CHAPTER THREE
477 Words
CHAPTER THREE
The Figure in the Tower
No one moved.
The courtyard remained suspended in a silence so complete that Luna could hear the wind stirring the ivy climbing the academy walls.
The tower window was empty now.
The figure had vanished.
Yet the unease it left behind lingered like smoke.
Luna looked around.
Hundreds of students were still staring at the highest tower, their faces pale and unreadable. No one whispered. No one dared to point.
It was as if acknowledging what they had seen would somehow make it real.
The bell rang again.
A single, clear note echoed across the ground.
The spell broke.
Students lowered their heads and began walking, not in a hurried panic but with practiced discipline, as though this strange interruption had happened countless times before.
Books were gathered.
Robes were straightened.
Conversations resumed in careful, measured voices.
No one mentioned the tower.
Luna hurried after Rowan before he disappeared into the crowd.
"Wait!"
He didn't stop.
"Rowan."
She reached for his sleeve, forcing him to slow down.
"What was that?"
He avoided her eyes.
"Nothing."
"Liar."
His jaw tightened.
"I wasn't lying."
"You said, 'He's back.'"
"I shouldn't have."
"So tell me what you meant."
Rowan let out a slow breath and glanced around the courtyard. Several older students were passing nearby, and he lowered his voice until Luna had to lean closer to hear him.
"Listen to me carefully."
His usual awkward smile was gone.
"At Ebon Hollow, there are questions that don't have safe answers."
"I didn't ask a dangerous question."
"You did."
"I only asked who was standing in the tower."
Rowan looked genuinely unsettled.
"Exactly."
Before Luna could argue, the academy bell rang for a third time.
This time its sound carried a sense of urgency.
Students who had been walking calmly quickened their pace.
A tall girl with auburn hair brushed past Luna, muttering to her friend.
"We're going to be late."
"Vale hates late arrivals."
"I'd rather face detention than make him wait."
Another student overheard and shook his head.
"You've clearly never had Professor Vale."
Within moments, the once-crowded courtyard emptied until only Luna and Rowan remained.
Rowan adjusted the strap of his satchel.
"If we don't leave now, you'll meet him in the worst possible way."
"Professor Vale?"
He nodded.
"Our first class."
Luna sighed.
"I don't even know where I'm going."
For the first time since they met, Rowan smiled.
It was small.
Nervous.
But real.
"Come on."
He gestured toward a long stone corridor that connected the eastern wing to the oldest part of the academy.
"I'll show you."
As they walked beneath towering archways, Luna couldn't help glancing back at the tower one last time.
The window remained empty.
Still...
She couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching her.
Not from the tower.
But from somewhere much closer.
- Writer
