First message
Blackridge Military Academy was silent after midnight.
She was returning from the administrative building when footsteps echoed through the dark corridor. A mud-streaked cadet stepped from the shadows—her rival, out past curfew.
“You’re out late,” she said.
“So are you.”
They traded sharp remarks until he challenged her to meet him at the training grounds at six.
She should have reported him. She should have ignored him. But she did the opposite and accepted the challenge.