Ethan found himself drawn to the belfry, the highest point of Blackwell Academy, as if an invisible thread was pulling him towards it. He needed answers, and the chilling realization that Ms. Ainsworth, the one person he thought he could trust, might be deeply entangled with the Shadow Syndicate gnawed at him. He'd spent the last few hours pouring over fragmented texts, piecing together whispers and rumors he'd overheard, and the picture forming was far from comforting. The Ainsworth name kept cropping up, always associated with the Syndicate's shadowy beginnings.