10 Years Later. Salem. The Authors’ House.
Table 1 was still there.
White. Blue rim.
21 chairs around it. All used, all loved.
And in the center, under glass: the white feather.
The house was bigger now.
Screens on every wall.
21 cities connected 24/7.
The Network never slept.
Lila was 16 now.
White hair, same as her mom.
She was the Keeper of the Feather.
Lila: to a group of kids _"Rule 1: No one writes alone.
Rule 2: If you hear humming, you answer.
Rule 3: The empty chair is always for someone new."_
The kids nodded. They were called The Next Chorus.
Kids from all 21 cities. Raised on the song.
11:10 PM.
The Book hadn’t opened in 10 years.
Tonight it did.
Thump.
One page.
No words.
Just a drawing.
A child. Sitting at a table. Alone.
And a feather, falling.
Under it:
_Table 23 Detected
Location: Unknown
Signal: A whisper
Problem: They found the feather first._
Lila: frowned. "That’s impossible.
The feather never left this room."
She looked at the glass case.
It was empty.
The feather was gone.
All 21 screens lit up at once.
21 faces. Worried.
Umi: now 40, appeared on the main screen.
"Lila? What happened?"
Lila: held up the Book. "Someone took it.
And they’re using it to call a new table."
Miri: from Barcelona _"Then we don’t wait.
We find them."_
Elin: from Iceland _"Season 10 was about saving tables.
Season 11... is about who tries to use our song."_
The Book flipped again.
New words appeared in shaky handwriting:
_If you’re reading this, you’re late.
I have the feather.
And I have a Network too.
But mine doesn’t sing.
It commands._
Lila: closed the Book. Stood up.
The 21 chairs scraped back.
The Next Chorus stood too.
Lila: _"10 years ago, my mom taught me:
We don’t let anyone write alone.
Even if they don’t want us to."_
She grabbed her pen.
"Team, we fly."