The corridors were empty, the lamps reduced to a soft glow that barely touched the stone floors. Shadows pooled in corners, thick and dark, concealing the five figures who moved in single file along the walls. The infirmary building rose ahead, its windows dark, its doors locked. A single light burned on the second floor, the night watch’s post, but the watch was dozing, his head on his desk, his breathing slow and even.

Lux pressed his palm against the side door. Light flowed from his fingers, thin and precise, seeping into the lock’s mechanism. A soft click, and the door swung open. They slipped inside.

The infirmary basement was cold, the air still, carrying the scent of antiseptic and old stone. A single corridor led to the morgue, its walls lined with pipes that hummed with the building’s heating system. Their footsteps were silent on the tile floor. Nero led, his red eyes active, scanning for traps, for alarms, for anything that might betray them.

The morgue door was steel, heavy, with a wheel lock like a ship’s hatch. Adam stepped forward, placed his hands on the wheel, and turned. Earth energy flowed through his arms, strengthening them, making the impossible possible. The wheel groaned, then turned. The door opened.

Inside, the room was small, tiled, lit by a single fluorescent light that buzzed softly. A metal table stood in the center, and on it, covered by a white sheet, lay the body. Two figures remained in the corridor—Khione and Blake, their masks in place, their eyes watchful. They would guard the approach and warn of anyone coming.

Nero, Lux, and Adam stepped into the morgue. The door closed behind them.

Lux pulled back the sheet.

Liana’s face was pale, bloodless, her features frozen in death. Her eyes were closed, her dark hair spread across the metal table. But her mouth... her mouth was curved into a smile. Not a peaceful smile, not the serene expression of one who had passed gently. It was crooked, unnatural, a smile that did not belong on a dead face.

"That’s not right," Adam murmured.

Lux shook his head. "No. It’s not."

Nero leaned closer, his red eyes fixed on her face. The smile was wrong. The muscles had been pulled into that position after death, held there by something, forced into a shape they would never have taken naturally.

He looked deeper.

The residual thread was there, thinner than the one in her room, but visible. It emerged from her chest, from the area around her heart, and snaked upward, through the ceiling, out of the room. He followed it with his eyes, tracking its path. It was fading, dissolving, but slowly. Whoever had done this had been here recently.

He straightened. "Someone controlled her," he said. "Made her kill herself. Then, they arranged the scene to look like a suicide."

Lux’s jaw tightened. "How?"

"I don’t know. Not yet. But the thread is still there. It leads somewhere."

Adam looked at the ceiling, at the empty space where the thread vanished. "Can you follow it?"

"Not tonight. It’s too faint. But tomorrow, maybe. If it hasn’t faded completely."

They stood in silence around the body, the crooked smile seeming to mock them. Lux covered Liana’s face with the sheet, and they left the morgue.

Khione and Blake were waiting in the corridor, their masks reflecting the dim light. Nero gave a single nod. They had what they came for. They moved back through the infirmary, through the side door, into the cool night air.

---

The club room was warm when they returned, the lamps still lit, the chairs still arranged around the table. They removed their masks and sat, the weight of the morgue still on their shoulders.

Nero spoke first. "It’s not suicide. Someone killed her. Made it look like her heart stopped."

"Magic?" Lux asked.

"Maybe. Or something else. I saw a thread, like the one in her room. It came from her chest and went up, through the ceiling. Someone was controlling her from a distance."

Adam frowned. "A puppet master."

"Something like that."

Blake, who had been silent since the morgue, leaned forward. "Who would do that? To a first-year cadet? What’s the motive?"

Nero shook his head. "I don’t know. But we need to find out."

Khione, her expression as cold as ever, spoke. "The festival is coming. The academy will be crowded. If someone is targeting cadets, they’ll have more opportunities."

"Then we need to move fast," Lux said. "Before the festival, before anyone else dies."

They sat in silence, each lost in thought. The masks lay on the table between them, their painted eyes staring at the ceiling. The night was deep, the academy quiet, but somewhere, in the shadows, a killer was watching.

"We’ll investigate tomorrow," Nero said. "I’ll try to follow the thread, see where it leads. Lux, check the academy records again. Look for anyone with a history of mind magic, anyone who might have the skill to do this. Adam, talk to Liana’s friends. See if she had any enemies, any secrets. Blake, Khione, keep your ears open. Listen for rumors. Someone knows something."

They nodded, one by one.

The meeting broke up, and they filed out of the club room, down the corridor, into the cool night. The stars were bright overhead, the moon a thin crescent. Nero walked with Khione to her dorm, their footsteps slow, their hands brushing.

"She was smiling," Khione said. "Liana. In the morgue. Adam mentioned it."

Nero nodded. "It wasn’t natural. Someone made her smile, even in death."

"That’s cruel."

"It’s a message. A warning. Maybe to her friends. Maybe to us."

Khione was silent for a moment. Then: "We’ll find whoever did this."

"We will."

They stopped at her door. She turned to face him, her ice-blue eyes searching his.

"Be careful tomorrow. Following the thread... it could lead somewhere dangerous."

"I know." 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

She reached up and touched his cheek, her fingers cool against his skin. Then she turned and disappeared into her room.

Nero stood in the corridor for a long moment, then walked back to his own dorm, his mind already turning over the clues, the threads, the mystery of a dead girl with a crooked smile.

The investigation had only begun.