Chapter 13
Ellie's POV
The glow of my laptop screen illuminated our faces as Lily and I hunched over the keyboard, attempting to crack the campus security system. The clock on my desk showed 7:30 PM, but I was determined to find answers about the silver candlestick attack.
"Professor Paulsen said this was his personally designed security network," I muttered, chewing on my pen cap. "But every system has its weakness."
Lily nodded, her eyes glued to the screen as I typed another sequence of commands. We'd been at this for nearly an hour with frustratingly little progress. The security firewall was more sophisticated than we'd anticipated.
"I'm going to meet Tyler for coffee," Megan announced, grabbing her purse. "Don't wait up for me."
"Have fun," Lily replied absently, not taking her eyes off the screen.
After Megan left, I rolled my shoulders to ease the tension. "This might take longer than we thought."
"I'm not giving up," Lily said, determination in her voice. "Whoever attacked you needs to be caught."
Two hours later, we were still staring at the screen, trying different approaches to bypass the security protocols. My werewolf stamina gave me an advantage for sessions like this, but even I was feeling the mental strain.
The door swung open, and Megan returned, carrying several takeout bags. She looked surprised to find us in the exact same positions.
"You two haven't moved an inch since I left!" she exclaimed. "Please tell me you at least had dinner."
Lily and I exchanged guilty glances. Food hadn't even crossed our minds.
"We got caught up in this," I admitted.
"I figured as much," Megan sighed, setting the bags on the table. "That's why I brought back some sandwiches and fries from the campus diner."
The smell of food suddenly made me realize how hungry I was. "You're a lifesaver, Megan."
We took a much-needed break, devouring the sandwiches while Megan told us about her evening. After finishing her story about Tyler's latest drama club disaster, she peered over our shoulders at the laptop screen.
"What exactly are you trying to do with all these command lines?" she asked, squinting at the code on screen. "This looks way more complex than what Professor Paulsen taught us."
I explained the authentication bypass technique we were attempting, describing how we were trying to create a temporary admin access point without triggering the system's security alerts.
Megan studied the screen for a moment, then shook her head. "This is way beyond what we learned in class." She yawned dramatically. "This is where I bow out."
She retreated to her bed with her phone, leaving Lily and I to continue our digital investigation.
The night grew deeper. Around midnight, Megan had fallen asleep, her gentle snoring a constant backdrop to our typing. We tried several more methods without success, and I could see Lily fighting to keep her eyes open.
"You should go to bed," I suggested.
"I'm literally not tired at all," she insisted, rubbing her eyes. "Don't even think about sending me away."
I smiled at her dedication. Standing up to stretch my stiff shoulders, I walked to the window and gazed out at the campus. My enhanced werewolf vision allowed me to see clearly in the darkness. In the distance, near Pioneer Arena, a figure was arranging something on the ground. I squinted, recognizing Lucas's athletic build immediately.
What is he doing out there at this hour? Then I remembered the campus gossip about Lucas buying an expensive set of jewelry. Judging by the current situation, it’s not just a gift—there’s also going to be a grand confession. He must be planning some surprise, I thought idly, realizing I felt surprisingly little about it. He wasn't the boy I'd once cared for anymore.
I watched him for a moment, my mind already drifting back to our hacking problem. As I absently observed how Lucas arranged things in the darkness—methodically placing objects in what looked like a pattern—something clicked in my brain about system architecture.
"Systems," I whispered. "They're all built from the center out."
"What?" Lily asked, looking up from her drooping position.
I rushed back to the computer with renewed energy. "We've been attacking the firewall from the outside, trying to break through the perimeter defenses. But what if we target the core authentication system directly?"
"Like a backdoor?" Lily perked up, suddenly more awake.
"Exactly," I replied, fingers flying across the keyboard. I began typing a complex string of code I'd learned in our advanced cybersecurity class—a method focusing on the system's central authentication protocol rather than its exterior defenses.
"You're brilliant," Lily whispered, watching as I worked.
After several tense minutes, the screen flickered and displayed "ACCESS GRANTED."
"We did it!" I exclaimed, and Lily and I hugged each other excitedly before quickly lowering our voices, worried about waking Megan. We downloaded the footage, but quickly realized reviewing it would be a massive undertaking. There were dozens of cameras and days of recordings to sort through.
"This is going to take forever," Lily yawned, her eyelids heavy.
"Let's get some sleep and tackle it with fresh eyes tomorrow," I suggested. "We've got classes anyway, and this isn't something we can rush through."
Lily nodded, and we both collapsed into our beds, exhausted but satisfied with our progress.
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"I can't believe we actually pulled it off," I said to Lily as we walked with Megan toward the tennis courts the next morning. We'd just finished telling her about our late-night adventure breaking into the security office.
"You two are either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid," Megan laughed, adjusting her tennis bag on her shoulder. "Probably both."
"Hey, desperate times call for desperate measures," Lily replied with a grin. "Now we just need to find time to go through all that footage."
"Oh my god, you guys have to see this!"
Megan's excited squeal interrupted our conversation. I followed her gaze toward Pioneer Arena and immediately froze in my tracks.
The entire plaza was covered in red roses—hundreds, maybe thousands of them. The flowers formed a massive heart shape with a clear path leading through the center. What made my heart race wasn't just the extravagant display, but the glint of silver decorations woven among the rose stems. Even worse, I could see a fine dusting of what looked like silver powder sprinkled over the petals, catching the morning light.
"That's what I saw Lucas setting up last night," I whispered to Lily, my stomach knotting with anxiety. Thalia growled warily inside me. Lucas knew about my silver allergy—he'd been there when I first discovered it at age five.
"Should we go around?" Lily suggested quietly to me.
"That would take us halfway across campus," Megan protested. "We'd definitely be late for tennis."
I hesitated. Megan was right—to get to the tennis courts, we'd need to pass through Pioneer Arena. While Lily was worried about an awkward encounter, I was more concerned about the silver decorations they were installing. Direct contact with silver was the last thing my werewolf skin needed right now.