**(Dora's POV – One Month Before the Fall)**
The note fluttered into Zeke Landon's locker, unsigned.
*Meet me at Locker 47 after school. I have something to tell you.*
Dora pressed her palm to the cold metal, heart racing. She'd practiced the words a hundred times: *I like you. I've always liked you.*
But when the bell rang, it wasn't Zeke who appeared—it was Tyler, holding her crumpled note between his fingers like a dead thing.
*"Cute,"* he sneered. *"Too bad Zeke's *allergic* to freaks."* Behind him, Zeke stared at his shoes, jaw clenched.
Dora's hope curdled to shame.
Then Tyler dropped the note into the ledger inside the locker.
The pages *shuddered*, ink swallowing her words whole.
---
**(Elle's POV – Present Day)**
Callum's burned scrap of paper wasn't just a confession—it was a *receipt.*
Elle pieced it together under Nina's desk lamp:
**>>Forgive me. I tried to stop them.<<**
**>>But the ledger took her anyway.<<**
**>>It's my fault.<<**
*"This isn't just paper,"* Nina breathed. *"It's vellum. Same as the ledger."*
Elle's blood ran cold. *"Callum didn't burn a note—he tore out a *page.*"*
A floorboard creaked above them.
Dora stood in the doorway, her gray eyes fixed on the scrap.
*"He lied,"* she whispered. *"He *remembered.*"*
Behind her, Locker 47's door swung open with a groan.