Chapter 95 Evidence and Exile
Third Person's POV
"What else?" Jax pressed, his heart racing now.
The boy's voice dropped lower. "I don't know anything else."
"The next thing I remember," the girl said softly, "was waking up in that room. With the lights."
Jax asked, "Do you remember hurting anyone?"
The little girl fidgeted. "I wouldn't hurt a soul—I can't even bring myself to kill a rabbit. I never could, even as a kid."
Both boys answered in unison, "We don't remember,"
From the look on them, they honestly didn't remember a thing.
They reached the perimeter fence, and Jax quickly located the gap he'd discovered weeks ago. Beyond it lay neutral territory—freedom.
"This is where we part ways," Jax said quietly, helping each child through the gap.
The little girl turned back, her hand catching his sleeve. "You're not coming?"
"I can't," Jax said, his voice gentle despite the ache in his chest. "Not yet. I need to go back. But you three—you run. You find the Rogue settlement two miles north of here. Tell them Jax sent you. They'll keep you safe."
"But if you go back—" the first boy started.
"I'll be fine," Jax lied. "But you need to be careful. It's dangerous out here. The people who did this to you—they might still be looking. Stay together. Stay hidden. And when you reach the settlement, tell them everything you told me. About the birthmark. About what you heard. All of it."
"Thank you," the girl whispered. "For trying to save us."
Jax's throat tightened. "Go. Now. Before anyone realizes you're gone."
They hesitated one more moment, then turned and disappeared into the darkness beyond the fence, three small figures swallowed by shadows.
Jax watched until he couldn't see them anymore, then turned back toward the Academy.
He started back along the service path, his steps steady despite the dread settling in his stomach like lead.
And when the floodlights snapped on, blinding and overwhelming, when security guards materialized from the shadows like ghosts, when Professor Stone stepped forward with that phone displaying damning photographs—
Jax wasn't surprised.
He'd known this moment was coming.
He'd walked into the trap with his eyes open.
The only question was whether those three children would make it to safety before the trap claimed him completely.
---
Professor Stone stepped forward, his expression one of cold triumph, his phone held up to display crystal-clear photographs.
"Well," Stone said, his voice carrying across the sudden silence. "It seems we have our proof after all."
Jax's mind raced, cataloguing exits, calculating odds.
But there wasn't one.
This had all been planned. The sleeping guard, the disabled cameras, the clear path to the perimeter.
All designed to lead him here.
"Jax Thorne," Headmaster Grey's voice cut through his thoughts as the Headmaster emerged from behind the security cordon, disappointment etched deep in every line of his weathered face. "You were warned. You were given every opportunity to prove your innocence. And instead, you've chosen to confirm every suspicion."
‘This is a setup,' He thought, ‘Someone disabled those cameras—’
"The evidence is clear, Mr. Thorne," Grey interrupted. "The guard's testimony will confirm that you took the keys from his person. The photographs document your actions. And your current position—attempting to smuggle these children off campus—speaks for itself."
Grey stepped closer. "I had hoped you would prove us wrong. That you would demonstrate that a Rogue could be trusted. But instead, you've confirmed every prejudice, every fear."
"I was trying to save them," Jax said quietly, his voice hollow with defeat. "They're innocent. They were controlled, used. They don't deserve to die."
"Perhaps," Grey said, and there might have been genuine sympathy in his tone. "But you made your choice, Mr. Thorne. And now you must face the consequences."
He turned to the security guards. "Take him into custody. And alert the perimeter patrols—the children have fled into neutral territory. We'll need to coordinate with the local authorities to retrieve them."
"No," Jax said, genuine panic flaring for the first time. "Leave them alone. They're just children—"
"They are dangerous criminals who attacked this Academy," Stone said coldly. "They will be retrieved and the execution will proceed as scheduled."
Jax lunged forward, but the guards were already on him, their hands closing around his arms with brutal efficiency.
"Listen to me!" Jax shouted, struggling against their grip. "They told me things! The children remember being grabbed, drugged—one of them bit her attacker and saw a birthmark on his left arm, shaped like a crescent moon! They heard the kidnappers talking about framing me specifically!"
"These children have been traumatized," Stone said quickly. "Drugged, controlled. Their memories are unreliable at best, fabricated at worst. We cannot base our judgment on confused recollections."
"But—" Jax started.
"Enough," Grey said, though his tone was weary rather than harsh. "Mr. Thorne, you broke into a secure facility. You freed prisoners awaiting execution. You attempted to smuggle them off campus. Whatever your motivations, the actions themselves are indefensible."
He paused, then added with finality, "Jax Thorne, you are hereby expelled from Moonshadow Academy, effective immediately. You will be escorted from campus and barred from returning. Furthermore, I am recommending that you be transferred to territorial custody to face formal charges of conspiracy, aiding criminals, and endangering students."
The words fell like a death sentence.
Jax stopped struggling, the fight draining out of him as the full weight of what had just happened crashed down.
The guards began leading him away from the forest clearing, back toward the main campus where he'd be processed and removed.
Behind them, Grey turned to Stone with quiet authority. "Mobilize the retrieval teams. Those children can't have gotten far."
"Yes, Headmaster," Stone said, satisfaction barely concealed in his voice.
---
By the time Wynter and Chase reached the scene, the forest clearing was already packed with people—students who'd been roused by the alarms, faculty members in various states of dress, security personnel maintaining a perimeter.
Wynter pushed through the crowd desperately, Chase at her side, both of them still breathing hard from their sprint across campus.
When they finally broke through to the front, the scene that greeted them made Wynter's heart drop.
Jax stood in the center of a ring of security guards, his wrists now bound with specialized restraints, his collar pulsing erratically. His clothes were dirty from the forest, his face exhausted but his spine still straight, refusing to show weakness even in defeat.
Professor Stone stood nearby, holding up his phone to display photographs that even from this distance Wynter could see were damning.
And Headmaster Grey stood in the center of it all, his face grave with disappointment.
Wynter started forward, words of protest forming on her lips, but Chase's hand closed around her wrist with sudden force, holding her back.
She opened her mouth to argue, but his mental voice cut through her thoughts like a blade.
Not here, his warning flashed through the Bond. Look at them—the way they're watching. If you jump to his defense now, you'll put a target on yourself. We can't help him if they start suspecting us.