CHAPTER FOURTEEN. IP address

Secrets have a way of creeping into the light.

And speaking of secrets...

It's no surprise Emmet carries a temper—violence runs in his blood. His father always hated Lucas' father. Some rivalries never die, huh?

Tick-tock, my little detectives. Keep up.

The cafeteria was alive with the usual chaos of lunchtime. Students chattered over trays of half-eaten meals, laughter erupted from different corners of the room, and the faint hum of gossip wove itself into the air like static. The scent of overcooked fries and something vaguely resembling pasta lingered, but for Ginny, everything faded into the background the moment her phone vibrated.

A single notification flashed across the screen.

[The Watcher] has sent a message to the group chat.

Her fingers tightened around her phone as she read the words, her heartbeat pounding like a war drum in her chest. The message was taunting, cryptic, a knife dipped in honey. But before she could even process the implications of what The Watcher had just revealed, another alert flickered to life at the top of her screen.

A different kind of notification.

Location Tracked: IP Address Identified.

Ginny's breath hitched. Her thumb hovered over the alert before she tapped it open, her pulse hammering in her ears.

It wasn't from some remote server bouncing between hidden networks. It wasn't an untraceable ghost signal.

It was coming from inside the school.

More specifically—the computer lab.

For a second, all she could do was stare at the screen, the weight of realization pressing down on her like a stone. The Watcher wasn't some faraway entity lurking in the shadows of the internet. They were here. Right here. Somewhere within these very walls, likely walking the same hallways, sitting in the same classrooms.

The thought sent a chill rippling down her spine.

She shoved her phone into her pocket and shot up from her seat so abruptly that her chair scraped against the tile with an ear-piercing screech. Heads turned. A few students gave her odd looks, but she ignored them. There were bigger things at play now.

Her feet moved on instinct, weaving through the maze of lunch tables, past students absorbed in their own worlds. She spotted Helena first, Vienna right beside her, their conversation halting the moment they caught sight of Ginny's expression.

Helena barely had time to react before Ginny grabbed her wrist, her grip firm. "I found a lead."

Vienna's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

Ginny swallowed, trying to steady her voice despite the adrenaline coursing through her veins. "The message. The Watcher sent it from inside the school." She inhaled sharply, lowering her voice to just above a whisper. "From the computer lab."

Vienna's eyes widened. Helena stiffened. The weight of the revelation settled over them like a suffocating fog, thick with tension and silent understanding.

Then, without another word, they moved.

Their pace was swift, calculated—threading through clusters of students, slipping past the teachers stationed near the exits. The moment they stepped out of the cafeteria, their strides turned into a near-run.

The school hallways stretched before them, empty except for the occasional student lingering at their locker or heading to the restrooms. The hum of fluorescent lights buzzed overhead. Every step they took felt heavier than the last, the urgency pressing down on them.

Because if The Watcher had made a mistake—if they'd been careless enough to send a message from a traceable location—then this was their chance.

A real, tangible chance to catch them.

They wouldn't waste it.

Karissa's footsteps echoed sharply against the linoleum floors as she stormed through the empty hallway, her fury barely contained. Emmet had been dragged away after the fight, and no one had seen him since. The vice principal's office was the only logical place to check, and she wasn't about to wait around for someone to feed her secondhand information.

As she rounded the corner, her gaze landed on a lone figure slouched in one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs outside the vice principal's office. Jayson.

He sat there, elbows resting on his knees, fingers idly spinning a ring around his thumb. His expression was unreadable—bored, maybe a little annoyed, but there was something else lingering beneath it.

Karissa slowed her steps, but only slightly. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Jayson didn't bother looking up. "Nice to see you too, Karissa."

She crossed her arms. "Seriously. What are you doing here?"

He exhaled through his nose, finally tilting his head to glance at her. "Got called in," he said, voice flat. "Something about 'questioning my choices' or whatever." He stretched his legs out, like he wasn't sitting outside the office of someone who could easily suspend him. "Vice principal loves his little lectures. Figured I'd take a nap before he gets to me."

Karissa narrowed her eyes, unconvinced. "You didn't get pulled in anything else?"

Jayson let out a low chuckle. "Nope. That was all Emmet. But you already knew that, didn't you?" He leaned back against the chair, watching her now, sharp-eyed and observant. "You here for him?"

She hesitated. Just for a second. "Yeah."

He hummed, tapping his fingers against his knee. "Figures."

Karissa sighed, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "Where did they take him?"

"Inside," Jayson said, jerking his head toward the office door. "Vice principal's been in there with him for a while."

She frowned. "You think they'll suspend him?"

Jayson tilted his head, considering. "Wouldn't be the first time someone got a slap on the wrist for throwing a punch." Then his lips curved into something that wasn't quite a smirk. "But it depends on how much they like you. And we both know Emmet isn't exactly winning popularity contests with the staff."

Karissa rolled her eyes. "He was defending me."

Jayson nodded once, slow and deliberate. "I know."

Something about the way he said it—so casual, so certain—made Karissa pause. She studied him for a moment, taking in the way his expression remained neutral, how he seemed entirely unbothered by the fact that he was sitting outside an office where trouble waited on the other side.

Then she sighed and sat down in the empty chair beside him.

Jayson raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You're keeping me company now?"

She shot him a look. "Don't get used to it."

He smirked. "Wouldn't dream of it."

And for a brief, fleeting moment, they sat there in silence, waiting.

The three girls sprinted through the halls, their hurried footsteps barely muffled by the worn-out carpet lining the floor. Ginny led the way, phone clutched tightly in her hand, her breath uneven .

Helena and Vienna kept pace beside her, their minds racing just as fast as their feet. The air was thick with urgency, and none of them wasted a second glancing back.

"This way!" Vienna called, veering sharply down a side hall. It was the shortest route to the computer lab—one that cut directly past the vice principal's office.

As they rounded the corner, they spotted Karissa sitting in one of the plastic chairs outside, her arms crossed, an expression of barely restrained irritation on her face. Beside her, Jayson lounged comfortably, as if he had all the time in the world.

Jayson caught sight of them instantly, and a slow smirk tugged at his lips. "Hey, Blondie," he called, eyes locking onto Helena.

Helena, despite herself, smiled. It was brief, almost instinctual, before she quickly turned away and continued following Ginny and Vienna. There was no time to waste.

Karissa, however, straightened slightly, watching them as they passed. She could tell something was off—the way they moved with such purpose, the way their gazes flickered toward one another as if they were holding onto some unspoken urgency.

A moment later, Karissa's phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out, and her eyes narrowed at the message that had just come through.

Found a lead. Don't make it visible.

Her grip tightened around the device.

Whatever they had just discovered—it was big.

The girls skidded to a stop in front of the computer lab, their breaths shallow from the sprint. The fluorescent hallway lights buzzed softly overhead, casting a cold, artificial glow on the metal door handle.

Ginny hesitated for only a second before pushing the door open. It creaked slightly, and as the three stepped inside, their eyes immediately darted around the dimly lit room.

It was empty.

The rows of computers sat untouched, their screens dark, the only sound in the room the steady hum of the cooling fans. A faint trace of heat still lingered in the air—like someone had just been here moments ago.

Helena exhaled sharply, hands on her hips. "No one," she muttered.

Vienna moved toward the nearest computer, fingers hovering over the keyboard. "But someone sent that message from here," she murmured.

Ginny scanned the room, her mind working quickly. "Check the computers. If they didn't have time to cover their tracks, maybe we can find something."

She rushed to the far end of the room, eyes flicking to the monitors, looking for any sign of recent activity. But everything was logged out, wiped clean as if no one had touched them.

Helena crouched, running her fingers along the mousepad of one computer, but the screen remained blank. She sighed, pushing herself back up. "This doesn't make sense. If they were in such a hurry, why leave the door open?"

Vienna, however, wasn't convinced that they had hit a dead end just yet. She pulled out her phone and texted Karissa quickly:

Nothing here. But it doesn't feel like nothing.

As she sent the message, she glanced at Ginny, who had suddenly stilled in front of one of the monitors. Her face had gone stiff, eyes locked on something.

Vienna and Helena hurried over.

Ginny pointed to the desk. "Someone was just sitting here."

The faintest imprint of pressure was still visible on the chair, as though it had only just been vacated. A few stray keystrokes were lingering on the dust-speckled keyboard.

Vienna's stomach tightened.

Whoever had been here—they were only seconds ahead of them.

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