Chapter 7 - The Boy Who Never Transferred
Caleb led them through a narrow service passage running between the walls.
He moved with difficulty, dragging his left leg slightly behind him.
At the end of the passage, they descended an iron ladder into an underground maintenance tunnel.
Only when they reached a locked boiler room did he speak.
“I knew someone would eventually find Room 214.”
Willa stared at him.
“Everyone thinks you left the school.”
“That is what they wanted.”
“Where have you been?”
“Different places. Friends’ apartments. Cheap rooms. Sometimes shelters.”
Lena looked horrified.
“Why didn’t you go to the police?”
“I did.”
Caleb leaned against a pipe.
“The school claimed I was unstable after my injury. They showed the police messages from my account threatening Coach Mercer.”
“Did you send them?”
“No.”
Willa remembered the fake message that changed her training schedule.
“They can access student accounts.”
“They can create whatever story they need.”
Noah showed Caleb the photograph of the timing chip.
“Did you take this from beneath the radiator?”
Caleb shook his head.
“My ring has been in Room 214 since the day I disappeared.”
“Then who has the other ring?”
Caleb’s expression changed.
“What other ring?”
Lena held up the one they had found.
Caleb examined the initials.
“This is mine.”
“Someone wearing a championship ring took the chip,” Noah said.
Caleb looked toward the locked door.
“Then it may have been Julian Cross.”
The name was familiar.
Julian was Westbridge’s former national sprint champion and currently worked as Coach Mercer’s assistant.
He was quiet, polite, and almost invisible during training.
“Why would he help us?” Willa asked.
“He might not be helping you.”
Caleb explained that Julian had once trained beside him. Both athletes had discovered irregularities in the school’s performance records.
Caleb wanted to expose them.
Julian wanted to use them.
“He believed the evidence could make him powerful,” Caleb said. “He started copying records and selling information to parents who wanted their children promoted.”
“Did Coach Mercer know?”
“Eventually.”
“Then why is Julian still employed?”
“Because Julian has something the coach needs.”
Caleb removed a small metal key from a chain around his neck.
“This opens a private storage box at Central Station. The original medical records are inside, along with copies of altered race results from the last five years.”
Willa accepted the key.
“Why are you giving this to me?”
“Because they already destroyed my reputation. Yours still has a chance.”
A violent knock shook the boiler-room door.
School security had entered the tunnels.
Caleb opened a floor hatch.
“You three go.”
“What about you?” Willa asked.
“I will lead them the other way.”
“No.”
“You cannot prove anything if they catch all of us.”
He pushed the hatch open.
“Find the storage box. But do not trust Julian.”
The door behind them began to splinter.
Willa descended first.
Noah followed.
Lena remained beside Caleb.
“You are coming with us.”
Before he could answer, smoke poured beneath the boiler-room door.
Someone had released a fire-extinguishing chemical into the tunnel.
Caleb began coughing.
Lena grabbed his arm.
Together, they entered the hatch.
They crawled through darkness until they emerged behind a row of dumpsters near the academy’s kitchen.
By the time Willa looked back, flames were glowing behind the basement windows.
The fire alarm rang across the campus.
Students and staff rushed outside.
Coach Mercer stood among them.
His eyes found Willa immediately.
May you like
Then he saw Caleb.
For the first time, the coach looked terrified.
