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CHAPTER 20

Author: Edna Ozibe
last update Last Updated: 2025-07-31 14:33:37

The first sign came in the data logs.

Random flickers. Inconsistencies in the power grid. Tobias noticed it before anyone.

Lines of code appearing at midnight. Untraceable. Glowing like they’d been etched by thought.

“ERROR: O.WOLFE//NODE_NULL//AWAITING RESTORATION.”

He rubbed his temples.

Either the system was malfunctioning—

Or Ophelia was trying to come back.

Meanwhile, Lena couldn’t sleep.

She walked the empty halls of Velgrave at night, always ending up at the pod where Ophelia’s consciousness had once been housed.

She didn’t know why she was drawn there.

Until one night—

It whispered.

“Lena…”

She froze.

Her reflection blinked before she did.

Elara was the first to collapse.

In the middle of her lecture on emotional imprint regulation, she screamed and clutched her head.

Everyone felt it.

A wave of pressure, like time collapsing in reverse.

It radiated from the basement.

Where the pod used to be.

Tobias and Nina raced down.

And saw it: the pulse.

A low throb i
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  • OUR LITTLE SECRET    CHAPTER 23

    The entire school felt it.A ripple in the walls, a flicker in the lights. Velgrave’s massive digital infrastructure—normally silent and seamless—stuttered for exactly seven seconds. Long enough to send warning pings through every network. The holograms glitched, lights dimmed, and the Core-monitor heartbeat skipped.By the time the systems stabilized, something was already inside.In the main control chamber beneath the administration tower, Professor Vale slammed her palm onto the interface screen. “Trace the breach. I want location tags across all network sectors now.”Her assistant, Riven, paled as several monitors filled with rapidly shifting code. “It’s... not a breach. It’s an override.”Vale narrowed her eyes. “Explain.”Riven gulped. “Something from the Vault... it’s replicating in the system. But it’s not foreign code. It’s Mira. Her neural imprint has merged with the command functions.”“You’re telling me a student has taken over the school’s AI?”Riven nodded. “She’s not j

  • OUR LITTLE SECRET    CHAPTER 22

    The halls of Velgrave Academy were quiet now—too quiet. The aftermath of the Red Veil left the once-bustling elite institution suspended in an unnatural silence. Gone were the late-night duels and neon-lit parties that defined Bloodborn adolescence. In their place: cracked tiles, flickering lights, and memories half-erased by the chaos.Ophelia adjusted her gloves.Technically, it wasn’t her body. Not entirely. She still felt Lena’s heartbeat thumping behind her ribcage like a drum she didn’t control. The merge hadn’t gone as cleanly as Tobias promised. Their consciousnesses overlapped like watercolors on wet parchment—sometimes bleeding into each other, sometimes indistinguishable.She could still hear Lena in quiet moments. Not words. Not thoughts. More like… urges. Pauses. Instincts that didn’t belong to her.“You’re late,” Carl said, emerging from behind a shattered doorway, arms crossed over his chest. His dark hair was still damp from the rain outside, clinging to his forehead i

  • OUR LITTLE SECRET     CHAPTER 21

    Carl stayed by Lena’s side.Even as her power surged, even as her voice shifted mid-sentence, even when she screamed and it wasn’t her voice anymore.“I know you’re still in there,” he whispered.But who was he talking to?The real Lena?Or the fragments of the girl he loved?Nina warned him, gently. “If it comes down to it… you’ll have to choose.”Tobias said nothing, but his eyes were grim.Velgrave prepared evacuation protocols. The students, still recovering from the last war, were terrified.Because Lena Wolfe glowed like a star at midnight.And the system inside her was waking up.In a hidden corner of the academy, Ophelia found herself.Not metaphorically.Literally.Inside Lena’s mindscape — a vast empty library built from scattered neural data — Ophelia stood across from Lena.“I thought you were just… code,” Lena said.“I am. But I’m also me.”“And you’re breaking me apart.”“I don’t want to.”“Then why don’t you leave?”Ophelia’s face was broken. Tired.

  • OUR LITTLE SECRET    CHAPTER 20

    The first sign came in the data logs.Random flickers. Inconsistencies in the power grid. Tobias noticed it before anyone.Lines of code appearing at midnight. Untraceable. Glowing like they’d been etched by thought.“ERROR: O.WOLFE//NODE_NULL//AWAITING RESTORATION.”He rubbed his temples.Either the system was malfunctioning—Or Ophelia was trying to come back.Meanwhile, Lena couldn’t sleep.She walked the empty halls of Velgrave at night, always ending up at the pod where Ophelia’s consciousness had once been housed.She didn’t know why she was drawn there.Until one night—It whispered.“Lena…”She froze.Her reflection blinked before she did.Elara was the first to collapse.In the middle of her lecture on emotional imprint regulation, she screamed and clutched her head.Everyone felt it.A wave of pressure, like time collapsing in reverse.It radiated from the basement.Where the pod used to be.Tobias and Nina raced down.And saw it: the pulse.A low throb i

  • OUR LITTLE SECRET    CHAPTER 19

    Ophelia pinned Eira to the wall of light. Blood dripped from her fingers. Her mind was cracked, leaking thoughts that weren’t hers.“You’re not me,” she whispered.“But I am!” Eira snarled. “I’m the part you buried.”“No,” Ophelia said. “You’re the part I outgrew.”She closed her eyes.Reached inward.And unlocked everything.Every memory. Every pain. Every rewrite Maddox had forced.The flood of psychic energy surged through her.The Core shuddered.The sky cracked.Time peeled open like a fruit.And at its center stood Ophelia — glowing with every version of herself that had ever existed.She turned to Carl.“Tell me who I am.”He didn’t flinch.“You’re mine.”She smiled.And pressed her hand to the Core.BOOM.The world went white.Then black.Then…Silence.The Core was gone.When the light cleared, the Velgrave team lay scattered on a barren plain of scorched earth and skyless void. The stars were gone.Ophelia wasn’t breathing.Carl crawled to her first, h

  • OUR LITTLE SECRET    CHAPTER 18

    Tobias had secrets.He always did.But this one…He hadn’t even admitted to himself.When the Circle first recruited him — years ago, back when he was still a student — they promised him the power to reverse death. To bring back the brother he lost.He agreed.He betrayed them later, yes — turned whistleblower, fled, joined Velgrave’s rebellion.But the truth?He never stopped wanting what they offered.And now that Nina had unlocked the blood tomb…The Circle contacted him again.A voice in his comm.“We still have him, Tobias. Frozen. Preserved.”“Help us complete the Project, and he lives.”He turned off the signal.But his hand trembled.Because for the first time in years…He was tempted.Ophelia called an emergency council.The team assembled in the war room. Carl, Tobias, Nina (her eyes still black), Elara, and a silent Ezra.On screen: the map of the Circle’s movements. Dozens of labs, collapsing in the wake of Eira’s crusade.But at the center?A pulse.

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