The hatch door sealed behind the guards with a hollow clang.

  Neyxa pressed herself to the side of the wall, staying in the shadow of the curved pillar. The stairwell beneath the hatch spiraled deep into the earth. Not stone — marble mixed with arc-wired bronze. Way too fancy for a back-alley storeroom.

  She waited ten seconds. Twenty. Then moved.

  Each step downward felt colder.

  Far below, the corridor split into three paths. Only one was lit. Neyxa stuck close to the wall, creeping forward until she reached the crate’s destination.

  Through the half-open door, she saw them: glowing seals traced over reinforced containers, hooked up to mana drip lines. Inside one… a child. Asleep. Head shaved. Glyph scars pulsing on her temples.

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  Not correction. Conversion.

  Neyxa’s pulse spiked.

  She snapped a mental snapshot of the layout. One guard moved, causing a pipe hiss that masked her steps as she slipped back into the dark.

  She didn’t breathe again until the hatch above closed behind her.

  Elsewhere, Zeven whistled while leading Rell and Thessia through a carved tunnel that smelled of burnt rope and iron. They reached a courtyard nestled between sandstone walls, where a low-domed building stood — with no windows.

  “This is where they keep the ‘misguided,’” he said.

  “Lirah?” Rell’s voice hitched.

  Zeven nodded. “And the other kids.”

  Guards patrolled the building’s edges, but these wore gray sigils — not gold like the Dustguard. Special unit. Secretive.

  “We go in now?” Rell asked, stepping forward.

  Thessia grabbed his arm. “No. Not like this.”

  “She inside!”

  “I know, but if we storm in, we give them an excuse. We need proof.”

  As they argued, Neyxa returned from the opposite side of the alley.

  She didn’t speak. Just nodded to follow.

  They regrouped back at Zeven’s rooftop shack. Neyxa tossed down a paper she’d swiped — a mage clearance form for “Magical Behavior Alignment” testing.

  “They’re not protecting them,” she said. “They’re trying to reprogram them.”

  Zeven’s fists curled.

  “Rell,” Neyxa added, “They’re going to erase who she is.”

  “No,” he said quietly. “They won’t.”