CHAPTER FIVE34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡndcTYPu7Vy
Kim34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡepkZQlJQDb
I should have known the Order wouldn’t just let me walk away with their secrets. But I never expected them to go this far. It starts on a Thursday, just before morning assembly. 34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd8NlZYpuPP
I’m heading to class when two prefects stop me in the corridor, faces grim. They tell me the Deputy Principal wants to see me immediately. My stomach drops. I can feel eyes on me as I walk to the office, whispers already starting to swirl.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNmyZjv6cmW
On the Deputy’s desk is a small, battered envelope-my name scrawled across it. Next to it sits a confiscated phone and a stack of exam papers. The Deputy looks at me like I’m something he scraped off his shoe.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKZ1EUJZD8S
“Kimberly Diana Otieno, do you know why you’re here?” he asks.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpmdp8UZ7mA
I shake my head, but my voice is stuck somewhere in my chest.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSTZAwZdnql
He slides the envelope toward me. 34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnyXZKC0ehw
“We received an anonymous tip. These were found in your locker.” 34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsQMk6tvWno
He opens the envelope and pulls out a cheat sheet-answers to last term’s math exam, written in my own handwriting. Except I never wrote them. I never even saw them before.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsRQG7wlfYr
My mind races. I realize, with a cold, sinking certainty, that this is the Order’s work. They must have forged the notes, planted them in my locker, and tipped off the teachers. The phone, too-it’s not mine, but it’s loaded with messages that make it look like I’ve been selling exam answers. The evidence is overwhelming, and I know exactly who’s behind it.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCMwZiM6MBd
I try to explain, but the Deputy doesn’t believe me. “This is a serious offense, miss Kimberly. You could be suspended-or worse.”34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXkH6Gvpldj
As I sit there, numb and furious, I remember the blue thread I found tied to my locker that morning, the silent warning I didn’t understand. The Order has made their move. They’ve turned the school against me, and unless I can prove my innocence, I might lose everything.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXrHRDy0LRd
Now I know just how far the Order will go to protect their secrets-and how alone I really am.
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**********34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡonmUSXxL85
Seline34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2VBbQLedGl
I see it all unfold like a bad play I’ve watched too many times: Kim, pale and shaking, being led down the corridor by two prefects; the whispers that follow her like a shadow; the Deputy Principal’s office door closing with a heavy, final sound. 34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJsDDauBSYp
I know that look on her face-the look of someone who’s been cornered by something bigger and meaner than she ever expected.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHqj7PJ94ha
I’ve been tracking the Order of Hermes for weeks now, mapping their movements, decoding their signals, watching their messengers slip between the cracks of school life. I saw Kim meet one of them by the chipped stone, her posture tense, her eyes darting. I saw the blue thread tied to her locker this morning. I know what it means: a warning, a threat, a mark.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzpXadj30ht
When word spreads that Kim’s been caught with exam answers and a strange phone, I know instantly it’s a setup. The Order has done this before-anyone who gets too close, anyone who threatens their secrets, ends up isolated, disgraced, or worse. It’s their way of keeping the rest of us in line.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy98qeiNNya
But not this time.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡExiNBqtbHW
I scribble a note planning to slip it into Kim’s bag during lunch:34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiSwok6tlUt
Meet me behind the chapel after prep. We need to talk. 34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvCHTo2GxtP
When she shows up, her eyes are red but her jaw is set. I tell her everything: the coded notes, the way the Order moves like a shadow through the school. I tell her I saw her with the messenger, that I know she’s not guilty.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMz3Hbsea1j
“We have to work together,” I say, voice low but fierce.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBs2MMYR2j8
“They want to make an example out of you, but if we move fast, we can turn the tables. I’m sure the Order is tied to the missing furniture-and if we catch them at it, we can clear your name and finally write the story this school has been hiding for years.”34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJcCjJaeeCi
We make a plan. I’ll keep watching the usual suspects; Kim will gather any notes or signals she receives. We’ll talk to the students who’ve been burned by the Order before, and we’ll set a trap for the real thief. 34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTZKF1zUS4O
For the first time, I feel like I’m not just chasing rumors-I’m hunting the truth, and I’m not alone.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK7fxpz7R8b
This is my chance to finish what others started, to shine a light on the Order of Hermes, and to finally tell the story that’s been buried under secrets and fear. 34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKJQYmyFcGm
And with Kim by my side, I know we might just have a fighting chance even though I still don’t trust her fully.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkbXk6n4RsV
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Juma sat on the cracked edge of the abandoned pool, his mind only half on the heated discussion swirling around him. The Order’s meeting was more tense than usual. Papers rustled as a senior girl from the girls’ school stood, holding up a folded slip.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlWmhF7o1v8
“This is how we did it,” she announced. 34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRd3DUfwWLX
“The anonymous tip came from our side. I made sure the prefects found the cheat sheets and the phone in Kim’s locker. The Deputy Principal was told first thing this morning.”
Juma’s heart thudded. He realized how deep the Order’s influence ran, how easily they crossed school boundaries when it suited them. The web of secrets and schemes didn’t care about uniforms or which side of the field you were from.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjB3Fxq16Rj
He listened as the girl described how she’d used the prefects as unwitting pawns, how the tip had been slipped to the Deputy in a way that left no trail back to the Order. The plan was airtight. Kim didn’t stand a chance.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYvQh3Vb5yg
Juma’s stomach twisted with guilt. He thought of the letter he’d sent Kim, the one that might have drawn the Order’s attention to her in the first place. He hadn’t meant for any of this to happen.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOCKZkgGZq2
He knew he couldn’t help Kim openly-the schools were separate worlds, and he’d risk exposing himself as a traitor to the Order. But there were still ways. He could use the Order’s own network: coded notes left in the library; messages slipped behind the chapel.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ1Wes21Jvb
Juma’s resolve hardened. The Order might have set Kim up, but he still had a chance to help her. He would use everything he knew-every secret passage, every code, every drop spot. Even if the Order had eyes everywhere, he wouldn’t let Kim face this alone.
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