Samuel led them to a section of the academy grounds Victor hadn't known existed, a walled training yard tucked behind the older administrative buildings, overgrown enough at the edges to suggest it hadn't seen regular use in years.
"Nobody comes back here," Samuel said, unlocking a gate that looked like it hadn't been touched since before any of them were born. "Which means nobody's going to ask questions about what we're doing."
"Convenient," Nyx observed.
"Deliberate."
The yard itself was larger than it looked from outside, packed dirt worn smooth in places from what must have been decades of prior use, training dummies scattered along one wall in various states of disrepair. Samuel walked to the center and turned to face the four of them.
"Before we start, understand something. What I'm about to teach you isn't academy curriculum. It's not going to show up on any transcript, and if anyone asks, this conversation never happened."
"Why the secrecy?" Seraphina asked.
