Jay's POV
The air in Hell University was never truly clear; it always tasted of old stone, damp corridors, and the metallic tang of unspoken threats. After the shouting match in the cafeteria, that air felt like it was thickening into a physical weight, pressing against my lungs as I stomped toward the library.
I needed silence. I needed to be surrounded by books that didn't talk back, didn't mark my neck like property, and didn't look at me with eyes full of terrifying vulnerability.
My boots clicked sharply against the linoleum, a rhythmic outlet for my frustration. I was halfway through the west wing when a shadow detached itself from the doorway of a darkened lecture hall.
I stopped, my hand instinctively darting to the pocket where I kept my brass knuckles.
Nazzer stood there, leaning against the wall with a casual, oily grace. His smile was wide, but his eyes were like two pieces of flint. "Going somewhere, Jay?"
"None of your business, Nazzer," I snapped, trying to shoulder past him. "Move. I'm not in the mood for the some lackeys today."
I didn't even see him move. One second he was leaning against the wall; the next, he had lunged forward. I tried to swing, but he was faster, slipping under my guard.
Before I could let out a scream, he had me pinned. He didn't just grab me—he hoisted me over his shoulder like I was a bag of discarded supplies.
"Put me down, you bastard!" I hissed, slamming my fists into his back. I could feel the hard muscle of his shoulders, and he didn't even grunt.
"Patience, Jay," he chuckled, his voice vibrating against my ribs. "We just need a private word."
He kicked open a heavy door to an old, disused storage room near the back of the gym. He didn't set me down; he dumped me. I hit the dusty floor hard, rolling to my feet instantly, my eyes scanning for a weapon—only to freeze when I saw the scene already unfolding in the center of the room.
"Zein?" I gasped.
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Zein's POV
Twenty minutes ago, I had been staring at my reflection in the cracked mirror of the second-floor washroom. The water running over my wrists was cold, but it couldn't cool the heat blooming on my neck.
I was thinking about Ace—about the ring hidden under my shirt and the terrifyingly soft way he had looked at that kitten, Hoy.
The door behind me swung open with a violent bang. I didn't have time to turn.
Through the mirror, I saw a flash of blonde hair and a blur of movement.
Crack.
The slap was so hard my head snapped to the side. The metallic taste of blood immediately filled my mouth. I didn't scream; I didn't have the breath for it.
I turned, my vision swimming for a split second, to see Nicky standing there, her chest heaving, her hand still raised for another strike.
"You think you're special?" Nicky spat, her face contorted in a mask of pure rage.
She swung again, but this time I was ready. I caught her wrist mid-air, the sound of our skin meeting like a gunshot in the tiled room. I twisted her arm back, pinning her against the sinks. "You shouldn't have done that, Nicky."
I tried to drag her toward the door, intending to throw her out, but she was like a viper.
She twisted out of my grip and drove a knee into my stomach. We tumbled into the hallway, a chaotic mess of limbs and suppressed grunts.
We were equally matched—she had the speed, I had the cold, calculated precision. We fought our way down the corridor, neither of us gaining the upper hand until we reached the storage wing.
She managed to shove me into the room just as the door clicked shut behind us. We were circling each other like wolves when Nazzer walked in, unceremoniously dropping Jay onto the floor.
"Jay!" I shouted, moving toward her, but Nicky blocked my path, her eyes gleaming with a sick sort of triumph.
Jay stood up, brushing the dust off her jeans with a calm that was far more terrifying than any scream. She looked at Nicky, then at Nazzer, then back at me. Her lip was bleeding, but her eyes were cold.
"Alright," Jay said, her voice dropping into that dangerous, low register. "Say what you want to say before I lose my patience and start tearing limbs off."
Nazzer stepped forward, his smile gone, replaced by a hard, authoritative stare. "This is your only warning, Zein. Stay away from Ace. The Supremo isn't your playground. If you keep pulling him into this... emotional trap, the consequences will be disastrous. For him, and for you."
I let out a dry, sarcastic laugh that echoed off the metal shelves. "Disastrous? Oh, I'm shaking, Nazzer. Really. Is this the part where you tell me you're doing this for my own good?"
Nicky stepped into my space, her voice trembling with a mix of hate and desperate conviction. "Who do you think you are, Zein?."
I looked her dead in the eye, my voice steady. "I'm just a girl who never imagined falling in love with your Supremo. But I did. And no amount of slapping or kidnapping is going to change the fact that he chose me."
Nicky turned her venom toward Jay. "And you. Leave this school. Leave Keifer. If you stay, stay silent. Don't rebel. Don't make him choose between his life and a girl who doesn't know her place."
"Why do you both care so much?" I asked, stepping closer to Jay. "Why are you so obsessed with who we spend our nights with?"
"Because love is poisonous!" Nicky screamed, the sound echoing painfully in the small room. "It makes you weak. It makes you slow. In Hell University, love is a death sentence. We're trying to keep the hierarchy alive."
Jay stepped forward, a dark smirk playing on her lips. "Love is poisonous? How tragic for you. Tell me, Nicky, when is your funeral? Because you sound like you've been dead for years if that's all you believe in."
"Shut up!" Nicky shrieked, swinging a wild punch that caught Jay right on the jaw.
Jay's head snapped back, but she didn't fall. She didn't even wince. She slowly turned her face back to Nicky, and for the first time, I saw the true monster Jay kept hidden behind her sarcasm. She started to laugh—a low, melodic, and utterly chilling sound.
"Is that the best you've got?" Jay whispered. "I've been hit by people who actually mattered. You? You're just a fly buzzing around a lioness."
Nazzer moved to restrain Jay, but he made a fatal mistake: he thought she was still shaken. Jay took advantage of the moment he reached for her. With a flick of her wrist—a trick she'd picked up in the underground pits—she manipulated the zip-tie Nazzer had tried to loop around her hands earlier, using a hidden pin to pop the lock.
"Zein, now!" Jay barked.
In one fluid motion, Jay grabbed Nicky by the throat and slammed her back into the brick wall.
Simultaneously, I pivoted. I didn't go for Nazzer's face. I channeled every ounce of the "Supremo's Partner" training into a brutal, lightning-fast kick directly into Nazzer's groin.
The sound that left Nazzer's throat was a pathetic, strangled wheeze. He collapsed like a house of cards, clutching himself as his face turned a vibrant shade of purple.
Jay leaned into Nicky's face, her voice a terrifying purr. "Listen to me, you pathetic shadows. You ever touch my sister again, you ever speak Keifer's name in my presence, and I won't just slap you. I will dismantle you. I will make sure the only thing left of you in this university is a cautionary tale."
Jay shoved Nicky aside. Nicky slumped to the floor next to Nazzer, both of them gasping for air and clutching their injuries.
"Think twice before messing with us again," I added, looking down at Nazzer with pure disdain. "We aren't just 'girls' you can bully into submission. We're the ones who survived the rebellion. What have you done lately besides hide in corners?"
Jay and I turned in unison and walked out of the room, the heavy metal door slamming shut behind us with a finality that felt like a declaration of war.
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Angelo POV
"The records are a lie, Ion," I growled, kicking a pile of burnt debris. "The night Lux was killed, everyone focused on Samnsth . They saw the explosion, they saw the bodies fall, but they missed the shadow moving in the background."
I held up a charred, half-melted security badge I had found wedged behind a loose brick. It didn't belong to any student. It didn't even belong to the guards."Look at this," I said, my voice hardening. "This badge was swiped after the fire was supposed to have sealed the sector. Someone didn't just survive; they were the one who opened the doors for the past to return... and they stayed behind to watch them die."
I thought of Jay—my sister, the only sunshine left in this hellish institution. I remembered her smile.
"I don't care if it's a ghost or a demon," I said, looking Ion straight in the eye. "If they think they can use the past to break Jay, they're dead wrong. She's already lost her mother to this place. I will burn this university to the ground myself before I let another 'hidden survivor' touch a hair on her head."
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Ion POV
I stepped closer to Angelo, my eyes flashing with a dangerous resolve."They might be a ghost, but we're the ones with the weapons. Zein is like a sister to me, and Jay is family to you. If this 'observer' wants to separate them to 'save' them, they'll have to go through us first. And unlike the people from five years ago, we aren't planning on running away. We're planning on winning."
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Author POV
From the darkness of a ventilation shaft just above them, a pair of eyes narrowed. The observer listened to Angelo and Ion's bold proclamations.
A low, raspy chuckle escaped his throat—a sound like dry leaves skittering over a grave."Protect them?" the shadow whispered. "You can't protect them from the truth of what happened years ago. You can't protect them . They are the tool for the experiment."
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A/n
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