Thornhill Academy (By Sheridan Hartin) novel Chapter 144

Chapter 144

Allison

The first thing I notice when I wake is the quiet. Not the peaceful kind-the heavy kind, the one that sits

in your chest like a weight. The bond feels strange this morning. Dim and fuzzy around the edges. Rhaziel’s

hum, usually steady and grounding, flickers like candlelight in a draft. Evander’s calm, always smooth and cool, ripples beneath the surface with something sharp underneath. I open my eyes to the smell of coffee

and burnt toast. Kael’s in the kitchenette in his usual chaos, hair sticking up in every direction, shirt half- buttoned, holding a spatula like it’s a weapon. “Don’t say a word,” he warns when he catches me looking.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” I mumble, rubbing sleep from my eyes.

Rhaziel’s sitting by the window, shadows curling lazily at his feet, his gaze turned outward. Evander’s beside him, reading, or at least pretending to. The book hasn’t moved in ten minutes. They’re both too still. Something’s wrong. I can feel it thrumming between us, a quiet, discordant hum beneath the morning calm. Kael pretends not to notice, flipping pancakes with unnecessary force, but the silence between words

feels louder than any argument we’ve ever had.

I push my blanket aside and sit up. “Okay,” I say finally “What’s going on?”

Evander looks up, perfectly composed. “Nothing’s going on.”

“Uh-huh.” I glance between him and Rhaziel. “You both have the same expression you did when I accidentally set the curtains on fire last week. What are you hiding?”

Rhaziel’s tail moves once, slow and deliberate. “You should eat, hummingbird.”

I narrow my eyes. “I’m not hungry.”

“You’ll feel better if you eat,” he adds gently, but it sounds rehearsed.

The tension stretches so tight it could snap. I open my mouth to demand an answer-when there’s a knock at the door. Three sharp, urgent raps that don’t belong to anyone who’s supposed to be here. Kael freezes mid-motion. Evander sets his cup down with careful precision. Rhaziel’s shadows stir, low and defensive,

I rise slowly. “I’ll get it.”

“Like hell,” Kael mutters, already stepping between me and the door, but I sidestep him.

The second I unlatch it, the breath catches in my throa Cassian. He looks wrecked. There’s a roughness to

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him I’ve never seen before-hair dishevelled, shadows under his eyes, shoulders tense like he hasn’t slept. His gaze flicks down the hall, scanning, before landing n me again.

“Can I come in?” he asks quietly. “Please. Before someone sees me.”

The words tumble out before I can think. “Yeah. Of course.”

He slips inside, shutting the door quickly behind him. The air in the attic changes, every bond pulling taut at once. Rhaziel’s power hums low, a warning. Evander straightens, expression calm and unreadable. Kael just leans back against the counter, arms crossed and watching.

Cassian’s eyes dart between them, then back to me. “I shouldn’t be here,” he says, his voice low, strained. “This is dangerous for both of us. But I needed to warn you.”

“Warn me?”

He exhales hard, pacing once before stopping just out of arm’s reach. “The council is coming. They’ll be

here in three days.”

The world stills.

“For what?” Kael asks, his tone sharp.

Cassian looks directly at me. “For her.”

My stomach twists. “What do you mean, for me?”

“It’s under the guise of an inspection,” he says quickly. But it’s not. They’ve been asking questions. About your classes. Your progress. The… incidents.”

Incidents. Like I’m a case file. I turn to Evander and Rhaziel, and that’s when I see it. That flicker of guilt, the shared look, the way they avoid my eyes.

“You knew.”

Neither denies it.

I step closer. “You knew, and you didn’t tell me?”

Evander’s composure cracks for just a second. “We needed time to prepare.”

“Prepare?” My voice comes out sharper than I mean it to. “I’m not some-some experiment you plan

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Rhaziel’s voice is soft but firm. “We didn’t want you afraid, hummingbird.”

“I’m not afraid,” I say, even though my pulse is betraying me. “I’m furious.”

Cassian steps in then, his tone softer. “You have every right to be. But listen to me-they’re not coming to question you. They’re coming to catch you. They think you’ve been hiding what you are.”

The words land heavily in the air.

Kael lets out a low curse. “You’re serious?”

Cassian nods. “I overheard Headmaster Scorched speaking with them last night. Two of the council members are from the High Circle. They’ll be watching every class, every interaction. If they see even a

hint of power they can’t name, they’ll act.”

“Act how?” I demand.

His eyes flick to mine. “Containment. Maybe worse.”

The room feels smaller suddenly, like the air itself doesn’t want to move.

I stare at him, searching his face. “Why are you telling me this?”

His jaw works. “Because I can’t watch them destroy another person for existing.”

The silence that follows is thick and raw.

Rhaziel’s tail flicks, a restless motion that betrays the storm beneath his calm. “They won’t touch her,” he says quietly. “Not while I draw breath.”

Cassian meets his gaze. “Then you’d better be ready. Because if they find out what she is, or what the rest of you are to her, it won’t be a trial. It’ll be a sentence.”

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