24
Marrow wasn't giving up.
I had to give the man credit for tenacity. Despite the paperwork mountain, despite the yodeling librarians, despite the fact that his "Enforcers" were now hiding in the gym to avoid having their doors aggressively held open by Hufflepuff-wannabes, he decided to push forward.
The email hit our inboxes at 6:00 AM.
From: The Office of the Dean
To: All Students
Subject: MANDATORY FINAL EXAM
Final Exams will proceed as scheduled. Attendance is mandatory. Silence is mandatory. Failure to complete the exam will result in immediate expulsion and permanent sealing of magic. No exceptions. No medical notes. No... creativity.
"He's trying to regain control," Arthur said, studying the exam schedule posted on the dorm notice board. He looked tired but energized, like a man running on pure spite and caffeine. "The exam is a ritual. It reinforces hierarchy. Teacher over student. Question over answer. He wants to force us back into the box."
"He wants compliance," Amelia added, touching the paper with a grimace. "He wants to see us scared, sitting in neat little rows."
"So we disrupt the ritual," Ivy grinned. She was holding a bag that looked suspiciously heavy. "We don't just boycott. We attend. And we make it memorable."
"What's in the bag, Ivy?" a werewolf asked nervously.
"Art supplies," she chirped. "Operation: Glitter Bomb is a go."
The exam was held in the Great Hall.
It was intimidating immediately. Marrow had removed the long tables and replaced them with hundreds of single, wooden desks. They were spaced perfectly apart—exact six-foot intervals. The air was cold thanks to an atmospheric charm.
The silence was heavy. Students filed in, looking terrified. Marrow stood on the stage, watching us. He wasn't wearing his usual confident smirk. He looked tight. Coiled. Like a rubber band stretched to its limit.
"Sit," he commanded.
Two hundred chairs scraped against the stone floor.
I sat in the middle row. Rhett was to my left. Kai was to my right. Lucien was behind me (I could feel the chill of his shadow).
"You may begin," Marrow announced. "Silence. Absolute silence."
Two hundred pens scratched against paper.
I looked at the question.
1. Define the inherent superiority of Order over Entropy.
I resisted the urge to write "Entropy is more fun" and waited for the signal.
For five minutes, it was quiet. The only sound was the breathing of students and the scratching of quills. Marrowstarted to relax. His shoulders dropped an inch. He thought he had won. He thought he had scared us back into submission.
Then, a single note sounded.
It was a high, clear trumpet blast. But it didn't come from a trumpet. It came from the stomach of a Fae student in the back row.
Marrow spun around. "Who did that?"
Silence.
Then, another note. A low, resonant tubablart.
