CHAPTER FIVE194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGcIBnC9Zq5
Kim194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdPYDoPobiK
I should have known the Order wouldn’t just let me walk away with their secrets. But I never expected them to go this far. It starts on a Thursday, just before morning assembly. 194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpgyasQilnk
I’m heading to class when two prefects stop me in the corridor, faces grim. They tell me the Deputy Principal wants to see me immediately. My stomach drops. I can feel eyes on me as I walk to the office, whispers already starting to swirl.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGBdG4JPQ0O
On the Deputy’s desk is a small, battered envelope-my name scrawled across it. Next to it sits a confiscated phone and a stack of exam papers. The Deputy looks at me like I’m something he scraped off his shoe.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6IuGdv6jHO
“Kimberly Diana Otieno, do you know why you’re here?” he asks.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡggHsxndfwe
I shake my head, but my voice is stuck somewhere in my chest.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjNVkE6bR05
He slides the envelope toward me. 194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRv8T9r3BBR
“We received an anonymous tip. These were found in your locker.” 194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ79ylxzi8Ck
He opens the envelope and pulls out a cheat sheet-answers to last term’s math exam, written in my own handwriting. Except I never wrote them. I never even saw them before.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaB8ZTty7zA
My mind races. I realize, with a cold, sinking certainty, that this is the Order’s work. They must have forged the notes, planted them in my locker, and tipped off the teachers. The phone, too-it’s not mine, but it’s loaded with messages that make it look like I’ve been selling exam answers. The evidence is overwhelming, and I know exactly who’s behind it.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfraZnvoLe7
I try to explain, but the Deputy doesn’t believe me. “This is a serious offense, miss Kimberly. You could be suspended-or worse.”194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRmaMBNsqGp
As I sit there, numb and furious, I remember the blue thread I found tied to my locker that morning, the silent warning I didn’t understand. The Order has made their move. They’ve turned the school against me, and unless I can prove my innocence, I might lose everything.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMrMtGTFlx6
Now I know just how far the Order will go to protect their secrets-and how alone I really am.
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Seline194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxdQrgH7DC4
I see it all unfold like a bad play I’ve watched too many times: Kim, pale and shaking, being led down the corridor by two prefects; the whispers that follow her like a shadow; the Deputy Principal’s office door closing with a heavy, final sound. 194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeJeRuCNmbo
I know that look on her face-the look of someone who’s been cornered by something bigger and meaner than she ever expected.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD0vqZw2c82
I’ve been tracking the Order of Hermes for weeks now, mapping their movements, decoding their signals, watching their messengers slip between the cracks of school life. I saw Kim meet one of them by the chipped stone, her posture tense, her eyes darting. I saw the blue thread tied to her locker this morning. I know what it means: a warning, a threat, a mark.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfn3YQYvd4D
When word spreads that Kim’s been caught with exam answers and a strange phone, I know instantly it’s a setup. The Order has done this before-anyone who gets too close, anyone who threatens their secrets, ends up isolated, disgraced, or worse. It’s their way of keeping the rest of us in line.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIXQNBMpNbM
But not this time.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpigsFIsixj
I scribble a note planning to slip it into Kim’s bag during lunch:194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsgknBCbWcs
Meet me behind the chapel after prep. We need to talk. 194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6k9pJuKsIU
When she shows up, her eyes are red but her jaw is set. I tell her everything: the coded notes, the way the Order moves like a shadow through the school. I tell her I saw her with the messenger, that I know she’s not guilty.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqHYyfoZ0ow
“We have to work together,” I say, voice low but fierce.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYnyTp6EvmK
“They want to make an example out of you, but if we move fast, we can turn the tables. I’m sure the Order is tied to the missing furniture-and if we catch them at it, we can clear your name and finally write the story this school has been hiding for years.”194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDE9sCi1nuz
We make a plan. I’ll keep watching the usual suspects; Kim will gather any notes or signals she receives. We’ll talk to the students who’ve been burned by the Order before, and we’ll set a trap for the real thief. 194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNVi2hDyzsV
For the first time, I feel like I’m not just chasing rumors-I’m hunting the truth, and I’m not alone.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLjfQ2qkoXx
This is my chance to finish what others started, to shine a light on the Order of Hermes, and to finally tell the story that’s been buried under secrets and fear. 194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf3eTjy8has
And with Kim by my side, I know we might just have a fighting chance even though I still don’t trust her fully.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlRHGZK7Amu
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Juma sat on the cracked edge of the abandoned pool, his mind only half on the heated discussion swirling around him. The Order’s meeting was more tense than usual. Papers rustled as a senior girl from the girls’ school stood, holding up a folded slip.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMyvm1hs1XQ
“This is how we did it,” she announced. 194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMHHXpaNOjr
“The anonymous tip came from our side. I made sure the prefects found the cheat sheets and the phone in Kim’s locker. The Deputy Principal was told first thing this morning.”
Juma’s heart thudded. He realized how deep the Order’s influence ran, how easily they crossed school boundaries when it suited them. The web of secrets and schemes didn’t care about uniforms or which side of the field you were from.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡap0bUfeDjo
He listened as the girl described how she’d used the prefects as unwitting pawns, how the tip had been slipped to the Deputy in a way that left no trail back to the Order. The plan was airtight. Kim didn’t stand a chance.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYTRQTfotgc
Juma’s stomach twisted with guilt. He thought of the letter he’d sent Kim, the one that might have drawn the Order’s attention to her in the first place. He hadn’t meant for any of this to happen.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Ghgq1wTU2
He knew he couldn’t help Kim openly-the schools were separate worlds, and he’d risk exposing himself as a traitor to the Order. But there were still ways. He could use the Order’s own network: coded notes left in the library; messages slipped behind the chapel.194Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9kWW3t1h4b
Juma’s resolve hardened. The Order might have set Kim up, but he still had a chance to help her. He would use everything he knew-every secret passage, every code, every drop spot. Even if the Order had eyes everywhere, he wouldn’t let Kim face this alone.
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