Chapter 205 CHAPTER 205
Principal Aeron was halfway through reviewing a stack of reports when the door to his office burst open with enough force to rattle the frame.
The guard who stepped in did not bother with formalities.
“Sir, we need to place the school on immediate lockdown.”
Aeron’s head lifted sharply, his expression shifting in an instant from composed focus to alert attention. The urgency in the guard’s voice was not something to ignore, and the tension in his stance made it clear that whatever had happened was not minor.
“What happened?” Aeron asked, already rising to his feet.
The guard’s breathing was slightly uneven, as though he had come in a rush.
“The princess was almost abducted,” he said. “She was found unconscious in the west wing locker room with a head injury. Commander Liam has already been alerted.”
For a fraction of a second, the room went still.
Then Aeron moved.
“Lock down the school immediately,” he ordered, his voice firm and controlled. “No student leaves their current location. No one moves without authorization.”
He turned toward his desk, pressing the intercom button without hesitation.
“Attention,” he said, his tone carrying clearly through the system, steady and authoritative. “All students are to remain in their current classrooms. Homeroom teachers are to take immediate register and report attendance. No movement is permitted until further notice. This is a lockdown.”
He released the button and turned back to the guard.
“Secure all exits and double the patrol on every corridor,” he added. “I want every camera feed reviewed from the last hour. No one gets in or out without clearance.”
“Yes, sir.”
Aeron did not wait any longer.
He was already moving out of the office, his steps quick and purposeful as he made his way toward the infirmary. The corridors felt different now, quieter, heavier, the usual rhythm of the school replaced by a controlled stillness as the announcement took effect.
Something had breached his school.
And that was unacceptable.
By the time Aeron reached the infirmary, the tension inside was already thick.
Lisa sat on one of the beds as the school doctor carefully examined the back of her head, his movements precise and cautious despite the fact that the wound had already closed. Beside her, Liam stood close—too close—his attention fixed entirely on her, his expression tight with concern.
“Does it hurt?” Liam asked, his voice low but edged with urgency.
Lisa looked up at him and gave a small, reassuring smile, though there was still a faint trace of exhaustion in her eyes.
“You already took the pain away,” she said gently. “I’m fine.”
Liam didn’t look convinced.
“You were unconscious,” he said, his jaw tightening slightly. “You have a head injury.”
“And you healed it,” Lisa replied, her tone soft but steady. “Which means you’re the one who should be checked right now, not me.”
Her gaze shifted meaningfully to him.
“You absorbed it,” she added quietly.
For a moment, Liam said nothing.
Inside her mind, Celia’s presence stirred restlessly.
“I should have known,” Celia’s voice came through, filled with frustration and guilt. “I should have felt something. I didn’t protect you.”
Lisa’s expression softened slightly as she responded inwardly.
“It’s not your fault,” she told her gently. “We didn’t know it was a trap. None of us did.”
Celia did not respond immediately, but the unease lingered.
Aeron stepped further into the room then, his presence drawing everyone’s attention.
“What happened?” he asked, his gaze moving from Lisa to Liam, then briefly to Isabel, who stood slightly apart, unusually quiet.
Liam straightened slightly, though his focus remained divided.
“She was lured into the girls’ locker room,” he said. “A message from Isabel’s phone.”
Aeron’s brows drew together slightly.
“And the attacker? Did you see them?”
Lisa shook her head faintly.
“I didn’t see them,” she said. “It happened too fast.”
Liam’s gaze darkened slightly as he turned his attention inward.
“Celia,” he called through the bond, his tone focused. “Did you sense anything? A scent? A presence?”
There was a brief pause before Celia answered.
“Nothing,” she admitted. “No scent. No warning. It happened too fast. I didn’t even feel danger until it was already happening.”
Liam’s expression tightened.
“Nothing?” he repeated aloud.
Lisa nodded slightly.
Aeron’s gaze sharpened.
“That’s not normal.”
“No, it’s not,” Liam agreed quietly.
He went still for a moment, thinking.
“Sarah,” he said after a pause. “Could she have come back?”
Aeron shook his head almost immediately.
“That is highly unlikely,” he said. “After what happened, every guard here has been trained to recognize her scent. If she stepped foot on these grounds, she would have been detected.”
Celia’s voice surfaced again, more thoughtful now.
“If it were her… I would have felt something,” she said. “Unless…”
Liam’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Unless she masked her scent,” he finished.
Aeron’s expression darkened.
“That would require a level of control she has not demonstrated before,” he said, though there was a note of uncertainty beneath his words. “Still, we are reviewing the camera feeds. If she entered the school, we will find it.”
Silence settled briefly in the room.
Then…
“How would she get my phone?”
The question came quietly.
All eyes turned to Isabel.
She had been standing still, her arms wrapped lightly around herself, her gaze distant as if she was still trying to piece everything together.
“If it was Sarah,” she continued slowly, her voice steadier now, “how did she get access to my phone?”
No one answered immediately.
Isabel swallowed slightly, her thoughts moving faster now, clearer.
“I think…” she hesitated, then looked up. “I think it’s someone here.”
The words landed softly—but heavily.
“Someone at school,” she added. “Someone I wouldn’t question being close to me. Someone who could take my phone without me thinking twice about it.”
The room went still.
The weight of that realization settled over all of them at once.
Because if Isabel was right—
Then the threat was not outside Lunaris.
It was already inside.