Harper received detention for not breaking a rule. She considered this proof Tidefall's justice system had failed. It happened after evening study. A Year Two student dared her to climb onto the low roof above the covered walkway. Harper said no. This was true.

Then she went to see how they had climbed up. A prefect found her standing beside the maintenance ladder. She had not touched it. She had also brought Jasper and Ava because, in Harper's words, witnesses were important. The prefect asked why they were there. Harper said, "Research." This was not a good answer. Mae listened to the story in the common room.

"You did not climb?"

"No."

"You did not cross the staff chain?"

"No."

"You walked across the academy after evening study to inspect how someone else broke a rule?"

Harper hesitated.

"Yes."

Mae sighed.

"You are not in detention for climbing. You are in detention for ignoring evening residence boundaries and following a dare situation instead of telling someone."

Harper crossed her arms.

"That is a different crime."

"Correct."

Jasper and Ava received the same consequence. One hour Saturday morning helping the grounds staff clean storm debris from the inner courtyard. Ava accepted this immediately. Jasper thought it was fair. Harper complained until Saturday. Then discovered the groundskeeper let them use long grabbers to collect branches and stopped complaining. The work was cold but not terrible. A winter storm the night before had filled the courtyard with leaves, twigs and one entire gull nest nobody knew how to relocate. The groundskeeper, Mr Kellan, eventually placed the nest on a sheltered roof ledge. Harper asked how it had fallen.

"Wind."

"Did the birds leave?"

"Probably before the storm."

"Will they come back?"

"Maybe."

Harper spent the next ten minutes worrying about gulls she had previously fed against school rules. Jasper found this funny and did not say so. Halfway through detention, a branch had jammed against the drain beside the western wall. Jasper used the grabber to pull it free. Water rushed into the grate. For a second he felt a pressure from below. Not Sea. Residue? He stopped. Ava saw.

"What kind?"

Jasper had learned her question now.

"Not sure."

Mr Kellan looked over.

"Everything all right?"

Jasper explained. Mr Kellan crouched by the drain.

"This run goes down to the old cliff cistern. Picks up rainwater and dumps through a channel above the south cove."

Ava said, "Marine-connected."

"Eventually."

Jasper touched the stone beside the grate. No pressure.

"Gone."

Mr Kellan shrugged.

"Old academy. Water everywhere."

Then he returned to branches. Jasper liked that answer too. Old academy. Water everywhere. Not every pipe needed mythology. After detention, the trio bought hot chocolate from the dining hall kitchen window using their weekly snack tokens. Harper held hers in both hands.

"Worst punishment ever."

Ava looked at her.

"You enjoyed it."

"I enjoyed parts against my will."

Jasper said, "Maybe don't inspect crime ladders after curfew."

"It wasn't a crime ladder."

"You called it a crime."

"The crime was different."

They sat in a window alcove watching rain return. Jasper thought about how easily Harper could have climbed the ladder. A month earlier, she might have. She had not. Progress rarely looked dramatic while it happened. Sometimes it looked like three children doing detention for a worse choice they did not make.