The chamber beneath the fifth tower was silent now.
Calyra had vanished. The mirrors had dimmed. The pedestal no longer pulsed. But the stitched ones remained — Lyra, Maris, Nova, Zephyr, Cassian, Juno, Corvin — each holding a fragment of what had been spoken.
The book had recorded it all.
But recording wasn't remembering.
And remembering wasn't revealing.
The Debate
They gathered in the Whisper Theatre.
Nova Quinn floated above the stage, eyes glowing. "If we share it, the school will fracture."
Zephyr Vale sat in shadow. "If we don't, we become the silence."
Cassian Thorn tossed his coin. "Truth is a weapon. But so is forgetting."
Maris clutched the book. "She gave us a choice."
Lyra stood. "Then we must choose."
The Arguments
Juno Blaze wanted to release the fragments — scatter them across the towers, let the students decide.
Corvin Dusk argued for secrecy — protect Calyra's message until the school was ready.
Nova proposed a ritual — not of silence, but of resonance. A way to stitch the fragments into the school itself.
Zephyr said nothing.
Lyra listened.
The Vote
They placed their hands on the book.
It pulsed.
Each one whispered their choice:
- Juno: Reveal
- Corvin: Protect
- Nova: Resonate
- Cassian: Delay
- Maris: Reveal
- Zephyr: Resonate
- Lyra: Remember
The book shimmered.
It wrote:
> "Seven threads. One weave. The school will remember — but not all at once."
The Plan
They agreed to release one fragment each week.
Not through announcements.
Through emotion.
Each stitched one would carry a piece — speak it, feel it, live it — until the school began to echo.
Lyra would begin.
The First Fragment
In Emotional Dissection, Lyra stood and whispered:
> "Grief is architecture. And we are its towers."
The room trembled.
Professor Umbra blinked.
The koi pond rippled.
The fifth tower pulsed.
The Book Again
That night, the book wrote:
> *"The message will not be shouted. It will be felt.