Evaline:
The common room of our dorm was unusually quiet for a Friday evening.
Mallory just headed to the showers minutes ago, and Ria was in the study hall to work on her project in peace and silence, leaving the dorm filled with a soft hum of enchanted lamps and the faint music Rowan had set up before he sat down with to work on our projects.
I was curled up on the long couch with my laptop, books and parchnt stacked on the table, and a cup of herbal tea.
Rowan was sitting right beside with his own work, occasionally glancing at whenever I muttered under my breath or scribbled sothing aggressively and crossed it out a second later.
I was deep into rewriting a section on Lunaris Root extraction when the dorm door suddenly opened.
The sound alone made look up.
Ria stepped inside, and the second I saw her face, I knew sothing was up.
She didn’t look tired.
She didn’t look annoyed.
She looked... charged. Alert. Like soone who had just heard sothing interesting and couldn’t wait to share it.
She closed the door behind her and turned toward and Rowan with her eyes sparkling bright.
"Have you guys seen the Academy’s online forum yet?"
I blinked. "No?"
Rowan lowered his book. "What happened?"
Instead of answering imdiately, she walked over and handed her phone to Rowan. I instantly leaned closer, curiosity pulling forward, while Ria started talking.
"They just made an announcent," she said. "Like, minutes ago. The administration office."
Rowan frowned slightly as he scrolled. "About what?"
"A health checkup," Ria replied.
Both Rowan and I spoke at the exact sa ti.
"A what?"
We stared at her.
"Health checkup?" I repeated, slower, like the words might make more sense if I said them properly.
Ria nodded. "Yeah. For all students. Starting next week."
Rowan looked back at the phone screen, then at her. "That’s... weird."
We were all werewolves. We all healed fast, and we never caught on any diseases.
Broken bones, internal injuries, infections - our bodies handled most things on their own. So, regular health checkups simply weren’t a thing in academies of our world.
"So yeah," Ria continued, dropping onto the couch opposite ours. "The forum’s already losing its mind."
She leaned back dramatically. "The announcent says it’s just a regular health check and students don’t need to overthink it. But obviously that made everyone overthink it."
I took the phone from Rowan and scrolled through the forum myself.
There were post after post, filled with speculation, confusion, jokes, and theories.
So students were joking about secret experints. Others were convinced it had sothing to do with flu that had been recently spreading through eastern packs. While so already dismissed as nothing to ponder on.
Overall, the reactions mostly ca from confusion.
"This has never happened before," I murmured.
"Exactly," Ria said. "That’s why everyone’s talking about it. The administration office gave no proper explanation, no details. Just... boom. Health checkups."
Rowan handed the phone back to her. "It’s probably nothing."
Ria nodded imdiately. "Yeah, that’s what I think too. I’m not about to spiral over it. Besides, what could be wrong about health checkups even if they aren’t a thing in our lives, right?"
Both and Rowan nodded our heads in unison.
She shrugged. "Honestly, I would rather finish my project and enjoy my weekend than waste ti coming up with theories."
I nodded again, a little absently this ti.
But my mind wasn’t on the forum anymore.
It was racing.
Because sothing had just clicked.
And from the look in Rowan’s eyes, I knew he was thinking the sa thing.
The timing was way too coincidental for this so-called health checkup to be just a passing thing.
Before I could say anything, my phone vibrated beside on the couch.
I looked down and saw a familiar na.
Kieran.
My heart gave a small, instinctive thud as I picked it up and opened the ssage.
Kieran:
River and the Council planned the checkups.
It’s to monitor general health and check for any traces of black veins.
Discreet. No panic. No attention.
My chest loosened and a slow breath left .
It was confird... my guess. The sudden health checkup was indeed related to our investigation.
And it was such a smart idea.
Controlled.
Quiet.
Exactly the kind of move River would make.
I nudged Rowan gently with my elbow and turned my phone toward him so he could read it.
His eyes scanned the screen, and then his lips curved slightly.
He didn’t say anything, but words weren’t really needed.
It was a brilliant strategy.
No mass fear.
No chaos.
No whispers of dark magic or Great Evil.
Just a routine health checkup.
Students would talk for a day or two, maybe joke about it, complain about waste of ti for sothing that wasn’t even important in their opinion... and then move on.
And in the background?
The council would be quietly checking for signs of danger - Black veins, weakened wolves, any unusual signs in students’ bodies.
I locked my phone and set it aside.
Ria was still sitting with us, flipping through her project notes.
"Honestly," she said, "I’m glad it’s not sothing dramatic. This sester just began but it already feels heavy."
Rowan nodded. "Sa."
I didn’t say anything.
I just turned back to my laptop.
For a mont, I let myself feel relief.
Not full peace... not with everything still unresolved.
But relief.
Because for once, things were being handled properly - Strategically. Carefully. Without unnecessary panic.
I picked up the notes I had written earlier and refocused on my project.
I wanted to finish it tonight.
I had work over the weekend.
And the latter half of Sunday, it was for my family. The last thing I wanted was to waste - the only free ti I had in my hands to spend with my son and mates - on completing this project.
So I worked...!
Reviews
All reviews (0)