Chapter 18: Chapter Seventeen : Underneath

Rowan didn’t slow down until they were halfway across the expo floor.

“Rowan,” Jess said quietly, catching her arm. “You’re going to wear a hole in the carpet.”

Rowan stopped. Not because she wanted to. Because she had to. Everything felt louder now. Conversations overlapping. Movement everywhere. Too many people. Too many details. Too many things she couldn’t unsee.

She exhaled slowly.

“We need somewhere quieter,” she said.

Jess studied her for a second, then nodded.

“Yeah. That sounds like a very good idea.”

They slipped out of the main aisle and into a side hallway lined with meeting rooms. Most of the doors were closed, but one near the end stood open, empty. Rowan stepped inside without hesitating. Jess followed, shutting the door behind them. The silence hit immediately. Not complete. But contained. Manageable. Rowan didn’t sit. She paced once across the room, then turned back.

Jess leaned against the table, arms crossed.

“Okay,” she said. “Start talking. Because something is definitely up, and you’re doing that thing where you don’t explain it.”

Rowan hesitated.

Not because she didn’t know what to say.

Because she didn’t know how to say it without sounding completely insane.

“I found something last night,” she said finally.

Jess’s expression shifted, just slightly more serious.

“On the laptop?”

Rowan nodded.

“It wasn’t just emails,” she said. “It was… records. Work. Stuff I’ve done.”

Jess frowned.

“You mean like your normal work?”

“No,” Rowan said. “Stuff I don’t remember doing.”

Jess didn’t respond right away. Not dismissive. Not agreeing. Just… waiting. So Rowan pushed.

“I read through messages I sent,” she continued. “Full replies. Confirmations. Details. It’s my writing. My tone. Everything matches.”

Jess tilted her head slightly.

“But you don’t remember sending them.”

“No,” Rowan said. “At all.”

Silence settled between them. Jess uncrossed her arms slowly.

“Okay,” she said. “Walk me through this without jumping to ‘we’re in a horror movie.’”

Rowan let out a short breath.

“I can’t,” she said. “Because it doesn’t make sense without sounding like that.”

Jess almost smiled.

“Try me.”

Rowan ran a hand through her hair, then forced herself to stay still.

“There are files,” she said. “Notes. Internal stuff. And they’re talking about me like I’m not the one doing the work.”

Jess’s brow furrowed.

“Like what?”

Rowan held her gaze.

“Like I’m something they’re using.”

That landed.

Jess didn’t joke this time.

Didn’t brush it off.

But she didn’t fully accept it either.

“Okay,” she said slowly. “That’s… not great.”

“That’s not even the worst part,” Rowan said.

Jess gestured slightly.

“Go on.”

Rowan’s voice dropped.

“They track when I remember things.”

Jess went still.

“Rowan…….”

“I’m serious,” she cut in. “There are notes about memory. About compliance. About how much I retain after something happens.”

Jess shook her head once, like she was trying to re-center.

“Okay. Hold on,” she said. “You’re telling me someone is… what? Making you do work and then wiping your memory?”

Rowan didn’t answer right away. Because hearing it out loud sounded worse. Jess let out a breath.

“That’s… a lot,” she said.

“Yeah,” Rowan said flatly. “It is.”

Jess pushed off the table, pacing once, mirroring Rowan without realizing it.

“Alright,” she said. “Let’s say for a second that you’re not wrong.”

Rowan watched her carefully. Jess continued.

“I’m not saying I believe all of it,” she added quickly. “But I’m also not saying I don’t. Because you’re not acting crazy. You’re acting… specific.”

Rowan’s shoulders eased just slightly.

“That’s because I have proof,” she said.

Jess stopped.

“You saved it?”

Rowan held up the flash drive.

Jess stared at it.

“…Okay,” she said quietly. “That helps.”

Another pause.

Jess glanced toward the door, then back at Rowan.

“Here’s where I’m stuck,” she said. “If this is real… why you?”

Rowan shook her head.

“I don’t know.”

Jess studied her for a second longer.

“You said something felt off down there,” she said. “On the floor.”

Rowan nodded.

“They’re connected,” she said. “Not all of them. But enough.”

Jess frowned.

“Connected how?”

“Same patterns,” Rowan said. “Same structures. Stuff I saw in the files.”

Jess crossed her arms again, thinking.

“…So you’re saying whatever this is,” she said slowly, “it’s not just online.”

“No,” Rowan said. “It’s here.”

Jess went quiet. Really quiet. Not dismissive. Not panicked. Thinking.

“That guy you noticed,” Jess said after a moment. “The one watching.”

Rowan’s gaze sharpened.

“You felt that too?”

Jess hesitated.

“Not… the same way,” she admitted. “I just—” She stopped, searching for the words. “He didn’t feel like everyone else.”

Rowan didn’t speak.

Jess looked at her, slightly frustrated now.

“I don’t know how to explain it,” she said. “He just… stood out.”

Rowan nodded slowly.

“That’s exactly it.”

Jess exhaled, dragging a hand down her face.

“Okay,” she said. “So we’ve got weird emails, missing time, mystery files, and now a room full of people who may or may not be part of something we don’t understand.”

Rowan gave a small, humorless smile.

“When you say it like that, it sounds worse.”

Jess let out a short laugh.

“It is worse.”

Another pause.

Then Jess straightened slightly.

“Alright,” she said. “Here’s where I’m at.”

Rowan waited.

“I don’t fully get it,” Jess said. “And I’m not jumping straight to supernatural conspiracy or whatever this is.”

“Fair,” Rowan said.

“But,” Jess added, pointing lightly at her, “I do believe that something is wrong. And I believe that you believe it. Which means I’m not ignoring it.”

That mattered more than full belief. Rowan nodded once.

“Good,” she said quietly.

Jess glanced toward the door again.

“So what’s the plan?” she asked.

Rowan’s expression hardened slightly.

“We go back out there,” she said. “And we look closer.”

Jess raised an eyebrow.

“That’s the plan?”

“For now,” Rowan said. “We don’t panic. We don’t confront anyone. We just… pay attention.”

Jess considered that. Then nodded.

“Okay,” she said. “We can do that.”

She moved toward the door, then paused.

“One more thing.”

Rowan looked at her.

“If someone is watching you,” Jess said, voice quieter now, “then we need to assume they’re watching both of us.”

Rowan held her gaze.

“Yeah,” she said. “I figured that.”

Jess gave a small, tight smile.

“Good. Just making sure we’re on the same page before we walk back into that.”

Rowan reached for the handle. Paused. Then opened the door. The noise of the expo spilled back in. Louder now. Full. Alive. And different. Because now they weren’t just walking into a crowd. They were walking into something hidden. Together.