CHAPTER 36 — Schedules, Storms, and Someone Watching
Aiden didn't sleep that night.
Not because he was afraid.
Because the storm inside him wouldn't stop… rearranging itself.
It wasn't wild the way it had been in the Thorn Gate. It wasn't thrashing like in the Hollow. But all night long, it shifted under his ribs in slow, deliberate arcs—like a wolf testing the perimeter of a new den.
Every time Aiden drifted toward sleep, a spark jumped across his ribs and snapped him awake again.
By dawn, he gave up pretending.
The pup curled on his stomach snored happily. Tiny sparks puffed out of its nose with each exhale like sleepy fireworks. Aiden gently cupped its head so it wouldn't roll off.
Myra was sprawled sideways across her cot, one leg hanging off, blanket half-tangled around her like she'd fought a ghost all night.
Nellie slept curled like a hedgehog, cloak over her head, muttering something about "weeds with teeth."
Aiden eased out of bed, grabbed his cloak, and slipped into the hallway.
The Academy was quieter at dawn than any place its size had a right to be. Mist clung to the walkways in soft ribbons. The stone lanterns flickered pale green. Above, the canopy of glass-steel branches caught the early light and sent it dripping down like melted emerald.
He'd meant to clear his head.
Instead he found Veldt.
The man stood near the courtyard's fountain, staring at something no one else could see. His cloak hung perfectly straight, as if held in place by the air itself. When he turned his head even slightly, Aiden saw it—the tension in his jaw, the crease between his brows.
Veldt was worried.
Which made Aiden worried.
"You're awake early, Raikos."
His voice didn't rise. It simply appeared in the air between them like an uninvited truth.
Aiden stepped closer. "Couldn't sleep."
"Storm agitation?"
"Yes."
Veldt nodded once. Approval? Understanding? Hard to tell.
"We expected that. Your training schedule starts today. Elowen wants you under supervision every morning until stability reaches acceptable thresholds."
"Thresholds?" Aiden echoed.
"Your resonance spikes," Veldt said bluntly. "They could trigger half the runes in this courtyard if you're careless."
"Oh."
"That wasn't a warning," Veldt added. "It was a fact. Warnings come next."
Aiden blinked.
Veldt actually huffed, the closest thing to amusement Aiden had seen from him.
"You didn't break anything last night. That's good."
Aiden hesitated. "Has the Warden… done anything? Outside?"
Veldt's expression darkened just a shade.
"Nothing physical. But the swamp fog has been thicker than normal. The outer runes buzz every time its energy brushes them. It is circling the Academy like a hound testing a fence."
Aiden felt the storm coil tight behind his ribs.
"I didn't mean to cause trouble."
Veldt turned fully.
"That thing isn't circling because you're trouble," he said. "It's circling because you're potential."
Aiden swallowed hard.
Before he could respond, the courtyard started waking up.
Students spilled from walkways and doors—some yawning, some already armed with notebooks, some sprinting as if outrunning sleep itself. Instructors drifted like tall shadows, pointing first-years into lines.
And then—
Three voices:
"Aiden!"
Myra. Nellie. Runa.
Myra reached him first, skidding to a stop so close her braid smacked him in the chest.
"You left without us," she accused.
"You—" Nellie panted, clutching her cloak. "—are not allowed—" pant "—to have existential crises without supervision."
"I wasn't—" Aiden began.
Runa arrived last, hammer resting on her shoulder. "If you ever disappear before dawn again I will drag you out of whatever hole you hide in."
"…okay," Aiden said.
The pup zipped past their ankles and leapt straight onto Aiden's shoulder like a spark-powered parrot.
Veldt watched this chaotic reuniting with the resigned expression of someone who knew it would only get worse with time.
"Stormbound," Veldt said, addressing Aiden specifically, "you're with Elowen at first bell. Your group assignment will be given afterward."
He turned to the other three.
"Lynell. South yard with Scout-Binder captain Ashira."
Myra saluted dramatically. Ashira—lean, sharp, terrifying elf—materialized behind her like a judgmental forest spirit and yanked her by the cloak.
"Nellie Tinkwhistle," Veldt continued. "Verdant Healer track. East awning."
Runa put a hand on Nellie's shoulder. "Come on. Try not to faint."
"I won't faint," Nellie said.
She tripped on absolutely nothing three steps later.
Aiden reached to stabilize her, but Runa already had her by the back of the cloak like picking up a kitten.
"And Ironjaw," Veldt said, turning to Runa last. "Your track reports at the Stonegarden."
Runa nodded once, then looked at Aiden.
"You survive today," she said gruffly. "Or I make you survive."
Myra elbowed her. "That's not comforting!"
"It wasn't meant to be."
Then they were gone—Nellie dragged along by Runa, Myra tucked under the wing of a captain who clearly regretted being awake, and Aiden suddenly alone in a courtyard filled with strangers.
Except—
Something was watching him.
Not from the trees.
Not from the sky.
From the students.
Glances flicked his way. Quick. Sharp. Curious. Fearful.
"He's the storm kid—" "Two marks—" "Warden-touched—" "Should he even be allowed inside campus—?"
The storm pressed against his ribs.
Not in anger.
In warning.
Aiden stepped away from the whispering cluster and toward the northern path leading to the Verdant Hall.
The pup kept close, fur sparking faintly.
The Hall doors opened before he touched them.
Elowen stood inside.
"You're early," she said.
"Couldn't sleep."
"That's normal for the first few days. The storm is adjusting."
Aiden stepped in.
The Hall shifted.
Not violently—just a change of weight in the air, like a forest listening.
"Today," Elowen said, walking toward the training circle, "we will test your responses to external stimuli."
Aiden grimaced. "That sounds like 'we're going to throw things at your face.'"
"It is."
"Oh."
She gestured. Vines descended like coiled serpents. Wooden targets slid up from the floor. Runes brightened.
"Last night you learned to hold the storm still," she said. "Today you will learn not to react when startled."
Something whistled past Aiden's head.
He ducked late.
The pup screeched and jumped onto his hair.
"HEY!" Aiden barked.
"That was the warm-up," Elowen said.
Three more shapes hurled toward him. Aiden tried—tried—to keep the storm locked down, but a sharp spark blasted from his palm before he could stop it.
The nearest vine was instantly reduced to charcoal.
Elowen didn't blink. "Again."
"I— that wasn't my fault!"
"Again."
Aiden groaned.
The pup groaned harder.
This went on for twenty minutes.
Twenty.
Minutes.
By the end, Aiden was sweating, panting, and genuinely afraid his heart might explode in protest.
Elowen finally lowered her hand.
"Good," she said.
"That was good?" Aiden gasped.
"You only incinerated three targets. Yesterday you would have incinerated eight."
He blinked.
"…is that a compliment?"
"Yes."
"Okay. Just checking."
Before he could catch his breath, the Hall trembled.
Softly.
Like someone exhaling through stone.
Elowen froze.
Aiden's storm rose instantly.
"Warden?" he whispered.
"No," Elowen said slowly. "Something smaller."
The Hall dimmed.
The vines receded.
The pool water rippled in one clean line.
Aiden felt the ripple crawl up his spine.
Something was near the Academy.
Something old.
Something watching.
Elowen lifted her hand, runes sharpening along her sleeve. "We will stop for today."
She turned to him.
"Aiden Raikos," she said quietly. "You must stay close to your friends. Do not wander alone. Do not leave campus unless ordered. And if you feel a shift in your storm—anything—you come to me immediately."
Aiden nodded, throat drying.
"Is this about the Warden?"
"Partly."
"And the rest?"
Elowen's gold eyes darkened a shade.
"There are other forces," she said. "Not just Wardens. Not just the Gate."
She stepped closer.
"They smell power. And you are glowing like a bonfire."
Aiden's stomach dropped.
"Elowen… am I in danger?"
"Yes," she said simply. "And so are those near you."
The storm tightened behind his ribs like a fist.
Elowen placed a hand lightly on his shoulder.
"You are not alone," she said softly. "Remember that."
He swallowed.
Then nodded.
When he left the Hall, the air outside felt colder.
Students moved in clusters, laughing, shouting, swinging satchels over their shoulders.
But several pairs of eyes tracked him as he walked.
Not admiring.
Not curious.
Calculating.
Watching.
Measuring.
The pup pressed against his neck and growled.
Aiden exhaled shakily.
"Yeah," he whispered.
"I feel it too."
The day had only just started.
And someone—
or something—
had begun hunting the stormbound.
---
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