Chapter 81: Before We Leave

The academy had turned into chaos by midmorning. Luggage lined the corridors, students compared supplies in loud, overlapping arguments, and the instructors had posted travel schedules on every available wall. Isla found Roxanne packing in their dormitory and stared at the small bag on the bed with open horror.

"We’re going into the wilderness for days," she said. Roxanne looked at her bag. "I packed clothes," she said. "Three outfits," Isla said. "Exactly," Roxanne said, and Isla threw up her hands.

Tessa arrived a few minutes later and took one look at the bag before she started adding things without asking, extra socks, a second water flask, and a small roll of bandages Roxanne hadn’t thought to bring.

The three of them ended up sprawled across the floor comparing gear like it was the night before a school trip rather than a wilderness assessment, and for a little while the whole academy felt that way, loud and giddy with nerves.

Somewhere down the hall, a group of younger students was arguing about whether sleeping bags counted as a luxury item.

Later that afternoon, Roxanne went looking for the brothers and found them scattered around one of the training rooms, each absorbed in his own version of preparation.

Lucien sat at a table with a long checklist, Roshan had maps spread across the floor with small marks already penciled along several routes, Liam was stuffing an enormous bag with what appeared to be nothing but snacks, and Kai sat cross-legged checking the edges of his combat gear one piece at a time.

Roxanne stood in the doorway and stared at all four of them. "You’re all preparing for the same trial, right?" she asked.

Liam held up his bag proudly. "I’m preparing for survival," he said. Roshan leaned over and peered inside. "That’s candy," he said. "Exactly," Liam said, as though that settled the matter entirely, and Roxanne laughed despite herself.

She wandered over to Lucien’s table and glanced at his list, which ran down the page in neat columns. It wasn’t only his own supplies.

He had accounted for the weather along every stretch of road, the alternate routes in case of flooding, emergency medicine, food rations, communication equipment, and a section for things the others were likely to forget. Roxanne realized that Lucien wasn’t simply preparing for himself. He was preparing to make sure everyone else came home.

"Do you always do this?" she asked quietly.

He didn’t answer right away, his pen still moving down the page, ticking off a line she couldn’t read upside down. "Someone has to," he said.

Roxanne reached over and took the checklist gently out of his hands. "No," she said. "Someone usually chooses to." Lucien looked up at her, caught off guard in a way she rarely saw on his face.

She found him alone outside the training hall a while later, sitting on the low stone wall with his hands loose in his lap, doing nothing at all for once. She sat down beside him without asking, and for a moment neither of them spoke.

Then she asked whether being the eldest meant everyone expected him to have the answers.

"Usually," he admitted. "And what happens when you don’t?" she asked. He was quiet for a moment. "I don’t tell them," he said.

Roxanne looked at him steadily. "You could tell me," she said. The words landed harder than she expected, and Lucien didn’t respond at first, turning the idea over in his mind.

"I know," he said finally, and something in his shoulders eased, as though a weight he hadn’t mentioned had shifted slightly. It was a small moment, but it mattered, because for once she was offering herself as someone he could lean on instead of the other way around.

Liam appeared around the corner a minute later, looking for him. "There you are," he said. "We’re missing the person who tells us what we’re doing." Lucien stood up, and Roxanne smiled up at him. "See? They need you," she said.

He looked down at her. "Apparently," he said, and before he walked off he took the checklist back from where he had left it on the wall and crossed out a single line. "What did you remove?" she asked.

"Something I can stop worrying about," he said. She looked at him, and he didn’t explain, and she decided she didn’t need him to, content to let him keep that one thing to himself for now.

That evening the entire Advanced Training group gathered in the courtyard for the departure briefing. The academy announced that they would leave at dawn, and that the Lunar Trial territory lay several hours away.

Once they arrived, students would be separated from their normal academy routines immediately, and phones and personal luxuries would be restricted for the duration of the trials.

The instructor looked over the gathered students before he gave his final warning. "The Lunar Trials are not about proving you’re the strongest person there," he said. The courtyard went quiet. "They’re about what you do when strength isn’t enough." The words settled over Roxanne and stayed there, heavier than anything else said that evening.

That night she walked through the academy with Isla, passing the Moonball field, the dance hall, the cafeteria, and the training grounds, all the places where she had built an entire life over the past months without quite noticing it happen.

"Nervous?" Isla asked. Roxanne considered it honestly. "A little," she said. "Scared?" Isla asked.

Roxanne smiled and looked toward the lit windows of the Moonstone residence. "Not of the trial," she said. "I’m more curious about what happens after."

The courtyard filled with students and luggage long before sunrise. Roxanne arrived with Isla and Tessa, and the four Moonstones were already waiting near the gates.

Lucien moved down the line checking everyone’s equipment, Roshan carried the folded maps under one arm, and Liam staggered under enough food to feed a small village.

Kai turned toward Roxanne as she approached. "Ready?" he asked. She adjusted the strap on her shoulder. "Ask me after we get there," she said.

The transport gates opened, and beyond them the road stretched out toward the mountains where the Lunar Trial territory waited. Roxanne stepped forward with the others, her breath fogging in the cold morning air.

Then, far beyond the mountains, something let out a distant howl, too quiet for anyone else to notice over the noise of the courtyard. Roxanne stopped mid-step. Her head turned slightly toward the sound. She had heard it clearly.