Chapter 3 - The Hearing
Westbridge Academy suspended Jasmine on Monday morning.
The official letter described the suspension as a temporary safety measure.
The students described it as proof of guilt.
Jasmine was ordered to attend a disciplinary hearing at three o’clock, but she arrived at noon through the old theater entrance.
Sofia had discovered that the school’s route-management server created automatic backups every twelve hours.
If the backup from Thursday still existed, Jasmine could prove that her original map had been altered.
Daniel kept watch near the hallway while Jasmine and Sofia entered the media laboratory.
“You’re sure this won’t make things worse?” Daniel whispered.
“They’re already discussing expulsion,” Jasmine said.
“That wasn’t an answer.”
“No. I’m not sure.”
Sofia connected an encrypted drive to the main workstation.
Unlike Jasmine, she did not attend Westbridge. She studied cybersecurity at the county technical college and treated school networks with open disrespect.
“This system is ancient,” she murmured. “Your principal is protecting student records with software that belongs in a museum.”
“Can you find the backup?”
“Finding it is easy. Opening it without setting off an alert is the problem.”
The route archive appeared after several minutes.
Thursday, 7:42 p.m.
Jasmine’s original file was there.
She opened it.
The blue path turned east at the bridge and ended at observation point four.
No quarry.
No restricted zone.
No black symbol.
Jasmine photographed every screen.
“Check the revision log,” she said.
Sofia opened it.
The original map had been accessed at 5:53 Friday morning.
The user credentials belonged to an administrator.
The username was hidden.
Before Sofia could bypass the restriction, footsteps sounded in the corridor.
Daniel hurried into the room.
“Victoria.”
Sofia removed the drive.
Jasmine closed the archive, but the door opened before they could leave.
Victoria entered alone.
She looked from Jasmine to Sofia.
“You’re not supposed to be here.”
“Neither are you,” Jasmine said.
“My mother asked me to collect evidence for the hearing.”
“Your mother isn’t the principal.”
“She controls the board.”
Victoria glanced at the workstation.
“What did you find?”
“Why do you care?”
“Because you’re trying to blame me.”
Jasmine studied her.
Victoria looked exhausted. Purple shadows marked the skin beneath her eyes. There was a small cut across her right palm.
“You knew the route changed,” Jasmine said.
“No.”
“You told everyone to turn north.”
“I followed the tablet.”
“Daniel saw the original path.”
Victoria’s gaze shifted toward him.
Daniel raised his crutches and smiled without warmth.
“You should have deleted my memory too.”
Victoria’s face tightened.
“I didn’t delete anything.”
“Then who did?”
For a moment, Victoria looked toward the camera in the corner of the room.
Jasmine followed her gaze.
The green indicator light was off.
Someone had disabled the camera.
Victoria stepped closer.
“You need to stop searching.”
“Why?”
“Because this is bigger than a school route.”
The warning matched the anonymous message.
Jasmine lowered her voice.
“Did you send the photograph of my house?”
Victoria seemed genuinely confused.
“What photograph?”
“A picture taken through my kitchen window.”
“I don’t care where you live.”
“But someone does.”
The laboratory lights flickered.
Sofia checked the workstation.
“Someone just entered the server remotely.”
Files began disappearing from the screen.
Thursday backups vanished first.
Then Friday.
Then the entire route archive.
Sofia reconnected her drive.
“Come on.”
“What are you doing?” Daniel asked.
“Copying whatever remains.”
A warning filled the monitor.
UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED.
The door locked automatically.
Metal shutters dropped over the laboratory windows.
Victoria spun toward Jasmine.
“What did you do?”
“This wasn’t me.”
Smoke began leaking from the ventilation grille.
Daniel coughed.
Sofia wrapped her sleeve over her mouth.
“That isn’t fire smoke,” she said. “It’s chemical.”
Jasmine grabbed a chair and slammed it against the door window.
The reinforced glass did not break.
A voice came through the room’s speaker.
Calm.
Digitally distorted.
“A wrong route can be corrected.”
The smoke thickened.
“A curious student cannot.”
Victoria pounded on the door.
“Open it!”
The distorted voice continued.
“Aaron Cole failed to understand that.”
Jasmine froze.
Her father’s name echoed through the room.
May you like
Then Victoria whispered something Jasmine barely heard.
“They know you found the compass.”
