<h4>Chapter 584: A Sudden Announcement</h4>


    <strong>Evaline:</strong>


    Themon room of our dorm was unusually quiet for a Friday evening.


    Mallory just headed to the showers minutes ago, and Ria was in the study hall to work on her project in peace and silence, leaving the dorm filled with a soft hum of enchantedmps and the faint music Rowan had set up before he sat down with me to work on our projects.


    I was curled up on the long couch with myptop, books and parchment stacked on the table, and a cup of herbal tea.


    Rowan was sitting right beside me with his own work, asionally ncing at me whenever I muttered under my breath or scribbled something aggressively and crossed it out a secondter.


    I was deep into rewriting a section on Lunaris Root extraction when the dorm door suddenly opened.


    The sound alone made me look up.


    Ria stepped inside, and the second I saw her face, I knew something was up.


    She didn’t look tired.


    She didn’t look annoyed.


    She looked... charged. Alert. Like someone who had just heard something interesting and couldn’t wait to share it.


    She closed the door behind her and turned toward me and Rowan with her eyes sparkling bright.


    "Have you guys seen the Academy’s online forum yet?"


    I blinked. "No?"


    Rowan lowered his book. "What happened?"


    Instead of answering immediately, she walked over and handed her phone to Rowan. I instantly leaned closer, curiosity pulling me forward, while Ria started talking.


    "They just made an announcement," she said. "Like, minutes ago. The administration office."


    Rowan frowned slightly as he scrolled. "About what?"


    "A health checkup," Ria replied.


    Both Rowan and I spoke at the exact same time.


    "A what?"


    We stared at her.


    "Health checkup?" I repeated, slower, like the words might make more sense if I said them properly.


    Ria nodded. "Yeah. For all students. Starting next week."


    Rowan looked back at the phone screen, then at her. "That’s... weird."


    We were all werewolves. We all healed fast, and we never caught on any diseases.


    Broken bones, internal injuries, infections - our bodies handled most things on their own. So, regr health checkups simply weren’t a thing in academies of our world.


    "So yeah," Ria continued, dropping onto the couch opposite ours. "The forum’s already losing its mind."


    She leaned back dramatically. "The announcement says it’s just a regr health check and students don’t need to overthink it. But obviously that made everyone overthink it."


    I took the phone from Rowan and scrolled through the forum myself.


    There were post after post, filled with spection, confusion, jokes, and theories.


    Some students were joking about secret experiments. Others were convinced it had something to do with flu that had been recently spreading through eastern packs. While some already dismissed as nothing to ponder on.


    Overall, the reactions mostly came from confusion.


    "This has never happened before," I murmured.


    "Exactly," Ria said. "That’s why everyone’s talking about it. The administration office gave no proper exnation, no details. Just... boom. Health checkups."


    Rowan handed the phone back to her. "It’s probably nothing."


    Ria nodded immediately. "Yeah, that’s what I think too. I’m not about to spiral over it. Besides, what could be wrong about health checkups even if they aren’t a thing in our lives, right?"


    Both me and Rowan nodded our heads in unison.


    She shrugged. "Honestly, I would rather finish my project and enjoy my weekend than waste timeing up with theories."


    I nodded again, a little absently this time.


    But my mind wasn’t on the forum anymore.


    It was racing.


    Because something had just clicked.


    And from the look in Rowan’s eyes, I knew he was thinking the same thing.


    The timing was way too coincidental for this so-called health checkup to be just a passing thing.


    Before I could say anything, my phone vibrated beside me on the couch.


    I looked down and saw a familiar name.


    Kieran.


    My heart gave a small, instinctive thud as I picked it up and opened the message.


    <strong>Kieran:</strong>


    <i>River and the Council nned the checkups.</i>


    <i>It’s to monitor general health and check for any traces of ck veins.</i>


    <i>Discreet. No panic. No attention.</i>


    My chest loosened and a slow breath left me.


    It was confirmed... my guess. The sudden health checkup was indeed rted to our investigation.


    And it was such a smart idea.


    Controlled.


    Quiet.


    Exactly the kind of move River would make.


    I nudged Rowan gently with my elbow and turned my phone toward him so he could read it.


    His eyes scanned the screen, and then his lips curved slightly.


    He didn’t say anything, but words weren’t really needed.


    It was a brilliant strategy.


    No mass fear.


    No chaos.


    No whispers of dark magic or Great Evil.


    Just a routine health checkup.


    Students would talk for a day or two, maybe joke about it,in about waste of time for something that wasn’t even important in their opinion... and then move on.


    And in the background?


    The council would be quietly checking for signs of danger - ck veins, weakened wolves, any unusual signs in students’ bodies.


    I locked my phone and set it aside.


    Ria was still sitting with us, flipping through her project notes.


    "Honestly," she said, "I’m d it’s not something dramatic. This semester just began but it already feels heavy."


    Rowan nodded. "Same."


    I didn’t say anything.


    I just turned back to myptop.


    For a moment, I let myself feel relief.


    Not full peace... not with everything still unresolved.


    But relief.


    Because for once, things were being handled properly - Strategically. Carefully. Without unnecessary panic.


    I picked up the notes I had written earlier and refocused on my project.


    I wanted to finish it tonight.


    I had work over the weekend.


    And thetter half of Sunday, it was for my family. Thest thing I wanted was to waste - the only free time I had in my hands to spend with my son and mates - onpleting this project.


    So I worked...!