June wasn’t a morning person.57Please respect copyright.PENANApFlVr1KbU5
But patrols weren’t optional—not for someone recently readmitted into Naomi’s restructured Order. The cold air bit through her sweater as she rounded the far edge of the compound, Mary close behind her, yawning silently.57Please respect copyright.PENANAj0ASBJDeXj
The borehole wasn’t on their official route. But June always checked it. Something about the way it sat—unwatched, forgotten, fenced in by banana trees—made her wary.57Please respect copyright.PENANA5QyYaCgvRw
That’s when they saw it.57Please respect copyright.PENANADRAcd7ItJV
On the concrete lip of the borehole grate, curving like a forgotten crescent, was a thick arc of blue ink. Fresh. Still glistening. Perfectly symmetrical.57Please respect copyright.PENANAkgETsgsyt5
Mary stopped. “Is that… paint?”57Please respect copyright.PENANA1gBpwKVUzI
June knelt beside it, heart thudding. “No. It’s ink.”57Please respect copyright.PENANAUSMxRhub5O
They exchanged a look.57Please respect copyright.PENANAu1JY4RgUPL
Not just blue. Mercy’s blue. The same shade that once bled into Order memos, laced warnings, signed forged rosters — and marked betrayals that had cost people dearly.57Please respect copyright.PENANAX3SbCPf2RK
“She’s back,” Mary whispered.57Please respect copyright.PENANA4UAiPMJb0N
“She never left,” June replied.57Please respect copyright.PENANA4sit0x6PXo
June didn’t touch it, but she knew. The curve wasn’t random. It was a symbol—half of one, maybe. A cipher. A signal. She glanced around. No footprints. No scent. No wind. Mercy had always been a step ahead. Even when she wasn't present, she was somehow already watching.57Please respect copyright.PENANA34nkUqCvu2
Mary’s voice dropped. “You think she’s starting something again?”57Please respect copyright.PENANAQFgwdeP2ON
June stood, jaw tightening. “No. She’s continuing something.”57Please respect copyright.PENANAOC29F0TGvh
The ink hadn’t been meant for teachers. It hadn’t even been meant for the Order.57Please respect copyright.PENANA61pUsWoTl8
It had been meant for someone who would recognize it without explanation.57Please respect copyright.PENANAxT7P4sXagx
That was the Mercy they remembered.57Please respect copyright.PENANAlnzmpS3e69
Unknown to them, a few meters away, Seline crouched behind the east-facing banana trees, watching.57Please respect copyright.PENANA4E1Ov8dfC8
She hadn’t followed them intentionally. But she’d noticed June’s pattern — always checking things that no one cared to. Today, curiosity had won.57Please respect copyright.PENANAeZvwBNvWWc
Her eyes narrowed as she saw the girls staring at the inked arc.57Please respect copyright.PENANAc3frvInlH2
She couldn’t hear what they were saying. But she saw the shift in their stances.57Please respect copyright.PENANATBg4VvqP1e
Saw the fear. The recognition.57Please respect copyright.PENANAzS2M2DI0MK
And she saw the way June instinctively placed herself between the mark and the morning sun—as if shielding it from exposure.57Please respect copyright.PENANAcqvzRUX0l2
That was all Seline needed. She moved with quiet steps and a patient breath.57Please respect copyright.PENANA5ARgzp2YrM
She hadn’t planned to follow June. But it was hard not to notice how she and Mary had vanished right after fifth bell, slipping off in the direction of the borehole like ghosts on assignment. Old habits die slowly—and jealousy dies slower.57Please respect copyright.PENANAA4bDJwsSKz
She waited until the path was empty again. The ink mark was still there. Drier now, darker around the edges. She crouched beside it, tilting her head.57Please respect copyright.PENANAtSBo8CjTmS
Of course it was blue. Mercy’s old color. Mercy’s old tricks. Mercy’s old arrogance.57Please respect copyright.PENANAkDJjTgOacf
Seline reached for her journalism club sanctioned phone, snapped a photo, and opened a blank message window.57Please respect copyright.PENANAslqyKf519s
She didn’t write much.57Please respect copyright.PENANAIsPmbTJeI8
"The serpent returns."57Please respect copyright.PENANA61CWPKOrkN
She didn’t sign it. She didn’t need to. She hit send.57Please respect copyright.PENANAhoTgw7pET8
The recipient was someone who’d once told her: "Mercy doesn't leave trails. She leaves traps that look like invitations."57Please respect copyright.PENANAybWZFvdG5c
Maybe it was time they set one of their own.57Please respect copyright.PENANAOl1HWcREi2
Cutaway: Unknown Recipient (unseen, unnamed)57Please respect copyright.PENANAiZPFmmg5kB
A buzz.57Please respect copyright.PENANA3w6Pk0Uq61
A photo.57Please respect copyright.PENANAIjyC8GaF6A
A phrase:57Please respect copyright.PENANAkGo5dnWB0k
“The serpent returns.”57Please respect copyright.PENANAsTUesKQvJA
A pair of fingers opened the image, zoomed in on the blue arc, the shadow of the borehole behind it.57Please respect copyright.PENANA5eoqrOP7iK
A slow breath.57Please respect copyright.PENANA5gzR2UBmya
No reply.57Please respect copyright.PENANAUZHfr3VZXq
Just movement.
***57Please respect copyright.PENANAAIDkAjW3j2
Later that day, Kim sat beneath the loquat tree in the back field, sketching the mark from memory.57Please respect copyright.PENANAn6ji4D8Rcr
Shiko had redrawn the same on her book. “June found it first. Mary confirmed it was Mercy’s shade.”57Please respect copyright.PENANAPWo5s4NZRk
Kim nodded slowly.57Please respect copyright.PENANAIRIub9kEtx
“I’ve seen that curve,” she murmured. “On a stone. The night the boys crossed.”57Please respect copyright.PENANAv9tkR83nfn
Shiko tilted her head. “You think it’s connected?”57Please respect copyright.PENANA2b0mx8vynG
Kim didn’t answer. But her mind whispered the name she hadn’t said aloud in weeks: Juma.57Please respect copyright.PENANA6MGvWB8Kz6
Whatever had passed between them—coded notes, fleeting messages, near-meetings—was now moving again. And it wasn’t just because of the Order.57Please respect copyright.PENANATpSH6KDoyw
That evening, Naomi stood at the front of the assembly hall, her face pale but composed. She held up a photo printout of the inked mark, shaking it once for emphasis.57Please respect copyright.PENANAbGtfvQ1mJO
“This,” she said, “is not art. And anyone found tampering with shared spaces will face full investigation.”57Please respect copyright.PENANAr1HojtW0mT
Her voice dropped lower.57Please respect copyright.PENANACjBvLz097H
“This school is no longer for games.”57Please respect copyright.PENANAH2fMvMLQal
But June, watching from the fourth row, wasn’t convinced. Because Mercy never played games. Mercy built puzzles.57Please respect copyright.PENANAyZaBxsJySN
And this was her first piece.
*****57Please respect copyright.PENANAAxPcfMUf5b
June stared at the photo of the blue ink arc again, this time under the glow of a cracked desk lamp in the old arts room. The photo was blurry around the edges, but something in the shape felt… off. Not incomplete. Segmented.57Please respect copyright.PENANA4YLQNhhZ0G
“Look,” she murmured, pointing to where the arc wasn’t a perfect curve. It dipped and rose in odd places, like a pulse frozen in motion.57Please respect copyright.PENANA88a1IGmxuW
Mary leaned in. “You think it’s a pattern?”57Please respect copyright.PENANAQWioJV3EWt
“I think it’s a cipher.”57Please respect copyright.PENANAjB9CukkLcN
June opened her leather notebook and flipped to the final pages, where she’d kept sketches from Mercy’s last term in power — drawings that didn’t fit into normal Order documentation. Half-symbols. Curves. Broken sigils.57Please respect copyright.PENANAhMrQ5tx4ZB
One matched the ink from the borehole exactly.57Please respect copyright.PENANAcEYhviJW6j
But only if rotated ninety degrees.57Please respect copyright.PENANAV25YvFhUJE
As she turned the photo on its side, the image changed — suddenly the arc wasn’t a shape. It was writing. Cursive. Twisted. Stylized like Mercy’s notes used to be.57Please respect copyright.PENANAv7tYdtkRp8
June slowly copied it onto the desk’s surface with a whiteboard marker.57Please respect copyright.PENANAhRqZq13lZI
F O L L O W W A T E R T O T R U T H57Please respect copyright.PENANAn4qxtRDT0a
Mary exhaled. “It’s a phrase.”57Please respect copyright.PENANAoT0D4eVuTQ
“No, it’s a directive,” June said. “And Mercy never gave those lightly.”57Please respect copyright.PENANAjjOqxIK3Vh
“Water…” Mary looked up. “The borehole?”57Please respect copyright.PENANAeWsdRM15r4
June nodded. “And the old well. The pipes. The drains. All the places no one checks anymore.”57Please respect copyright.PENANAX13XvUzVZp
Mary frowned. “You think she left something there?”57Please respect copyright.PENANA7YDQKG3obg
“I think she left everything there.”57Please respect copyright.PENANA5Wqm9N0Qx9
They both went quiet, the weight of it settling in like dusk.57Please respect copyright.PENANAyFBaabHE8X
“We have to go in,” June said, voice quiet but firm.57Please respect copyright.PENANAnVNDvCeQzA
Mary hesitated. “You mean… the tunnels?”57Please respect copyright.PENANAQyKC48cyiu
June turned fully toward her. “We both joined the Order thinking it meant loyalty. But Mercy’s truths were never above ground. She wrote in the dust, not in the books.”57Please respect copyright.PENANAfha1TXKLJ0
Mary nodded slowly. “Then we follow the water.”
*****57Please respect copyright.PENANAu4vf8kLzQP
Kim almost missed it.57Please respect copyright.PENANAI93WjFJh1i
The wind had picked up again, brushing banana leaves against the cement like fingers against drum skin. Her roommates were out, still at group studies or filling water before curfew. She sat cross-legged on her bed, flipping through old pages of a forgotten literature book.57Please respect copyright.PENANAzs3plKAhJ3
Then she heard the whisper.57Please respect copyright.PENANAmJz5EsGjZO
A soft scratch beneath her window. Not loud. Not urgent. But intentional.57Please respect copyright.PENANAQ18nTnb6x7
She rose slowly and crossed the room, brushing aside the curtain.57Please respect copyright.PENANAyfjdoMt9bs
Nothing. But when she looked down, a folded strip of paper lay just inside the frame — flattened from the crawl beneath the shutters. No name. No seal. No color.57Please respect copyright.PENANAwd0CpJJWSp
Only three words in small, neat, familiar print.57Please respect copyright.PENANAxNfspuOqba
“Jabari knows the underground route.”57Please respect copyright.PENANALkISfPrctN
Kim’s breath caught. Jabari.57Please respect copyright.PENANAfCeYpWfjff
The name pressed itself against her chest like a match waiting for flame. She unfolded the paper again, hands trembling slightly.57Please respect copyright.PENANAKdyotWvBZm
That handwriting — not quite formal, but precise. The kind of print someone uses when they expect to be read by a rival.57Please respect copyright.PENANA4OUCfAW0Sf
There was nothing else. No signature. No mark. No date. Just that line.57Please respect copyright.PENANATrVp90Kk4L
Her Mind Raced. Why her?57Please respect copyright.PENANA0OxEG6nvt9
If it was true—if Jabari really did know about the tunnel, about the underground paths—why would he let that slip? Unless he hadn’t. Unless someone else wanted her to know.57Please respect copyright.PENANAoPOgqE4M8R
But still, she couldn’t help wondering: Was it a warning? Or an invitation?57Please respect copyright.PENANAU08BSihqS6
And how did they even know she was connected to him?57Please respect copyright.PENANARHjvcMjfmJ
She thought about the night she saw the boys run across the wall. The half-glimpsed shadows. The torn tie. The hooded girl who didn’t stop her.57Please respect copyright.PENANAAoCciSOMeE
She thought about Mercy’s return, the blue ink curling around the borehole like a secret being rehydrated after years in hiding.57Please respect copyright.PENANAun8vpwotZG
And now this.57Please respect copyright.PENANAO1GUJpFxPg
Kim sat down on the bed; the note clenched in her hand. It wasn’t just about her and Jabari anymore. It wasn’t just curiosity or codes or a shared suspicion that the wall wasn’t as solid as it pretended to be.57Please respect copyright.PENANAdI1Z8XDs0J
It was structure. Not chance. Not coincidence. Someone—or something—was maintaining communication across both schools. Not openly. Not loudly. But quietly. Elegantly.57Please respect copyright.PENANAmuNY524OW1
Like a system of secrets. Like a network. Like the Order… or something deeper.57Please respect copyright.PENANAoSR8ejBokx
She looked at the note again, rereading it until her pulse steadied.57Please respect copyright.PENANAFQAA8eOo4y
“Jabari knows the underground route.”57Please respect copyright.PENANAUstPFtEwON
Which meant: Someone knew she was close enough to matter.57Please respect copyright.PENANA4w8LwVFRG1
“If he knows the way beneath the wall… maybe I can finally ask what’s on the other side.”
*****57Please respect copyright.PENANAoti2Fc2xwL
Shiko watched from the far pew, her breath shallow.57Please respect copyright.PENANARkJASzMnTJ
Seline had stormed out in one of her usual flourishes after Naomi’s address — her camera slung over her shoulder, muttering about respect and surveillance. She left it briefly unattended near the altar, in the row where she always kept her things during meetings.57Please respect copyright.PENANA450zfZeFJX
Two minutes. That’s all Shiko needed.57Please respect copyright.PENANA4lMy15xwZH
She moved like she was going to tie her shoe — bent near the camera bag, fingers slipping past the zipper with a smoothness that surprised even herself.57Please respect copyright.PENANAEYgJ0wxr9r
Inside: A small DSLR camera, just as expected. A micro-SD card, exposed in the side pouch. And next to it — Seline’s school phone. 57Please respect copyright.PENANApYDGXJdhV8
Shiko’s pulse quickened. Seline never left that phone alone.57Please respect copyright.PENANAVm803SrYOz
Not unless she was hiding something with it.57Please respect copyright.PENANARIFqrK5uOI
Shiko pulled the memory card carefully and slid a blank duplicate in its place — identical in color and make. She didn’t check what was on it. Not yet. Not here.57Please respect copyright.PENANAap3zT0iJYs
Next: the phone. She slipped it gently from the bag and into the sleeve of her sweater.57Please respect copyright.PENANACLpmI1ekM4
No one noticed.57Please respect copyright.PENANA2rZZZJXQsf
She rose slowly and walked down the side aisle of the chapel, silent shoes on stone tiles. The old wooden pews creaked just slightly beneath her as she crouched near the third from the front — the one with the broken hymn book shelf.57Please respect copyright.PENANA7pGrmO59On
She slid the phone underneath the shelf and wedged it between two cracked Bibles. Gone.57Please respect copyright.PENANALcpiQKefga
Just in time, the chapel doors opened.57Please respect copyright.PENANAI2hmcGvHxO
Seline’s voice echoed in before her footsteps did.57Please respect copyright.PENANAigHsc09i26
“…it’s not about power, it’s about truth. And if they’re hiding anything—”57Please respect copyright.PENANAFsdKJfDGSK
Shiko was already walking out the opposite side, face composed.57Please respect copyright.PENANAIYRnImjMNS
She didn’t look back.57Please respect copyright.PENANAZ2tZsFvPJx
That night, Shiko inserted the stolen SD card into her hidden reader. The screen lit up. Hundreds of images. Blue ink. Borehole arc. Snapshots of June’s notebook. A blurred image of Kim and Shiko whispering near the map. Even a shadowed photo of what looked like… Mercy?57Please respect copyright.PENANAAXfBMhNPVA
Her stomach turned. Seline hadn’t just been collecting for paranoia. She had a timeline. A target list. A strategy.57Please respect copyright.PENANA6kWteOmwdI
Shiko leaned back and whispered to herself:57Please respect copyright.PENANAYnD6hQbQ5u
“You’re not just bitter, Seline. You’re playing something bigger.”
*****57Please respect copyright.PENANAXkCgD8IMXk
Jabari didn’t bring anyone this time.57Please respect copyright.PENANATCuuXXVn1q
He told Musa he was doing a pre-inspection for the upcoming Board visit. He told Ayo he needed quiet. In truth, he wanted no shadows behind him.57Please respect copyright.PENANAclREgrnUoy
Just space. And answers.57Please respect copyright.PENANAamYkiEft2m
The grate behind the dormitories hadn’t been used in years. It squealed as he forced it open, the hinges moaning like an old confession. The tunnel beneath was narrow — concrete ribs curved above his head, lined with mildew and spiderwebs that tugged at his shoulders.57Please respect copyright.PENANAyiECWL2Kjr
He clicked on his torch and descended into the hollow.57Please respect copyright.PENANAD0EE0fOy33
The tunnel sloped slightly downward, toward the foundation of the old water system — long disconnected, now only half-remembered by the school’s plumbers. But Jabari had seen the diagrams. The colonial maps. The blue line that started here and ran... beyond.57Please respect copyright.PENANAtxk1Zcm9FL
He moved slowly, the torchlight sweeping across old pipe valves and chalk markings etched along the walls. Most were faded. One still glowed faintly under his beam:57Please respect copyright.PENANAXgeQN5G453
A curved wing, almost erased. He paused. Not his symbol. Not the Order’s. But somehow… familiar.57Please respect copyright.PENANATLw9QqpGX8
In the overgrown greenhouse behind the girls' science wing, June steadied her hand, holding her official Order-issued phone — the one Naomi had reluctantly reinstated when they returned to duty.57Please respect copyright.PENANAZ4n4FpRNT5
Mary leaned close. “Can you zoom anymore?”57Please respect copyright.PENANAVZugDrAkLQ
The camera flickered slightly, just catching the dim flicker of light beyond the boys’ compound wall. A torch. Moving inside the drain channel.57Please respect copyright.PENANAhA5R3yJrCM
A figure.57Please respect copyright.PENANAuEbMA7xUoY
Alone.57Please respect copyright.PENANAKQCwS4KiAW
June tapped record.57Please respect copyright.PENANAV79hxy4LtB
“That’s Jabari,” she whispered.57Please respect copyright.PENANA5jwohS0LT4
“He’s testing the tunnel.”57Please respect copyright.PENANAULV0BNJMrj
Jabari reached a junction where the tunnel split in two — left toward the collapsed pump station, right toward the rumored passage.57Please respect copyright.PENANAA0avJSzNjd
He turned right.57Please respect copyright.PENANAtBarTXCiqx
He didn’t know the wall had hairline fissures above ground. He didn’t know someone was filming.57Please respect copyright.PENANA3OioNgjdAC
High above in the broken arch of the greenhouse, three girls stood now — not just Mary and June.57Please respect copyright.PENANA2BPTpTDf1n
One wore a hood. One held a small vial of ink. One, silent, recorded the time.57Please respect copyright.PENANAvE5GilG9hH
None of them spoke.57Please respect copyright.PENANAFaPsP490ma
The light on Jabari’s torch flickered as he passed under a cross-beam marked:57Please respect copyright.PENANAlrW0JaR1ga
"Follow Water to Truth."57Please respect copyright.PENANANQvqHh6FGk
He did.