Dual POV: Amara & Lila
Amara's POV
The air in the basement was starting to taste like dust and dread.
I paced in the narrow space, fists clenched, mind racing. My flashlight was dying flickering more than it was glowing and the walls around me were closing in.
The door was sealed tight. No hinges on this side.
No windows. No vents.
Just me, the dark, and a bag full of secrets.
I sat down against the cold wall, shaking.
You're stronger than this.
Get out. Then burn it all down.
I pulled the USB from my pocket and looked at it like it was a loaded weapon.
This stick… it was power.
Proof.
And danger.
I couldn't let it die with me in this basement.
I stood and scanned the room again, this time more carefully.
Paint cans. Metal tools. A rusted utility box. A pile of torn canvases.
Then my eyes caught something.
The fuse box.
It had wires running along the wall, up to the ceiling. One wire was snipped but not completely. It dangled near a vent that had been covered in drywall.
I grabbed a rusted palette knife from a nearby shelf and jammed it under the vent cover. It peeled off with a loud crack, breaking plaster. I coughed, but I kept going.
Behind it, there was a tight crawlspace just wide enough for me to fit through.
And it led somewhere.
I shoved the flashlight between my teeth, took one deep breath, and climbed in.
Dust burned my eyes. My arms scraped against the metal. But I crawled.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Because this was the only way out…
Or the beginning of a very small tomb.
Lila's POV
The man outside my hostel door was gone.
But he left behind fear that crawled under my skin like fire ants.
I didn't dare sleep that night. I pressed my ear against the wall, waiting for sounds. None came.
At sunrise, I ran.
No breakfast. No shower. Just me, my bag, and my hoodie pulled tight.
I had one mission now: get to Amara.
But not to warn her anymore.
No I had to help her finish what I started.
I knew she'd go to the basement. I'd told her where to look. But I hadn't planned for them to find her.
If she had the USB…
If she found the pictures, the necklace, the letters…
Then she was already on their radar.
And if Devon wasn't alone in this if the man at my door worked with him that meant she was being hunted too.
I caught a cab and headed back toward campus, heart punching through my chest the entire ride.
Please be okay.
Please be smart.
Please… don't trust anyone.
Amara's POV
The vent opened up into a dark maintenance corridor behind the building.
I crawled until I found a loose grate and kicked it open, tumbling out onto cold tile. My knees scraped. My lungs burned.
But I was free.
Almost.
I got up and limped toward the exit, slipping into the hallway just as a shadow rounded the corner behind me.
Run.
I sprinted.
Heavy footsteps followed.
I burst through the side door of the building and stumbled into the gray morning light — dizzy, cold, and alive.
I didn't stop until I hit the sidewalk, gasping.
A figure came running toward me.
I flinched until I saw the hoodie. The familiar braids.
"Lila?"
She stopped dead.
We locked eyes.
Both of us out of breath. Dirty. Scared.
And then, for the first time in weeks
We ran toward each other.
She grabbed my shoulders. "Are you okay? Did you find it?"
I nodded. "I found everything. But someone was down there. He locked me in. It wasn't Devon at least, I don't think it was."
She blinked. "You saw him?"
"I didn't get a good look. But he knew you. He said your name. Said I should've stayed out of it."
Her face went pale.
"I think Devon has help," she whispered. "I think this is bigger than just him."
My stomach twisted. "Like a ring?"
She didn't answer.
But her silence was loud enough.
We were standing on the edge of something massive.
A secret that had swallowed girls before us and would keep swallowing unless someone made it stop.
We looked at each other. Tired. Wrecked. But alive.
"Let's finish this," I said.
Lila nodded. "Together this time."