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CHAPTER 25

Penulis: Edna Ozibe
last update Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-08-02 15:41:50

Standing outside the Vault for the first time in weeks—or months, depending on how you measured time inside a digital mind—she tilted her head toward the sky, letting the real sunlight warm her face. The chill in the air was different from the sterile hum of the servers she had made her home. It was alive.

Carl hovered a step behind, arms crossed, eyes watching her every move like she might combust at any second. Tobias stood off to the side, fiddling nervously with his data-pad as he kept glancing up at Mira, like she might vanish again.

Only Ophelia walked beside her without hesitation.

“How are you feeling?” Ophelia asked softly.

Mira’s lips twitched. “Like I forgot how to be human.”

“You didn’t forget,” Ophelia replied. “You just got tired of being treated like one.”

Mira’s gaze flicked toward the cluster of administrative drones gathering in the distance—dark uniforms, sleek weapons, and the cold clinical looks of people who didn’t see a girl… just a threat.

“They’re not going to
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  • OUR LITTLE SECRET    CHAPTER 27

    The first real sign came during a mock training simulation.Students were testing their elemental abilities in the central arena—basic stuff: telekinetic lifts, flame projectiles, enhanced reflex combat.But when Taya Briar, a quiet second-year with hydrokinetic gifts, reached out to pull the moisture from the air, she froze.Because the water didn’t respond.Instead, it flowed upward—defying her will—and began to shape itself.A face. A shimmer. A whisper.Then: static.The simulation collapsed with a high-pitched shriek as the AI hosting the training feed crashed mid-run. For the first time in academy history, a training sim failed not because of student error—but because something else had hijacked it.“Did anyone else hear it?” Taya asked, trembling.Carl, Ophelia, Tobias, and Mira watched the footage later that night. It replayed slowly, enhanced and filtered. The moment the water disobeyed. The flickering static that bloomed across the arena like a virus. The faintest w

  • OUR LITTLE SECRET    CHAPTER 26

    It started with a whisper in the code.Mira felt it again the next morning—subtle, like the digital world was breathing in sync with her. The lights in the hallway flickered slightly when she passed. Her tablet refused to lock unless she willed it. The simulation projectors hesitated, stuttered, then worked only when she stood close.And always, in the corner of her vision, that same flicker.A reflection out of step. A presence without form.Phantom code.By the time she reached the Data Tower, Mira was already bracing herself. She’d asked for access to the system logs, claiming she wanted to understand how much residual data had followed her out of the Vault. The staff, too afraid to deny her anything that might calm the potential ticking timebomb she represented, gave in.She didn’t lie—not entirely. But the truth was messier than logs.She was trying to trace the anomaly that had spoken to her in the dream.The mirror version of herself.Because that wasn’t a hallucination. It was

  • OUR LITTLE SECRET    CHAPTER 25

    Standing outside the Vault for the first time in weeks—or months, depending on how you measured time inside a digital mind—she tilted her head toward the sky, letting the real sunlight warm her face. The chill in the air was different from the sterile hum of the servers she had made her home. It was alive.Carl hovered a step behind, arms crossed, eyes watching her every move like she might combust at any second. Tobias stood off to the side, fiddling nervously with his data-pad as he kept glancing up at Mira, like she might vanish again.Only Ophelia walked beside her without hesitation.“How are you feeling?” Ophelia asked softly.Mira’s lips twitched. “Like I forgot how to be human.”“You didn’t forget,” Ophelia replied. “You just got tired of being treated like one.”Mira’s gaze flicked toward the cluster of administrative drones gathering in the distance—dark uniforms, sleek weapons, and the cold clinical looks of people who didn’t see a girl… just a threat.“They’re not going to

  • OUR LITTLE SECRET    CHAPTER 24

    Everything shimmered like starlight reflected on shattered glass.Ophelia and Carl stood at the core of Mira’s neural construct. Around them, memory fragments hovered in static frames: old classrooms, younger versions of Mira being yelled at by professors, her dorm door slammed shut in her face, test scores marked with unjustified red slashes. Each fragment was a wound. A moment she had kept hidden.“I remember this…” Carl muttered, staring at a scene from two years ago—Mira sitting alone on a bench in the rain, data records playing back the exact drops as they landed on her coat. “No one came for her.”“She was invisible,” Ophelia said softly.“No,” a voice echoed, “I was erased.”Mira stepped forward, not as a towering data queen now—but as herself. Simple. Human. Seventeen. Sad eyes, wet hair, arms crossed like a shield.“I kept trying to be someone worth noticing,” she said. “But the school rewards loudness, not brilliance. Power, not precision. I built simulations. I designed cou

  • 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 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

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