After three long days of confinement and questioning, Noah was finally released.
The agents of the Investigation Authority had found no evidence linking him or Arlo to the Puppeteer or to the explosion.
Still, the coldness in their eyes had told him enough. They hadn't cleared him out of trust, only out of lack of proof.
The following week passed in uneasy quiet. The academy grounds felt subdued. Rumors spread like wildfire but quickly burned themselves out beneath the constant patrols and the tightening of school security.
Everyone pretended to move on, but beneath the surface, fear still coiled.
And then came the funeral.
It was held in the academy's central courtyard, beneath the great willow that had stood since the school's founding.
The weather was mercifully gentle, with gray skies, no rain, and only a cool wind that carried with it the fallen leaves.
