The dorm was silent, except for the soft rustle of Mara and Liora moving carefully across the floor. Every creak of the boards made their hearts skip a beat.Mara pressed a finger to her lips. “The warden’s not here,” she whispered, eyes widening. The heavy figure who normally patrolled the halls was nowhere in sight.“Lucky…right?” Liora muttered, glancing nervously at the darkened corridor.“Right,” Mara said firmly. “Let’s move before he comes back.”They slipped out of the dorm and ran quietly across the grounds, their shoes sinking slightly into the wet grass. The forest loomed ahead, black and thick, a natural shield between them and the Athenaeum. Without hesitation, they plunged between the gnarled trees, the darkness swallowing them whole.Branches scraped at their jackets, mud coated their boots, and every crack of a twig sounded like an alarm. They crept closer, hiding behind massive trunks whenever a faint glow of light flickered in the distance.And then they saw them.St
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