---
The peace lasted exactly forty-eight hours.
I was in my dorm, trying to write a paper on macroeconomic theory, a blissfully normal task in my newly accepted abnormal life. The hum in my bones was a quiet, steady presence, a comforting reminder of the bond solidified in the clubroom. For the first time, it didn't feel like a curse or an alarm. It felt like a connection.
Then, the connection snapped taut.
It wasn't the sharp, painful pull of a ghost. It was a different frequency altogether—a cold, sterile, and utterly invasive scraping against the edges of my awareness. It felt like fingers made of ice were tracing the outline of my soul, probing for a weakness.
My desk lamp flickered and died. The Wi-Fi symbol on my laptop vanished. A dead zone. A deliberate, manufactured one.
They were here.
My phone buzzed once, a single, frantic text from a group chat Lexi had named "Primary Emitter Security Detail."
Lexi: They're here. Active scanning detected. Sigma-level dampening field in effect. Do NOT engage. Stay in your room. Sage is inbound.
The message was followed by a string of panicked emojis from Yuki and then a single, solid checkmark from Sage.
Before I could process the sheer, terrifying efficiency of their response, a heavy, rhythmic knock sounded on my door. It wasn't the polite tap of an RA. It was the sound of authority.
"Alexander? Campus security. We need to speak with you."
The voice was calm, professional, and utterly devoid of warmth. It was the voice of Mr. Sterling's world.
The scraping against my aura intensified, a psychic crowbar trying to pry me open. My heart hammered against my ribs, but the fear was quickly being overwritten by that new, cold anger I'd discovered in the mill. They weren't just coming for me. They were violating me.
I didn't move. "I'm busy."
"The matter is urgent, I'm afraid. It concerns the... extracurricular club you've been participating in. We have concerns about its safety."
The knob jiggled, then stopped. I heard a faint, sizzling sound and a muffled curse from the hallway. Sage's work. He'd probably wired my door handle with something that delivered a mild, spiritual-static shock.
A different voice, sharper, cut through the door. "This is a waste of time. The dampening field is active. The asset is isolated. Let's just take the door."
The asset. The word was a bucket of ice water. This was it. The jar Lexi had warned me about.
The hum in my bones, which had been recoiling from the cold scraping, suddenly solidified. It wasn't a purr. It wasn't a war-drum. It was the low, building whine of a power generator spinning up. The air in my room grew thick, charged. The dead laptop screen flickered, the Apple logo glitching in and out of existence.
They wanted to see the asset? Fine.
I could feel them on the other side of the door, two, maybe three of them. I could feel their sterile, hungry energy. And I could feel something else, too—closing in fast. A familiar, warm, and furious presence, moving with the speed and inevitability of a freight train.
Sage.
The door didn't break down. It was simply removed from the equation.
One moment, there were voices and scraping at the lock. The next, a sound like a small thunderclap echoed in the hallway, followed by a sharp cry of pain and the thud of a body hitting the wall. The sterile, scraping pressure against my aura vanished, cut off as if by a guillotine.
My dorm room door swung open, not shattered, but perfectly intact, its lock mechanism smoking slightly.
Framed in the doorway, backlit by the hallway lights, was Sage. He wasn't breathing heavily, but his chest was expanded, his shoulders set in a line of pure, unadulterated fury. His rust-red eyes glowed with an inner fire, and the scent of ozone and burnt coffee clung to him. In one hand, he held a complex-looking device of wires and crystals that was still sparking.
The two men in crisp, dark uniforms who had been at my door were now slumped against the opposite wall, groaning. A third, who must have been providing the "dampening field," was frantically trying to reboot a tablet that was now displaying a cascade of error messages.
Sage's gaze swept over them with cold disdain before landing on me. The fury in his eyes melted instantly into a wave of such intense, protective relief it was almost a physical force.
"Alex," he said, his voice a low, grounding rumble. "Are you unharmed?"
"I'm... fine," I managed, my own power still humming, ready for a fight that seemed to have already been won.
Sage stepped into the room, his presence immediately making the small space feel even smaller. He ignored the downed agents and came straight to me, his large hands gripping my shoulders as he looked me over, checking for any sign of injury. "They touched you? Did they try to inject you with anything?"
"No, nothing. You got here before they could."
His shoulders relaxed a fraction. "Good." He finally turned his attention back to the agents, his expression hardening once more. "You will leave this campus. You will tell your master that this asset is under the protection of the Pine Valley Supernatural Club. The next time you attempt a retrieval, the consequences will be... permanent."
One of the agents, clutching his chest, looked up at Sage with a mixture of pain and disbelief. "You can't... you're just a college student..."
Sage took a single step toward him. The air in the hallway seemed to grow heavier, the lights flickering in a slow, ominous rhythm. "I am the guardian of this territory," he said, his voice dropping into a register that felt ancient and deadly. "And you are trespassing. Now. Get. Out."
They scrambled to their feet, helping their dazed colleague, and practically fled down the hallway without a backward glance.
The second they were gone, the tension in Sage's frame broke. He let out a long, shaky breath and ran a hand through his hair. "They're getting bolder," he murmured, more to himself than to me.
My phone buzzed again.
Lexi: Dampening field neutralized. Hostiles in retreat. Excellent work, Sage. Alex, status?
Yuki: SENPAI! ARE YOU OKAY?! DID SAGE PUNCH THEM?! I WANTED TO PUNCH THEM!
I looked from my phone to Sage, who was now calmly disassembling the sparking device in his hand. The gentle club mom was gone, replaced by a warrior who had just declared war on a shadowy government agency to protect me.
The P.V.S.C. wasn't just a club for investigating ghosts anymore. We were a fortress. And the first attack on our walls had just been decisively repelled.
The clubroom felt more like a war room than ever before. Lexi had multiple screens active, displaying campus security feeds, energy readouts, and what looked like real-time satellite imagery. The cozy cuddle-pile cushions were shoved unceremoniously into a corner.
"The tactical assessment is clear," Lexi stated, pacing in front of the main whiteboard, which was now covered in complex strategy diagrams. "Their initial retrieval attempt was a failure. Their next move will not be so subtle. They will escalate. They will attempt to discredit us, isolate us, or apply overwhelming force."
Yuki was huddled on the couch, hugging a pillow tightly. "They were right outside your door, Senpai," he whispered, his usual energy completely drained by the reality of the threat. "They were really going to take you."
Sage stood by the door, his arms crossed, a silent sentinel. The calm he'd projected in my dorm was gone, replaced by a simmering, protective rage. "They will not get a second chance. I will reinforce the wards on his dorm. We need a safe house. A secondary location they don't know about."
I sat in the center of it all, the "asset" they were all planning around. The cold anger from the confrontation was fading, leaving a hollow, shaky feeling in its wake. They had come for me. In my own room. The last vestige of my normal life had been violently invaded.
"They called me an asset," I said, my voice quiet.
The room went silent. All three of them looked at me.
Lexi stopped his pacing. "Their terminology is designed to dehumanize. It is a standard tactic for organizations that see people as resources to be acquired."
"It's not just that," I said, looking at my hands. "When they were there... when that dampening field was active... I felt it. My power... it wanted to fight. It wasn't scared. It was angry." I looked up, meeting each of their gazes. "I was angry. I was ready to... to do something. Before Sage even got there."
A slow, proud smile spread across Lexi's face. "Your defensive instincts are evolving. Excellent. Your aura recognizes a direct threat to its host and is preparing an appropriate response."
Sage's expression softened from rage into a deep, fierce pride. "You are learning to stand your ground. Not just against spirits, but against the world."
Yuki uncurled from the couch and came over, placing a small, warm hand on my knee. "You're not an asset, Senpai. You're our Alex. And we won't let anyone take you."
In that moment, surrounded by their fierce loyalty and strategic brilliance, the last of my fear evaporated. They weren't just protecting me out of obsession or scientific curiosity. They were protecting me because I was one of them. I was theirs.
"Okay," I said, my voice firm and clear, the hollow feeling replaced by a solid resolve. "So, what's our next move? We can't just wait for them to try again."
Lexi's eyes gleamed with a frightening intensity. He turned to the whiteboard and circled a complex node in his diagram. "We don't wait. We strike back. We find their local listening post. We learn their capabilities. We show M.I.S.T. that the Pine Valley Supernatural Club is not a target." He tapped the circle hard. "We are the hunter."
The siege was over. The counter-offensive was about to begin.
---
"The most logical course of action is to use you as bait."
Lexi announced this the next morning with the same clinical tone he might use to declare a lab experiment was beginning. We were gathered around the main table in the clubroom, which was now covered in campus maps and schematics.
I choked on the sip of water I was taking. "I'm sorry, you want to what now?"
"It's the most efficient way to draw out their surveillance operatives," he explained, tapping a location on the map—the central campus quad. "Your aura is the signal they're monitoring. By placing you in a predictable, public location and having you deliberately fluctuate your energy output, we can force their hand. They'll have to move assets to observe you directly."
Sage, who was sharpening what looked like a ceremonial dagger with a whetstone, didn't look up. "The risk is acceptable if the perimeter is secure. I will be your shadow. They won't get within fifty feet." The way he said it left no room for doubt. The memory of my smoking door hinge was proof enough.
Yuki bounced on his heels, clutching a pair of high-powered binoculars. "Ooh! And I'll be the lookout! Code name: 'Songbird'! I'll perch in a tree and tweet if I see any spooky suits!"
I looked at the three of them. The mad scientist, the deadly protector, and the bird-themed lookout. This was my life. My incredibly, dangerously stupid life.
"And what, exactly, am I supposed to do in the middle of the quad to 'fluctuate my energy output'?" I asked, a sense of impending doom settling in my stomach.
Lexi gave me one of his infuriatingly smug smirks. "We'll induce an emotional response, of course. A controlled one. Strong enough to create a noticeable spike on their sensors, but not strong enough to cause another... cafeteria incident." He pulled out his tablet. "I've prepared a series of stimuli."
This couldn't be good.
An hour later, I was sitting on a bench in the exact center of the sun-drenched quad, trying to look like a normal student enjoying the weather. The hum in my bones was a low, wary thrum. I felt hyper-aware of everything—the students laughing, the birds chirping, the faint rustle of leaves in the oak tree where Yuki was supposedly hidden.
In my pocket, my phone was connected to a private voice channel Lexi had set up.
"Phase one initiation," his voice crackled in my discreet earpiece. "Stimulus: Mild Embarrassment. Yuki, you're on."
Before I could process what that meant, Yuki's voice, now pitched in a terrible falsetto, rang out across the quad from his hiding spot.
"Oh, Alex! My dearest Alex-senpai! I've composed a new song for you! It's called 'Ode to Your Aura!'"
He then proceeded to sing. Loudly. And terribly. It was a chaotic, off-key ballad about my "shimmering soul-light" and "magnificent psychic resonance." Students nearby stopped their conversations to stare, first at the general direction of the singing, then at me, the clearly identified subject of this musical horror.
A hot flush crept up my neck. The hum in my bones spiked slightly, buzzing with a mix of genuine embarrassment and second-hand cringe.
"Good, good," Lexi murmured in my ear. "A minor fluctuation. But not enough. They're likely filtering out low-level social anxiety. We need a stronger signal. Sage, you're up. Stimulus: Protective Agitation."
My heart sank. What did that mean?
I didn't have to wait long. From the path to my left, Sage emerged, holding two cups of coffee. He walked straight toward a guy who was sitting on a nearby bench, looking at his phone.
"That's my spot," Sage said, his voice low and devoid of its usual warmth. He loomed over the poor student.
"Uh, sorry, man, it's a public bench..." the guy stammered.
Sage's eyes narrowed. He didn't raise his voice, but the intensity of his gaze was enough to make the student flinch. "I was saving it for someone. Move. Now."
The guy scrambled to his feet and hurried away. Sage sat down, placed the second coffee on the bench beside him—my coffee—and stared straight ahead, ignoring the bewildered looks from everyone around us.
A different kind of heat flushed through me. This wasn't embarrassment. This was a spark of anger. Sage was being a jerk, a bully, to sell our cover story. The hum in my bones sharpened, vibrating with a low-grade, protective fury on behalf of that random student. The air around my bench felt charged.
"Excellent," Lexi's voice was tight with excitement. "Significant spike. That's got their attention. Now... hold position. Let's see who comes to investigate the disturbance."
I sat there, caught between second-hand humiliation and first-hand anger, a live wire strung out in the open, waiting for the hunters to take the bait.
The charged silence stretched for a full minute. Students gave our bench a wide berth, shooting nervous glances at the intensely scowling Sage and me, the guy who seemed to be the cause of it all. The hum in my bones was a live wire, reacting to the tense social standoff Sage had engineered.
Then, Lexi's voice, sharp and clear, cut through the earpiece. "Contact. Two o'clock. Male, grey jacket, carrying a textbook. He's been 'reading' the same page for three minutes. He's using a reflective surface to watch you."
My eyes flickered. There he was. A guy who looked like any other student, but his posture was too still, his focus too fixed. He wasn't reading; he was observing.
"Confirmed," Sage's low rumble was barely a whisper, but the earpiece picked it up. "I have visual. He's not alone. Female, blue backpack, pretending to take photos of the library. She's angled her phone toward Alex."
They were here. Not brutes in uniforms, but operatives blending in. The reality of it was chilling.
"Yuki," Lexi commanded, "track the female. Note her pattern. Alex, don't look directly at them. Phase two: Stimulus escalation. We need to confirm their intent. I'm going to introduce a variable."
Before I could ask what that meant, a new figure entered the quad. It was Lexi himself. He was wearing a ridiculously flamboyant outfit—a bright crimson blazer over a black t-shirt and tight jeans—making him impossible to miss. He strode directly toward our bench, a look of dramatic concern on his face.
"Alex! There you are!" he announced, his voice carrying across the quad. He completely ignored Sage's intimidating presence and sat down on my other side, way too close for comfort. "I've been so worried! After your little... episode in the cafeteria, we all thought you needed some space. But to see you out here, looking so stressed..." He reached out and placed a hand on my forehead, his touch clinical yet intimate. "Are you feeling feverish? Is the static building again?"
My face was on fire. This was a hundred times worse than Yuki's singing. This was a targeted, humiliating performance designed to paint me as an unstable liability. The hum in my bones spiked violently, a mix of sheer embarrassment and outrage at his audacity. The air around us grew thick, and I felt a faint pressure building behind my eyes.
The two agents were no longer pretending. The man in the grey jacket had lowered his book, his focus entirely on us. The woman with the backpack had stopped pretending to take photos, her hand hovering near her ear, likely communicating with her team.
"They're engaging," Lexi murmured, his hand still on my forehead, his expression one of fake concern. "They're confirming the source of the energy fluctuation. Perfect."
Sage shifted beside me, his protective instinct warring with the need to maintain the charade. "How much longer?" he growled under his breath.
"Just a little more," Lexi purred, leaning even closer to me, his peach-scented shampoo overwhelming. "We need them to commit. We need to see their extraction protocol."
The female agent suddenly started walking toward us, a friendly, concerned smile plastered on her face. This was it. They were making their move.
"Alex?" she said, her voice sickly sweet. "Are you feeling okay? You look a little pale. Maybe you should come with me to the health center?"
Her hand reached for my arm.
In that instant, three things happened at once.
Sage moved, a blur of motion, his hand intercepting hers before she could touch me.
Yuki's voice shrieked over the comms, "THE VAN! A BLACK VAN JUST PULLED UP ON COLLEGE AVENUE!"
And Lexi, his mission accomplished, dropped the act, his smirk returning in full force as he looked at the female agent. "I'm afraid his schedule is full. He has a prior engagement. With us."
The trap had been sprung. We had our confirmation. And now, the real game was about to begin.
---
The quad, once a scene of passive observation, erupted into silent, controlled chaos.
Sage's grip on the female agent's wrist was like iron. "The health center is the other direction," he said, his voice a low, dangerous growl that carried no further than our small group. Her friendly mask shattered into a grimace of pain and surprise.
The male agent in the grey jacket dropped his book and started toward us, his hand moving inside his jacket.
He never made it.
From the oak tree, a high-pitched whirring sound was followed by a soft thwump. The agent suddenly yelped, slapping at the back of his neck. A small, neon-green paint pellet had burst, leaving a glowing splatter on his skin and collar. Yuki's marker.
"Direct hit!" Yuki's triumphant whisper crackled in our ears. "He's tagged! And super mad!"
The tagged agent spun around, frantically searching for the source of the attack, completely distracted.
"Phase three! Disengage and scatter!" Lexi commanded, his voice crisp and clear. He was already on his feet, grabbing my arm and pulling me up. "Alex, with me. Sage, cover our exit. Yuki, keep them confused."
The plan unfolded with breathtaking precision. Lexi pulled me away from the bench, not toward the main paths, but toward a narrow gap between two buildings I'd never noticed before. Sage released the female agent's wrist with a slight shove that sent her stumbling back, putting himself squarely between us and the remaining threats.
"Run," was all Sage said to me, his eyes locked on the recovering agents.
I ran, Lexi's hand a firm guide on my elbow. Behind us, I heard the female agent's raised voice—"Asset is mobile! He's with the flamboyant one!"—and the sound of Sage deliberately overturning a trash can to block the path.
We ducked into the alley, the sounds of the quad fading behind us. Lexi didn't stop, pulling me through a maze of service passages and behind dumpsters.
"Did we get what we needed?" I panted, my heart hammering against my ribs, the hum in my bones a frantic, excited buzz.
"Exceedingly," Lexi said, a triumphant grin on his face. He tapped his ear. "Yuki, status on our tagged friend?"
"He's heading for the van!" Yuki reported, his voice giddy. "He's trying to wipe off my paint but it's not coming off! It's super-stain! I'm following from the rooftops! He's leading me right to them!"
That was the real goal. Not just to identify the agents, but to have one lead us directly back to their local base of operations.
We emerged on the other side of campus, near the faculty parking lot. Sage was already there, leaning casually against a wall as if he'd been waiting for hours. A moment later, Yuki dropped down from a low-hanging tree branch, landing with a soft thud, his face flushed with victory.
"The van went into that old self-storage facility on Elm Street," Yuki announced, pointing. "Unit B-12. I saw the door open and close!"
Lexi's eyes gleamed. "A mobile command post. Perfect. Isolated, defensible, but not impregnable." He looked at our little group, his smirk widening. "Excellent work, team. We have their location. Now we know where to hit them."
The bait had been taken. The switch had been executed. We were no longer the hunted.
We had just become the hunters.
---
To Be Continue...