-eng- — Ariel Academy-s Secret School Festival -r...

Every attraction, every game, every seemingly random encounter seemed designed to reveal something about its participant. A mirror maze that showed not your reflection but your fears. A fortune teller who told not your future but your past. A kissing booth manned by a sentient statue that asked, “What do you truly desire?”

But Leo noticed something strange. The festival wasn’t just a party. It was a test . -ENG- Ariel Academy-s Secret School Festival -R...

Mira met him at the clock tower at 11:47 PM. She was wearing a cloak made of what looked like woven moonlight, and her usual shy smile had sharpened into something more determined. A kissing booth manned by a sentient statue

Leo didn’t ask what it was. Some secrets, he was learning, weren’t meant to be known. They were meant to be earned. Mira met him at the clock tower at 11:47 PM

He felt like he finally belonged.

Leo had never been invited. Last year, he’d waited in his dorm like a ghost, watching the lucky ones slip out after midnight in costumes that weren’t quite costumes. Feathers. Glitter that moved on its own. A boy with antlers growing from his temples that he claimed were “just for show.”

INVITED.