Chapter 366:Message.

Chapter 366: 366:Message.

Ravenna moved toward another section of the store with Mallory right on her toe.

Antony remained behind with the gloves.

"You two can keep walking. I’ll make a decision eventually."

She looked over her shoulder. "You have an entrance examination tomorrow. If deciding between gloves takes this long, I hope they don’t include a timed decision-making test."

He glared at her before rolling his eyes. Mallory covered her mouth to hide a laugh.

"Silver disappears and suddenly you’ve learned to insult people. Where is the cutesy Ravenna?"

"I always knew how and I’ve never acted that way."

"Really, if I remember correctly you usually threaten them afterward."

Ravenna turned away.

"Keep talking and I can do that too. You seem to be looking for a beating these days."

Antony finally selected the reinforced gloves and hurried after them. Unlike Ravenna, he couldn’t simply walk into special admissions with a letter.

He had no guaranteed place.

His decision to try Alpha Three Academy had come later, and by the time the possibility became serious, the normal recommendation routes available to him had already closed.

That meant entrance examinations. Ravenna had asked him twice whether he was certain, and both times Antony had answered yes.

Now, as they walked through an entire section dedicated to academy candidates, she asked again.

"You understand you don’t have to do this because Silver and I are going there."

He sighed dramatically.

"How many times are you going to ask me?"

"Until you stop giving me stupid answers."

"My answers have been excellent."

"You said yesterday that you wanted to attend because academy cafeterias probably have good food."

"That was one reason. I never said it was the only reason."

She stopped beside a shelf.

Antony became more serious.

"I know I don’t have an admission letter. I know the entrance examination isn’t easy, and I know there will probably be people stronger than me trying for the same limited places. I’m still Rank Two, but I’m not weak, and my transformation gives me something most candidates won’t have. If I fail, then I fail and find something else to do here. I’m not going to spend the next few years wondering whether I could have passed because I was too afraid to stand in the line."

That was a much better answer.

Ravenna nodded.

"You pass."

Antony visibly rolled his eyes.

"That’s your encouragement?"

"What else do you want me to say?"

"Something inspiring would be nice. Maybe tell me you’ve always believed in my hidden potential."

"I haven’t known you long enough to have always believed anything about you."

Mallory laughed.

He placed a hand against his chest. "Silver would support me."

She immediately answered, "he would bet money on whether you pass."

Antony thought for a moment.

"That’s probably true."

They continued shopping.

Ravenna found a dark training shirt in Silver’s size and added it, then another.

Mallory noticed but said nothing, which Ravenna appreciated.

She was about to mive on when her phone vibrated. Everything seemed to have stopped just from the little sound. Her hand moved so quickly that she nearly dropped the basket.

She pulled the phone out.

It was a message from Silver.

Her breath caught as the world around her seemed to disappear.

She opened it.

My Silver: I’m almost out. The situation changed. Stay in Alpha Three and don’t come back to the valley. I’ll contact you when I’m outside.

Ravenna read it, then read it again. Mallory immediately noticed her expression.

"Ravenna?"

She didn’t immediately answer. Antony stepped closer.

"What happened?"

She looked up, her gray eyes already shining.

"He sent another message."

Mallory moved beside her.

"What did he say?"

She turned the phone towards them. Mallory read it while Antony leaned over enough to see. For several seconds, none of them spoke, then Ravenna laughed.

It came out strangely because it was halfway between laughing and crying.

"He says he’s almost out." She looked at the message again. "He’s almost out."

Mallory smiled.

"That’s much better than the first message."

Ravenna nodded quickly as she tried to wipe the tears away.

"This means he’s close to the surface. He has enough signal to send another message too."

Antony pointed toward the phone. "Call him."

Ravenna was already doing it. Surprisingly the call connected.

Her eyes widened.

It rang for a little while but no one picked it up. She dialled again, gripping the phone tighter.

"Come on, Silver. Answer me. I don’t care if you can only talk for five seconds, just answer and tell me where you are... please."

Even on the fourth ring, it went unanswered. Her smile slowly disappeared.

"Why isn’t he answering?"

Antony looked at the signal indicator.

"Give him a moment. He might be climbing. If he’s somewhere dangerous, he’s not going to stop just because the phone rings."

Ravenna ended the call, then immediately called again. It rang once, twice, then cut.

She stared at the screen in a sort of daze. Unfortunately, the next attempt didn’t connect. She tried again, still nothing.

"No."

Mallory touched her arm.

"Ravenna."

"He had signal, it was ringing. Why would it suddenly disappear again?"

"Because he’s still inside Death Row Valley," Mallory said gently but firmly. "You already know the signal there is unstable. His first message arrived after days without anything, and your replies didn’t reach him immediately either. The fact that the call rang at all means his phone briefly had a stronger connection."

Ravenna looked at Silver’s message.

Almost out.

She wanted to believe exactly what those words said.

Antony spoke more seriously.

"He also specifically said he’ll contact you when he’s outside. That means when he sent this, he wasn’t outside yet. He probably found another patch of signal while climbing and sent what he could before moving again."

She looked toward him.

"What if something happened?"

Antony didn’t dismiss it, he knew better than that.

"Something could always happen, that’s Death Row Valley. But we have more evidence that he’s succeeding than we had yesterday. Yesterday we only knew he survived the collapse. Today we know he’s climbed far enough to get a better signal and believes he’s close to getting out. If we turn every lost signal into proof something happened, we’re going to drive ourselves insane before he reaches the surface."

She slowly lowered the phone. Mallory squeezed her arm.

"He told you what he wanted you to do."

Ravenna looked down at the message.

Stay in Alpha Three.

Don’t come back to the valley.

"I know."

"Then trust him enough to do it."

She released a long breath.

"That’s difficult when he keeps doing things that make trusting him terrifying."

Antony gave a quiet laugh.

"I think he would consider that a fair complaint."

She looked at the phone once more, then she typed.

You better be telling the truth when you say you’re almost out. I’m waiting for you in Alpha Three. Please be careful.

She sent it.

The message remained undelivered. She stared at the indicator for several seconds before locking the phone.

"Fine."

Mallory raised an eyebrow.

"Really?"

"I’m going to assume he lost the signal again. I’m not going back to Death Row Valley, and I’m not going to spend tonight calling a phone that can’t connect."

Antony smiled.

"That sounds surprisingly reasonable."

She rolled her eyes at him.

"I can still change my mind."

"I withdraw the comment."

She returned the phone to her pocket. The shopping continued, although Ravenna checked the phone approximately every three minutes.

Silver’s message didn’t disappear; that was enough. They had already informed Shawn about the first message.

Ravenna wanted to tell him about this one immediately. She tried his number after they left the store.

No answer.

That didn’t surprise her anymore. Shawn had warned them that the academy was entering its busiest period.