Huh, Queen's Crest? It wasn't healing, but was hardening.
Every hallway echoed louder. Every glance carried meaning. The school was no longer an elite institution; it was a war map. Alliances shifted in shadows, and information became more valuable than gold.
Toni stood by the east wing locker corridor, where the walls were cold and the lights flickered as if afraid to fully reveal what lingered. She was silent, dressed immaculately in navy with silver accessories, but her eyes were calculating. A prefect passed by and offered a stiff nod. She didn't return it.
Behind her, someone said, "They're watching you now."
She didn't flinch. "Good. Let them."
Amara stepped beside her, holding a tablet close to her chest. Her expression wasn't warm, but it wasn't hostile either. Just... focused.
"Ralene decoded part of the Providence algorithm," Amara whispered. "There's a second layer. Not just psychological conditioning. They're also using social metrics. Likes, reposts, attention."
Toni arched a brow. "You mean, popularity points?"
"No. Predictive manipulation. They engineer online virality for selected students to make them compliant. Or implode."
Toni exhaled slowly. "And Adrian?"
Amara shook her head. "He's not answering my calls. Not even Ralene's."
Just then, a nearby speaker cracked to life.
"Attention: All Year 11 students are to report to the Central Assembly Hall for psychological re-assessment. Attendance is mandatory."
Toni and Amara locked eyes.
"It begins," Toni murmured.
---
Adrian was beneath the school. Literally.
The old theatre tunnels that ran beneath Queen's Crest were forgotten by most. A relic from a time when grandeur meant something. But Adrian had learned of their existence from a janitor too old and too bitter to care about rules.
He moved carefully, flashlight strapped to his head, fingers brushing against walls etched with messages in chalk. Some warnings. Some prayers.
Then he saw it.....oh!
A metal door. Heavy. Bolted from the inside.
He knocked twice.
A panel slid open. A voice: "Name?"
"Maduako. Adrian."
Click. The door opened slowly.
Inside, the room buzzed with low chatter and glowing screens. At least ten students, most in hoodies or school sweaters turned inside-out, worked on terminals. One looked up and waved him over.
"Welcome to the Root."
"The Root?"
"It's where the system began. Every camera. Every biometric scan. Every project since 2005. We've got scraps. Pieces. Enough to burn them."
Adrian stepped in.
"Why me?" he asked.
"Because you leaked the video. Because you still have your name. And because if they take you down now, the whole movement crumbles."
---
Upstairs, at the Assembly Hall, the re-assessments were beginning.
Girls filed in, confused but obedient. Long tables were arranged in rows. Laptops. Brainwave scanners. Small black boxes with pulsing green lights. Staff moved between them like surgeons.
Amara and Toni weren't on the list. They knew better than to attend.
Instead, they watched from a high vent room overlooking the hall, accessed via an old drama club ladder.
"They're scanning responses to stimuli," Toni whispered. "Smells. Music. Questions. All to predict rebellion."
Amara recorded everything.
Just then, her phone buzzed.
A text from Adrian.
"Need both of you. Tunnel beneath West Courtyard. Midnight. Come alone. No phones."
---
That night, the moon was veiled behind clouds. Even the statues looked nervous.
Amara and Toni arrived at the West Courtyard, dressed in black and armed with only a single flashlight. The hatch was already open. They descended slowly, the silence weighing more than gravity.
The Root room had dimmed its lights when they arrived.
Adrian met them at the center.
He looked different. Not broken, but no longer polished either. More soldier than student now.
He handed them each a file.
"Everything about Project Providence. Names, dates, locations. And this..." he held up a small, red USB. "It holds their key algorithm. If we leak this, it burns the entire system."
Toni narrowed her eyes. "Then what stops them from coming after us?"
Adrian looked up at the walls, now covered in maps and photos.
"We don't just leak it," he said. "We take the school. From the inside."
"A coup?" Amara whispered.
"A correction," Adrian replied. "For every girl silenced. For every future rewritten."
Toni gave a slow, chilling smile. "Then we start recruiting."
End of Chapter Twenty-Seven.