CH184

CH184
My pulse quickened. This had to be the token Celeste and that woman had been talking about. I noted that and snapped a photo of the description. I glanced around the quiet library, suddenly uneasy, as though someone might be peering over my shoulder. But the tables nearby were empty. The steady tick of the clock was the only thing filling the silence.
I took a few more photos of pages and moved on, but at the back of my mind, a dark thought whispered.
What if I couldn't find the token?
What would happen to Lukas then?
What if I found it and it wasn't enough? Reese still had the other token and knew a lot more about this magic stuff than I did.

The days leading up to the second walk-through felt haunted. I ended up checking out all the books I could find and poring over them, searching for more information about the token, but there wasn't much more than I had already found.
The second walkthrough ended with the same tension and anticipation. The scouts clustered at the boards, making their notes while Randall tried a little too hard to hover in their line of sight and direct their attention. Lukas and I hit every lift Coach Avery asked of us, even the slightly simpler compound one we’d downgraded. It should have felt like progress, but Lukas had been tense the whole time.
When we were leaving, I took his hand and went still. His hand was flickering. Not literally vanishing, not fully, but my vision blurred around him, his body dimming like a bad film reel stuttering frame by frame. My stomach dropped.
“Vandy?” His voice was steady, but the way he flexed his fingers told me he felt it too.
“Don’t,” I whispered. “Not here. Don’t let go.”
We cut through the campus, but I wasn't sure what to do or where to go. My eyes kept glancing to the sky, waiting for the sky to open up above us or something, but nothing came. Not yet.
My pulse hammered in my chest as I led him across campus, glancing back to make sure he was still that. If Reese was behind this—and I had no doubt he was—then we couldn’t risk isolation. He'd been taken when he was in his room alone before, but if we got somewhere with more eyes, then he would be okay.
I hoped I was right.
I hoped I wasn’t just pulling at straws.
"The cafeteria!" I cried, pulling him into a near run. We got there, and I felt him growing more solid.
It was crowded enough to feel like a shield. We took a table dead center. With students streaming around us and eyes everywhere, Reese wouldn't just open a portal here. Right?
Slowly, the flickering ended. Lukas’s presence steadied beside me, his hand solid and warm again. He didn’t speak, just sat close, shoulders stiff. I saw the tension in his jaw, the guilt in his eyes. Partner, I thought, and the word carried both the promise of trust and the weight of his fear. He was afraid he’d vanish on me in the middle of a lift on the ice in front of the world, but it seemed more likely that we'd never get there.
I squeezed his hand tighter.
“You’re not going anywhere,” I said firmly, low enough for only him to hear. “Not if I have anything to say about it.”
He didn’t look convinced.
Movement at the edge of the cafeteria caught my attention.
The woman who had thrown herself at Lukas days ago sat alone at a corner table, phone untouched beside her tray. Her gaze was fixed on us. She looked angry.
I stood before I could talk myself out of it.
“Vandy?” Lukas reached for me, but I shook my head. “Two minutes. Stay here.”
I crossed the room. When I stopped at her table, she finally blinked up at me, her smile thin.
“Something you want?” she asked lightly.
“You tell me,” I said. “You’re watching us like it’s your job.”
Her smile sharpened. “Maybe I just enjoy the view.” Her eyes flicked over my shoulder, lingering where Lukas sat. “He is easy on the eyes.”
Anger flared hot in my chest, but I kept my voice cool. “Don’t play dumb with me. I know you’re involved in whatever Reese and Celeste are doing---whoever they and you really are. Consider this a warning: if anything happens to Lukas,” I leaned closer, practically hissing in her face. “I’ll come for you.”
Fear flickered across her expression. It was gone in a blink, her lips curving again, but it wasn't real. It was too stiff to be real. She was rattled.
Good.
I straightened. “Enjoy your breakfast.”
As I turned away, my pulse still thrumming, I couldn’t shake the question echoing in my head.
Why did she look so spooked?
I had never been in a fight in my life… but maybe I had in a past life?
I slid back into my seat, pulse still loud in my ears. Lukas looked up immediately, brows drawn tight.
“She knows something,” I murmured, keeping my tone low. “But she’s not going to admit it. I think I scared her, though.”
His eyes searched mine, like he was trying to read what I wasn’t saying. “And you?”
“I’m fine.” Mostly. The truth was that this all had shaken me more than I wanted to admit. That flicker in his form earlier filled me with fear. I could have lost him. I still could. The thought cracked me open, raw and pained. My eyes burned with unshed tears.
Lukas leaned closer, his shoulder brushing mine. “Let’s not let her take up more space in your head than she deserves.”
His tone was decisive, protective, but I could see the heaviness in his gaze and the shadow of doubt still eating at him. I hated it. I hated seeing him carry that weight.
“Come with me this evening,” he said suddenly, his mouth curving into the faintest suggestion of a smile. “A date.”
I blinked. “A… date?”
“Yes.” His eyes softened. “A date… just us. I think we're overdue for one."
Warmth bloomed in my chest. “You’re serious.”
“I wouldn’t have said it otherwise.”
I hesitated only a second before nodding. “Sounds great… what did you have in mind?”