"Clyde, are you okay? You're sweating buckets," Brianna asked, leaning over the edge of the campus bench.
Maddie looked up from her tablet, her green eyes tracking his rapid breathing. "Same dream?"
"Yeah," Clyde muttered, wiping a cold layer of sweat from his forehead.
Ever since their frantic escape from Auravale eleven years ago, the exact same nightmare had haunted his sleep. The smell of ash, the sound of gunfire, and the cold silhouette of Albert standing in the silver moonlight never truly left him. Over the years, his fixation on the attack had escalated into an absolute obsession. It was the sole reason he had chosen law as his major; he was going to become a prosecutor, and he was going to hunt down the shadows of his past through the legal system.
Maddie sighed, setting her tablet down. "Clyde, we all left Auravale, and I know we promised back then to investigate the people who did it. But it's been a long time since that gang was active. Maybe they're disbanded. Maybe they're dead, just like the news reports said years ago."
"No! I don't buy it," Clyde refuted, his voice tight. "I believe they're planning something massive in secret."
"Something massive that takes eleven years?" Maddie countered, a trace of exhaustion in her voice. "Clyde, I know that night scarred you. But do you honestly think those killers care about the past? I'm sure they drank excessively, celebrated their payday, and moved on. They don't care about us. They don't even know we're alive."
Clyde sat up straight, his posture rigid. He lacked concrete proof—the authorities had closed the case files a decade ago—and a part of him knew his conviction sounded like stubbornness, or perhaps a desperate hope for closure. But deep down, his instincts screamed that a grand scheme was actively brewing behind the scenes.
Wanting to break Clyde's stubborn stance, Maddie turned to Brianna to sway the vote. "Don't you think so, Brianna? Tell him he's being unrealistic."
Brianna crossed her legs, a casual, unreadable expression on her face as her red-tipped nails tapped against her knee. "Well, honestly, I don't know. Maybe Maddie is right and they've changed, or died out. Or maybe they really are planning something big. But personally? I just think you should trust your instincts, Clyde."
"Brianna!" Maddie snapped, her voice rising. "You're supposed to help me change his mind, not encourage him!"
Brianna simply shrugged, offering a faint, mysterious smile.
"Thanks, Brianna," Clyde said, managing a weak smile of his own. "I know something is happening out there in the dark, and I won't rest until I find out exactly what it is."
"Careful, Clyde. You're starting to sound like one of those hardcore, obsessed police officers," Brianna joked.
Clyde let out a genuine chuckle, while Maddie merely frowned, entirely unable to understand why Clyde couldn't just let the past go and grasp her perspective.
As the morning faded, the trio slipped back into their demanding university routines: attending lectures across their respective majors, participating in intensive group assignments, and taking meticulous notes. It was a hectic, exhausting day, especially since several of Maddie's advanced corporate law classes intersected directly with Clyde's criminal law modules. Whenever they entered a lecture hall together, the atmosphere grew noticeably tense.
Unbeknownst to them, the three childhood friends had become minor celebrities on campus. They were widely popular for their sharp intelligence, striking talents, and effortlessly sociable nature. Almost everyone in their year admired them from afar, yearning for a chance to break into their tight-knit social circle.
Whenever they walked into a classroom, girls turned in quiet admiration while the guys openly gushed over them. Clyde possessed a natural, quiet charm, but their true claim to campus fame was their intense intimacy. Because they had been practically inseparable since childhood, the student body had begun frantically speculating about Clyde's romantic future. There was an ongoing, highly active poll on the university's anonymous forum tracking the ship. Currently, Brianna was leading the campus romance boards with 879 votes, while Maddie trailed a close second at 860.
Just before his final afternoon lecture concluded, the professor, Mr. Patrick, stood at the podium to announce their mid-term research project.
"I have already finalized the pairings for this semester's project," Mr. Patrick announced, tapping his clipboard. "The class has been divided into twenty-four distinct research groups, with exactly eight members assigned to each group to ensure a multi-angled approach to the case studies."
Maddie and Clyde exchanged a brief look across the rows of desks. To their absolute surprise, the professor called out their names back-to-back. Out of all the combinations in the massive lecture hall, they had been placed together in Group 5.
Group 5 gathered in the sunlit corner of the lecture hall, exactly eight students pulling heavy wooden chairs into a loose circle. Clyde sat stiffly, his notebook open but untouched, his deep blue eyes flicking tensely between Maddie and Brianna. Maddie leaned back, her arms tightly crossed as her green eyes scanned the group with thinly veiled impatience. Brianna, looking far more relaxed, offered a polite, casual smile to the others, though her icy blue gaze betrayed a sharp, hidden calculation.
As the son of the city's Chief Commissioner, Collins "CJ" Johnson naturally took charge, adjusting his anime t-shirt as he tapped his clipboard with a wave of forced cheer. "Alright, let's make this quick so we can beat the campus rush. Mr. Patrick split the class into groups of eight for a reason, so let's divide the workload cleanly. Clyde, Maddie—since you both have the highest scores in legal theory, you'll handle the core case study analysis."
Clyde's jaw tightened. Case studies meant law, meant precedent, meant his burning childhood home. He glanced at Maddie, who rolled her eyes toward the ceiling. "Figures," she muttered under her breath.
Sitting directly across from them, Laura Heils shifted her posture, her auburn curls falling over her shoulders as she flashed a bright smile directly at Clyde. As a prosecutor's daughter, she loved the thrill of digging into old records. "I'm on the core research portion," Laura declared confidently. "Brianna, maybe you can help me with the deep sourcing? I heard you're a genius with database tracking."
Brianna nodded with effortless grace, her red-tipped nails tapping a slow rhythm against her knee. "Sure. I'm pretty good at digging into old archives."
Beside Laura, her best friend Renee Newton sat with a mature, defensive posture, her sharp eyes acting like a shield as she threw a cold look directly at Maddie. Renee's father was a powerful city politician, and she knew exactly how to read a room—and she didn't trust Maddie one bit.
"I'll handle the supporting data," Renee chimed in smoothly. "My dad can get us access to municipal archives that aren't public yet."
A lean, sharp-featured boy sitting next to them smirked, spinning a pen between his fingers. "Name's Victor. I'll handle the final presentation structure. Don't worry, I know how to keep a lecture audience awake."
Sitting quietly next to Clyde was Bonnie Reil. Carrying the natural poise and striking charisma she had clearly inherited from her famous actor parents, Bonnie offered Clyde a small, grounding smile. Her presence felt like a sudden break from the heavy anxiety suffocating him. But before Clyde could return the smile, CJ leaned forward, his almond eyes locked onto Maddie. Investigative instincts were practically genetic in CJ's bloodline, and right now, Maddie was giving him incredibly weird, chilling vibes.
The group laughed lightly at Victor's joke, but Clyde's focus remained entirely elsewhere. He was hyper-aware of the subtle exchanges happening in the circle—the way Maddie smirked when CJ mentioned tracing criminal organizations, and the quiet, almost imperceptible nod Brianna gave when Laura referenced tracking "hidden shadow networks."
CJ clapped his hands together, drawing their attention back to the clipboard. "Alright, let's brainstorm the thesis. Our specific case study is on organized crime and its historic influence on local law enforcement. Clyde, Maddie, you're our legal experts here. What's our starting hook?"
Clyde straightened his spine, his voice ringing out clear and cold. "Organized crime doesn't just vanish when a case is closed. It hide and adapts. It embeds itself into the system. The Obsidian Vultures, for example—"
Maddie cut him off sharply, her green eyes flashing with sudden, icy anger. "We're not turning a mid-term grade into your personal obsession, Clyde. Stick to the actual assignment text."
Victor raised an eyebrow, leaning over the desk. "Obsidian Vultures? Man, that's old-school history. Weren't they completely wiped out by the special forces years ago?"
Clyde's blue eyes narrowed to dangerous slits. "That's exactly what they want the public to think."
The group exchanged tense, highly uneasy glances. Laura shifted uncomfortably, while Renee frowned, her political instincts warning her that Clyde was stepping into dangerous territory. CJ, however, sat perfectly still, his eyes passing from Clyde's intense expression to Maddie's rigid, hostile posture. Laura knew the public archives, but CJ knew the secrets his father kept locked in the commissioner's private safe.
Laura rapidly scribbled down notes, her curiosity as a researcher piqued by the sudden friction. "If they're actually still operating in the shadows, wouldn't that make our project look... entirely real? It would blow the professor away."
Brianna spoke softly, her voice calm, measured, and entirely reluctant. "Maybe. But we don't have a single shred of legal proof, Laura. Without evidence, it's just wild speculation."CJ let out a heavy sigh, rubbing the back of his neck. "Look, we're here to get an A, not chase ghosts or conspiracy theories. We need solid, verifiable material. Clyde, Maddie, focus tightly on the legal precedents. Brianna, Laura, research. Victor, presentation. The rest of us will back you up with the data."
The discussion carried on for another twenty minutes, but Clyde's mind had completely left the room. Every laugh, every casual remark from his classmates felt like an orchestrated distraction from the truth. He could see the dark reality hiding behind Maddie's faint smirk and Brianna's calculated silence—they knew infinitely more than they were letting on.
As the meeting stretched, the group began fiercely debating their primary sources. Laura suggested standard government reports, Victor pushed for media coverage, while Clyde adamantly insisted on digging into sealed, restricted case files from eleven years ago.
"That's legally impossible," CJ argued, throwing his hands up. "We're undergrads. Even with my dad's position, we don't have federal security clearance for sealed files."
"Then we find someone who does," Clyde shot back, his eyes flashing.
Maddie groaned loudly, tossing her pen onto her notebook. "You're completely impossible, Clyde. This is a university semester project, not a live police investigation. Drop it."
Victor leaned forward, thoroughly intrigued by the drama. "But what if Clyde is onto something? What if the Vultures are still out there? Think about the presentation. It would be unforgettable."
Laura's eyes gleamed. "It would be a masterpiece. But it's incredibly risky."
Brianna finally spoke up, her voice acting like a soothing, authoritative wave over the argument. "We should balance both sides. We'll use the official, cleared government sources to secure our grade, but we won't ignore the academic possibility of hidden networks. That way, we cover all angles without breaking any rules."
CJ rubbed his temples, completely exhausted by the group's dynamic. "Fine. Balance it. But keep it strictly professional. No unbacked conspiracy theories.
"By the time the afternoon bell finally rang, signaling the end of the hectic day, Clyde's notebook was filled with chaotic, half-scribbled notes—none of them actually about Mr. Patrick's assignment guidelines. His mind was entirely trapped elsewhere—on obsidian, on heavy chains, and on the terrifying shadows of Auravale that had never truly died.
As they walked out into the crowded campus corridor, Maddie and Brianna stepped seamlessly into position beside him, their beautiful expressions entirely unreadable, keeping him safely locked within their circle.