Daring Valen

Sylra's words about the professors driving off the Eclipse intruders lingered in Alex's mind, her voice still tinged with the relief and frustration that had colored her earlier outburst. Bastian's recounting of the chaotic retreat, delivered with his characteristic smirk, painted a vivid picture of the elders' swift intervention. 

The sterile whiteness of the Starhaven Academy clinic surrounded them, its pristine walls and glowing orbs casting a soft, almost clinical light over the group. Alex lay on the clinic bed, his body still aching from the moonshade-poisoned wound, the bandage beneath his gown a constant reminder of how close he'd come to death.