Chapter 1: Someone Answers
The sorting flame turns black around your hand. Three hundred cadets go silent. You pull back, but the fire follows your fingers like a living glove. Beneath the cliff, a dragon strikes the academy wall hard enough to scatter dust across your borrowed uniform. Ivy. Don't let them take the whistle. Fern's voice. Your sister has been missing for two years. The brass whistle under your collar suddenly feels heavy. Commander Rhen crosses the hall and covers the flame with his gloved hand. His name is on the report that declared her dead. Tell them it was a trick. Or they search you here.
What happens next? Blow Fern's whistle and demand another answer · Play along while watching where Rhen hides the flame · Pass the whistle to the cadet beside you