CHAPTER NINE28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFxmsEGahr1
The wall’s shadow stretched long across the grass as evening settled over Kisumu Girls’. Kim and Seline sat on the edge of the netball court, their backs to the dormitory lights, their voices low. The air was thick with the scent of wet earth and bougainvillea, and the school felt unusually quiet-like the pause before a storm.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOkPyATQn6t
The evening air was thick with the scent of jacaranda and the hush of secrets. Kim and Seline waited near the edge of the compound, where the wall’s shadow stretched long and the bougainvillea hid more than blossoms. The sky was bruised purple, the school grounds nearly empty except for the distant echo of laughter from the dorms.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsN990OUIh7
Mercy found them there, her steps careful, her face unreadable. She didn’t look like the powerful senior everyone whispered about-tonight, she looked tired, wary, and very much alone. She didn’t speak at first, just stood in the half-light, arms folded, as if weighing whether to trust them at all.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJtDcRtUftO
Kim broke the silence. “You’re out late.”28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUTbkmsu82g
Mercy gave a small, humorless smile. “So are you.”28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGeepgMCmsH
Seline’s purple pen twirled between her fingers. “Did you want something?”28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡizb0if1JGW
Mercy hesitated, glancing over her shoulder. “Things are… changing. People are asking questions. Some girls are saying things I never thought they’d dare say out loud.” Her voice dropped. “If someone were to… help set things straight, would that count for anything?”28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdhqrXZRiqb
Kim’s heart quickened. She kept her face neutral. “Depends what you mean by ‘help.’”28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWskgyOO7tB
Mercy looked away; her jaw tight. “I know things. I know who’s been passing messages, who’s been meeting after lights out. I know which prefects have been covering for the Order-and which teachers look the other way. If I gave you names, dates, proof… I want your word I won’t be the one everyone blames when this comes out. I want protection. Or at least… not to be the face of the scandal.”?”28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaYqZCsHNM6
Seline’s voice was gentle, but her words were sharp. “You want to trade your silence for safety?”28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbylAncywtq
“I want to trade what I know for a fair deal,” Mercy replied. “There are others more involved. Some of them-” her voice dropped, “-some of them deserve to answer for this more than I do.”28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyGvKfVINNB
Kim kept her expression neutral. “You’d give us a scapegoat. Someone else to take the fall.”28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8wdQnXy9BX
Mercy hesitated, then nodded. “If that’s what it takes.”28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUHX6jBddZY
A long silence stretched between them, broken only by the distant call of a night bird.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtdScduaQdy
Seline finally spoke. “We can’t promise you’ll walk away untouched. But if you give us real evidence-letters, names, places, dates-and if you’re willing to testify if it comes to that, we can make sure your part is… minimized. You’ll step back from leadership. You’ll stay out of the spotlight. But you have to give us everything, Mercy. Not just what’s convenient.”28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKfkHL5QuOQ
Mercy’s shoulders sagged, relief and resignation mingling in her eyes. “I’ll bring you what you need. Tomorrow. By the wall.”28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsZKocF54vN
Kim nodded. “If you try to trick us, or hold back, you’ll be on your own.”28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhG1MntqBxl
Mercy met her gaze, steady now. “I know.”28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhv0hJRd6Xk
She slipped away into the shadows, leaving Kim and Seline alone with the weight of the bargain.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtK3pnTPOe4
Seline exhaled, her breath misting in the cool air. “Do you trust her?”28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrTC608BaM7
Kim shook her head. “No. But I trust what she wants. And that’s enough.”28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDakl96C3dJ
As Mercy slipped away from the wall, her footsteps quiet on the damp grass, she let the night swallow her. The air was cool, heavy with the scent of jacaranda and the distant promise of rain. She kept her head down, but her mind was racing.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBERWeCchKb
It wasn’t the bargain itself that told her. It was everything around it-the way Kim’s voice never quite lost its edge, the way Seline’s fingers never stopped moving, twirling that purple pen as if it were a charm against bad luck. The way both girls kept their words careful, never naming names, never letting the conversation stray too close to anything that could be used against them.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkzmsCv1oGW
Mercy had always been good at reading silence. Tonight, it was deafening.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡURFFHznlJO
She replayed the scene in her mind as she walked:28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRIEcF1kjHu
The hush at the edge of the compound.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5XUJjO3xVj
The way Kim and Seline had been waiting, not surprised to see her.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPzH3MiN6oi
How quickly they had shifted from caution to negotiation, as if they had been expecting her to come.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡokloA26WBq
How Seline’s eyes had flicked to Kim, just once, when Mercy offered her deal.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn1T5UW8vMp
That was all she needed.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyPXUZdlunu
These were the girls who had been behind the whispers, the sudden questions, the shifting loyalties in the dorms. They were the ones who had been stirring the pot, feeding the rumors, making the Order look over its shoulder. The ones who had forced her hand.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLyZs64kiNe
Mercy almost laughed. It was so obvious now-how had she missed it? The little incident by the wall, the way they’d spoken to her, not as victims or bystanders, but as players. They were the reason she was here, offering names and secrets in exchange for a measure of safety.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh3qUQeYnXz
She paused beneath the jacaranda, letting the shadows wrap around her. She didn’t feel angry, not yet. She felt… impressed. And wary. She would give them a chance, for now. But she would also watch them, just as carefully as they had watched her.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEDgKKkjlVZ
Because in Kisumu Girls’, secrets never stayed buried for long. And now Mercy knew exactly who to watch.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrVd63YzHp2
**********28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdRsMS8as2a
Mary had always been the quiet one in the dorms, the girl with the sharp eyes and the habit of scribbling in the margins of her textbooks long after lights out. Most girls thought she was just shy, or maybe a little odd. But Kim and Seline knew better. Mary saw everything.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCCdh2H6wue
It was Mary who first noticed the prefects gathering in the staffroom after prep, their faces tight with worry. It was Mary who heard the new code word-“sunflower”-whispered in the corridors, and Mary who slipped a folded note under Kim’s pillow when the rest of the dorm was asleep.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMjEaPtk3Rr
The Order is meeting tonight. Mercy’s not with them. Watch the eastern block after second bell.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTTTbMUpnvi
-M28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPcxM4wQyMd
Sometimes it was just a glance across the dining hall, Mary’s eyes flickering toward a cluster of prefects, her lips pressed into a thin line. Other times, it was a scrap of paper tucked into a library book, or a warning murmured in passing as she handed Seline a pen in class.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEXvfgTWI7Q
“Don’t use the water tank tonight,” she whispered once, her voice barely louder than the scrape of a chair. “They’re waiting for someone.”28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsF6KolU05M
Because Mary listened. She lingered at the edge of conversations, blending into the background, piecing together fragments of gossip and stray complaints. She noticed when a teacher’s routine changed, when the Order’s loyalists started sitting together at meals, when a new rumor began to spread before assembly.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQgbKJNPBag
She never asked for thanks. She never demanded to be included in the plans. She just watched, and listened, and passed on what she learned-always careful, always quiet, always a step ahead of suspicion.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi4mzHbvc1B
Thanks to Mary, the girls avoided the Order’s traps. They knew when to stay away from the wall, when to keep their heads down, when to hide the evidence. When Mercy’s inner circle started searching bags after lights out, it was Mary who warned Kim to move the letters. When a prefect tried to corner Seline with questions about the blue paper clip, it was Mary who intercepted her in the corridor, steering her away with a whispered joke.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsgmmjVsdvb
In a world where secrets were currency and trust were dangerous, Mary was their invisible shield-the watcher in the shadows, the silent alarm. And as the tension in the school thickened, as the Order grew more desperate and the wall seemed to close in, it was Mary’s steady flow of updates that kept hope alive.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcJ7yRtgfAQ
Because sometimes, the most powerful rebel was the one nobody saw coming.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAirmf7lF28
June28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM15e9gQb9O
June had learned long ago that true power didn’t always come from standing at the front of the assembly or wearing a prefect’s badge. Sometimes, it came from knowing which doors to knock on, which silences to fill, and which to leave undisturbed.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj6in1aveSs
She still walked the halls of Kisumu Girls’ with a certain ease, her presence neither loud nor invisible-just familiar. Teachers greeted her with a nod, administrators paused to ask about her university applications, and even the new prefects, some of whom had once whispered about her behind her back, now watched her with a mixture of respect and wariness.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrFCs3Hw386
It was June who lingered in the staffroom after evening prep, offering to help sort out the mess of club rosters and exam timetables. She listened as the teachers grumbled about missing textbooks and late-night noise, and tucked away every stray comment about “unusual activity near the wall.” When Mrs. Atieno mentioned, almost offhand, that she’d seen a group of girls sneaking toward the bougainvillea after lights out, June simply nodded, storing the detail for later.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJXCmv8MeAY
She was careful, always. She never asked direct questions, never pressed too hard. Instead, she let people talk, let them believe she was just another senior trying to keep her record clean before term ends.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfaLNmrtUba
But June’s true influence was quieter still. She knew which Order members were growing uneasy-who had started sitting further from Mercy at meals, who hesitated before following a command, who lingered in the library a little longer than usual, as if searching for a way out. Sometimes, she’d find them alone in the corridor, and she’d offer a wordless gesture of understanding-a brief touch on the arm, a sympathetic smile.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnkvqxmjHum
“You know,” she’d murmur, “things are changing. You don’t have to go down with the ship.”28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcGoFCG9JS2
Some listened. Some didn’t. But word spread that June was someone you could talk to-someone who wouldn’t judge, who might even help you find a way through the storm.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbABmgxxKmE
When Kim and Seline needed a message delivered to a sympathetic teacher, it was June who made sure it reached the right hands. When Mary needed to know which staff, member was on duty near the wall, June found out without anyone suspecting. And when a wavering Order member finally decided to slip a note of confession under the deputy principal’s door, it was June who made sure it was written in a way that would be believed.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡytsPhEIN9f
She never took credit. She never needed to. June understood that sometimes, the most powerful moves were the ones no one saw.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ0pAHj7niP
And as the wall continued to cast its long shadow over Kisumu Girls’, June moved quietly through the twilight-her influence subtle, her alliances shifting, her loyalty always to the truth that waited, silent and patient, just beyond the stone.
Penana
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