OPERATION WINTERSPINE (Strings Between Us Book 2)

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: OF VANISHING PRESIDENTS, PEACEFUL MORNINGS,

I ended the call quickly, promising to show up for lunch and afternoon classes.

Then turned to the supposed kidnapping victim beside me, who was—unsurprisingly—not asleep anymore.

He was grinning like a fox.

"I'm missing?" he said, clearly enjoying this too much.

I glared. "Apparently, yes. In the eyes of Supreme Allievo Academy, you've been abducted. Possibly murdered. They're ready to send out a national alert."

KD sat up, still half-draped in sheets, his hair messier than usual. "They didn't see me on the CCTVs jumping up Eclipsa Sanctum's Rooftop from Imperium Quarter?"

"Blame the Court's tech gremlins. They probably deleted the whole thing. Either that or they're currently in the Commons watching everyone panic while pretending to be distressed."

He chuckled. "Sounds like Saichel."

"Exactly."

I got ready first—faster, because I wasn't carrying the guilt of causing a school-wide manhunt. He followed after, and to my surprise, he'd brought his uniform. Of course he did. The guy was chaos, not careless. He never went back to his old Student Council President uniform, not even SAA standard. He switched to Keryn's hybrid uniform. When I asked him why, he said 'he looks good on it'. Very cocky.

"Don't walk with me," I told him as I put on my shoes. "Seriously. Do not. I don't need people pointing fingers at me."

KD just laughed. "Alright, alright. I'll walk five minutes behind you. Consider it a secret service escort."

I entered the Commons alone.

Correction: I entered the Commons into a drama vortex.

Everyone was panicking—like headless chickens in a cage. Theories flying. Students whispering. Even professors looked stressed.

I spotted the Ardent Court instantly.

Smirks.

Every single one of them. And then, like actors in a B-list school play, they pretended to panic.

Saichel was already mid-performance. "HAS ANYONE SEEN THE ACADEMY'S MOST EMOTIONALLY CONSTIPATED FAIR-SKINNED MONARCH?"

"Calm down, Oscar-worthy," I muttered, pushing past him. "He's alive, Saichel."

"ALIVE, SHE SAYS," Saichel cried, tossing his hands in the air like he was summoning a ghost. "THEN WHERE IS HE? WHERE IS THE FROST PRINCE WHO LOOKS LIKE HE CLIMBS OUT OF A VOGUE SHOOT TO DECLARE WAR ON HUMAN INTERACTION?"

I left him crying dramatically into Alexie's sleeve and headed toward the Peace Chaos table.

Xythe was already there. Of course he was. He always picked that table—less noise, more information. He was scanning the school forums on his tablet while the others scrolled through vlogs and student rumor threads.

"Oh my god," Jodie gasped, slamming her tray down beside mine. "The forums are melting. You'd think the Ice President died."

I stared at my grilled chicken. It stared back, mockingly bland.

I'd kill for some silence and KD's Yakult right now.

"I don't get it," Errol said, tapping frantically on his phone. "They're still debating theories. Like one of them, thinks Khaizer staged his own kidnapping as an elaborate protest against the cafeteria's new vending machine system."

Mico snorted into his rice. "Bro, he doesn't even use vending machines. He has a personal fridge."

Xylia slid into her seat, her eyes wide and fingers still typing. "I just saw someone post a thirty-minute vlog analyzing the trajectory of the Presidents's last known footsteps based on pixel distortion from the hallway cameras. People have too much time."