Chapter 67 Kristen 😏
I barely remembered walking to class. The whole morning blurred behind me, details lost in the static hum inside my head. I knew the professor was speaking, the slides were changing, and the room was cool from the hum of the ceiling vents, but none of it felt real. I was there physically, I guess. But not really present.
My eyes fixed on the screen at the front of the room, but the words didn’t mean anything. They floated past like smoke, untethered and empty. My mind had wandered somewhere else entirely. It kept replaying the moment from the training yard. The heat in my chest hadn’t faded. I had taunted him. Leo. I had crossed every line I once told myself I would never touch. And I had liked it.
I didn’t even know what came over me.
I shifted in my seat and suddenly realized my hand had drifted lower, fingers brushing against the waistband of my jeans. I snapped my hand back fast, heart stuttering. No one was looking. No one had noticed. I sat straighter and tried to force my thoughts elsewhere. But it didn’t help.
The image was still there. Leo’s body hovering over mine. His eyes locked to mine like I was the only person in the world. That look had stripped me down more than his hands ever had. It burned with want. But beneath it was something else too. Something restrained. I remembered the weight of it. Not just his body but his control. The way he had stopped. Pulled back. Even when I hadn’t.
I wasn’t sure what that said about him. Or me.
My lips parted slightly, breath catching. I shook my head and blinked hard. What the hell was I doing? Where in God’s name had that come from?
I hadn’t even processed half of what I’d felt that day. I wasn’t ready to name it. I wasn’t ready to decide whether I regretted it either. Part of me wanted to crawl inside the memory and pull it closer. Part of me wanted to run.
“Miss Lockwood.”
The voice snapped the thread.
I blinked up. Walter Stone stood at the front of the room, a single brow raised with patient precision. The room had fallen silent. Everyone was staring.
“I’m sorry,” I said automatically. “What?”
“The question,” he said, voice smooth. “Would you care to answer it?”
I scrambled, completely blank.
“I… didn’t hear it,” I admitted.
His lips curved just slightly. A smile, but not one I trusted.
“Then you’ll need to come see me during office hours,” he said. “There are things we must talk about.”
His voice was calm. Professional. But something about the phrasing clung to me longer than it should have. I nodded numbly and dropped my gaze, cheeks hot. The lecture resumed. I barely heard any of it.
By the time class ended, I had packed my things in a rush and practically dragged Anna toward the dining hall.
The burger joint on campus was noisy and warm. The air smelled like burnt oil and meat and melted cheese. I pushed fries around my tray with one hand while sipping a soda that had long gone flat.
Anna studied me across the booth with an expression that looked equal parts judgment and amusement.
“You were zoning so hard in there I thought you were about to astral project,” she said.
I didn’t answer. Just popped a fry in my mouth and chewed without tasting it.
“You gonna tell me what that was about?” she asked.
I shrugged. “Just tired.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Is that what we’re calling it now?”
I didn’t rise to the bait.
Anna leaned back and crossed her arms. “So what’s the plan now? We’re stalling.”
“We’re not stalling,” I said.
“Then tell me.”
I looked down at the ketchup smudges on my tray. I couldn’t pretend anymore. I was done waiting. Done circling the same questions with no answers. Done playing polite games with people who clearly had no intention of giving me the truth.
“We break in,” I said.
Anna blinked. “Excuse me?”
“We’re going in the old-fashioned way. No distractions. No favors. Just us and whatever gets us inside the database system.”
She gave a low whistle. “You’re serious.”
I nodded. “Dead serious.”
“And I assume we’re aiming for your file?”
“Yes.”
Anna tapped her fingers against the table. “Kristen… that server is locked down tight. Not just tech but magic too. If Walter really is watching it, he’ll know the second something shifts.”
“Then we’ll find a way to make him look the other direction,” I said.
“Easy as that?”
“No. But better than sitting around waiting for someone to give me permission to know who I am.”
Anna sighed. “You’re not wrong.”
The music from the speaker above us shifted to something older, slower. A woman’s voice filled the room, honey-smooth and aching. I stared out the window at students passing by under yellowing trees. Fall was creeping in fast. Shadows stretched longer now. And I could feel the semester turning with them.
I wiped my hands on a napkin and stood.
Anna looked up. “Now?”
“Soon,” I said. “We need to prep first. Scout the room. Figure out security layers. You’re better at the tech side than I am.”
“That’s true,” she said, smug.
I ignored the smirk. “We keep it small. Just us. No one else. No distractions. No questions.”
Anna narrowed her eyes. “What about Leo?”
“He doesn’t get a vote.”
She studied me. “You sure about that?”
“I’m sure,” I said. My voice didn’t shake. “If there’s something they’re hiding about me, we’re going to find it. And I’m not going to stop until I do.”
Anna nodded slowly. “Then I guess it’s go time.”
I looked back toward the direction of the lecture hall, toward the professor who had said he wanted to talk, toward the school that had been shaping me without ever fully explaining why.
They had built walls around me without giving me the blueprint. And now I wanted to see what was inside.
Whatever it was. However dark. However big. I would walk straight into it.
But I wouldn’t walk blind.
Not anymore.