They didn't go to class.
It wasn't even a question.
The second the ripple vanished, Ivy, Calla, and Arlo left the library in tense, jagged silence, each of them watching the shadows like something might crawl out of them.
The black skeleton key burned cold in Ivy's jacket pocket. She could still feel the pulse of it against her skin.
Like it was listening.
---
They walked three buildings down to the oldest part of Morley—the original main hall, now used for admin overflow and janitor storage. Students avoided it. Even the janitors avoided it.
"You're sure it's here?" Ivy asked as they reached the door at the end of the hall, sealed with three rusted locks and a plaque that read:
NO ENTRY – STRUCTURAL HAZARD – CLOSED SINCE 1983
She pulled out the key. It shimmered the same deep violet as the ripple itself.
Arlo watched warily from behind. "We should wait."
"No," Calla said.
She glanced at Ivy.
"She found the key. The Veil's opening something. That doesn't wait."
Ivy stepped up and inserted the key into the top lock.
It turned smoothly.
All three locks dropped.
The door opened inward, revealing a narrow stairwell spiraling down into pitch darkness.
The smell hit her first.
Like damp paper, old iron, and something older than both.
Calla pulled a silver coin from her coat, whispered a word in a language Ivy didn't recognize, and the coin lit up with a soft, white glow.
"Stay close," she said, and started down.
---
They descended for what felt like too long.
No turns.
No side doors.
Just stair after stair after stair, deeper than any building on campus should have allowed.
Ivy was the first to speak again.
"So what is this place?"
"A fracture site," Calla said softly. "Where the Veil first cracked during the Crownwoken Rebellion."
"Rebellion?" Ivy asked.
Arlo finally answered from the back. "You led it."
She stopped. "I what?"
"Not by choice," Calla added. "You were born into a cursed line of Seers. You turned against the faction that raised you."
Ivy's stomach turned.
"I don't remember any of that."
"No," Arlo said. "But the Veil does. And it doesn't forget its debts."
They reached the bottom.
A black stone door blocked the hallway. This one had no lock, no handle.
Just an empty keyhole glowing faint violet.
Ivy reached forward, inserted the skeleton key—and the door opened silently.
Beyond it was a room covered in mirrors.
Dozens. Maybe hundreds.
All cracked, none broken.
Each one flickered with images that weren't now.
In one, Ivy was running across snow.
In another, she was laughing with people she didn't recognize.
In another—bleeding.
She stumbled back.
"What is this place?" she whispered.
Arlo's voice was low. "A ripple archive."
Calla nodded. "Every version of you that ever touched the Veil is recorded here. Every choice you made. Every one you will make."
Ivy's eyes landed on one mirror in particular.
It was intact.
In it, she was standing in the school courtyard with her arms wrapped around a boy with violet eyes.
She was smiling like she knew it was dangerous to love him, but didn't care.
And he was saying something to her she couldn't hear.
"Who is that?"
Calla's voice changed.
"His name is Eli."
Arlo's face had gone pale.
"He died two years ago," he said. "Before your memory was fractured."
Ivy turned sharply. "I knew him?"
"You loved him," Calla said. "And he's the reason you broke the Veil."
Before Ivy could speak—
Footsteps echoed above them.
Not faculty. Not students.
Too slow. Too careful.
Too measured.
Then a voice called down the stairwell:
"You weren't supposed to find that room yet."
A new figure appeared in the door.
A tall boy. Dark-haired. Golden-eyed.
Wearing Morley's uniform.
Ivy didn't recognize him.
But the ripple did.
The mirrors began to hum.
One cracked down the middle—on its own.
Arlo stepped in front of Ivy. Calla did too.
The boy just smiled.
"Hi, Ivy.
I'm Eli.
You pulled me back."
---