Ace's POV
The infirmary smelled of antiseptic and artificial lemons, a scent that usually meant safety but tonight felt like a shroud. Jay-jay lay on the narrow cot, her breathing hitched and shallow, even in her drugged sleep.
Keifer hadn't moved from her side, his hand hovering just inches from hers, as if afraid that touching her would cause her to shatter completely.
I stood by the window, the moonlight cutting a jagged silver line across the floor. My mind was a chaotic map of variables, but one kept pulsing in red: the blood.
I pulled the handkerchief from my pocket. The dark stain had dried into a stiff, sugary crust. I rubbed it between my thumb and forefinger. It didn't flake like hemoglobin; it felt tacky, like industrial syrup.
Stage blood.
It wasn't a crime of passion or a random act of violence. It was a psychological trigger, precision-engineered to break the one person who held our group together. And there was only one person in this hellhole with the clinical detachment to pull that off.
"Watch her," I commanded Keifer. He didn't even blink, his gaze fixed on Jay's pale face.
I walked out, my boots thudding against the linoleum like a death knell.
I didn't head for the dorms. I headed for the old bell tower—the place where the shadows were thickest, and where I knew a certain ghost would be lingering.
Raze Silvenia was leaning against the stone battlement.
Why, Raze?" I asked, my voice low. "She has nothing to do with our war. Why did you trigger her?"
I moved fast, pinning him against the cold stone. I expected him to laugh, to mock me. Instead, Raze just looked at me. His eyes weren't cold; they were haunted. He didn't fight my grip. He let me hold him there, his breathing steady.
"Because she's forgetting, Ace," Raze whispered, and for a second, the mask of the villain slipped. He sounded like my brother again. "And if she forgets, she dies. The people who ran that lab... they aren't gone. They're watching her. They're waiting for the 'Golden Girl' to become a sheep again."
"So you traumatize her? You break her mind just to wake her up?" I hissed.
"It's important for her to remember, Ace," he said, his voice cracking slightly. "Only then can we know the truth of that night in the lab. We were there too, remember? We need to know the truth. She needs to be ready."
I loosened my grip, my heart sinking. I remembered the white hallways. The smell of ozone. The way Raze used to hold my hand when the sirens went off. He wasn't doing this out of malice; he was doing it out of a warped, desperate sense of protection. He was trying to arm her with her own memories.
"Don't harm her again," I warned, stepping back. "I mean it, Raze. If you use her as a pawn, I will dismantle everything."
Raze straightened his collar, a sad smirk playing on his lips. "You've changed, Ace. Ever since Zein arrived. You're coming back to yourself—the boy you were before the crown. That makes you human. And in this place, human is a dangerous thing to be. But I am happy that My brother is coming back."
He reached out, his hand hovering near my shoulder for a fraction of a second—a ghost of a brotherly gesture—before he pulled away and vanished into the shadows
Keifer's POV
Jay felt like ice in my arms.
When we moved her from the infirmary to a more secure room in the West Wing, I refused to let anyone else carry her. She was so light—frighteningly light—as if the trauma had hollowed out her very bones.
I sat in the armchair beside her bed, my eyes burning from lack of sleep. The others were gathered in the corners of the room—Zein, Matt, Percy, Dave and the rest. The air was thick with a protective, silent fury.
"She's dreaming," Zein whispered, stepping closer.
Jay-jay's head thrashed against the pillow. A low, guttural moan escaped her lips. It wasn't the sound of a girl having a bad dream; it was the sound of someone being hunted.
"No... please," Jay-jay murmured. Her voice was a cracked reed. "Mama? Mama, don't let them... the needle... it hurts..."
I leaned forward, my heart hammering. "Jay? Jay-jay, wake up. You're safe."
"The red... it's everywhere," she choked out, her breathing accelerating into a panicked rhythm. "He's coming. Allen run.The man with the knife. Ma, help me! The cage is getting smaller!"
Ace stepped into the room then, his face grim, followed by the rest of the group. We all crowded around the bed, a wall of living shields, but we couldn't protect her from the monsters inside her own head.
Suddenly, Jay's eyes snapped open.
They weren't the warm, chocolate eyes I loved. They were blown wide, white-rimmed with a primal, animalistic terror.
"Jay, it's okay," I said, reaching out to brush a stray hair from her forehead.
The moment my fingers grazed her skin, she let out a blood-curdling scream. She scrambled backward, hitting the headboard with a sickening thud, her hands clawing at the air.
"DON'T TOUCH ME!" she shrieked, her voice raw. "Get away! Don't put me back in the dark! Please!"
"Jay, it's me! It's Keifer!" I yelled over her panic, but she didn't see me. She was looking right through me, seeing a ghost from a decade ago.
She began to hyperventilate, her small frame shaking so violently I thought she would go into shock. Despite her pushing, despite the way her nails raked across my forearms drawing real blood, I lunged forward.
I wrapped my arms around her, pinning her arms to her sides in a crushing embrace. She fought me like a wild animal, sobbing and screaming into my chest, her knees kicking at my stomach.
"Let go! Let go! He's going to kill Ma!"
"I've got you," I growled, my own tears stinging my eyes. "I'm not letting go. I'm the monster that guards you, Jay. Nothing gets past me. Breathe. Just breathe."
I rocked her back and forth, ignoring the pain in my ribs, ignoring the stunned silence of the room. Slowly, the fight began to drain out of her. The screams turned into ragged, wet gasps.
Jay's POV
The world is white. Blinding, stinging white.
I am small.
My legs are dangling off the edge of a cold, metal table. There are leather straps around my wrists, rubbing my skin raw. I can hear the hum of machines—a low, rhythmic throb that vibrates in my teeth.
"Be a brave girl, Jay-jay," a woman whispers. I look up. It's Mama. But her eyes are red from crying, and a man in a white coat is holding her arm, pulling her toward the heavy steel door.
"Mama! Don't leave me!" I try to reach for her, but the straps jerk me back. "Allen wake up ! Ma, Save us!"
I look to the corner. There's a little girl—me?—tied to a lab bed. Another man is leaning over her with a long, shimmering needle. He's drawing something out. Not just blood. It looks like liquid gold in the syringe.
Then, the white world turns red. The machines explode. Blood begins to leak from the ceiling, pouring down the walls like a waterfall. I'm standing in it, and it's rising to my knees, my waist, my neck.
A man emerges from the crimson tide. He doesn't have a face, just a mask of shadow. He holds a long, jagged knife that drips with the same gold liquid. He walks toward me, his boots splashing in the blood.
"Time to go back in the cage, little bird," he hisses.
I scream, but my mouth fills with salt and iron. I'm drowning in it. I'm back in the cage. I'm five years old and the world is ending—
I snapped awake.
The ceiling was dark. The air was cold. But I could still feel the leather straps on my wrists. I could still smell the copper of the blood.
Someone was touching me. A man. The man with the knife?
"DON'T TOUCH ME!" I screamed, my lungs burning. I fought. I scratched. I had to kill him before he put me back in the white room. I had to survive.
I pushed against a hard, warm chest. I felt my nails sink into skin. I waited for the knife. I waited for the cage to lock.
But the knife never came. Instead, I felt arms—strong, steady, and familiar—wrapping around me. A scent filled my nose. It wasn't lemons or blood. It was expensive cologne, tobacco, and something that smelled like... home.
"I've got you," a voice vibrated against my ear. A low, rumbling hum that I knew in my soul. "I'm not letting go."
The red mist in my eyes began to clear. The white room faded. I blinked, my breath coming in short, jagged hiccups. I looked up.
I wasn't in a lab.
I was in a room filled with people. I saw Ace, his face tight with a worry he never showed anyone. I saw Zein, her face wet with tears.
And I saw the man holding me.
"Keifer?" I whispered, my voice barely audible.
His grip loosened just enough for him to look me in the eye. His silver eyes were fierce, filled with a terrifying level of devotion. There were fresh red scratches on his arms where I had clawed him.
"Yeah," he breathed, his forehead leaning against mine. "It's me. You're not there, Jay. You're with us. You're in Hell University."
I let out a broken sob and buried my face in the crook of his neck, clutching his shirt as if it were the only thing keeping me from falling back into the dark. I remembered the blood on the wall. I remembered the man in the mask.
Zein's POV
I stood at the foot of the bed, my hand pressed over my mouth to stifle a sob.
Watching Jay-jay break was like watching the sun go out. She was always the one who made us laugh, the one who made this violent school feel like a home. To see her reduced to a screaming, terrified child was unbearable.
I looked at Ace. His jaw was set so tight I thought it might shatter. He looked at Keifer and Jay-jay with a gaze that was both fiercely protective and deeply guilty.
I realized then that Onel was right—Ace was becoming human again, and the cost of that humanity was the agony of watching the people you love suffer.
Jay-jay finally went limp in Keifer's arms, her breath hitching in little, jagged sobs. She looked up at us, her eyes clear for the first time since the basement.
"Keifer?" she whispered, her voice tiny.
"I'm here," he breathed, kissing the top of her head.
I stepped forward, reaching out to touch her hand. She flinched for a second, then recognized me and gripped my fingers so hard it hurt.
I kneeld, clutching Jay's hand to her cheek. "The red is gone, Jay. You are safe. Look at all of us."
My voice become a steady anchor. "We are an army, and we won't let the dark touch you again. Just breathe with me."
She relaxed in Keifer embrace after that.
A/n
Guys, I'm sorry for not uploading chapters last few days.I was busy with some relatives at my home.So I couldn't get time to update . They are still here.But I will try to upload chapters whenever I get time....