The door to Professor Rivers’s office creaked open just enough for Sonia to slip inside.
The room was dark except for a single desk lamp casting its glow over a stack of papers and half-empty coffee mugs.
She moved carefully, her eyes darting to every shadow. The scent of old leather and bitter coffee clung to the air.
She’d learned to step silently.
Silas had taught her that, how to move like a ghost. But tonight, her heart beat too loudly. Every creak in the wood seemed to echo in her bones.
Her fingers trembled as she flipped through the scattered documents on Rivers’s desk. Most were harmless—schedules, rosters, fencing match reports—but beneath the mess, she found something different. A thick file with the name Lazarus stamped in red. She felt a shiver crawl down her spine as
