The invitation came folded inside a library book.
Lyra had been searching for texts on memory theory when she found it — a slip of parchment tucked between pages that hadn't been opened in years. The ink shimmered faintly, like breath.
> "Room 7B. After dusk. Ask for Professor Thorne."
Maris frowned when she read it. "That room doesn't exist."
Lyra whispered, "Then it's exactly where I need to go."
The Forbidden Wing
Room 7B was located in the North Wing, a part of the Academy students weren't allowed to enter. The halls were dim, the walls lined with portraits that blinked when passed. The air smelled like dust and forgotten names.
Lyra found the door.
It wasn't marked.
She knocked once.
It opened.
Professor Thorne
He was old — not in years, but in weight. His eyes were heavy with memory. His robes were stitched with symbols Lyra didn't recognize. He didn't smile.
"You're stitched," he said.
Lyra nodded.
He gestured to a seat. "Then you're allowed."
The Class
There were others.
Five students sat in silence — stitched ones, Lyra realized. Each of them carried the same haunted look. Each of them had seen things they couldn't explain.
Professor Thorne began.
"This class is not sanctioned. It is remembered."
He placed a book on the table. It pulsed.
"Madame Calyx taught me," he said. "Before she became the school."
Lyra leaned forward. "She's alive?"
Thorne shook his head. "She's embedded."
The Lesson
Thorne taught them about Memory Architecture — the idea that places could be built from emotion, stitched from thought. He spoke of towers that weren't built but grown. Of rooms that remembered their occupants. Of mirrors that stored grief.
He spoke of Calyx.
"She believed emotion was the truest form of magic. She built Evershade to protect it."
Lyra whispered, "Then why did she vanish?
Thorne's eyes darkened. "Because the school rejected her."
The Warning
Thorne handed each student a vial.
Lyra's was labeled Inheritance.
"Drink," he said.
Lyra hesitated. Then she did.
The room shifted.
She saw Calyx — younger, laughing, building the towers with her hands. She saw the fifth tower rise. She saw Headmistress Virelle watching from the shadows.
Then she saw herself.
Standing in the center.
Smiling.
The Return
Lyra stumbled out of Room 7B, heart racing.
Maris was waiting. "What happened?"
Lyra clutched the vial. "She didn't vanish. She was overwritten."
Maris stared. "By who?"
Lyra looked up at the Obsidian Tower.
"By the school."
The Book Again
That night, the book wrote:
> "She built the school to protect emotion. It buried her to protect control."
Maris whispered, "Then you're her rebellion."
Lyra nodded. "And I'm waking."