Chapter 17
### Chapter 17: The Child Who Listened
Nathaniel entered Lily’s room just as Rosa was about to leave.
He saw the stack of papers in her hands.
"What is that?"
Rosa hesitated, but then handed them to him.
Nathaniel flipped through each page.
His face darkened.
He looked at Lily, who was still silently darkening a black line.
"Who told you to draw these?"
Lily stopped her pen.
She looked up at Nathaniel. Her eyes were clear but held a depth that didn't belong to a child.
"No one said anything," Lily whispered.
A pause.
"It's just that the house is in pain. So it wants to show everyone its wound."
Nathaniel gripped the stack of papers tightly.
The system wasn't just machinery.
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At Whitmore, the system was an entity.
And this entity was refusing to be manipulated.
