The message stayed on the screen for exactly four seconds before disappearing. But four seconds was enough.
DO NOT LET HER REMEMBER.
My heartbeat slowed into something cold and dangerous. Not understand. Not discover. Remember?
I looked up sharply. "What does that mean?"
Kael stared at the now-empty screen like it had personally threatened him. "Ayla—"
"No." I stepped back. "No more half-truths. What does remember mean?"
He ran a hand across his jaw roughly, exhaustion finally cracking through his control. "I don't know completely."
"Stop saying that."
"It's the truth."
"Then give me the part you do know." Silence stretched between us. Thunder rolled outside somewhere beyond the old medical wing.
"Veil doesn't just monitor behavior." Every nerve in my body tightened.
"What else does it do?"
Kael hesitated. Which terrified me immediately.
"They were studying memory."
The room suddenly felt smaller.
"Studying how?"
"Nobody knows exactly." His voice lowered carefully. "Noah found fragments buried in old research archives. Psychological conditioning. Memory suppression. Behavioral reconstruction."
My stomach twisted violently. "That's impossible."
"You saw your erased video."
"That wasn't you?"
"no"
The fluorescent lights overhead flickered weakly. For one horrible second, I remembered Noah's voice again They know not that they're watching.
They know.
"What if Noah remembered something they erased?" I whispered.
Kael's expression darkened immediately. "That's what I think happened."
A cold chill crawled down my spine. Because suddenly the entire situation became much worse. This wasn't just covering up murder. This was altering reality. The abandoned medical wing felt suffocating now. Every dark hallway suddenly seemed loaded with history.
The beds. The restraints. The missing records.
How many students had passed through this place?
How many left believing their memories were real?
I looked back toward the old hospital room. "What exactly happened here?"
Kael followed my gaze. "Years ago, Ravenwell partnered with private research foundations."
"Research for what?"
"Officially?" He laughed softly without humor. "Trauma recovery studies."
"And unofficially?" He didn't answer.
A sound echoed faintly somewhere above us. Footsteps.
Kael immediately grabbed my arm again. "You seriously need healthier hobbies than dragging me through secret medical facilities."
"You're still talking," he muttered. "That's reassuring."
He pushed open another side door leading into a narrow stairwell. We climbed silently. The higher we moved, the newer the building became. Fresh paint. Cleaner walls. Modern lighting. Like Ravenwell had buried its rot underneath prettier architecture. Typical. The stairwell finally opened into the main science building near the upper lecture halls. Students moved through the corridors normally here. Laughing. Talking. Complaining about assignments.
The shift felt surreal. Like we'd climbed out of a nightmare nobody else noticed. Kael slowed slightly once we reached the crowd. Distance returned instantly. Not physically, Emotionally. His posture sharpened again, expression flattening. Mask back on.
Interesting.
"You do this automatically," I said quietly.
"Do what?"
"Act human until other people are around." His eyes flicked toward me briefly.
"That's funny coming from you."
Before I could respond someone collided directly into me. Coffee exploded across my sleeve.
"Oh my God— sorry!" Maya.
Breathing hard, Hair damp from rain, Expression horrified.
"I swear I'm not usually this homicidal before noon." I blinked rapidly. The sudden normalcy felt emotionally offensive somehow.
"It's fine."
Maya grabbed napkins from nearby instantly before pausing awkwardly upon noticing Kael beside me. The atmosphere shifted immediately. Subtle. But there. Her eyes moved between us carefully.
"Well," she said slowly, "this feels threatening."
Kael stepped back slightly. Interesting again, Not avoidance, Caution.
Maya crossed her arms. "Should I ask why the campus cryptid is escorting you around restricted buildings?"
"He wasn't escorting me."
"You're covered in dust." I looked down.
Damn.
Kael spoke before I could answer. "She got lost."
Maya stared at him. Then at me. Then back at him. "Wow," she said softly. "That was the worst lie I've ever heard." Honestly? Fair.
Students brushed past us through the hallway while tension settled awkwardly between all three of us. Then Maya's expression shifted slightly.
"Ayla…" Her voice lowered. "You should probably avoid the north side of campus today." My pulse sharpened instantly.
"Why?"
"There's security everywhere." She hesitated. "Apparently administration's investigating unauthorized archive access." Kael went completely still beside me.
Maya noticed instantly, Oops.
"You know something about that?" she asked carefully.
"No," Kael answered immediately. Too immediately.
Maya narrowed her eyes. "You're both acting weird."
"We're always weird," I said quickly.
"Not this weird." Before the conversation could spiral further, every phone in the hallway buzzed simultaneously. The sound rippled through the corridor like static.
Students stopped moving almost instantly. Confused murmurs spread around us. I pulled out my phone. A university-wide emergency notification filled the screen.
CAMPUS NOTICE: Due to an ongoing security investigation, all students are required to remain on campus grounds until further notice. Any unauthorized access to restricted university systems or facilities will result in immediate disciplinary action. Thank you for your cooperation.
My stomach dropped, Campus lockdown? Around us, students started reacting immediately.
"What the hell?"
"Is this because of North Tower?"
"Did someone hack the system?"
Kael grabbed my wrist suddenly, Again. Apparently this was his primary communication method now. "We need to go."
Maya frowned. "Okay now I'm definitely concerned."
But Kael's attention stayed fixed somewhere past the crowd, I followed his gaze. Three campus security officers had entered the hallway. And they were walking directly toward us. One of them pointed subtly. Toward me.
Cold adrenaline flooded my bloodstream instantly.
"Ayla," Kael said quietly, "don't react."
"Fantastic sentence." The officers moved closer, Closer.
Then one of them spoke into a radio clipped near his shoulder. "Visual confirmation," he muttered. "Subject located."
Subject? Not student.
Subject.
Every instinct in my body screamed at once. Then Kael did something completely unexpected, He pulled me sharply against him and
kissed me? wtf-