CHAPTER FIVE18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIRoVLrQX0W
Kim18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBu1j45wVMq
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. 18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpeRhzBgxFe
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.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKLzVHsywhc
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.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSAyTUJP6y3
“Kimberly Diana Otieno, do you know why you’re here?” he asks.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfRnbRb8RSP
I shake my head, but my voice is stuck somewhere in my chest.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYJQwn6cXys
He slides the envelope toward me. 18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6NM9y8eEPl
“We received an anonymous tip. These were found in your locker.” 18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWbQNdBfKo3
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.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6OKAL9TXyc
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.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF50eWHK7X8
I try to explain, but the Deputy doesn’t believe me. “This is a serious offense, miss Kimberly. You could be suspended-or worse.”18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvRlHeEfFCG
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.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzfLnvhSsmS
Now I know just how far the Order will go to protect their secrets-and how alone I really am.
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**********18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyhg89T3zhc
Seline18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsAjmRxbDE5
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. 18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXDPztDKQAM
I know that look on her face-the look of someone who’s been cornered by something bigger and meaner than she ever expected.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnSax2r0oJb
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.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkXSjLvtGgX
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.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPhguDkpcfM
But not this time.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnXcx2sPjGU
I scribble a note planning to slip it into Kim’s bag during lunch:18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6O3Yy3dXqW
Meet me behind the chapel after prep. We need to talk. 18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIHpfzzl5jo
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.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡil9ko6KmaX
“We have to work together,” I say, voice low but fierce.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡotB0wpjlQ1
“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.”18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi1FvPt9g40
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. 18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0lMqrsJ4Do
For the first time, I feel like I’m not just chasing rumors-I’m hunting the truth, and I’m not alone.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1R2pDPvqMO
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. 18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9qjGmCj78i
And with Kim by my side, I know we might just have a fighting chance even though I still don’t trust her fully.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqVMNcEju51
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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.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7fRRNhi3DJ
“This is how we did it,” she announced. 18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjgrbGwfSy3
“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.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXJZEubEwze
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.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxA2NLm3xkv
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.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyj2qSVofYQ
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.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJkGZ0fZaXt
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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