Chapter 256: 256: Snake’s Smile
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And loud things got collected in this world.
Somewhere far above, in the highest part of the academy, a man with too many books and too calm a smile listened to reports that were not spoken aloud.
A Void ant.
A cold hole near the feet.
A strange feeling like void.
He did not rush.
He did not frown.
He simply smiled a little, the way a fisherman smiles when the water finally ripples.
And in the dorm room below, John sat still, pretending he had not just been seen by something that understood secrets.
He kept his breathing slow. He kept his shoulders relaxed. He kept his hands folded in his lap like a student waiting for a lecture, not like a boy who had just pulled a void ant out of a crowd and stuffed it back into the dark.
Fizz shifted. "Do you think it will do it again?"
John’s jaw tightened. "If it can open its own window, yes."
Fizz’s glow flickered. "Then we must teach it manners."
John’s eyes narrowed slightly. "You will not teach it manners."
Fizz puffed. "I am a professor now."
"You are a professor to humans," John said. "Nyx is not human."
Fizz leaned in and whispered like he was giving a sacred promise. "Then I will be a professor to ants."
John did not have time to argue. He was about to stand and start planning something practical when a sound hit the room that made every thought freeze.
A knock.
Not a polite knock.
Not a soft knock.
A knock that did not ask permission.
Three firm taps.
Then one.
Then the faintest pause, like the person outside had already decided the door would open.
Fizz’s glow dropped instantly, as if he had snuffed himself out on purpose.
John’s body moved before his mind finished warning him. He stood, stepped toward the door, and placed his hand near the latch but did not open it.
His voice stayed calm. "Who?"
A familiar old voice answered from the other side.
"John," Snake said, as if he were greeting him in a hallway and not outside a first-year dorm room at night. "Open the door."
John’s stomach tightened.
He did not like Snake outside his office.
He did not like Snake moving like rules did not apply to him.
He did not like how calm Snake sounded, because calm meant control, and control meant this visit was not an accident.
John glanced once toward the room.
Nyx stayed hidden.
The void thread stayed quiet.
Fizz hovered near the desk, eyes narrowed, fur bristling in silence.
John unbolted the door and opened it just enough to see.
Snake stood in the hall, tall hat casting a shadow that seemed slightly too heavy for the lantern light. His robe was neat. His beard was clean. His eyes were warm in the way warm knives are warm.
Behind him, two corridor guards stood farther down, pretending they were not watching. They were not first-year guards. Their posture was sharper. Their eyes were older.
Snake did not step in immediately.
He looked at John’s face as if he were looking at a page he had read earlier and liked.
"You handled it," Snake said mildly.
John’s throat went dry. "Handled what."
Snake’s smile widened by a fraction. "The incident."
Fizz, unable to contain himself fully, whispered from the desk. "Which incident. There are many. Life is full of incidents."
Snake’s eyes slid past John toward the room.
Not searching wildly.
Searching directly.
Like he knew exactly what he wanted to see.
John’s body blocked the doorway slightly more without looking obvious.
Snake noticed anyway.
He looked amused.
"May I enter," Snake asked, but his tone was not really a question.
John held his expression steady. "Yes, Headmaster."
Snake stepped inside like he owned the air.
He did not look at Ray’s bed first. He looked at John’s desk. Then at the corner wash curtain. Then at the window crack. Then, finally, at Fizz.
Fizz lifted his chin in pride. "Headmaster."
Snake nodded politely. "Professor Fizz."
Fizz puffed up like a balloon filled with ego. "Yes."
Snake’s gaze returned to John.
"I heard there was excitement in the courtyard," Snake said casually, as if discussing weather. "A shadow ant near the fountain. Students felt cold near their feet. Someone whispered ’curse.’ Someone else whispered ’black magic.’"
John said nothing.
Snake continued in the same calm tone. "For other students’ eyes, it was a shadow ant."
His gaze held John’s.
"But for my eyes," Snake said, "it was a void ant."
John’s chest tightened so hard it almost hurt.
Fizz’s glow flickered. His ears lifted. He stared at Snake like a dog staring at a man who smelled wrong.
Snake’s voice stayed gentle. "I saw everything."
John’s jaw moved once. He swallowed. "Headmaster—"
Snake lifted one finger, cutting him off without raising his voice. "No excuses. No lies. You do not need them in this room."
John’s fingers clenched at his side. "It is a void ant. Her name is Nyx. I was lucky and hatched it. I put inside my void. It can open a window on the void. It left without permission. It is new."
Snake nodded as if that matched his expectation. "New things wander. They do not understand that curiosity is dangerous."
Fizz muttered, "Yes. Curiosity is very dangerous. Especially when it does not ask Lord Fizz first."
Snake ignored the comment and walked slowly around the room, not inspecting like a guard, but like a teacher who wanted to feel the temperature of a student’s life.
He stopped near John’s desk.
He did not touch anything.
He simply looked.
"That thing is yours," Snake said, calm and casual again. "And it must remain hidden."
John’s voice stayed low. "I know."
Snake’s eyes sharpened slightly. "You do not know enough."
John held still.
Snake continued, tone still mild but now carrying weight. "The royal office collects rare creatures like trophies."
Fizz hissed quietly. "Gross."
Snake glanced at him. "Yes. Gross."
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