chapter 17 " The mask cracks "

It was past midnight when Helena slipped out of Detention Dorm C.

The campus was cloaked in shadow, with only the glow of motion lights along the cobblestone paths. Every step she took toward the gym felt heavier, like the air itself was warning her to turn back.

But she didn’t.

She couldn’t.

Sophia’s voice rang in her mind:

“The room under the gym…”

Helena had mapped it out during lunch. The main gym building had a maintenance stairwell on the left side — always locked. But detention students used it once a week to fetch mats for PT.

Tonight, she had swiped the key from Coach Darius’s office while mopping.

She moved quickly, silently, to the stairwell door.

One deep breath.

Click.

It opened.

The air changed immediately — colder, stale. She descended slowly, the creak of the stairs echoing like thunder.

At the bottom: a metal door. Rusted. Marked ARCHIVE ROOM C.

She pushed.

It opened into a dim hallway lined with boxes, discarded uniforms… and a heavy black curtain hanging across the far end.

Behind it, a locked room.

Not just any room.

The real secret.

Meanwhile – Back in the Main Dorms

Greg sat alone in his room, staring at a photo of him and his brother from years ago. His fists clenched.

His phone vibrated again.

Bianca: Hope you’re proud. She’s not coming back after this one.

Greg narrowed his eyes.

Something had shifted in Bianca lately. She wasn’t just angry — she was dangerous.

He needed to find Helena.

Now.

Back Underground – Helena’s POV

Helena tugged the curtain aside and found the second door.

Electronic.

With a keycard scanner.

Her stomach dropped.

Sophia hadn’t said anything about this.

She was about to turn back when her bag vibrated.

A text. From Theo.

Theo: Left something for you. Check the pouch. You’ll need it tonight.

She reached in. A silver flashdrive… and a black magnetic card.

She blinked. Theo must have known she’d go looking.

Heart pounding, she swiped the card.

A faint green light blinked.

ACCESS GRANTED.

The door clicked open.

Inside, the floor changed to black marble. Surveillance monitors. Cabinets of files. Photos pinned on corkboards.

Not just of students…

Of Sophia.

Of Helena.

Of Greg.

And in the center of the wall: a phrase scrawled in red ink.

“Obedience builds legacy. Rebellion buries blood.”

Helena’s stomach twisted.

She began snapping photos with her phone. Every file, every image.

Then she heard footsteps.

Meanwhile – Bianca’s Secret Call

Bianca sat in a dark classroom with her feet on the desk, phone pressed to her ear.

“She’s down there,” she whispered. “I told you she’d take the bait.”

A deep male voice responded. “Make sure she doesn’t come back up.”

Bianca smiled coldly.

“I’m done playing.”

Back in the Underground Room

Helena turned.

The door was shutting behind her.

Automatically locking.

“No, no, no…”

She ran back to it, yanking the handle.

Locked.

Then—behind her—one of the screens flickered.

Surveillance footage… from that very room.

And then—

Live feed from Greg’s house. A camera inside Tessy’s car. A bedroom she didn’t recognize, but saw herself in.

It hit her.

They’d been watching her for weeks.

Controlling everything.

And now… she was trapped inside the machine.

Cliffhanger Ending – Chapter Seventeen

Suddenly, a loudspeaker crackled above.

A distorted voice whispered:

“Sophia warned you. But you didn’t listen.”

Helena backed toward the files, her phone still recording.

“So now, Helena… let’s see how brave you really are.”

The room went black.

Total darkness.

And she wasn’t alone.

A second set of breathing had just started behind her.

Helena froze.

The sound of breathing behind her was unmistakable — quiet but close. Her fingers tightened around her phone, its flashlight barely cutting through the sudden dark.

She took one slow step back.

“Who’s there?” Her voice was a whisper, too afraid to be loud.

Silence.

Then the faintest shift in air. Movement.

A whisper, barely audible:

“You shouldn’t be here.”

Helena spun and bolted toward the locked door. Her fingers found the emergency panel and slammed it. Nothing. The keypad blinked red.

Locked in.

Trapped.

She turned back toward the room. Her eyes adjusted just enough to make out a figure — tall, masked, unmoving — standing between the metal filing cabinets.

“What do you want from me?” Helena asked, her breath catching.

The figure didn’t move.

Instead, a small click echoed across the room.

Then the monitors flickered back on.

They showed security footage… from earlier that night.

Helena sneaking into the gym building. Helena swiping the key. Helena standing in the very room she was in now.

Another click.

A camera turned toward her.

Recording live.

And a distorted voice — possibly male, warped by audio distortion — echoed again from hidden speakers:

“Sophia didn’t listen. You still have a choice.”

“Leave… or disappear.”

Helena’s legs barely held her upright as she stumbled across the lawn behind the gym. Her lungs still burned from the gas, and her hands trembled with every step. But it wasn’t just fear now — it was fury.

She had been warned.

She had been hunted.

And now she had proof.

Whoever was behind all this — the recordings, the threats, the disappearance of Sophia — wasn’t going to stop until she was gone, too.

She pulled her phone out again, staring at the picture she’d just received.

There she was, caught mid-movement in the secret room.

And just behind her shoulder…

A masked figure.

Watching her. Inches away.

Helena gritted her teeth and hit “Forward.”

To: Theo | Subject: "Proof."

Found the surveillance room. Someone’s still running it. Got locked in. They tried to gas me. Attached is a picture someone sent me. Find out who’s behind that mask.

She didn’t wait for a reply.

Instead, she turned toward the lights of the dorms — and saw a figure running toward her.

For a second, panic surged.

But then she heard his voice.

“Helena!”

Greg.

She froze in place, exhausted, not ready for another fight.

He slowed as he reached her, his eyes wide with shock. “What the hell happened to you?”

She didn’t speak. She couldn’t.

He noticed the soot on her sleeve, the shaking in her hands. “Come on. We’re getting out of here.”

He took her hand. She didn’t pull away this time.

Inside Greg’s Dorm

Helena sat wrapped in a hoodie, her body still trembling. Greg handed her a bottle of water, then crouched in front of her.

“What happened?”

She told him everything.

The surveillance room. The gas. The photo. The masked figure who said Sophia didn’t listen either.

When she was done, Greg was silent. His jaw was clenched, knuckles white.

“I think Sophia found that room too,” Helena whispered. “I think that’s why she disappeared.”

Greg stood, pacing. “There’s something you don’t know about Sophia. Something I never told anyone.”

Helena looked up. “What?”

Greg hesitated. His voice dropped to almost a whisper. “She… she came to me the night before