Chapter 117 Chapter 117

Chapter 117 Chapter 117
  The air outside felt sharper than before.
  Not colder.
  Just… exposed.
  Like the world had stopped pretending it didn’t know what was happening anymore.
  Cass kept walking until the house was behind them completely.
  Jace caught up first.
  He didn’t touch her right away.
  Just matched her pace.
  Lena stayed on her other side, unusually quiet now, like even her sarcasm had decided this was above its pay grade.
  Cass finally stopped near the end of the street.
  Not because she was tired.
  Because she needed to think without motion.
  “I can feel it,” she said quietly.
  Jace frowned slightly. “Feel what?”
  Cass looked up at him.
  “Everything shifting.”
  Silence.
  Lena exhaled. “That’s either trauma talking or you’re actually becoming terrifyingly accurate.”
  Cass didn’t respond to that.
  Her eyes stayed distant.
  “I think,” she said slowly, “we just crossed a line we can’t step back over.”
  Jace didn’t deny it.
  Because he felt it too.
  The moment her mother confirmed Adrian, something had changed shape.
  Not just the past.
  The present.
  Like something buried had noticed it was being watched.
  Lena broke the silence first.
  “So what now?” she asked. “Because I’m getting the vibe that ‘wait and see’ is officially off the table.”
  Cass turned slightly.
  “We find him,” she said again.
  Same goal.
  But different weight now.
  Not curiosity anymore.
  Pressure.
  Jace’s expression tightened.
  “Cass… if your mother doesn’t know where he is, then we’re talking about someone who doesn’t want to be found at all.”
  Cass nodded.
  “I know.”
  Lena frowned. “That usually means they’re either very powerful or very dead.”
  Cass looked at her.
  “Or both,” she said quietly.
  That made Lena go silent again.
  They walked for a while without speaking.
  The city felt normal around them.
  Too normal.
  People laughing in passing cars.
  Music leaking from shops.
  Life continuing like it wasn’t sitting on top of something unstable.
  Cass watched it all like she was seeing it differently now.
  Like she couldn’t unsee the structure underneath it anymore.
  Jace finally spoke again.
  “There’s something else,” he said quietly.
  Cass looked at him immediately.
  “What?”
  He hesitated.
  Then pulled something from his pocket.
  A folded piece of paper.
  Old.
  Not printed recently.
  Cass frowned. “Where did you get that?”
  “I didn’t,” he said. “It was in the file.”
  Lena stepped closer. “What file?”
  “The one Cass found,” Jace said.
  Cass went still.
  “I didn’t see that.”
  “I did,” he said.
  He unfolded it carefully.
  And handed it to her.
  Cass took it slowly.
  Her eyes scanned the page.
  At first it looked like a list.
  Names.
  Dates.
  References to “containment measures.”
  But halfway down—
  her breath caught.
  Because her name appeared again.
  Not in context of the accident.
  Not as victim.
  But as designation.
  Cass’s fingers tightened.
  “What is this?” she whispered.
  Jace’s voice lowered.
  “I think it’s classification tracking.”
  Lena leaned in. “That’s not a normal thing for a school file to have.”
  Cass didn’t respond.
  Because she wasn’t looking at the school anymore.
  She was looking at how often her name appeared across different entries.
  Different years.
  Different contexts.
  And always connected to the same word.
  “Anchor.”
  Cass frowned.
  “What does that mean?” she asked.
  Jace shook his head slightly.
  “I don’t know,” he admitted.
  But Lena did something rare.
  She went quiet in a way that meant she was actually thinking.
  Then she said slowly,
  “An anchor is something you hold onto so something else doesn’t drift.”
  Cass looked at her.
  Jace followed that thought immediately.
  “So she’s not just a victim in this,” he said quietly.
  Cass’s stomach tightened slightly.
  “What are you saying?”
  Lena looked uncomfortable now.
  “I’m saying,” she said carefully, “that whatever this system is… it might not just be protecting you.”
  Silence.
  Cass’s voice came out low.
  “What else would it be doing?”
  Lena hesitated.
  Then—
  “Using you.”
  That word landed wrong in Cass’s chest.
  Not because it was new.
  Because it felt like something she’d been circling without knowing it.
  Jace shook his head slightly.
  “That’s too far.”
  But even he didn’t sound fully certain.
  Cass folded the paper again.
  Slowly.
  Carefully.
  Like it might break if she moved too fast.
  “I need to see him,” she said again.
  Jace looked at her.
  “You’re not thinking clearly.”
  “I am,” she said quietly.
  That made him pause.
  Because she sounded like it.
  Not emotional.
  Not panicked.
  Focused.
  Too focused.
  Lena stepped in slightly.
  “Cass, if you go chasing someone who’s tied to a system like this without knowing what you are to it, you could make yourself a target.”
  Cass looked at her.
  “I already am one,” she said.
  Silence.
  Because that part was undeniable now.
  Jace exhaled slowly.
  “Then we do this properly,” he said.
  Cass frowned slightly. “Properly?”
  “We don’t chase shadows,” he continued. “We find where the system still touches the real world.”
  Lena raised an eyebrow. “That sounds like you’ve been thinking about this longer than today.”
  Jace didn’t deny it.
  Cass watched him carefully.
  “You’ve seen more of this than you’ve said,” she said quietly.
  A pause.
  Then Jace nodded once.
  “Yes.”
  That honesty hit harder than anything else today.
  Cass didn’t look away.
  “Then tell me.”
  Jace hesitated.
  Then—
  “There are places where the structure still has influence,” he said. “Not files. Not records. People.”
  Cass’s chest tightened slightly.
  “Who?”
  Jace looked at her.
  And said quietly,
  “People who still follow it.”
  Silence.
  Lena muttered, “That’s… not vague at all.”
  Jace ignored her.
  Because he was watching Cass now.
  Waiting.
  Cass understood immediately.
  “This isn’t just about finding Adrian,” she said.
  Jace nodded.
  “No.”
  Cass’s voice dropped slightly.
  “It’s about who still protects him.”
  Another pause.
  Then Jace said it.
  “Yes.”
  Cass let out a slow breath.
  Then looked ahead.
  Not at them.
  Past them.
  Like she could already see the shape of what was coming.
  “Then we stop guessing,” she said again.
  And this time—
  it didn’t sound like a decision.
  It sounded like impact.
  “We find the people keeping him hidden.”
  Silence settled again.
  But this one felt different.
  Not empty.
  Directional.
  Jace nodded once.
  Lena sighed.
  “Great,” she muttered. “So we’re not just looking for a missing man anymore.”
  Cass turned slightly.
  “No,” she said quietly.
  “We’re looking for the system that made him disappear.”
  And somewhere far away—
  something that had been dormant for years finally registered movement again.