*Chapter 25: The Raven's Gambit*
The days after their last run-in with Yan were restless. Whispers about her magical skill and icy stare had spread to every classroom, and now some students started placing bets on when the next showdown would happen. Li Wei and his friends felt the eyes of the whole academy on them, even as they tried their best to blend in.
Yan's riddles grew more pointed: scrolls with coded notes appeared in the group's bags, always signed with a raven feather pressed between the parchment. Jin Ming tried a counter-prank—releasing a box of harmless pixies in Yan's dorm—but Nightshade caught every last one, cawing in triumph. Mei Fen noticed Yan trailing them whenever they neared the barrier's weak points, her curiosity growing sharper by the day.
Then, late one night, disaster struck. A booming alarm rattled the halls—one of the ward stones at the southern edge had flared bright red. Rushing there, the group arrived just after Yan, who stood calmly examining a circle of broken runes. Nightshade strutted nearby, eyes glittering with pride as if she'd orchestrated the breach herself.
"Odd how you always appear first," Chen Xiulan said, voice cool. Yan gave a sly smirk. "Odd how you always show up just after, as if fixing things is your real duty." The moment crackled with challenge, other students gathering in the shadows to watch.
With quick thinking, Li Wei signaled to his friends. Mei Fen created a mist to obscure their work while Bao Yu and Rui began to repair the damage using subtle magic. Jin Ming huddled with Yan in playful banter, buying time but privately taking note of everything she said. All the while, Yan watched Li Wei—trying to see through the fog, through his secrets, through the friendship holding the group tight.
When the group restored the ward just seconds before the teachers arrived, Yan only smiled and slipped her latest riddle into Li Wei's hand: *If secrets are a shield, what happens when the shield is tested?*
That night, even as exhaustion gnawed at them, the friends gathered beneath the willow. "She's not giving up," Bao Yu murmured. "But neither are we," said Chen Xiulan, fiercely linking her hand with Li Wei's. And from above, Nightshade watched with a chilling knowing, as if even the stars were playing their part.