Chapter 86: Find the Target

Astrid

The folded list felt heavier than paper should. I unfolded it again, eyes moving over the names. Astrid Vale. Josh Night. Eliza Bane. Criston Cosle.

A few minutes ago, they’d just been teammates I’d been randomly grouped with. Now I couldn’t stop wondering what connected us.

"They knew," I said.

"Who?" Criston asked.

"Whoever did this. They knew we’d be together."

He nodded. Team assignments hadn’t been announced until shortly before the challenge. Someone had known in advance. My mind went straight to Estelle, and I hated it immediately.

You seem very sure something is wrong with me.

I folded the paper. No proof yet.

"What?" Criston asked, noticing my expression.

"Nothing."

"We need the others," he said.

"Now?"

"Unless you plan to investigate three possible targets without telling them."

I grimaced. When he put it that way, it sounded worse.

We found Josh sitting on a low wall in the courtyard, eating something from a paper bag. He brightened when he saw us. "Perfect timing."

"You’re eating again?" Criston asked.

"You don’t understand the emotional toll today’s challenge put me through."

"You opened one box," I said.

"We were nearly murdered by a tree."

I almost laughed until I saw his smile fade. "What’s wrong?"

Criston handed him the list. Josh’s expression shifted the moment I explained only our team’s materials had been altered before the challenge started.

"So someone targeted our team," he said quietly.

Nobody had an answer for why. "That’s what we’re trying to find out," I said.

"And Eliza knows about this?"

"Not yet."

We found her in an unused classroom near the back of the academy, dusty windowsills, old books, desks stacked against one wall. Josh looked around.

"Why does this feel like we’re planning a murder?"

"Because you’re dramatic," Eliza said.

"See? Exactly what someone planning a murder would say."

She gave him a long look. He lowered his hand.

I explained everything, and Eliza’s fingers tightened slightly around her book. Criston noticed too.

We sat around the desk, and I finally said, "We should stop guessing. We need to ask ourselves why someone would target any of us."

"You first," I told Criston.

"Why?"

"Because you’re the most obvious."

"Definitely," Josh said.

Criston explained his ability wasn’t limitless, that he couldn’t simply look at someone and know everything, that emotions and proximity affected how clearly he heard thoughts, and that he’d learned to control it. He named people who avoided him, people who assumed he knew more than he did.

"You have enemies?" Josh asked.

"Does that surprise you?"

"No."

I laughed, genuinely this time, and Criston’s expression softened briefly before he turned to Josh. "Your turn."

Josh explained he was a Tracker, that his ability went beyond scent, into memory, disturbance, subtle changes other people missed.

My mind went straight to the forest. "You noticed the ground at the marker."

"Yeah," he said, uncomfortable now. "I didn’t think it mattered."

"Maybe someone else did," Criston said.

Josh sat with that, uncertain for the first time since I’d met him. "If I knew something, wouldn’t I know?"

"Not necessarily," Criston said.

Then everyone looked at Eliza. Josh pointed. "Okay, witch. Your turn."

She stared at him until he sat back. "Sorry."

I asked more gently whether someone could have targeted her specifically. She explained witches weren’t rare where she came from, but trust was another matter entirely, old fears about manipulation and forbidden magic.

"Do you?" Josh asked.

"Which one?"

He stared. I covered my mouth. Criston looked amused.

Her humor faded quickly after that, though, and she told us her family had enemies. Old ones. Not necessarily anyone who’d follow her here.

"What kind of enemies?" I asked.

"The kind that hold grudges for a long time."

"You know who they are?" Criston asked.

She shook her head. "Not all of them."

That didn’t comfort me, and neither did the way she picked her book back up like the conversation was finished.

Criston pulled out the copied challenge material. "There’s something else."

Eliza leaned in, studying the altered symbol until she stopped completely.

"What?" I asked.

She turned the paper. A tiny marking, so faint I hadn’t noticed it before.

"Was that there yesterday?" Josh asked.

Her face went still. Criston confirmed it wasn’t part of the challenge.

"Then what is it?" I asked.

"A signature," Criston said.

"Whose?" Josh asked.

"A witch’s," Eliza said.

A chill moved through me.

"That’s bad, right?" Josh asked.

"No," Eliza said. "It’s very bad."

I studied the marking myself. It meant nothing to me, but I understood now that it mattered.

"Do you recognize it?" Criston asked.

She hesitated, too long. "I recognize the type."

"That’s not what I asked."

The room tensed. I stepped in. "Eliza. Do you know who left it?"

"No," she said.

Criston didn’t believe her. Neither did I. She wasn’t lying badly. She was protecting something.

Josh looked between us. "So what now?"

Nobody answered. The question had changed shape entirely. Someone connected to witchcraft had touched our materials, and Eliza was the only witch on our team. The answer seemed obvious.

Too obvious.

I looked at her, unsure whether I was looking at a victim or someone who knew far more than she was willing to admit.

We agreed not to tell anyone about the signature yet. Josh paused at the door. "For the record, I hate secrets."

"Then you’re in the wrong room," Eliza said without looking up.

"Still like you," he said, and left. Criston followed, glancing back at Eliza once before disappearing too.

I gathered the papers alone, and Eliza left quietly. As I headed for the door, something caught my eye beneath it, a folded piece of paper, no name, no seal.

I picked it up and unfolded it.

One sentence.

Stay away from Eliza Bane.

I stared at the words, unmoving. I checked the hallway. Empty in both directions, a window rattling faintly somewhere far off.

Someone had known we were meeting here. Known I’d be alone long enough to find this.

I looked toward where Eliza had disappeared, the note crumpling slightly in my fist.

Was this a warning meant to protect me?

Or something designed to make me afraid of her?

I wasn’t sure anymore which possibility scared me more.