It was 2:03 AM.
The kind of hour when everything was either too quiet or too loud.
Eira and Callum sat across from each other in her dimly lit room. Her desk lamp flickered, casting shadows that danced like secrets on the walls.
"Tell me everything," Callum said, voice soft but edged.
Eira took a breath.
"Kurtis Mercer wasn't just a name in a file," she began. "He was my childhood neighbor. He was... kind to me. At first. Then things changed. I was too young to understand what was happening, but I knew something was wrong."
Callum didn't interrupt.
"One night, there was a fire. Our street was in chaos. I remember screaming. I remember him standing in the middle of the smoke, not moving. And then I passed out. When I woke up, he was gone. Presumed dead."
She looked at the photo again.
"But if this picture has tomorrow's date... then someone wants me to believe he's coming back. Or that he never left."
Callum leaned forward. "Then we make the first move."
---
Juliet and Theo were back in their usual surveillance spot—the east wing rooftop.
Juliet sipped from a thermos. "You ever wonder what would happen if we just let them run wild?"
Theo didn't look at her. "They already are."
She smirked. "Good. Let's see how far they get before they hit a wall."
Theo watched the live footage of Callum and Eira. He frowned.
"They're not backing down."
Juliet let out a hum. "That's the problem with smart kids. They think knowing something is the same as surviving it."
---
The next morning, Eira walked into the courtyard wearing a hoodie two sizes too big and the kind of expression that warned people not to speak.
Callum was already there, sitting under the large oak tree with his laptop open.
"Any new threats?" she asked, dropping beside him.
He shook his head. "Not yet. But I think I know where the next clue is."
He turned the screen toward her. It showed a blueprint of the university's underground tunnels.
"Why do we have tunnels?" she blinked.
"Because apparently, this school used to be a military academy during the war. Half the original blueprints were redacted. But Juliet, before she ghosted our project team, accidentally sent me a version with incomplete overlays."
Eira squinted at the glowing map. "So you think there's something hidden down there?"
Callum looked at her. "No. I know there is. And I think Kurtis used them."
---
They made their way to the abandoned maintenance entrance near the back of the library. It was half-covered in ivy and locked with a rusted padlock.
Eira pulled something from her pocket.
"Is that a... hairpin?"
"You doubt me?"
She jammed it into the lock, fiddled for six seconds, then popped it open with a smirk.
"You terrify me," Callum muttered.
"You say that like it's a bad thing."
The door creaked open.
Darkness met them like a breath held too long.
---
Juliet watched the feed from her tablet.
"They found the tunnels."
Theo didn't look up. "Let them."
"You're not worried?"
"No. That entrance leads to an old archive storage. It's empty."
Juliet smiled lazily. "You sure about that?"
Theo hesitated.
Juliet clicked something on her device, zooming into the live cam.
"Look again."
Inside the tunnel, Callum had stumbled on something half-buried beneath collapsed shelving.
A small black notebook.
On the cover: "Kurtis M."
Callum dusted it off.
Eira hovered beside him, her hand resting lightly on his back, steadying him without thinking.
He noticed. But didn't say anything.
The notebook was locked. Not with a key. With a code.
Eira traced the edge of it.
"What do you think the password is?"
Callum didn't hesitate. "Try your birthday."
She blinked. "What?"
"If this is meant for you, if he wanted you to find it—"
She typed.
The lock clicked open.
Juliet sat up straight.
"Oh... he really is back."
Theo looked over. For the first time, he didn't smile.
---
Inside the notebook were pages of coded messages, scribbles, and one photo paperclipped to the front:
Callum.
Eira.
A timestamp: Two weeks from now.
They were standing in front of a burning building.
---
Callum slowly turned the page. "We just made our first move."
Eira met his eyes.
"Then we better prepare for theirs."
---
Far beneath campus, in a chamber not marked on any map, someone closed a file with Eira's name on it.
"Let them play."
The voice echoed in the dark.
"But make sure they bleed before they win."