Ink and Embers

ppearing uninvited in

a secret whispered in stone. She wiped the condensation from the window with her sleeve, peering through the fogged glass

llowed up by umbrellas and urgency. She hoisted her leather duffel bag onto her sho

mp leaves, chalk dust,

t smelled like un

like a memory. The same autumn air from twelve years ago when she last stood at these gates-her

to Professor Cross. Just that he

ng under his name. The name she told herse

oss the ivy-covered archway. She smirked. The university's

e smelled like old books and lemon-scented floor wax. Students bustled around her with ove

. You're in Westbridge Hall, second floor. Your assigned advisor is Dr. Adrian Voss-he'

n eyebrow. "Tha

be fine. Just don't be l

took the packet

a map. She alrea

e, a petite blonde with aggressively friendly energy named Mara, had already taken the bed

ed, right?" Mara chirped. "I

ping her bag. She had no inten

awer-spines worn, pages bloated with marginalia. One in particular had a red ribbon

she wo

the hallway half-dressed, brushing her teeth with one hand while scrolling her schedule with the other. "The Literary Absurd: Voice

leek and modern, a stark contrast to the Gothic exterior of the building. Stud

front opened and silen

or. He moved with the economy of someone who'd done this a thousand times and found little joy in it.

rows of students like a

they land

or a s

lic

But when he looked away, some

, with a gravelly edge that somehow managed to sound both tired and dangerous. "This class is for those unafra

n pacin

with *The Fall*. It asks: what does guilt look like when no one'

ered over her no

us. She was thinking about th

embered him, even without the faint streaks of silver in his dar

he way h

one who once trusted too easil

ey were allowed to speak again. Eliana lingered, pretending to org

ooked up, he w

where the dust seemed older than the books themselves. Her fingers

aard, only for a folded piece of pa

she pick

pped. A.V.-if something happens to me, the archive is the key. Burn not

.

an V

ucked it into her pocket, and lef

like it always did when the

he wasn't just a

as a