The quad glittered in moonlight and kerosene halos. Stalls shimmered under makeshift LEDs. Tinny speakers blared distorted jazz as projectors looped grainy experiments on white bedsheets.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkKBoAfWk8q
Juma hated this kind of show — too bright, too scripted. But it made for the perfect cover.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPeMPJGgtq3
“Everyone’s looking up,” he whispered.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkAvwKvAyC2
“No one sees what we’re pinning to their legs.”63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFbwbU6x8wv
Jabari didn’t smile.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcN2zNSIoCV
He reached into his backpack and pulled out a rolled poster, smooth and stiff. Thick matte ink on thick gray stock.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmErNyt16cD
ORDER OVER INSURRECTION63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrTHokcur61
A white wing over a fractured flame.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUjxTSGOC8N
They walked slowly, calmly — like any two team leads reviewing tech projects. But every ten steps, they pinned a new poster to the underside of a demo tent. To a light pole. To the back of a wooden bench.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVNaTRE89SV
Four in total. No more. Enough to seed rumor, not provoke response.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4gKXw0XX2a
They weren’t messages for students.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxqHyj6mNRY
They were warnings for the Shadow Walkers. The fractured flame was Mercy’s old signal — twisted now. The white wing was the Order’s ghost — not yet dead.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKywkpWMVQX
Juma stuck the last one behind the water distillation tent, where he knew Ayo used to scout during Fire Theory projects. Jabari paused beside the herb garden exhibit and looked around at the swirling bodies of boys and girls in scattered uniforms.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKUmTks0kU7
He whispered:63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQghqR7cjVt
“She wanted an audience. Let’s give her one.”63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrqq3UlJbH6
Behind the hydroponics dome, a girl in Kisumu Girls' tracksuit lowered her phone quietly. Her name wasn’t known to either of them.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡksiPMF57Kg
But the notification she sent was clear:63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ91zcN8oOgk
“The birds are flying banners again. Mercy will see.”
*****63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL0rPDEbFDT
The crypt door had always been heavy — metal, groaning, older than the last three headteachers combined. But now it swung easily on oiled hinges — prepped, ready, hungry.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuoNFY6Oo9V
Inside, Jabari and Juma moved fast, pushing through ankle-deep water that had begun pooling around the eastern wall.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXShY79Bk3z
“This isn't just a chamber,” Juma snapped. “It’s a channel.”63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Lw7UBkfUb
Jabari knelt, ran his fingers across the grooves in the floor. “It connects to the borehole line. It was always part of the filtration system — just repurposed.”63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw49XznM57h
Repurposed by whom?63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrQay4h91Rr
By Mercy.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt4x1RlFPQk
Atop the hidden stairway, two girls in Kisumu Girls’ jackets stood in silence.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3SV5D8rN8h
One wore Mercy’s old prefect sash — though no one had given it to her.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXdE1AdQA6p
The other held the key.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7E4x3Gx7Qb
She waited exactly until her watch ticked to 12:17 a.m.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡodDEkpjfAZ
Then she slid the bolt home and turned it once.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwX3tBv474X
Click.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtwmj4kYxMu
The girls didn’t laugh. Didn’t speak.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrN5QRj64Qt
They simply walked away.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhbSuaCGdZM
Jabari’s light flickered.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOSFcQc1n8Z
He and Juma reached the far side — a rusted metal ladder leading up toward the chapel’s north vestibule — welded shut from above.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡII1oandz2m
“She locked us in,” Jabari said.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqeCpubE7jc
Juma stared at the water now reaching his shins. “That’s not the problem.”63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKYkVua99UX
The sound came next — not fast, not crashing.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTbtnEnjvqD
A slow gurgle. A hiss.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbQ09pelp3M
Then the unmistakable suction of redirected flow.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoToGGCSi5U
Juma turned to Jabari.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2L2yF2RWHf
“She's opened the borehole line.”63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCJoucrdRQ0
And sure enough, behind the sealed hatch, where the borehole channel fed under the school… the grate now trembled.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ86wzjcLiW9
Then the water began to rise.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡybev0wFKNp
From the high choir loft, Mercy stood silent, eyes calm, watching the stained glass as shadows shifted across it.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRDSBbCezHt
Behind her, a girl whispered, “They’re in.”63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡycK3RIYEpZ
Mercy didn’t reply at first. Then:63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGLU3PjN8Lb
“They came looking for a lie. Let them leave soaked in truth.”63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfh8k6Spfik
She turned away and walked down the spiral staircase, vanishing into the dark.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7RWShQEocq
The water rose like a slow betrayal.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyWq2b59VxK
Jabari tried to brace the base of the ladder, but the surface slicked too fast. Juma had begun stacking the crates beneath the wall vents, but none led out.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmrr96Wj512
Then — a sound.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvX5WBpU6XN
Bang. Bang. Clank.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsTw4hTopb1
A screech of iron echoed from behind the north wall.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGAPWJxclEp
Juma froze. “Did you hear that?”63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiWfoZr5iC5
Clank. Slam.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX0nH2gXEPp
Then a voice, muffled by metal and rage:63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO5zNNcpHtO
“Get back!”63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhXJGenTyDD
Suddenly, the side grate at floor level buckled inward — then burst open with a thundercrack of rust and rock. Water whooshed sideways, funneling out violently, pulling ankle-deep current toward the now-gaping vent.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡATshQrLli6
And through the water— Musa crawled through.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqbF6zhvKf0
Soaked. Grit-covered. Grinning like a man who had wrestled a pipe system and won.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrrZ9XAKEmj
“I told you I was the better swimmer,” he coughed.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP7YcC8yPRS
As the water drained and light returned, Juma leaned against the far wall, breathing hard.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6vvrQcEEed
“We were seconds from blacking out.”63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIMsXECguPU
Jabari, still quiet, turned his torch toward the south chamber — a small alcove half-submerged behind a collapsed marble panel.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLQQw1DnQSb
Musa followed his gaze. “What’s that?”63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJAiT9WjXua
They stepped forward slowly. Beneath the now-drained floor, the shape of something metallic gleamed behind a decorative grate. Jabari crouched, pulled at the frame — it came loose with a groan.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCPD2YZI7qJ
Behind it, half-sunken and chained inside a rusted cage:63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa0b7xDq1mD
Three black ledger boxes, stamped with faded silver initials: “M.O.”63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs3w8917PyR
Juma slowly unlocked one latch. Inside: letters, class registers, intercepted prefect reports, old Order rosters — all annotated in Mercy’s handwriting.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3RY054ovuC
Jabari picking one up and reading aloud:63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxfutc0m0BM
“She was never exiled. She was buried.”63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpGXZwSy5vS
Musa whispered “She didn’t build a trap. She built an archive.”63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwMxL1Bjjeh
Ayo appeared at the crypt entrance as Jabari flipped through the first ledger. No fanfare. No announcement. Just his shadow crossing the old candlelight, face unreadable.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpkfbICS0Wb
Jabari looked up sharply.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOzfgXOjXqg
“You followed us.”63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLI9glrt0qQ
Ayo didn’t nod. Didn’t deny it. Instead, he stepped forward, knelt beside the third box — and picked it up carefully, like it might bite.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdD6bA64aWY
“You need this one,” he said. “It’s the only one with dates after Mercy’s expulsion.”63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW0wZjQnXp4
Juma narrowed his eyes. “Why help us?”63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡANSG9J1Lb0
Ayo hesitated, then looked directly at Jabari.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfMPNsu5czS
“Because I’ve seen what Kwame would do with it.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ60Zdgks07t
The silence cracked with the sound of metal boots on water-slick stone.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl6nAZhCjls
Otieno, lean and quiet, stepped through the broken wall entrance where Musa had forced the grate. He didn’t look surprised to find them. He didn’t speak. He simply walked forward, reached into the cage, and took the second box.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYLouyuTmze
The one marked “Staff Correspondences: 2007–2014.”63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyhnvO61ygh
Jabari stood. “What are you doing?”63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlDiMZw8XJk
Otieno held his gaze. “You know I follow the truth.”63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYLJuNuxkF8
Then turned and walked out — no rush, no guilt.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtA8UZ72LCB
One box in Jabari’s hands. One box in Ayo’s grip. One box now leaving with Otieno.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzNdTIAwFIr
Musa broke the silence.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzyoX9Jm5NH
“That’s it, then. The lines are drawn.”63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjtKpzwvXbN
Juma added, “And Mercy didn’t even have to choose sides. She just lit the match.”63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAKzUExgw56
Jabari watched Otieno disappear into the crypt tunnel, Ayo still standing beside him, conflicted but present.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡolqcu0f8g9
Musa whispered, “This isn't just about the wall anymore. This is a war over what gets remembered.”
******63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgPewpjfnWS
The video was less than ninety seconds long.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoRTVKJXiaK
It had no watermark. No source. But it found its way into every inbox in the Kisumu Central Education Circuit — sent from a dead address once used for prefect newsletters.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8sYN5nxgMo
The screen opened on dim light, stone, water glinting along the floor like liquid glass.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡab5wPZpIPP
The voice was unmistakable.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjteO8qj9nO
“This is what they called leadership. This is what they built walls to protect. Jabari’s Order — drowning in Mercy’s revenge.”63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFqB1WXfwGE
The footage cut quickly — glimpses of the crypt, soaked boys in Kisumu boys uniform, flooded ankles, two figures dragging themselves out, torchlight flickering like panic.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSF7xzGpucA
Then:63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyOyjSdbx7i
Freeze frame.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTsKwcmz1tK
Jabari, back turned, lifting a rusted ledger box.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8XGYROOTcu
The words flashed over the image in blood-red type:63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4w9mfNXn4H
"The Order is underwater."63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW44VMMBPnY
Then black.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw06IlbRjZu
By 7:00 a.m., the dorm corridors buzzed like electric wires.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoUhHMSniX0
“Who recorded it? There are no phones allowed—how did it get out? Was it staged? Is Mercy back? Was the flooding real?”63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmiS4rig5R2
In the Kisumu Girls library, Shiko watched Kim watching the terminal.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEB8Wa9rDzs
“That’s the tunnel. That’s the crypt,” Kim whispered. And that—is a declaration.”63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe9PJbyLmXr
Behind the AV club at Maseno school, two junior Shadow Walkers shut down their old relay laptop — wired into the school’s forgotten printer line, a hidden broadcast node Mercy herself once rigged in her second year.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ89Fmmeuhiy
Kwame stood outside, eyes on the sky, arms folded.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9rJzUV5kYx
He didn’t need a phone.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrnuk6BMuoq
He just needed a network Mercy built…and a reason to set it on fire.
**********63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ14ah1VxOjm
June pushed the heavy doors open just as Mary arrived from the science wing.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLrRpOBi5B6
“The boys have seen it?”63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡePGRTP8y5s
“Everyone has.”63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl7Ips9OyPj
Kim entered last, silent.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNLb17Av5zi
Shiko hovered in the corridor, uninvited but listening.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS41a9rbzKQ
On the old Order wall board, Naomi stood still.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP9PH9LFYMY
Below her — pinned with blue tacks — were printed stills from the Kwame video. One showed the crypt grate. Another, Jabari holding the ledger.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnEW5dAWQpP
“This wasn’t Mercy’s trap anymore,” Naomi said quietly.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwodL9o5U5Q
“It was her signal.”63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvYvQC1Xay4
Naomi turned to them — prefects.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwnzg9276Kl
“There’s at least one ledger still moving. Probably being moved to St. Theresa’s. Possibly Maseno.”63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpJ1TMRQMBc
Mary stepped forward. “So, what do we do?”63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXTHHeDXzqy
Naomi tapped the board.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEduIo4chBA
“We don’t chase her legacy. We protect ours. Lock down the Hall. Triple-lock the Prefects’ Archive. And find the girl carrying the ledger.”63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmpjtqGUKG9
June’s voice was cold.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM59rBIM4rp
“You think Mercy would use one of us?”63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoaZ1MVV8gP
Naomi didn’t blink.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLCWw5rqKDs
“Mercy doesn’t use people. She recruits them.”63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbhEQ2ADTQ2
The girls split into teams. June and Mary to the Greenhouse Tunnel, checking Mercy’s known exits. Seline, assigned to patrol around the west dorms, but already planning her own detour. Shiko, pretending to go to class, slips Kim a folded message:63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv1NYn01YTE
“Don’t trust who enters first. Trust who stays behind.”63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJDE8bysRTO
The Order Hall is locked though Naomi stays inside, assembling the remaining cipher logs and pulling names off Mercy’s old class rosters.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuCs8hPEpEk
Outside the campus fence line, under a tree heavy with wet blossoms, a junior form walks fast — a duffel bag over her shoulder. Her name is not known. But inside the bag is a ledger box, sealed with black tape.63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2eiVL6R4II
She has only one instruction:63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8if6QO1ISO
“Deliver it by dusk. If you’re stopped — deny you ever knew.”
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbdiJ7xLbHc
63Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH2KT9UNfJv
