Angel Beaumont was the kind of girl who didn't walk, she glided.
Hair like sunlight. A voice like velvet dipped in sugar. The only student with her own parking spot and private coffee order in the staff lounge.
But today?
Today, her hands were shaking.
"Close the door, Nova," she said.
I did. Locked it behind me.
We were in the art gallery room, quiet, forgotten, all windows. The school's one honest attempt at beauty.
And still, she chose it for a confession.
"Why did Isla mention you?" I asked.
She smiled. Barely. "Because she hated being seen."
"Then explain this." I slid my phone across the table. Paused at the moment Isla says her name.
Angel watched the screen. Didn't flinch.
"I didn't kill Isla," she said. "But I watched it happen."
I stared. "Watched?"
"She thought she could outsmart them. That she could leak the Manifest and run. But the Archivist doesn't erase people with blood. She erases them with silence."
"You let her vanish."
"I tried to stop it," Angel said quietly. "But once you're in, you're part of it. You either follow the rules, or you become the lesson."
I wanted to scream. Shake her. But something in her eyes stopped me.
Guilt.
Real, raw, marrow-deep guilt.
"I joined the Row sophomore year," she whispered. "Not by choice. They chose me. Said I was 'undeniable.' That I could get close to anyone. And I did."
Her fingers trembled on the table.
"I hated it. Every second. But I stayed clean. I never submitted names. Just… watched."
"Then why warn me?" I asked.
Angel looked up at me, eyes glassy.
"Because you're not like the others. You don't want to burn the system, you want to expose it. And that makes you dangerous."
"Good," I said. "Because I'm just getting started."
She slid a small red envelope across the table.
No name. Just a symbol, a circle split in half.
"I got this yesterday," she said. "It means you're being tested."
I opened it.
Inside: a message.
"Two truths. One lie. Choose who survives."
Ezra helped leak your case file to the Blogger.
Mr. Kessel has hidden a hard drive that could end the Row.
You were never meant to transfer to Ravenshade, you were placed.
Beneath it, a line scrawled in red:
"Expose one. Save the other.
The lie will die tonight."
I sprinted to find Ezra.
No one had seen him since the third period.
His dorm room: empty.
His phone: off.
Lena was gone.
Ezra was missing.
Angel was breaking.
And me?
I was next.
That night, someone slid a USB under my door.
No message. Just the drive.
When I plugged it in, a video launched immediately.
CCTV footage.
Timestamped from yesterday.
Ezra. In the teacher's office. Opening a locked drawer.
Pulling out… my file.
Reading it.
Taking pictures.
Sending a message on his phone.
I felt my chest cave in.
Ezra?
But the screen didn't go black.
Instead, it split.
Another window opened, showing Mr. Kessel. Basement. Alone. Plugging in an external drive.
The camera zoomed.
Label: ROW - FOUNDERS DOCS.
My head spun.
Two truths. One lie.
But which one was false?
Because whichever one I didn't act on… was going to vanish.
I had ten minutes to decide.
Ten minutes to choose who survived the night.
My oldest friend…
Or the teacher hiding the key.