NOVEL NEXT Chapter 62 – Echoes
Nick and Jordan moved casually through the dispersing crowd, weaving between exhausted students and relief-drunk faculty members. The post-crisis atmosphere worked in their favor. The midterm results were forgotten and they were just two additional faces in a sea of exhaustion.
Almost clear, Nick thought, as they made their way through the throng headed for their Grayspire dormitory. But the prickle at the base of his neck told a different story. Hearing the determined footsteps behind them, matching their pace, he sighed.
"You know I'm not going anywhere, right?" Zora's voice called from behind them.
Nick didn't turn around. "We're just heading back to Grayspire."
"As am I. I'll walk with you." Zora replied flatly. "I noticed you both received a message from someone. What was it about?"
"Just a note from Val."
"About?" She pressed, catching up to them as they moved through the crowd.
"Honestly, we don't know." Jordan responded back. "We're headed to Grayspire to figure out what exactly happened and if she knows anything."
"That's what I thought. That's why I'm coming with you." Nick sighed again. He'd been expecting as much.
"Fine," he said. "But you have to clear it with Val. We don't know what she has planned and how it's going to help us get Maggie back"
"That's fine. I'm sure Val will be fine with my presence at your briefing. She's probably already got word from my superiors that I'll be stationed with her for the time being."
Nick just looked at her. Then without a word, continued toward Grayspire. The needed to find Maggie not waste time bickering.
The Grayspire training hall on the roof of the dorm glowed in the sunset light. Having always trained in the early mornings and late nights, Nick finally got the chance to admire the beauty of AIA from his dorm's rooftop. It was breathtaking. The way the sun's rays glinted off various campus buildings—Maggie would have loved this.
Nick quickly pulled back from those thoughts.
Maggie is alive. She was not like my parents. She still has a chance.
The mana within him began to stir when he felt Arlize's presence for the first time since he calmed him down in the arena guide the mana just below his skin in complex series of movements before bringing it back into his core. He felt all this but processing Arlize's actions felt like a whole other ballgame at that moment. A firm hand came to rest on his shoulders as Arlize finished maneuvering his mana back into his core. Looking up, he met Jordan's steady gaze, once again grateful for his friend's steadfastness.
Glancing over the rest of the open air gym, Nick noticed Val waiting for them in the center training area. Her posture rigid. She'd traded her usual professor slacks for a black tactical suit. She looked suited more to the Compound than AIA at that moment.
"Zora." Val's acknowledgment was sharp.
"Professor," Zora replied, her voice carefully neutral.
Nick studied Val's face in the sunset. Her usually composed mask remained intact, but he could see the fury burning beneath, cold, precise, and absolutely lethal.
"What happened?" Nick asked.
Val's smile could have cut glass. "Maggie and thirty other students were extracted through localized anomalies—controlled tears in space-time created by scaled-down versions of the same devices that opened the Mt. Cook fracture."
She gestured, and her interface projected a three-dimensional map of the Academy grounds. Red markers pulsed at various locations: dormitories, cafeterias, the Undergraduate library, offices, underground, and even from the stadium.
"The extraction was surgical. Each anomaly existed exactly seventeen seconds—long enough to transport one to three individuals, too brief for the campus' standard detection networks to lock onto. Whoever planned this had intimate knowledge of AIA's security protocols."
"How intimate?" Jordan asked, taking in each red marker.
"They knew sensor refresh rates, automated response delays, and even the specific mana signatures our wards are calibrated to detect." Val's voice dropped to a whisper, "We knew something like this would eventually happen, but not this soon."
[Host, based on the message Maggie Zhang received from Elijah Carter, Professor Vellian and several members of his staff members were seen filming Maggie and several of the students taken right before their disappearances.]
So they had definitely been planning something. But what and why would they kidnap the students so publicly?
"The good news," Val continued, "is Marcus and the Compound have resources the Academy lacks. Satellite resonance scanners, quantum-mana trackers, dimensional distortion mapping arrays. We'll find them.
She paused, her gaze moving between Nick and Jordan. "The better news? You two are about to get your first real Veilwalker assignment."
Before Nick could voice his objection, Jordan spoke, "What's the mission?"
"Extraction and recovery. The Academy is implementing a week-long closure. All students will be portaled back to their families for their safety as the school runs several inspections. The official cover story is they want to make sure the school is to protect students from any post-fracture tsunamis or geological instability."
Jordan frowned. "And unofficially?"
"Unofficially, we're going to figure out what happened to our kidnapped students and why the hell a fracture opened up in the city." Her smile turned predatory.
"Can't have students in the way while we do that, now can we? You two, will be returning to the compound tomorrow at 0500, where I'll be joining you later in the week after wrapping up a few things here. Then we'll be going on a little adventure." She finished flashing a sinister grin.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
"Now head back and pack. I'll see you both tomorrow."
They nodded at her and headed for the exit.
Sophia, where are we on a match for her location?
[Nothing as of yet. Running localized queries.]
While they left the training area, Zora lingered behind.
I guess she really was assigned to Val.
"Apex has reassigned me to your command until this situation is resolved," Zora said without preamble. "My superiors want me accompanying Nick and Jordan to the Compound."
"No." Val's answer came immediate and absolute.
"Professor—"
"Your value lies in organizing the remaining Alpha students at the Academy, should they choose to stay. Someone needs to keep them from mounting a rescue operation and compromising our investigation."
Zora felt her face heat; she inhaled slowly and lowered her voice. "With all due respect, Professor Val, my squad is missing. I cannot sit on the sidelines while—"
"While the teams with proper clearance carry out the extraction?" Val cut in, icily. "This is not a training exercise, Lieutenant Hayes. This is a hostile situation with terrorists who are holding 31 Academy students captive. Right now, the most effective thing you can do to help your teammates is keep those would-be rescuers from stumbling into crossfire."
A long pause. Then, reluctantly: "Understood."
"Good. Because if even one hot-headed Alpha student dies trying to be a hero, I will be holding you personally responsible."
Their suite felt surreal in the aftermath of the crisis. Too normal and much too peaceful for the events of the past 12 hours. Nick entered his room quickly, quietly closing the door behind him as Jordan entered his. Staying in their shared suite felt too weird without Maggie. Mechanically he grabbed a duffle, a dark camo bag with the Westlake insignia and began folding a week's worth of clothes folded inside.
Westlake, that was so long ago.
In that moment, the guilt he'd held at bay for the last couple of hours broke through and a dam of emotions swept through him.
Maggie is in this mess because I first approached her at Westlake. Her getting kidnapped is a direct result of my actions.
His circuits thrummed, his pulse hammering in his ears as shame warred with rage
It's all fucking my fault. I did this to her. Unbidden tears began to fall. Stripping, he walked into the bathroom, turned on the shower and walked into a spray of cold water. All the while the tears continued to fall.
As the water drowned his tears, Arlize's presence became more prominent, siphoning wave after wave of mana into Nick's core. As the water needled his skin, Nick felt himself becoming hotter and angrier; his mind fixated on the many scenarios that flitting through. What could Maggie have gone through these last five hours?
Images stabbed through his mind: Maggie defenseless, screaming; Maggie strapped to a table, mana currents overriding system, frying her brain. He tried to stop them, but they kept coming.
How the hell am I going to find her?
A soft knock came through the bedroom door, startling him.
"Nick, you in here?" Jordan called walking into Nick's room.
Clearing his throat, Nick called out, "Yyyyeah." Clearing his throat once more, he tried again, "Yeah, in the shower."
"Okay, when you're done, I had an idea I think we should consider. Just ping me when you're out." Jordan called out, then walked away.
A plan. That was what they needed. And for the first time the last couple of minutes, Nick took a deep breath.
In for four.
Hold for seven.
Out for eight.
Repeat.
A warmth different from the heated rage of earlier moments bloomed from his core to the rest of his body.
You will find her. Arlize said softly in his mind. And you will make the people who kidnapped her pay.
Maybe. But it might be better if we go our separate ways after this. I don't think....I don't think I can put anyone else in danger like this. Not again. Nick responded as he turned the shower off, toweled off, and walked back into his room.
That's a tough decision to make right now. You can think about that later. In this moment, you need to focus on finding your friend. With that, Arlize's presence retreated into his mind and Nick dressed and walked out of his room.
Scanning the suite, his eyes quickly shifted over Maggie's work station then back across the hall to Jordan's suite. Walking over he lightly knocked.
"I'll be right out." Jordan called and Nick went into the kitchen to make himself a cup of tea. Pulling out the green tea his abuela packed him, he put the kettle on the stove and grabbed two mugs. In a few minutes the water was boiled and Nick had two mugs of hot green tea ready as Jordan walked out looking like he'd also taken a quick shower.
He walked over and sat with Nick at the kitchen table. Murmuring a thanks, he took a sip. They both sat in silence for a moment, both lost in their thoughts.
"We need to talk to Selene before we leave," Jordan said finally.
Nick paused, a mug halfway to his lips. "Why?"
"She knows the Academy's darker secrets. If someone used localized anomalies to grab thirty-one students, she might understand how that could have happened or at least why they specifically targeted Maggie and the members of the Alpha group."
[Host, Selene's current location is the Omega Archives. Security protocols are operating at minimum capacity due to faculty deployment in Mt. Cook City recovery efforts.]
Nick felt a grim smile tug at his lips. Sometimes the universe hands you exactly what you need.
"Sophia says she's in the Omega Archives. Security's running light because of the crisis. You wanna see why she's down there?"
Standing, Jordan finished the last of his tea, dropping the mug in the sink, he headed for the door. "Let's go."
The descent into the Omega Archives felt different this time, less like an exploration. The corridors hummed with residual energy like it did the last time they were here with Selene.
Emergency lighting cast harsh shadows along the walls as their footsteps echoed. Nick's senses prickled with awareness as mana flowed all around them.
They found the entrance to the Archives open and a warm light spilling into the tunnel. Stepping through they found Selene kneeling on the floor in the center of the circular chamber, a leather-bound codex spread before her on the stone floor. Flames danced across its pages. Ancient glyphs flickered in the dancing light, revealing themselves for mere heartbeats before crumbling to ash.
What the hell is she doing?
Nick moved before he had a chance to think about his actions, responding instinctively to the threat of lost knowledge. Instantly coming to Selene's side, he grabbed the book and reflexively allowed mana to flow through his hands to smother the flames.
The book's binding held, barely. The last few pages were scorched but readable, their surfaces still glowing with fading ward-marks that made his eyes water to look at directly.
Selene looked up at him, and her smile revealed nothing.
"Hello, Nicholas." Her voice carried the same musical quality as always. "I was wondering when you'd come find me."
"What were you burning?" Nick demanded.
"Insurance," she said simply. "The kind that becomes dangerous when too many people start asking the right questions."
Jordan walked over to them, examining the book in Nick's hands "What kind of insurance?"
Selene rose gracefully, brushing ash from her hands. "The kind that explains how someone could open thirty-one precise dimensional tears without triggering every alarm system in the Academy. The kind that lists which faculty members have been reporting student behavioral patterns to external agencies. The kind that details exactly what happens to Omega-class resonators who become... inconvenient."
Nick just looked at her, taking in her smug grin and bright eyes. "You're saying the Academy is compromised."
"I'm saying the Academy has always been compromised, dear Nicholas. The only question is by whom, and for what purpose." She gestured toward the smoldering codex. "That book contained protection wards—old Arcadian binding spells that prevent certain truths from being spoken aloud. With it mostly destroyed, I can finally tell you what you need to know."
She paused, her gaze predatory as it passed between Nick and Jordan.
"But first, you need to ask yourselves: are you ready to learn the truth?"
The silence stretched between them. In the distance, Nick could hear the Academy's automated systems cycling up slowly—normal sounds from a world that suddenly felt impossibly far away.
But Maggie was out there, and they needed to find her. If Selene held the answers, then he'd hear what she had to say.
"Tell us," he said.
Selene's smile widened.
"With pleasure."