But the heat pooling inside me isn’t listening.
Outside, the quad has filled with students sitting on benches, reading, and talking quietly. The early September weather is warm enough for short sleeves, cool enough to feel refreshing. I skirt the edges, content to observe rather than join. No one stops me. No one looks twice.
Near the path that leads toward the gates, Lila is talking to another student. She gestures for me to join them.
“Elowen, this is Seraphina Bloom. She’s the omega representative on the Student Council.”
I spot the tiny gold pin on the lapel of her blazer. She has Lila’s easy confidence butwithout the volume.
“Hey.” Seraphina smiles. “I would’ve spoken to you at some point about the omega study groups. They’re optional, but if you ever need anything, let Ms. Hartley know, and I’ll find you.”
She hands me a card, and I tuck it inside my bag. “Thank you. Will the building ever stop being a maze?”
She laughs, the sound infectious.
"You’ll soon get used to it. A few of us are heading into town. It’s a Saturday thing, coffee and wandering." She shrugs. "You're welcome to come. Or not. No pressure."
Before I can say "I'd like that," loud voices interrupt. Yelling.
Two security guards in dark-gray uniforms are escorting a man through the quad. They each hold an arm, while the man in the middle of them tries to wrench himself free, digging his sneakers into the ground and failing to get enough purchase to halt them in their stride.
“Let me go,” he yells. “I’ve not done anything wrong.”
I watch, frozen to the spot, as one guard, I don’t know his name yet, removes a baton from his pocket. He doesn’t use it, but the intention is clear.
“Do it!” the unwanted visitor shouts. “Assault me! I’ll still find out what really happened to my sister!”
His sister?
“Who is that?” I whisper.
“His name is Gideon Stockwell,” Seraphina keeps her voice low. “Iris Stockwell’s brother.”
Iris Stockwell: one of the omegas who died at Elderwood last year.
“What does he mean: he’ll find out what really happened to his sister?”
Seraphina hesitates, and it’s enough for a shudder to pass through me. “He has been talking to the press, claiming that Iris didn’t die of natural causes.”
“Holy shit,” Lila mutters. “It must’ve hit him really hard.” Her expression crumples. “They could show a little bit of compassion for him and ask him to leave quietly.”
“That’s the thing. This isn’t the first time.” Seraphina watches them till they disappear behind the building and then turns to face us. “The police had to get involved last semester. He isn’t going to stop until… well, I don’t know what will make him stop.”
“Do you think he’s right?” I ask.
“There was no post-mortem,” she explains, “because cause of death was recorded as heart failure.”
“How do you know all this?” Lila’s eyes are wide.
“I’m studying forensic science. There were a lot of questions following Iris’s death.” Seraphina pauses. “And the others. That’s what we were told.”
But that isn’t what Gideon Stockwell believes, and he’s still fighting it over a year later.
I check out the group gathered outside the Academy before we set off and quell my disappointment when Calder isn’t there. What was I hoping for? Acknowledgement?A coffee date? More?
The path to Elderwood Hollow winds gently downhill until stone and ivy give way to storefronts and quaint cobbled streets. The town feels lived-in rather than curated, with hand-painted signs, mismatched chairs outside cafés, windows fogged with warmth. The kind of town you’d expect to find in an episode ofBridgerton.
Lila and I gravitate towards a small café on the corner of the High Street, windows glowing amber in the late morning light.
