Chapter Thirty – Follow the Light

The stairs blurred beneath my feet, three steps at a time, my hand sliding down the railing to keep from falling. Myles was ahead of me, his longer legs eating up the distance. Ashley brought up the rear, her breath coming in sharp gasps.

"Madden!" I shouted as we burst through the ground floor door.

No answer.

The quad stretched before us, dark and empty. The streetlights flickered, casting uneven pools of orange light across the grass. The BioMed building loomed in the distance, its windows dark except for a single light on the fourth floor.

Helena's office.

Or maybe the lab.

Or maybe something else entirely.

"We should call Detective Cross," Ashley said, struggling to keep up.

"No time." Myles didn't slow down. "If Madden's in that basement alone..."

He didn't finish the sentence. He didn't have to.

---

The BioMed building was dark.

The side door was unlocked. The same door we'd used before. The same door that should have been locked after hours.

Someone had been here.

Someone was still here.

We slipped inside, our footsteps silent on the tile floor. The lobby was empty, the reception desk abandoned, the elevator doors closed. The stairwell door was propped open with a fire extinguisher.

The same fire extinguisher from the night we'd come before.

"Someone wants us to find her," Myles whispered.

"Or someone wants to find us."

We took the stairs.

One floor. Two floors. Three.

The basement door was open, the keypad blinking green, the lock disengaged. Cold air rushed up from below, smelling like chemicals and dust and that same metallic tang I remembered from before.

"Madden!" I called again.

Still no answer.

We descended into the dark.

---

The basement corridor was lit by emergency lights, dim and red, casting everything in shades of blood. The doors on either side were closed, their keypads dark, their windows black.

But the last door…the one that led to the lab was open.

Light spilled through the gap. Fluorescent light. Cold and white and unforgiving.

Myles grabbed my arm before I could move forward.

"Wait," he whispered. "What if someone's in there?"

"Then we deal with them."

"What if it's Vance?"

"Then we deal with him."

I pulled my arm free and walked toward the light.

---

The lab was empty.

The stainless steel tables gleamed under the fluorescents. The computers hummed, their screens displaying data I couldn't read. The photographs of girls still lined the far wall, their faces frozen in time.

But the hidden door,the one that led to the freezer—was open.

And the freezer door beyond it was open too.

Cold air poured out, white and swirling, like breath on a winter morning.

"Madden," I whispered.

I walked toward the freezer.

---

She was standing at the metal table.

The table where Natalie's body had been.

But the table was empty now. The sheet was gone. The body was gone.

Madden stood there, her back to me, her shoulders shaking.

"Madden."

She didn't turn around.

"She's not here," she said. Her voice was hollow. Empty. "She was here. For two years, she was here. And now she's gone."

"I know."

"I came to see her. To say goodbye. To tell her I was sorry." Madden finally turned. Her face was wet with tears, her eyes red, her lips trembling. "But she's gone. They took her."

"Who?"

"Vance. Helena. Someone. I don't know." She looked around the empty freezer, at the empty table, at the empty space where Natalie had lain. "I waited too long. I was too scared. And now she's gone."

I crossed the room and pulled her into my arms.

She didn't hug me back at first. She just stood there, rigid and cold, like the freezer had frozen something inside her. But then her arms came up, and her fingers curled into the back of my jacket, and she held on like I was the only thing keeping her from falling.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I should have told you sooner."

"Yes," she said into my shoulder. "You should have."

"I was trying to protect you."

"I don't need protection. I need the truth."

I pulled back, holding her at arm's length. Her face was a mess of tears and mascara, but her eyes were clear. Focused.

"You have the truth now," I said. "All of it."

"Then let's use it."

---

Myles and Ashley stood in the doorway of the freezer, their faces pale, their eyes scanning the empty room.

"We need to get out of here," Myles said. "Before someone comes back."

"Madden found something," Ashley said. Her voice was small, scared. "On the floor. Over there."

She pointed to the corner of the freezer, near the back wall.

A piece of paper. Folded in half. Placed carefully on the floor, like it had been left there on purpose.

I walked over and picked it up.

The paper was warm. Someone had been here recently. Someone had left this for us to find.

I unfolded it.

One line. Typewritten. Red ink.

You're getting closer. But not close enough.

Below the words, a photograph.

Not of Alice.

Not of Natalie.

Of me.

Walking across the quad. This morning. The timestamp in the corner read 8:46am

“Okay that’s creepy, I think we need to leave.”

---

We didn't run. Running drew attention. Running meant panic.

We walked. Fast. Silent. Our eyes scanning every shadow, every doorway, every window.

The stairwell was empty. The lobby was empty. The side door was still unlocked.

We stepped out into the night.

The air was cold, sharp, a relief after the chemical smell of the basement. The stars were out, scattered across the sky like salt on black velvet.

Normal sky. Normal night.

But nothing else was normal.

"Where do we go?" Ashley asked.

"My dorm," Madden said. "We still have Natalie's journal. We still have the photos. We still have evidence."

---

Her room was exactly as we'd left it. Dark. Curtains drawn. Bed made.

But something was different.

The window was open.

I hadn't noticed it before. Neither had Madden. But now, standing in the doorway, I could see it clearly. The window facing the fire escape. Open. Wide enough for someone to climb through.

"Someone's been here," I said.

Madden's face went pale. "Natalie's journal."

She ran to her desk.

The drawer was open. Empty.

"It's gone," she whispered. "They took it."

We stood in the center of the room, surrounded by shadows and silence and the weight of everything we'd lost.

Natalie's body. Natalie's journal. The evidence we'd gathered.

All of it gone.

"We're not safe here," Myles said.

"Then where do we go?"

He looked at me. "My place. Derek's gone for the weekend. We can lock the door. Wait until morning."

Ashley nodded. Madden nodded.

I didn't nod. I was still staring at the open window, at the dark rectangle of the fire escape, at the place where someone had climbed into our lives and stolen everything we had.

"Alexa," Myles said.

I turned.

"We need to go."

I looked at Madden. At Ashley. At the fear in their eyes and the determination beneath it.

"Okay," I said. "Let's go."

---

Myles's room was small, dark and safe.

Derek was gone, just like he'd said. The bed was made with military precision. The plant on his desk was still half-dead. The gaming chair sat empty in the corner.

Myles locked the door behind us. Then he pushed the desk against it.

"Just in case," he said.

Ashley sat on Derek's bed, her knees pulled to her chest. Madden sat on the floor, her back against the wall, her eyes staring at nothing.

I stood by the window, looking out at the campus.

"Alexa." Myles's voice was soft. "Come sit down. You need to rest."

"I can't rest."

"You can't help anyone if you collapse again."

I turned from the window. He was standing a few feet away, his hands in his pockets, his brown eyes steady on mine.

Ashley and Madden weren't looking at us. They were lost in their own thoughts, their own fears.

"Walk with me," Myles said. "Just to the end of the hall."

"Why?"

"Because I need to talk to you. Alone."

I hesitated. Then I nodded.

---

The hallway was empty.

The lights were dim, half of them flickering, the others burned out entirely. Our footsteps echoed on the linoleum, soft and hollow.

We stopped at the end of the hall, near the window that faced the quad.

The moon was high, full, casting silver light across the grass.

"I thought I lost you today," Myles said.

"I was fine."

"You went to the greenhouse alone. You faced whoever that was alone. You didn't call me. You didn't text me. You just... went."

"I didn't want to put you in danger."

"That's not your choice to make."

I looked at him. His jaw was tight. His hands were clenched at his sides.

"You're angry," I said.

"I'm terrified." He stepped closer. "Every day, I watch you walk into danger. Every night, I wonder if you're going to come back. And every time you push me away, it hurts more than I know how to say."

"I'm not pushing you away."

"You are. Every time you keep a secret. Every time you go somewhere alone. Every time you pretend you're fine when you're not."

I opened my mouth to argue. But the words wouldn't come.

Because he was right.

"Alexa." His voice dropped. "I can't lose you. Not you too."

He reached out and touched my face. His fingers were warm, gentle, calloused.

"I'm not going anywhere," I whispered.

"Promise me."

"I promise."

He leaned closer.

My heart stopped.

His face was inches from mine. His eyes were dark, searching, asking a question he was afraid to speak out loud.

I could feel his breath on my lips. Could smell his cologne, woodsy and warm.

The world fell away. The danger. The fear. The dead girls and the warnings and the weight of everything I was carrying.

“So where do you keep your…” Ashley came to the corridor and stopped mid-sentence. “Uhm I’m sorry I just wanted some chips, I’ll just go back now.” She gave an awkward smile and left.

Myles and I exchanged looks and I removed my face from his hands and walked back inside leaving him there.

Ashley looked up when we entered.A slow smile spread across her lips.

"Shut up," I said, even when she didn’t say anything.

But I was smiling too.

Madden was still on the floor, her back against the wall, her eyes closed. She opened them when I sat down beside her.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"No. But I will be."

"We're going to find out who did this. I promise."

She looked at me. Really looked. At the determination in my eyes and the fear beneath it.

"I know," she said. "That's why I'm still here."