The School in Lockstep

Nova Astra Academy is perfect now. No fights. No failures. No noise. Students move together, learn together, and smile together, and nobody is lonely ever again. All it costs is everything that made them themselves. Elias and Tessa go back inside wearing helmets that keep the network out of their heads, pretending to be good, quiet students, hunting for what is left of B.L.O.B. in the dark under the school. The adults have a plan: seal the school off and wait. The children have a different one. This is the story of the year the students of Astra decided to save themselves.