Chapter 22 Vaelor
Vaelor
I’ve checked the library twice. The dining hall. The back paths behind the training buildings where no one goes this early.
Nothing.
She’s not here. Or if she is, she doesn’t want to be found—and Nova knows how to not be found. Fifteen years of practice. Years of learning how to disappear when disappearing was the only thing keeping her alive.
I keep moving. I can’t stop.
If I stop, I’ll think too much, and if I think too much I’ll remember her face at dinner two nights ago—the way she reached for the bread like she was still surprised it was there, the way she almost smiled when Rane said something stupid, the way she looked at all of us like she was waiting for the catch.
There’s no catch. That’s what I wanted to tell her. There’s no catch, there’s no trick, there’s just us, and we’re not going anywhere.
But I didn’t say it. None of us did. And now she’s gone.
I cut through the east quad toward the meeting point. We agreed to regroup every twenty minutes, share what we’ve got, adjust the search grid. It’s inefficient but it’s better than five of us running in circles while she slips further away.
The morning air is cold. I didn’t grab a jacket. Didn’t think about it. Just moved.
My chest is tight in a way I can’t shake. I’m not panicking yet, but I’m close. It’s that feeling you get when you’re holding something fragile and you feel it start to crack.
Where are you?
I’ve asked the question a hundred times in the last hour. But there’s no her. Just silence and empty paths and the growing certainty that we fucked this up before we even had a chance to get it right.
I round the corner by the old stone benches and nearly slam into someone.
He’s moving just as fast as I am. Looking around the same way—head turning, eyes scanning, body tight with the same urgency I’m carrying. He’s not out for a walk. He’s searching. Just like we are.
Trey.
We both pull up short. For a second we just stand there, catching our breath, sizing each other up.
We’ve all noticed him. Hard not to, after orientation. After the way he looked at her. None of us have said it out loud, but we’re all thinking the same thing—wondering if he’s part of this. Part of us. Wondering what it means if he is.
Right now, I don’t care. Another set of eyes can’t hurt.
I open my mouth to say something but he beats me to it.
“Have you seen her?” The question comes out rough. Desperate. Not the voice of someone who’s casually concerned.
“You’re—”
“Nova. Have you seen her? I need to find her.”
The pieces click into place. Not just orientation. Not just proximity alerts and bureaucratic bullshit we’ve been ignoring. He’s here. Looking for her. Covering the same ground we are.
“Fuck. So it’s true.”
He shakes his head, already scanning the path behind my shoulder. “I don’t have time for this—”
“No. She took off this morning. We’re looking too.”
“Fuck.” He runs a hand through his hair. The gesture is jagged, frustrated. “Silas and Harrick—”
My stomach drops.
“What did they do?”
“I don’t know exactly.” His voice is rough. “But whatever it was, it wasn’t good. I came around the corner and she was already running. They were laughing. Harrick said something about ‘she’s gone, and that’s all that matters.’”
I’m going to kill them.
“Come on.” I turn back toward the meeting point. “This way.”
He follows without arguing.
We walk fast, not quite running. I can feel him beside me—the tension radiating off him, the way he keeps scanning the paths like she might appear around any corner.
“How long have you known her?” I ask.
“I don’t.” He glances at me. “Not really. Just orientation. And Mark Theory—we’re in the same class.”
“But you’re here.”
“Yeah.” He doesn’t elaborate. Doesn’t explain why he’s burning bridges with his friends to chase a girl he barely knows. He doesn’t have to. I can see it in the set of his jaw, the way his hands keep curling into fists.
He doesn’t understand it either. But he’s here anyway.
I know the feeling.
The others are already there when we arrive. No one’s standing still—pacing, checking phones, watching the paths. The tension is visible from twenty feet away.
No Nova.
Locke sees Trey first. His whole body goes rigid. He stops pacing. His hands curl into fists at his sides.
“What the fuck is he doing here?”
Rane’s head snaps up. Kyron’s eyes narrow. Beckett doesn’t move, but I feel his attention shift.
“Give it a rest.” I step between them before anyone can move. “He’s looking for Nova too.”
“And we’re supposed to just trust that?” Locke’s voice is flat. Dangerous. He hasn’t taken his eyes off Trey.
“Silas and Harrick got to her this morning,” I say. “Whatever they said, it was bad enough that she ran. Trey saw the aftermath.”
“Convenient.” Kyron’s voice is cool. “He just happened to be there.”
“I told Silas to stay the fuck away from her.” Trey’s jaw tightens. “He told me if I walked away, I could kiss my internship goodbye. His father set the whole thing up.”
“And you walked anyway,” Beckett says quietly.
“I’m here, aren’t I?”
Locke hasn’t relaxed. “That doesn’t mean we trust you.”
“I’m not asking you to trust me. I’m asking you to let me help find her.”
No one responds to that. Kyron shifts his weight, eyes narrowing.
“What else do you know? About Silas.”
Trey exhales. “Harrick’s been his usual self. But Silas… he’s been different since Nova showed up.”
“Different how?”
“Interested. Not in a normal way. He watches her. Asks questions about her. At first I thought it was just—” He shakes his head. “I don’t know what I thought. But then I heard him on the phone.”
Suddenly everyone is paying attention.
“When?” I ask.
“Three days ago. It was late. I was coming back from the training center and he was outside our building, talking to someone. I only caught pieces of it, but…” He looks at me. “He was talking about Nova. About her mark. The one she doesn’t have.”
“What did he say exactly?” Kyron’s voice has gone sharp.
“Something about verification. About the system flagging her as an anomaly. And then he said ‘father.’” Trey’s jaw tightens. “That’s when I knew who he was talking to.”
“His father’s high up in the Nightmare Order,” Kyron says quietly. “Security oversight. If anyone’s going to care about an unmarked anomaly, it’s them.” He pauses. “Which means Silas probably knows things the rest of us don’t.”
Trey’s face shifts. “He’s mentioned testing before. Some kind of program his father’s involved with. I didn’t think much of it at the time.”
“And now?”
“Now I’m thinking about the way he looked at her.”
Fuck.
I look at the others. We’re all following the same thread.
Silas isn’t just a bully with a grudge. He’s connected to something bigger. Something that cares about Nova’s missing mark enough to make phone calls about it. Something that involves testing.
“We don’t have time for this,” I say. “She’s out there alone. Whatever Silas is doing, whoever he’s talking to—none of it matters if we don’t find her first.”
“So where do we look?” Rane stands up. “We’ve already hit the main buildings.”
“She’s not going to show up on a fucking map,” Beckett says. “She knows how to disappear.”
“Then we think like her.” Kyron pushes off the tree. “Where would she go if she wanted to vanish? Not hide—vanish.”
“Off campus,” Locke says.
“The gates are monitored.”
“You think that would stop her?”
No. It wouldn’t. She spent fifteen years slipping through systems designed to catch people like her. A campus gate wouldn’t even slow her down.
“Twenty minutes,” I say. “Go back, grab whatever you need. Who knows how long we’ll be gone.”
No one argues.
They scatter. Locke’s already halfway across the clearing before I finish talking. Rane and Kyron head off together. Beckett pauses, looks back at me once, then goes.
Trey stands there, uncertain. Outside the formation. Not sure where he fits.
“You coming or not?”
He nods. “I know where it is. I’ll meet you there.”
I don’t trust him. Not yet. Not fully. There’s too much I don’t know—about Silas, about whatever’s pulling him toward Nova with the same gravity that’s pulling all of us.
But she’s gone. And he burned his future to come looking for her.
Right now, that makes him one of us.