June wasn’t a morning person.58Please respect copyright.PENANAD1DnGBF4Wk
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.58Please respect copyright.PENANAMnYMK2OMjh
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.58Please respect copyright.PENANAOFAWtCyqNt
That’s when they saw it.58Please respect copyright.PENANAI8evBmG33c
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.58Please respect copyright.PENANADK9IwOuzkx
Mary stopped. “Is that… paint?”58Please respect copyright.PENANAp9yxnhFJno
June knelt beside it, heart thudding. “No. It’s ink.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAmtP5h8N4QK
They exchanged a look.58Please respect copyright.PENANAzpgWk49Evf
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.58Please respect copyright.PENANAXLs9gmFnJO
“She’s back,” Mary whispered.58Please respect copyright.PENANAFT8LNrlKrg
“She never left,” June replied.58Please respect copyright.PENANAFwXkBUasLu
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.58Please respect copyright.PENANAjENYBGaWCf
Mary’s voice dropped. “You think she’s starting something again?”58Please respect copyright.PENANADxG885LoEe
June stood, jaw tightening. “No. She’s continuing something.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAeUMfNglQsf
The ink hadn’t been meant for teachers. It hadn’t even been meant for the Order.58Please respect copyright.PENANAWwP93IaxPO
It had been meant for someone who would recognize it without explanation.58Please respect copyright.PENANAy10mDQPK2k
That was the Mercy they remembered.58Please respect copyright.PENANATWuTXQyqMm
Unknown to them, a few meters away, Seline crouched behind the east-facing banana trees, watching.58Please respect copyright.PENANALmMcP8UHdl
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.58Please respect copyright.PENANAfYZyexQFX1
Her eyes narrowed as she saw the girls staring at the inked arc.58Please respect copyright.PENANASVh4igKpmp
She couldn’t hear what they were saying. But she saw the shift in their stances.58Please respect copyright.PENANA1k8PtJcJ4p
Saw the fear. The recognition.58Please respect copyright.PENANAFACNzZH6pE
And she saw the way June instinctively placed herself between the mark and the morning sun—as if shielding it from exposure.58Please respect copyright.PENANAVQAy9OgW3h
That was all Seline needed. She moved with quiet steps and a patient breath.58Please respect copyright.PENANA2FdfDpU76r
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.58Please respect copyright.PENANAdKM3Qe7IjF
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.58Please respect copyright.PENANAC4MgvtTcb1
Of course it was blue. Mercy’s old color. Mercy’s old tricks. Mercy’s old arrogance.58Please respect copyright.PENANAeTJyLRywIV
Seline reached for her journalism club sanctioned phone, snapped a photo, and opened a blank message window.58Please respect copyright.PENANA86tTbCnS7l
She didn’t write much.58Please respect copyright.PENANAt3Q2PUbOYj
"The serpent returns."58Please respect copyright.PENANAzH8aoqyjDn
She didn’t sign it. She didn’t need to. She hit send.58Please respect copyright.PENANA6uWLwTjjsN
The recipient was someone who’d once told her: "Mercy doesn't leave trails. She leaves traps that look like invitations."58Please respect copyright.PENANAGApFBlN5Ob
Maybe it was time they set one of their own.58Please respect copyright.PENANAX9GQW0ipfc
Cutaway: Unknown Recipient (unseen, unnamed)58Please respect copyright.PENANA9ANHLibg53
A buzz.58Please respect copyright.PENANAZmuBUvywKG
A photo.58Please respect copyright.PENANAYNG86sHP2A
A phrase:58Please respect copyright.PENANATZcWHPRkGs
“The serpent returns.”58Please respect copyright.PENANA4MnnKjf449
A pair of fingers opened the image, zoomed in on the blue arc, the shadow of the borehole behind it.58Please respect copyright.PENANAK9h6S2LZz5
A slow breath.58Please respect copyright.PENANAl9IA5SXCfN
No reply.58Please respect copyright.PENANAHHHEnJ3xcq
Just movement.
***58Please respect copyright.PENANAXNYuV56ZMu
Later that day, Kim sat beneath the loquat tree in the back field, sketching the mark from memory.58Please respect copyright.PENANAUzD7JtVZbF
Shiko had redrawn the same on her book. “June found it first. Mary confirmed it was Mercy’s shade.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAXAfb1Ie7CW
Kim nodded slowly.58Please respect copyright.PENANAJJ4H4bF2TK
“I’ve seen that curve,” she murmured. “On a stone. The night the boys crossed.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAlIbFP6L3Q0
Shiko tilted her head. “You think it’s connected?”58Please respect copyright.PENANAGmpXcbDMb8
Kim didn’t answer. But her mind whispered the name she hadn’t said aloud in weeks: Juma.58Please respect copyright.PENANAtGsylTzlyn
Whatever had passed between them—coded notes, fleeting messages, near-meetings—was now moving again. And it wasn’t just because of the Order.58Please respect copyright.PENANAQHq8vWemLP
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.58Please respect copyright.PENANAgV8Wvo47CY
“This,” she said, “is not art. And anyone found tampering with shared spaces will face full investigation.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAqXajnCeovN
Her voice dropped lower.58Please respect copyright.PENANAG3stL0Pmjv
“This school is no longer for games.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAP7PnpFhZet
But June, watching from the fourth row, wasn’t convinced. Because Mercy never played games. Mercy built puzzles.58Please respect copyright.PENANALpr4ku8wYK
And this was her first piece.
*****58Please respect copyright.PENANAntfw2HFCG8
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.58Please respect copyright.PENANAoRXJcvbHLw
“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.58Please respect copyright.PENANA6nqWumz09o
Mary leaned in. “You think it’s a pattern?”58Please respect copyright.PENANAGm4rWsNRad
“I think it’s a cipher.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAmfLTmppHwV
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.58Please respect copyright.PENANAAWSgjgqBtJ
One matched the ink from the borehole exactly.58Please respect copyright.PENANAzWE2ejTV3g
But only if rotated ninety degrees.58Please respect copyright.PENANA12Sv3DR7Lq
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.58Please respect copyright.PENANAFLZ6jK2yJn
June slowly copied it onto the desk’s surface with a whiteboard marker.58Please respect copyright.PENANANUliMKK23q
F O L L O W W A T E R T O T R U T H58Please respect copyright.PENANAWSJQ47f3dg
Mary exhaled. “It’s a phrase.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAE7tHktCyaI
“No, it’s a directive,” June said. “And Mercy never gave those lightly.”58Please respect copyright.PENANA5cKohocrHt
“Water…” Mary looked up. “The borehole?”58Please respect copyright.PENANANw5Th6b7bj
June nodded. “And the old well. The pipes. The drains. All the places no one checks anymore.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAmyIojdwgVc
Mary frowned. “You think she left something there?”58Please respect copyright.PENANAb8g84CaOD1
“I think she left everything there.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAVdxKatrOSd
They both went quiet, the weight of it settling in like dusk.58Please respect copyright.PENANAQw3ceaGegz
“We have to go in,” June said, voice quiet but firm.58Please respect copyright.PENANAhvzVilCLBt
Mary hesitated. “You mean… the tunnels?”58Please respect copyright.PENANAqmk9JGa621
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.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAkk4KLGE8wz
Mary nodded slowly. “Then we follow the water.”
*****58Please respect copyright.PENANAYk5WOoR1rx
Kim almost missed it.58Please respect copyright.PENANAShK3T6wqH4
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.58Please respect copyright.PENANAd9yo6HRlOr
Then she heard the whisper.58Please respect copyright.PENANAT1JxaquVvo
A soft scratch beneath her window. Not loud. Not urgent. But intentional.58Please respect copyright.PENANAGCcIKI1OQp
She rose slowly and crossed the room, brushing aside the curtain.58Please respect copyright.PENANAcsTgDm5Aaz
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.58Please respect copyright.PENANADAJuz64Tuu
Only three words in small, neat, familiar print.58Please respect copyright.PENANAl9hSwVLHi9
“Jabari knows the underground route.”58Please respect copyright.PENANA1xucbsbJ5U
Kim’s breath caught. Jabari.58Please respect copyright.PENANAi4X3kftlm1
The name pressed itself against her chest like a match waiting for flame. She unfolded the paper again, hands trembling slightly.58Please respect copyright.PENANAYzQpvijEnZ
That handwriting — not quite formal, but precise. The kind of print someone uses when they expect to be read by a rival.58Please respect copyright.PENANArpcO4laSEO
There was nothing else. No signature. No mark. No date. Just that line.58Please respect copyright.PENANA4Fa00gnpj3
Her Mind Raced. Why her?58Please respect copyright.PENANAVyKrgGEcRI
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.58Please respect copyright.PENANATC6xi67Wif
But still, she couldn’t help wondering: Was it a warning? Or an invitation?58Please respect copyright.PENANAqlxK3XWq1C
And how did they even know she was connected to him?58Please respect copyright.PENANAKplFBEbPjW
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.58Please respect copyright.PENANAhBiURj0zYo
She thought about Mercy’s return, the blue ink curling around the borehole like a secret being rehydrated after years in hiding.58Please respect copyright.PENANAX34rNaoZSP
And now this.58Please respect copyright.PENANAO3XJmy9wOA
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.58Please respect copyright.PENANAFhUWYjmSau
It was structure. Not chance. Not coincidence. Someone—or something—was maintaining communication across both schools. Not openly. Not loudly. But quietly. Elegantly.58Please respect copyright.PENANAOs9XBAG9k2
Like a system of secrets. Like a network. Like the Order… or something deeper.58Please respect copyright.PENANAieQVP3EW39
She looked at the note again, rereading it until her pulse steadied.58Please respect copyright.PENANAu6avCwT5hs
“Jabari knows the underground route.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAqc98wEpqRx
Which meant: Someone knew she was close enough to matter.58Please respect copyright.PENANA1rkNSrkuPD
“If he knows the way beneath the wall… maybe I can finally ask what’s on the other side.”
*****58Please respect copyright.PENANAMRyRK14ERz
Shiko watched from the far pew, her breath shallow.58Please respect copyright.PENANASTlhBykmP3
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.58Please respect copyright.PENANAqPBxzm4a0Z
Two minutes. That’s all Shiko needed.58Please respect copyright.PENANAkzwWlx7rWg
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.58Please respect copyright.PENANAJEUqPMAt0L
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. 58Please respect copyright.PENANAdQe0OOv2tL
Shiko’s pulse quickened. Seline never left that phone alone.58Please respect copyright.PENANAzW3ARdnLtS
Not unless she was hiding something with it.58Please respect copyright.PENANA0odbad4jgZ
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.58Please respect copyright.PENANA6DbZHq1SRy
Next: the phone. She slipped it gently from the bag and into the sleeve of her sweater.58Please respect copyright.PENANAi5x9ZoeG1I
No one noticed.58Please respect copyright.PENANAywtEj2j85d
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.58Please respect copyright.PENANA1rvHq5iYPB
She slid the phone underneath the shelf and wedged it between two cracked Bibles. Gone.58Please respect copyright.PENANAsOmmlmqEHW
Just in time, the chapel doors opened.58Please respect copyright.PENANA58hCidqqPu
Seline’s voice echoed in before her footsteps did.58Please respect copyright.PENANAHMry7cn9mu
“…it’s not about power, it’s about truth. And if they’re hiding anything—”58Please respect copyright.PENANAzxTNF4Mdfo
Shiko was already walking out the opposite side, face composed.58Please respect copyright.PENANAjsiBLt9uUZ
She didn’t look back.58Please respect copyright.PENANApD7QHtCNcU
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?58Please respect copyright.PENANA5ykMzxtgs6
Her stomach turned. Seline hadn’t just been collecting for paranoia. She had a timeline. A target list. A strategy.58Please respect copyright.PENANAe0BQFfXQOK
Shiko leaned back and whispered to herself:58Please respect copyright.PENANAz2yDo2YpBX
“You’re not just bitter, Seline. You’re playing something bigger.”
*****58Please respect copyright.PENANAxjhsMuKndp
Jabari didn’t bring anyone this time.58Please respect copyright.PENANAMUrpAN3iA0
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.58Please respect copyright.PENANA99KamTHZlH
Just space. And answers.58Please respect copyright.PENANACOMZOcEb9n
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.58Please respect copyright.PENANAjB1KMxZtlP
He clicked on his torch and descended into the hollow.58Please respect copyright.PENANAVkrPxgMteJ
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.58Please respect copyright.PENANAaoT9dYVKnP
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:58Please respect copyright.PENANACgTmP0IlvY
A curved wing, almost erased. He paused. Not his symbol. Not the Order’s. But somehow… familiar.58Please respect copyright.PENANAfqKRYodpr9
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.58Please respect copyright.PENANA92t86nGLIS
Mary leaned close. “Can you zoom anymore?”58Please respect copyright.PENANA7npGQa87Cr
The camera flickered slightly, just catching the dim flicker of light beyond the boys’ compound wall. A torch. Moving inside the drain channel.58Please respect copyright.PENANAMhOBGzt2Tg
A figure.58Please respect copyright.PENANAwYUhx4fxJZ
Alone.58Please respect copyright.PENANATZ7V5J5giP
June tapped record.58Please respect copyright.PENANAs42mCeF0ie
“That’s Jabari,” she whispered.58Please respect copyright.PENANAHeIRbVXJKL
“He’s testing the tunnel.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAGKOzX8Fc1b
Jabari reached a junction where the tunnel split in two — left toward the collapsed pump station, right toward the rumored passage.58Please respect copyright.PENANA0yCLtleK9G
He turned right.58Please respect copyright.PENANAoLddgFidFg
He didn’t know the wall had hairline fissures above ground. He didn’t know someone was filming.58Please respect copyright.PENANATprtwvPMag
High above in the broken arch of the greenhouse, three girls stood now — not just Mary and June.58Please respect copyright.PENANAri9OYuSdZ3
One wore a hood. One held a small vial of ink. One, silent, recorded the time.58Please respect copyright.PENANAy8z0mlwzdx
None of them spoke.58Please respect copyright.PENANAZg5iUhKjXf
The light on Jabari’s torch flickered as he passed under a cross-beam marked:58Please respect copyright.PENANAuZX0OscUv0
"Follow Water to Truth."58Please respect copyright.PENANAspkE4UzkM4
He did.