The second fall happened four weeks after Harper's. The weather was calm. That mattered. No storm. No strange pressure before the lesson. No reason for anyone to expect anything. Ocean Studies had returned to the main observation terrace while Professor Elowen rotated groups through coastline measurement. The class knew the safety rules better now. Harper especially. She stayed well behind the line. Jasper was measuring wind direction with Ava when someone shouted. A smaller first-year boy from North residence had been carrying a chart board toward the inner rail. Another student's bag lay on the ground behind him. He stepped backward onto the strap. His foot tangled. He fell. Not over the cliff immediately. The chart board dropped. Professor Elowen moved. The boy's fingers slipped. Jasper's heart stopped. His chest remained empty. No pressure. Not to command. To find. Nothing. No swell rose. No curved wave. No impossible lift. The sea remained sea. Jasper heard Harper gasp.

His hands caught the stone edge of the inner step. He slid down a short slope beyond the student line and struck a narrow rock protrusion that slowed him. Then he went over the final lip. He reached inward by instinct. The boy fell the remaining distance into the water. He hit the surface hard and disappeared. Professor Elowen was already shouting.

"Rescue station! Rope!"

An older student on the lower dock responded immediately. A ring was thrown. The boy surfaced coughing and flailing. A current pulled him toward the rocks. The older student clipped into a safety line and descended partway to reach him. Seconds stretched. Jasper stood frozen. Still nothing. No presence. No choice he could feel. The boy caught the ring. Staff hauled him toward the platform. He was dragged safely onto stone. Alive. Shaken. Bruised and scraped. Nothing worse. The class was moved indoors. Nobody spoke. Harper sat beside Jasper. Her face looked exactly as it had in the infirmary window reflection after her own fall.

"It didn't move."

Jasper shook his head. Ava sat opposite them. She had not opened her notebook.

"It chose."

The words landed differently now. Jasper looked at her.

"You don't know that."

"No."

Ava swallowed.

"But if Harper's wave was intentional, then not acting is also a choice."

Harper's jaw tightened.

"Why?"

Nobody had an answer. The boy was taken to the infirmary. He went home for several days with his family. The accident investigation found no major structural failure. A loose bag strap. A bad step. One of those horrible chains of small things. The academy added another rule about keeping walkways clear during practical lessons. Some students whispered that the sea liked Harper better. Harper heard. She nearly started a fight. Ava caught her arm.

"Not worth it."

"They said—"

"I heard."

"It's not funny."

"I know."

Harper stopped. Jasper walked away from the corridor before anyone asked him why the water had not moved. He ended up in the library. Not the tide section. The inland corner. He sat between two shelves and stared at nothing. After a while, Soren found him. Soren did not ask questions. He sat nearby and read. Ten minutes later, Harper and Ava arrived. Harper sat on Jasper's left. Ava on his right. Soren looked at all three. Then moved to another aisle without comment. Jasper whispered, "I waited for it." Harper said, "I know."

"I thought it would catch him."

Ava said, "So did I."

"Why didn't it?"

Silence. Harper picked at the edge of her sleeve.

"Maybe it couldn't."

Ava said, "Maybe."

"Maybe it wasn't there."

"Maybe."

"Maybe I was different because Jasper was there."

Jasper's stomach twisted.

"I was there today."

"I know."

Ava looked at both of them.

"We are doing the thing."

"What thing?" Harper asked.

"Trying to turn unknown into an answer because not knowing feels awful."

Harper looked down. Jasper leaned his head against the shelf.

"It does feel awful."

"Yes."

That was all Ava had. For once, enough. That night Jasper did not sleep for a long time. He kept hearing the splash. Kept feeling the emptiness where presence should have been. When he finally drifted off, he dreamed of dark water. There was no shape below him. Only distance. Jasper called into it. Nothing answered. He woke before sunrise. The sea beyond the western window rolled normally. He did not ask it why.