Helena blinked slowly, the antiseptic sting of the hospital room grounding her back into reality.
Beside her, Greg sat rigid in the corner chair, elbows on his knees, watching her every move.
Tessy hovered near the bedside table, arms folded tightly across her chest, concern etched in every line of her face.
But it was the sound of hurried footsteps down the hallway—and the familiar voice calling her name—that made Helena’s pulse spike.
“Helena! Baby!”
The door burst open.
Mrs. Tricia, still in her nursing uniform, hair disheveled, rushed into the room.
“Mum,” Helena whispered hoarsely.
Tricia crossed the room in seconds and pulled her daughter into her arms, tears slipping down her cheeks. “What happened? Are you okay? Jesus—when Tessy called, I thought—”
“I’m okay,” Helena whispered. “I just… slipped. That’s what the doctors think.”
Her mother pulled back slightly, brushing Helena’s hair from her face. “Slipped where? How?”
Tessy stepped forward gently. “In the bathroom. After school. I called her over and over but she wasn’t answering. I got worried. When I found out she hadn’t come back to the dorm, I panicked. I told Greg and Theo and we checked everything. Then the school nurse called in an ambulance.”
Tricia turned to Tessy, voice raw. “Thank you for calling me. I don’t even want to imagine—” She turned back to Helena, gently gripping her daughter’s hand. “You’ve been so quiet lately. Why didn’t you tell me things were getting this bad?”
Helena hesitated.
There were too many things she couldn’t say. Not yet.
Greg stood up from the chair slowly. “Mrs. Tricia… she’s been through a lot. We all have. There’s more going on at Brentford than people realize.”
Tricia looked between them, her eyes narrowing slightly. “Then you’ll tell me everything. Every. Detail.”
Helena nodded faintly. “Just not now. I need rest.”
Tricia sighed and kissed her daughter’s forehead. “I’ll step outside to speak with the doctor. You rest. I’ll be right back.”
As her mother stepped out, Helena turned to Greg and Tessy.
“You called her?”
Tessy smiled weakly. “You’re not alone, remember?”
Helena blinked back tears.
“I was scared,” she admitted. “When I fell… I thought… I wouldn’t wake up.”
“You did,” Greg said quietly. “And you’re not going anywhere.”
Helena looked at him. “Neither are you?”
“Not unless you tell me to.”
She reached for his hand—and this time, she didn’t let go.
Cliffhanger Ending — Chapter Twenty-Seven
Later that evening, after Helena had drifted back to sleep and the hospital hallway had fallen silent, Tricia stepped back into the room to check her daughter.
A nurse passed her an envelope.
“This came for your daughter earlier. No return address.”
Tricia frowned and set it on the table beside Helena.
But as the light from the hallway hit it, something flickered across the page.
A name.
Scrawled in elegant cursive:
“For Helena… From Sophia.”
Tricia turned the envelope over in her hands. It was plain—cream-colored, sealed in wax with no stamp or sender. No markings.
Except one.
Her daughter’s name, Helena, scrawled in curling script… and beneath it, barely visible in the lamplight, another name etched in faint ink:
“From Sophia.”
Her breath caught.
Tricia set it carefully on the bedside table and glanced back at her daughter. Helena slept deeply, her chest rising and falling in slow rhythm, the IV drip whispering beside her.
Torn between protecting her child and fearing what secrets the envelope might hold, Tricia stepped into the hallway to give herself space to think.
Inside the room, the light flickered.
And Helena stirred.
Her eyes fluttered open. Her throat still dry, her limbs heavy. But something felt… wrong.
She turned her head—and saw it.
The envelope.
She blinked. Reached for it with trembling fingers.
Her heart raced as she broke the wax seal and unfolded the letter inside.
The paper smelled faintly of lavender. The handwriting was soft, slanted… and unmistakably feminine.
“Helena,
I don’t have much time. I’m alive.
You’re getting close. Too close.
Don’t trust the ones who act like they care.
They were part of it.
They’re watching you, just like they watched me.
Don’t make the same mistake I did.
-S.”
Helena froze.
Every breath in her lungs turned to ice.
The door creaked open.
Greg stepped inside, holding a bottle of water and a cup of yogurt.
“I thought you might be hungry—” he paused when he saw her face. “Helena?”
She handed him the letter silently, her eyes wide with disbelief.
He read it, his jaw tightening. “Sophia…”
“She’s alive,” Helena whispered.
Greg looked up, voice low. “This changes everything.”
From the shadows just outside the window, a figure turned silently and disappeared down the hospital fire escape.
They were being watched.
Again.
Helena sat up in her hospital bed the next morning, the letter from Sophia now hidden beneath her pillow. Her mind was spinning, but her face was calm. She had learned how to keep secrets—even from her mother.
Still, Mrs. Tricia wasn’t easily fooled.
She sat in the armchair near the window, arms crossed, watching her daughter closely. The morning sun lit her face, but there was a shadow in her eyes.
“I don’t know what you’re involved in,” she said quietly, “but Helena… it’s dangerous. People don’t just leave anonymous letters in hospitals for fun.”
Helena kept her gaze down. “I know.”
“I’m serious.” Her mother stood and moved closer, brushing her fingers over Helena’s hair. “This thing—whatever it is—it nearly cost you your life. And Tessy? She could’ve died too.”
“I’m being careful,” Helena said softly.
Tricia crouched beside the bed, her voice low. “No. You’re being quiet. That’s not the same. And if you don’t open up, one day, I won’t be there in time.”
Helena’s throat tightened. “Mum…”
“You listen to me, Helena,” Tricia said, her voice trembling. “I don’t care about the school. I don’t care about these rich Brentford kids or their scandals. But I do care about you. Be careful. Promise me.”
Helena nodded slowly. “I promise.”
And even though part of her meant it… another part knew that leaving the mystery alone was no longer an option.
Five Days Later – Brentford Academy
The hospital discharged Helena with a warning to rest, but she stepped out of the car and into the school gates like she’d never left.
The moment she entered the grounds, the whispers began again.
She didn’t flinch.
Students parted as she walked by, and the weight of curiosity clung to her like fog. Tessy met her at the gates, wrapping her in a hug so tight Helena thought she might crack.
“You’re really back,” Tessy whispered. “I was so scared you’d never come back.”
“I wasn’t going to let them win,” Helena replied, her voice stronger now. “Not after what they’ve done.”
Greg appeared a few moments later, his eyes finding Helena’s across the courtyard. She walked up to him slowly, and he smiled—just a little—and opened his arms.
She walked into them without hesitation.
As Greg held her, he whispered, “Welcome back, troublemaker.”
Helena exhaled, allowing herself the smallest smile.
But as she turned her head, her eyes locked on Bianca across the quad—arms folded, lips curled into a smirk.
Bianca leaned over to a girl beside her and whispered something.
They both laughed.
Helena didn’t need to hear the words.
She already knew.
The war wasn’t over.
It had only just begun.
