Hazel’s POV
The door clicked shut.
And we both froze.
Then we heard it—quick, panicked footsteps running away down the corridor.
Dimitri and I looked at each other for half a second.
We moved at the same time.
He yanked the door open. I rushed past him into the hallway.
Empty.
Just long marble corridors stretching in both directions. No one.
No retreating back. No flash of uniform. Nothing.
I spun left, then right—heart hammering.
Dimitri stepped out behind me, scanning the other end.
“Gone,” he muttered.
We looked at each other again.
“Do you think whoever that was heard what we said?” I whispered.
“I don’t know.” His voice was grim. “But I have to find out who it was and why they ran.”
I hugged Dimitri’s jacket tighter around my shoulders. The scales underneath still shim
