Chapter 18 · The Anchor's Name

"You can't stop this." Karl's voice had been looping in my skull for two hours. This time, I answered him. "Watch me."

The admission card dug into my coat pocket as I ran. Fresh ink. Same card. Same ceremony waiting to become another massacre unless I broke the pattern first.

Eight loops. Eight deaths. Eight resets that wiped everyone except me.

The courtyard swarmed with freshmen clutching orientation packets. They laughed, argued, and hunted for dorm assignments while Karl used them as pieces on a board.

A girl caught my sleeve. "Hey, do you know where the north dorms are?"

"Not now." I tore free and kept running.

Karl had been expelled. Expulsion meant a file. A file meant a reason. A reason meant something I could use against him besides my own dead body.

The administrative building stood at the north edge of the academy. I hit the stairs and took them two at a time.

"You're going to break your neck!" someone shouted behind me.

I didn't slow down. "Get in line!"

Third floor. Archive door. Heavy oak, iron lock shaped like a raven's head.

Locked, of course.

My picks were already in my hand.