Chapter 26: The Weight of Action
9 days left.
The night wrapped the academy in heavy silence as Noel slipped through the restricted sections of the Grand Hall, moving with a predator's patience.
He wasn't aiming for the banquet hall itself.
Not yet.
He moved toward the places mentioned during the secret meeting—the underground classrooms, buried deep below the academy's foundations. Forgotten places. Hidden places. Exactly where you'd hide something you didn't want found.
Noel moved through servant corridors and abandoned maintenance tunnels, heart steady, steps silent.
Most students were sleeping.
The rest? Focused on exams. On rumors. On ordinary academy life.
'They have no idea what's coming.'
'And if I don't move fast enough... they never will.'
He found the old service stairwell tucked behind a supply closet—half-collapsed from years of disuse—and descended.