CHAPTER FIVE441Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0wnFRYs9Yt
Kim441Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgup06HKUi3
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. 441Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpiGC7PJ8re
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.441Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP22746i1EP
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.441Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaj8TovEdXw
“Kimberly Diana Otieno, do you know why you’re here?” he asks.441Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwXQTI01jYo
I shake my head, but my voice is stuck somewhere in my chest.441Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0AFp2dbSRv
He slides the envelope toward me. 441Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDOkSdCv3Rx
“We received an anonymous tip. These were found in your locker.” 441Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡepfQICoMNF
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.441Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7uYjq0i0ZW
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.441Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFjyFA04Xd7
I try to explain, but the Deputy doesn’t believe me. “This is a serious offense, miss Kimberly. You could be suspended-or worse.”441Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHwMm1fgboz
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.441Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH20oa1o7SH
Now I know just how far the Order will go to protect their secrets-and how alone I really am.
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Seline441Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWEmP05qIyG
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. 441Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmR81VAVUSm
I know that look on her face-the look of someone who’s been cornered by something bigger and meaner than she ever expected.441Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwauUlZ88ex
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.441Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyV97RMTARS
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.441Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9MNmAnH19s
But not this time.441Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuQP6kHSahQ
I scribble a note planning to slip it into Kim’s bag during lunch:441Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr0xSNfkuRh
Meet me behind the chapel after prep. We need to talk. 441Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgoxy8zI1Zh
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.441Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUPRJYA7Zet
“We have to work together,” I say, voice low but fierce.441Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ407ifq1sea
“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.”441Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXYbQoICDcS
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. 441Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhS8cJTFF4U
For the first time, I feel like I’m not just chasing rumors-I’m hunting the truth, and I’m not alone.441Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwC4aXSFpRk
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. 441Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlk8FIMyCod
And with Kim by my side, I know we might just have a fighting chance even though I still don’t trust her fully.441Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuQgTG9cEwj
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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.441Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0nAnt0UvBK
“This is how we did it,” she announced. 441Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡku922AXy5B
“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.441Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLrpyH7vrhn
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.441Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0AbhgF227l
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.441Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFPupjIbxyz
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.441Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiExY4gtvFY
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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and then Add to home screen.