By the third day, the whispers returned—though no longer about Elias.
He had been seen again, quiet and brooding, attending a lecture with the same aloof detachment that always cloaked him. His absence, once the focus of hushed gossip, began to fade into the background, replaced by a new curiosity.
Now, the students buzzed with different rumors.
"Did you hear about Lysira? The girl from House Ferril?"
"She's probably off trying to seduce a mentor again," one student laughed bitterly. "She always was too ambitious for her own good."
"No, she's missing. Gone. Just like that."
"Tch. Probably ran away after getting rejected."
"Maybe she went to meditate in some remote corner to find her so-called 'enlightenment.' Wouldn't be the first time someone vanished to chase inspiration."
Most treated the matter with mockery, shrugging off the concern behind a veil of amusement. Students came and went. Disappearances weren't entirely unknown—though rarely permanent. And besides, Lysira hadn't exactly been well-liked.
But not everyone laughed.
Seraphina sat alone in the corner of the west courtyard, her fingers tracing invisible patterns into the wooden table beneath her. The breeze carried with it a chorus of half-truths, but her mind clung to one moment:
Three nights ago. Lysira had approached her, eyes alight with false casualness.
"Do you know where Elias stays?" she had asked, voice strained with poorly disguised hope. "I heard he's brilliant… I was thinking of asking him something. About runes."
Seraphina remembered blinking in surprise. "You want his help?"
Lysira had smiled. "Who wouldn't want the best?"
And now she was gone.
No one had seen her since.
Seraphina frowned. It wasn't concern for Lysira's wellbeing that gnawed at her—it was the coincidence. Elias had vanished, then returned. Lysira had approached her right before that return… and now had vanished herself.
* * * * * *
The next day
The sun had barely crested the horizon when Seraphina began her rounds, the air crisp against her skin as she moved through the academy grounds. Her mind, however, was far from the usual morning routine. The disappearance of the girl — the one who had visited Elias' room late one night — weighed heavily on her.
For the past few days, she had asked around, gathered fragments of gossip, and even questioned a few students who might have known something. But every lead had turned up cold. The whispers about Elias had died down, but rumors about the girl's disappearance persisted, although most were crude, dismissive, and tinged with sarcasm.
"Probably ran off with one of the boys. They all do, don't they?"
"Did she finally figure out how to 'impress' Elias? No, I think she went for something a little more practical — like a room without a window."
Seraphina had overheard these comments and felt her stomach twist. People didn't understand. To them, it was just another bit of academy drama, a passing gossip. But to her, it was more than that. There was something off about the whole situation.
Her eyes narrowed as she passed a group of students, laughing. They fell silent as she approached, and she caught the glint of judgment in their gaze. She didn't care. She had bigger matters to deal with.
Seraphina hadn't yet told anyone what she suspected — that Elias might have had something to do with the girl's disappearance. To her, the idea seemed impossible. But the more she thought about it, the more unsettling the pieces seemed to fit.
The girl had asked about Elias the day before she disappeared. She had even mentioned him by name when they had spoken, inquiring about his reputation, his abilities, his tendencies. That had stuck with Seraphina. She had a distinct memory of the conversation — the way the girl's eyes had darted nervously while speaking, the subtle edge to her voice.
She had been curious about Elias. Too curious.
"It's just a coincidence," Seraphina murmured to herself as she walked down the hallway. "But I need to find the truth."
She pushed the door to Elias's classroom open with a soft creak, eyes scanning the room. Elias was seated at the front, looking at a thick book, his face unreadable. The others in the room appeared to be engaged in the lesson, but Seraphina's focus was entirely on him.
She moved toward him, and without a word, sat down in the chair beside him. Elias didn't acknowledge her immediately, but his awareness was sharp enough that it didn't take long for him to glance her way.
"Something on your mind, Seraphina?" he asked, his voice low, almost lazy.
She hesitated, then leaned forward slightly, her gaze intent. "Have you heard the rumors about the girl who disappeared?" she asked, keeping her voice steady.
Elias raised an eyebrow. "What rumors?" His tone was nonchalant, but Seraphina could feel the subtle shift in the air between them. He wasn't as indifferent as he pretended to be.
"The ones that say she's probably just off with one of the boys," Seraphina said, forcing a slight smile. "Though I doubt that's true."
Elias's eyes briefly flickered toward the door, his lips curling into the smallest of smiles. "You're more concerned about her than you let on," he said.
Seraphina bit back the retort that was ready to spill from her lips. She forced herself to stay calm. "I'm concerned about the fact that no one knows where she is. She vanished without a trace."
"You think I had something to do with it?" Elias's voice dropped an octave, though he kept his demeanor composed. His gaze lingered for a moment, intense but impassive.
Seraphina froze, her heart pounding. Could he be guilty? She wanted to believe otherwise, but the nagging suspicion wouldn't go away. He was the last person to see her, after all. She forced herself to meet his gaze, though doubt lingered in her eyes. "I didn't say that."
Elias gave a slight shrug. "Then, I don't know what you're suggesting. People disappear all the time. It's not exactly rare in an academy like this."
Seraphina's lips pressed together in a thin line. No one else cares about this but me. She could see the contempt in the eyes of the others — the way they dismissed the girl's fate as if it were just another passing issue in the academy.
Still, she couldn't let it go. Not yet. She couldn't be certain about anything, but she couldn't ignore the nagging feeling that Elias had more to do with this than he was letting on.
"I think you know more than you're letting on," she said quietly, her voice dropping to a near whisper.
Elias's eyes met hers for a long moment. The silence between them stretched. Then, finally, he spoke.
"And what if I do?" he asked. His words were soft, but there was an edge to them that made Seraphina's pulse quicken.
She wanted to push further, to press him for answers. But in that moment, something about his gaze made her pause. She could see the calculation in his eyes — the way he studied her, as though he were considering his next move. She clenched her fists, then slowly released the tension in her hands. She had to be careful. She wasn't sure what she was dealing with yet.
"I'll figure it out," Seraphina said, standing up abruptly. She couldn't stay here, couldn't let him get inside her head.
Elias didn't respond, but his eyes followed her as she left, the faintest trace of a smile curling at the corner of his lips.