It was Friday and I was sitting in Enchanting debating whether or not my plan was feasible. My lump of white quartz crystal was sitting in front of me. I was mentally going over my plan in my head while watching Professor Mjolnir look around the room. Everyone had an object in front of them, most were small things about the size of my quartz.

I wondered if the size of an object had an effect on the enchantment. Whether that was the amount of power or changing something in how the enchantment worked. Did medium make a difference? The others had implied that when discussing the plan to make Hope. Were there limits to what I could do with my quartz? What if what I wanted to do was actually impossible?

This was all becoming too complicated for me. But maybe I would learn something in this class that would help.

I wasn't sure what the professor was looking for, but he stopped to look at someone in purple with a wooden featureless doll. It was similar to the ones artists use but it had less joints.

"Why don't you tell me your plan for this?" Professor Mjolnir asked in an almost gentle tone. Like he was just asking about the weather.

"I'm going to make it change positions on command," the Kraken responded.

"Very nice, glad to hear it. I like the confidence you have," Professor Mjolnir kept up that tone. It didn't even sound fake or forced.

He was like the complete opposite of Professor Carmine. I could see why he would go into teaching.

"Next week we'll start working on making the enchantments, I'll be working with you all every step of the way." I wasn't sure if that was a threat or a promise as far as I was concerned. Maybe I would get this done without too much supervision. Or explosion.

A girl can hope.

(*********)

It was the second night we'd sent out Hope on her quest to get us out of this mess. Jarec had a map of the school laid out on the floor of the attic. It was far larger and more detailed than the ones we'd been given as part of our welcome to the school. I was a little curious as to where exactly he got that from. The obvious answer was Vivian, but I doubted he could ask for one without her asking why. And what answer did he give her?

Unless of course he'd always had it. Or did he make a map himself?

When and why?

"I can't believe you had this and didn't tell us about it," Celica complained as Jarec traced a path through a very, very small part of the school.

"This is everywhere Hope managed to look over last night," Jarec responded. I wasn't sure the exact proportion, but if I'd been forced to guess; maybe somewhere close to one or two percent of just where the professors' offices were. And those only took up a third of the school.

"We knew it was going to be a slow process," Fethris commented.

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"So, days if we're lucky. Weeks at least," Russel commented.

I roughed out the numbers in my head, worst case two months. However, I was pretty sure we had time for this. There was only five of us for now, so whatever the plan was might not be in action yet. I doubted they would add a new student to our Tower this late in the year.

Next year seemed more likely. So why steal the knife just to hold onto it? There was something we were missing. Something we still didn't know.

But there was only one way to learn more, and this was basically it. We couldn't do anything more without knowing who was involved. And we wouldn't know that until Hope found Death's Echo.

It was less than ideal, but it was the best we had.

We could do this. I had something that almost resembled faith in my friends.

It would all be fine.

I looked again at the map. It was a crazy blend of strangely shaped offices and large classrooms. For every simple square office like Vivian's, there were three that were at odd angles or strange shapes. Usually both.

Hope was starting on the other side of the school. An effort to avoid Vivian catching wind of what we were doing and getting involved with. And maybe a wild hope that the person who would do this wanted their distance.

Had to start somewhere.

Russel was looking at it with a thoughtful expression. "What's the plan if this doesn't work?"

"It's somewhere on campus, even if it's not in an office it's somewhere. Everywhere we cross off is a step closer. There isn't a lot we can do until we learn more," I told him. I knelt down to get a closer look at the map.

"I hate that. But you're not wrong," Russel grumbled.

"Stuck waiting," Fethris commented. I could hear the unspoken 'again'. "But we have to be stealthy. Getting caught could get us in a lot of trouble. Trouble will hinder our ability to respond. As long as we keep freedom of movement we can pivot plans if we need to."

"There's only so much they can do during regular school operations, just like us. If we're careful we should be able to notice any odd movements. Grandmother hasn't noticed anything weird either. At least not that she's mentioned to me," Jarec said with a frown.

Not that Vivian knew to look for anything out of the ordinary. Or to tell us about it.

I took a deep breath to steady myself. What were our options here? Just let this happen? Not on our watch. I'd come too far for this, I wasn't going to let someone take this away. Not without a fight.

We would do this. One way or another.

(*********)

We had time. I tried to think about all the times I'd seen Red. I still had no idea who she really was under that hood. We hadn't met yet, and there was no reason to believe we would need to worry that much about our thief until then.

The quiet in my room was letting my thoughts wander. The risks of having complicated conversations before bed.

This was ridiculous, even for me.

"Do you think what we're doing is a mistake?" I asked the darkness.

Two small rumbles from somewhere unseen. He didn't.

"I don't think we really have a choice, someone's got to do something. If we have the power to stop someone from getting hurt, we have to try, right?"

Another rumble from somewhere unseen.

I couldn't always protect everyone. I'd spent most of my life failing to protect someone I cared about.

How long had I sat and watched while Ethan's brother terrified and terrorized him? Let his family continue to try and forcibly control him?

I wasn't sure what I could have done, but I always knew I could have done more. Always held back by the fear of just making a bad situation worse. And what good had my silence done, in the end?

This wasn't the same situation, sure. But I wasn't going to stand by and let a bad thing happen when I knew in my gut it was wrong. Not again. Not when there was a chance, no matter how slim, of maybe getting a different outcome for everyone.

I clenched my fist as thoughts of Red and her fate crossed my mind. No one deserved to die like that. There was no reason she shouldn't be able to graduate like the rest of us.

I remembered her, wounded and bleeding but still heading somewhere down the stairs near the bathrooms. That wall so many Echoes of people knocking on the door.

"Downstairs," I mumbled into the darkness, "you keep showing us people knocking on that wall. There's something you want us to see or do, right?"

More rumbles. But instead of our established yes-or-no responses, a series of rumbles in a pattern.

One. Pause. Three. Long pause. Two.

Jarec had told me it was once code between Malcarg and Jantres when one had information he wanted to share with the other. That there was more beneath the surface to learn.

Maybe it was time I tried to find out what.

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