The rest of the evening passed in a blur of demonstrations and explanations. Noah felt lighter than he had in months, the burden of secrecy finally lifted from at least one relationship in his life.
"So, Albright might be onto you?" Kelvin asked, sitting cross-legged on his bed, his fingers tapping a restless rhythm against his knee.
Noah's expression turned guarded. "Maybe. There've been too many 'random' evaluations, too many questions about my performance trics."
"What's your plan?" Kelvin leaned forward, his usual hyperactivity montarily replaced by genuine concern.
Noah smiled, a small, confident curve of his lips. "For that, the Mrs and I already have sothing in the works."
"The Mrs?" Kelvin grinned.
"Sophie," Noah clarified with a roll of his eyes. "Don't worry about it. We've got it handled."
"If you say so," Kelvin shrugged, but his eyes remained thoughtful.
Noah stretched, suddenly looking tired but relieved. "It feels good sharing this with you. Really good."
"It's nothing, man," Kelvin bounced slightly on the bed, his energy returning. "What are best friends for if not keeping each other's universe-shattering secrets?"
Noah laughed. "One more demonstration before bed?"
"Void Blink!" Kelvin requested imdiately, eyes lighting up. "It's so clean—no energy burst, no displacent wave—it's like you're editing yourself out of one point in space-ti and inserting yourself at another!"
Noah obliged, disappearing from his bed and reappearing by the door, then by the window, then back on his bed, all in the span of seconds.
Kelvin clapped his hands together in delight. "What about Null Strike? You ntioned it earlier."
Noah shook his head firmly. "Too costly, energy-wise. And I don't know exactly how much area might be deleted. Not sothing I want to test in our dorm."
Kelvin's eyes widened. "Deleted? As in, matter completely erased from existence?"
"Sothing like that," Noah nodded. "It's not just destroyed—it's gone. Like it never existed."
"That's..." Kelvin swallowed. "Okay, yeah, maybe not in the dorm."
They talked a while longer before finally settling in for the night, Noah falling into an exhausted sleep almost imdiately, while Kelvin lay awake, staring at the ceiling.
---
Three hours later, Kelvin silently slipped out of bed. Noah's steady breathing confird he was deep asleep. Careful not to make a sound, Kelvin picked up the Raven tablet that Noah had absentmindedly left on the table during his excited explanations.
He pulled on a hoodie, tucked the tablet inside, and slipped out the door.
The Academy grounds were quiet at this hour, the defensive shields casting a faint blue glow over the paths and buildings. Kelvin walked purposefully, his usual bouncing step replaced by sothing more asured, more deliberate.
He pulled out his tablet and sent a brief text: I'm coming.
The cafeteria building lood ahead, dark and silent. Kelvin circled around to the maintenance ladder at the back and climbed quickly to the roof. A silhouette waited there, outlined against the shield-tinted night sky.
"You're late," said a familiar voice, sharp as broken glass and twice as dangerous.
"Hello to you too, Vee," Kelvin replied, stepping closer.
Violet hair caught the ambient light as she turned to face him fully. Year Two's top technopath, Veronica "Vee" , regarded him with a mixture of irritation and curiosity. She was Kelvin's counterpart in many ways—brilliant, irreverent, and perpetually impatient with those who couldn't keep up.
"What's with the face?" Vee asked, her head tilting. "You look like soone deleted your favorite code library."
"Sothing like that," Kelvin muttered, not eting her eyes.
Vee stepped closer, her usual snappish deanor faltering slightly. "Seriously, what's wrong? Did your roommate finally figure out you have a crush on or sothing?"
Kelvin's head snapped up. "I don't—"
"Save it," Vee waved dismissively, though a small smile played at the corner of her mouth. "What was so important it couldn't wait until morning?"
Wordlessly, Kelvin reached into his hoodie and pulled out the tablet.
Vee froze, her eyes widening. "Is that..."
"Raven's tablet." Kelvin held it out. "The one we lost."
"The one you lost," Vee corrected automatically, taking the device with reverent hands. "Where did you find it?"
"It..." Kelvin hesitated. "It turned up."
"It turned up," Vee repeated flatly, clearly not believing him for a second. Her fingers traced the edge of the tablet, violet energy sparking at her fingertips as her technopathic abilities automatically began interfacing with the device. "After you had to pay through the nose to replace it for Raven. After days of searching. It just 'turned up.'"
Kelvin shrugged. "I'll make you a deal."
Vee's eyes narrowed, suddenly wary. "What kind of deal?"
"You can copy the file on that tablet—the one you've been trying to hack my system for—and make it unrecoverable by anyone, even ." Kelvin's voice was steady, serious in a way Vee rarely heard from him. "In exchange, you tell sothing."
"What do you want to know?" Vee asked, fingers already working over the tablet's surface, violet light reflecting in her dark eyes.
"Why was Raven blackmailing Commander Albright with whatever's on that video?"
Vee's hands stilled. She looked up at Kelvin, genuine surprise in her expression.
"I thought you were smarter than this," she said finally, a sigh escaping her lips. "Isn't it obvious?"
When Kelvin didn't respond, she continued, "Raven went to Albright with information about your roommate. Noah Eclipse. He told Albright that Noah isn't a first-generation talent with a non-combat ability like he claims. That there's sothing more going on with him."
Kelvin's heart raced, but he kept his expression neutral. "Noah was retested. Ca back first-gen. End of story."
"Is it?" Vee challenged, eyes sharp. "Because Raven doesn't think so. And neither does Albright."
Kelvin's mind worked furiously, piecing together the implications. Noah had found a way to hide his system from the Academy's tests. Raven, still holding a grudge after all this ti, had tried to out Noah to Albright. And had given Noah his tab to "fix"? Why?
"That doesn't explain the blackmail," Kelvin pointed out. "If Raven was just delivering information, why turn around and blackmail Albright with it?"
Vee's laugh was short and bitter. "Because Raven put himself in the sa trap I did back in first year. Albright has dirt on him—don't ask what, I don't know—and tasked him with finding out Noah's secret."
Understanding dawned on Kelvin's face. "So Raven went from partner to..."
"Slave," Vee finished bluntly. "And the golden boy of 1A didn't like that very much."
Kelvin nodded slowly, digesting this information. He held out his hand for the tablet.
Vee activated her technopathic abilities in earnest now, violet light wreathing her eyes and fingers as she worked, copying what she needed and erasing traces of her presence in the device's systems. When she was done, she placed the tablet back in Kelvin's palm.
"There. Satisfied?" She stepped closer, her usual confrontational deanor returning. "Now, about that other thing..."
Before Kelvin could react, she leaned in, clearly intending to kiss him. He pulled back sharply, surprising both of them.
"There's sothing I need to do first," he said, unable to et her eyes.
Vee's expression flickered between hurt and suspicion. "Are you finally going to tell Noah about us being a thing?"
"Yeah," Kelvin said after a mont, forcing a smile. "Sure."
But even as he said it, his thoughts were elsewhere. Noah was in danger—real danger—and not just from Albright. If Raven was still plotting against his friend, if others were suspicious of Noah's abilities...
He needed to warn Noah. But first, he needed to make sure this tablet couldn't cause any more trouble.
As Vee watched him curiously, Kelvin already knew what he had to do, and that he wouldn't be telling her the truth tonight.
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