aditya blinked, trying to pinpoint the source of the sound. "That depends. Are you a ghost, or just a really grumpy student?""The latter," the voice said as a girl stepped out from behind the canvas wall, holding a dusty paintbrush like a weapon. "And I’m busy. What do you want?""I'm here to join the club," Aditya said, offering his most charming, low-effort smile. "This is the Art and Music Club, right?""No, it isn't," she said flatly.Aditya pause

Aditya stared at the glowing golden instrument, his feet shuffling forward of their own accord. "Is anyone else seeing this?" he stammered, his voice thick and slurred from the heavy drink. "Why is it glowing? Why is my body moving on its own?""Oh my god," Chloe gasped, gripping Julian's sleeve. "Julian, look at the lock! It just fell off!""I see it, Chloe! I'm not blind!" Julian snapped, though his voice shook. "But how? That lock has been rusted shut since the nineties!""Don't go near it, Aditya!" Toby yelled, waving his hands frantically. "Seriously, dude, back away! We don't know what that thing is!""I can't!" Aditya groaned, his arm stretching toward the cabinet. "It's like a magnet is pulling my hand! It feels so warm.""Mariana, do something!" Sarah screamed. "He's going to touch it!""No," Mariana whispered, her voice filled with a sudden, breathless awe. "Let him.""Are you completely insane?" Leo shouted, his hand drum slipping from his fingers and hitting the floor with

"I’m not going anywhere with you," Aditya said, taking a step back and clutching the straps of his backpack. "And I'm definitely not ready for a lesson. I'm going to school. To sit in the back of the class, pretend I don't exist, and hope my ears stop ringing."Mariana smirked, shifting her weight as she blocked the metal gate of his apartment complex. "You really think you can just walk into a calculus class like this? Look at your eyes, Aditya. They're practically vibrating.""They are not vibrating," Aditya hissed, looking around the street to make sure his neighbors weren't watching. "It’s just a headache. A very, very weird headache.""And the mark on your hand?" Mariana pointed at his right palm, which he was currently trying to hide in his pocket. "Is that a headache too? Walk with me, Aditya. Unless you want to stand out here and let the morning commuters watch you sweat.""I'm not sweating," Aditya lied, though a bead of cold sweat was indeed trickling down his neck. "Where a

"Are you seriously telling me we're walking straight into the lion's den?" Aditya groaned, matching Mariana's brisk pace as they crossed the school’s central courtyard."It's not a lion's den, Aditya. It's just the administration wing," Mariana said, not slowing down for even a second."Same difference. One has sharp teeth, the other has bureaucratic red tape. Both will eat you alive.""Stop being dramatic. The PA system specifically called both of our names. If we don't show up, Sterling will use it as an excuse to suspend us, or worse, lock us out of the clubroom early.""Maybe that's for the best," Aditya muttered, stuffing his hands deep into his pockets. "I mean, think about it. If the club gets shut down, the lyre problem just... goes away, right? I can go back to being a normal, sleepy student who doesn't have to worry about magical biohazards.""It doesn't go away, you idiot," Mariana hissed, throwing a sharp glare over her shoulder as they reached the polished glass doors of

"Come on," Mariana said, her grip tight around his wrist as she dragged him down the empty corridor of the old theater wing. "We can't stand out there in the open. Edward's probably still watching.""Slow down, Mariana!" Aditya complained, his voice still a raspy wheeze. "The nurse's office is literally in the other direction. I need a throat lozenge, not a brisk jog.""A school nurse can't cure divine frostbite, Aditya," Mariana replied, pushing open the heavy double doors of the school’s old auditorium. "We need to get you somewhere safe. Somewhere the Apollonians can't easily sense your frequency.""The school auditorium?" Aditya asked, looking around the dim, cavernous room. The rows of empty velvet seats looked like silent ghosts in the shadows. "What, are we going to hide behind the stage props?""No," Mariana said, marching straight onto the stage and pulling back a heavy, dust-laden curtain. "Under them.""Under them?""Help me lift this," she ordered, pointing to a brass ring