Inside the water tower, the temperature drops noticeably, a perpetual cool mist hanging in the air. The new aspirants gasp as they enter the central atrium with its spiraling staircases that seem to float without support. Water flows up the walls and across the ceiling in complex patterns, forming and re-forming into beautiful shapes.

"Second-years and above occupy the fourth through sixth floors," I explain, directing them toward the third level. "You'll be on the third floor for your first year. Males on the east side, females on the west.

After settling the final group of aspirants into their quarters, I have an hour before I'm expected at my next assignment. I make my way back to my own room on the fifth floor, looking forward to a moment of peace before dinner.

The moment I open my door, I know something is wrong.

My room appears untouched—bed made, books stacked neatly on my desk, the small potted plant Mireen gave me still thriving on the windowsill. But the air feels disturbed, as if someone has recently been here.

Typhon materializes in his dragon form. He can’t expand to his full size in the cramped room, but he still towers impressively, blue wings half raised as his long, serpentine neck extends, head swiveling and nostrils huffing with quick inhales. "Someone was here," he confirms. "Recently."

Adrenaline spiking, I move deeper into my room with caution, following his gaze to a small object placed at the center of my pillow. A pendant on a silver chain, the metal worked into a spiral pattern that exactly matches my hidden mark.

Beside it lies a folded piece of parchment. With trembling fingers, I unfold it to reveal an elegant script:

When you're ready to understand your true nature and potential, wear this. We will find you. -L&M

"Impossible," I breathe, even as my pulse races. "They can't have been here. Not inside Confluence."

Instinctively, I pull fire from the heat in the air and incinerate the parchment in a quick rush of flame. If anyone saw this in my room…

"They have allies within these walls," Typhon says grimly. "We've always suspected as much."

I pick up the pendant, and the moment my fingers touch the metal, my disguised water mark flickers, revealing the silver spiral beneath for one terrifying second before the illusion reasserts itself. The pendant pulses with a subtle magic that calls to something deep inside me.

"What should I do with it?" I ask, fighting the peculiar urge to slip the chain around my neck.

Typhon's eyes narrow. "Destroy it. Or at the very least, hide it where even you cannot easily reach it."

I know he's right. The pendant is dangerous—a direct link to Lorkan and Milena Grace. A reminder that they're watching, waiting for me to come to them. And yet...