Octis 23
The common room felt dimmer than usual, though the lanterns still burned and the hearth crackled quietly. The five of us had returned from the sealed chamber in silence, each step up from the tunnels heavier than the last. Myself, Rielle, Garnexis, Ardorion, and Aster entered without a word, trailing in like shadows across the threshold.
The silence in our quad was thick enough to cut with a blade. The image of Halven frozen in that godsforsaken block of ice branded behind my eyes. The old, familiar instinct was screaming at me—run. Run before this place swallows you whole. I ignored it, planting my feet firmly on the stone floor. I wasn’t running. Not this time.
Inside our quad, we were met with two sets of crossed arms and matching expressions of impatience.
Elio, his fiery auburn hair pulled back in a thick, loose braid over the shoulder of his academy robes, stood with Lo at his side. He was a solid presence of muscle and stone, and his warm amber eyes burned with impatience. Lo, slighter and with sharp, intelligent features, had her own quiet intensity. Her long, bluish-white hair cascaded over her shoulders, and her large, translucent wings, like those of a dragonfly, were folded neatly behind her, shimmering faintly over the dark fabric of her academy robes. Her dark, almond-shaped eyes were fixed on them with unwavering focus.
“What the hells is going on?” Elio’s voice was a low rumble, cutting through the quiet.
No one answered right away. The silence stretched until Elio raised a hand.
“Actually, never mind. We already know what you’re doing.” He looked directly at me, then Rielle, then Shara, then Ardorion. “Halven is our friend, too. He’s our quadmate. Why are we being left out of this?”
Lo shifted beside him, her gaze sliding past Rielle. “I know Halven and I haven’t been dating long, but I care about him. This isn’t just your fight.”
I moved toward the center of the room and gave them both a short nod. “You deserve to know.”
Before we could begin to explain the labyrinth of glyphs and visions, we quickly summarized what we’ve found, the words tumbling out in a rush of shared horror. We spoke of the secret passage, the glyph on the door, and the dual magic needed to open it. What we found waiting in the chamber. The block of ice. The truth.
Both Elio and Lo paled during the retelling, their faces a mask of shock at the revelation of Halven still alive, but frozen in a way none of us yet understood. Lo’s hand dropped from her arm to curl around her wrist instead, knuckles white.
Elio sank into the arm of a nearby chair and didn’t speak for a long moment, his mouth parted as if he wanted to say something but couldn’t decide what.
Just as the story ended, the door opened again. Orivian.
My heart gave a sharp, stupid leap before my brain even processed it. I hated that it did.
He strode in, pulling off his gloves, his silver hair a mess, and the hum of the bond between us resonated through my bones, a low, constant thrum that was only getting stronger. I tried to calm the urge to go to him by sitting on couch.
Stupid fated bond.
“I came as soon as I could get away,” he said, his green-gold eyes sweeping over our shaken faces, lingering on mine. “What did you find?”
We recounted everything we had found in the frozen chamber: Halven, alive but trapped and the magic in the chamber and the ice. Orivian listened intently, his brow furrowed as we explained the impossible scene. When we finished, a heavy silence fell over the room.
“So Halven’s alive,” Orivian finally managed, his voice rough. “But trapped. By Lady Isa.”
“And Veyn and Neir are somehow involved,” I added, sharper than intended.
Shara started pacing, her mind already working the clues. “I think we need to connect everything we know so far.”
She stopped pacing. “Halven’s notes said he heard voices and that he went to Wintermere. He wrote that something was wrong, but the part where he named who not to trust… that part was water damaged.”
Rielle’s voice came softly, eyes still on the unlit hearth. “In my dream, he warned me not to follow. I didn’t understand it then. Maybe he knew what would happen to him. Or what could happen to us.”
Shara turned toward her. “Lady Isa’s magic is keeping Halven a prisoner. And Professor Veyn’s magic is woven into the spell. Neir’s magic is in the lake along with Lady Isa’s. Every one of them is part of this.”
A heavy silence pressed into the space between them, then voices rose. The urge to run shook through me, and I almost jumped to my feet, but then Ardorion spoke above the others.
“Isa owes us the truth,” he snapped, the words burning hot. He looked at me, expecting backup. “We should confront her. Don’t you agree?”
I wanted to. I wanted to match that fire, to march down the hall and drag the truth from Lady Isa’s lips.
But doubt settled like a weight in my stomach. “If we go to her, and she doesn’t freeze us like Halven, she’ll shut us down. Or worse, expel us. Then we can’t help him at all. Whatever we decide, it stays in this room.”
Shara, who had gone back to pacing, stopped. “I agree with Ardorion. She should answer for what she’s done.”
But Rielle looked torn. “I… don’t know. We don’t know the strength of her magic, or how it could be used against us.”
Orivian nodded toward me. “Garnexis is right. We don’t win this head-on. Not like this.”
The sound of my name in his voice and his agreement with me made my heart flutter like a damn sprite.
“If Professor Veyn is involved, you’re talking about one of the most powerful fae in Nythral.” Elio’s usual boisterous energy had been replaced by a grim seriousness. “Going up against him and the Grand Magister? It’s suicide.”
Lo had been quiet until now, her wings trembling slightly behind her as she stepped forward. Her eyes were red-rimmed from crying. “So what? We just do nothing? She has Halven locked in a block of ice and we’re supposed to sit on our hands? I’m ready to confront her. I don’t care how powerful she is.”
Aster, who had been a silent, watchful presence, turned to Rielle. “Do you know the extent of Neir’s magic?”
Rielle shook her head. “I’ve only felt him use it once. It was powerful, but I don’t know enough to compare.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Orivian cut in, his voice calm and measured. He had the authority of someone who had seen more of the academy than we had. “As a fourth-year student, I’ve had more training than any of you, and I know for a fact that I couldn’t go up against Lady Isa and Professor Veyn. Even two quads of fourth-years would struggle. And we aren’t all full fae…”
His words landed, a quiet, pointed jab. Hybrids. I was one of those considered weaker.
Did he see me as something lesser than—something lesser than him. Gods, I hoped not.
Even if he didn’t mean it like that, even if it was just a fact, it felt like something cracked. I hated how true it was.
Rielle looked down, her cheeks flushed.
I stood up before I could stop myself, the urge to run surging in my legs. “Magic isn’t the only kind of power we can wield.”
Orivian met my glare without flinching. “Then let’s find allies. We could confide in other faculty. Get them on our side and even out the scales.”
“Unless they’re part of it too,” I snapped back. “We go to the wrong person and it’s over. Isa is involved. The others? We don’t know.”
“I still think we should confront her,” Aster said. “We can’t keep avoiding this. If she sealed Halven, then she knows how to unseal him.”
The room erupted, words spinning in arguments. Aster and Lo agreed with Ardorion, but Elio and I were firmly against it. Orivian was too rational, too calm. And Shara… she was uncertain now.
We weren’t ready. And we couldn’t afford to lose. The urge to run whispered at the edge of my mind again, a siren song of self-preservation. But one look at Orivian, at his steady, determined face, and I knew. I couldn’t run from this. Not while he was standing here.
Not while Halven stood frozen beneath our feet.
Then all the lights went out.
One by one, every sconce and lantern blinked into shadow. We all fell silent, turning to Rielle. Shadows clung to her raised hands like a cloak. Resolve hardened in her misty eyes.
“We can’t pretend Isa shouldn’t be held accountable,” she said. “But if we rush into anything, we’ll lose Halven. We have to be smart about what we do next. Halven is what matters.”
We all nodded. She was right. I sat back down slowly, fists clenched in my lap.
“So,” Rielle continued, the shadows receding as she spoke, “we find out how to free him. And while we do that, we get information. From Neir.” She looked at Shara. “And from Professor Veyn.”
Shara nodded, but the pain in her eyes was almost too much to witness. It knocked the wind out of me. I couldn’t imagine the pain she felt from Veyn’s betrayal.
Her voice was quieter now. “While Rielle and I get more information, the rest of you should focus on learning anything about magical containment, especially involving Water and Wood magic. That’s what we felt in the ice. Aster, maybe you can try some experiments with your magic. Just see if there’s anything familiar in the structure.”
I nodded. “We should also keep watching them. Isa. Veyn. Neir. See what they’re doing, what they say to other students, what they’re involved in.”
“And go back through our notes,” Shara added. “Everything we’ve collected so far. Maybe there’s something we missed.”
Orivian cleared his throat, and I turned toward him instinctively. The bond flared like a live wire between us.
“I just remembered something,” he said. “It might not help, but it’s stuck in my head. Last year in history, we covered the old lore from Agondray, Lady Isa’s homeland. The continent fell under a curse. It’s a continent of ice now. And the one who spoke the curse, the Snow Princess, is trapped in ice there. Probably just like Halven.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Who trapped her?”
“Lady Isa’s cousins,” he said. “The last of the Ice Dragon Princes.”
Shara crossed her arms. “That just proves Isa knows how to do it. Unless there’s a record on how to undo it, I don’t know how it helps.”
Orivian shrugged. “Maybe it doesn’t. But it started with a curse. Halven didn’t just stumble into that room. He heard voices. Something pulled him there. Like it’s happened before. That article from 639, the one about the students hearing voices? What if the same thing started again and Halven stopped it before it could spread?”
Ardorion raised a brow. “That’s a big leap. But it sounds like something Halven would do.”
Shara stepped in again. “Then we have our tasks. Everyone should work in pairs, though. If anything happens, no one should be alone.”
Rielle’s gaze lifted. “Except me. I want to talk to Neir alone. He might open up more if I go by myself.”
Shara nodded. “Same for me and Veyn.”
Ardorion smirked. “Just make sure you stop kissing them long enough to ask your questions.”
I slapped him on the shoulder. “Do you really think they’ll be kissing the guys who might be responsible for Halven being frozen solid?”
Please don’t let it be them. For the sake of my quadmates, I hoped it wasn’t true.
Ardorion winced dramatically, clutching his arm. “Ow.”
Then he looked at Aster, a goofy grin spreading across his face. “I guess I’m already kissing the enemy.”
Aster rolled her eyes, but a small smile curved her lips. A real, small smile that changed her whole face.
I looked away, my gaze finding Orivian. He was watching me, an unreadable expression in his eyes. The bond between us hummed, a silent conversation that had nothing to do with the words being spoken.
We would get through this. Together. The thought was both terrifying and thrilling. The urge to run was still there, a faint echo in the back of my mind, but for now, it was silent. For now, I would stay. And maybe run to Orivian instead.
