*You're already too late.*
The words had barely registered before the alarm tore through the academy, shattering the Archives' tense silence into full-blown chaos.
"That's not the breach signal," Kael said sharply, already moving toward the door. "That's an internal alert. Something's happening elsewhere in the academy."
"We need to move," Cassian urged, extinguishing the lantern. "Now, before Guardians flood this corridor looking for whoever tripped it."
They slipped back through the maintenance passage Rowan had shown them, hearts pounding, the alarm's piercing wail chasing them through the dark until they emerged near the academy's central courtyard, where a crowd had already gathered beneath torchlight.
What Serena saw stopped her cold.
---
Rowan stood at the courtyard's center,
