His new stepsister His biggest threat (Claire and Elijah) novel Chapter 242

Chapter 242

Claire’s POV

Wednesday brought a new kind of hell: Julian in a hockey jersey

I stood by the rink’s plexiglass, watching the team run drills. Julian wasn’t just “embedded”-he was good.

8%0

55 vouchers

He moved with a slick, Southern elegance that made the other players look like they were skating through mud.

“He’s trying to provoke him,” Felix whispered, leaning against the bleachers next to me. He had his laptop open, hidden behind a stack of pizza flyers. “Look at how he clips Elijah’s heels on every turn. He’s waiting for a snarl.”

“Elijah won’t give it to him,” I said, though my own heart was at 86 bpm.

On the ice, Julian spun around a defender and pulled up right next to Elijah. “You’re a bit stiff today, Captain! Is the weight of the crown getting heavy, or is it just the lack of sleep from all those midnight walks?”

Elijah didn’t even look at him. He just adjusted his gloves. “Focus on the puck, Julian. This isn’t the South. We play for keeps

here.”

“I love the grit,” Julian laughed, skating backward. “But let’s see if that grit holds up when the floor drops out from under you.”

11

The rest of practice was a psychological war.

Every time Julian passed me, he’d tap the glass. Every time he scored, he’d look toward the VIP section where Val was sitting. It was a performance designed to remind us that we were being watched.

After practice, we met in the locker room hallway. The air smelled of ice and tension.

“We can’t wait until Friday for the school Well,” Elijah said, wiping sweat from his forehead with a towel. “Julian is already asking about the old boiler rooms. He’s smart. He knows there’s gap in the energy grid under the gym.”

“But the pep rally is our only cover,” I argued. “The sensors are weakest when the whole school is in one room. All that bio- rhythm noise masks the scrambler.”

“I have an idea,” Felix said, looking up from his screen. “Tomorrow is the ‘Senior Prank’ planning meeting in the auditorium. Half the school will be there making a mess. I can trigger the fire alarms in the north wing. It’ll clear the hallways for ten

minutes.”

“Ten minutes isn’t enough to get through the old seals,” Elijah said.

“It is if we use the service elevator in the cafeteria,” I said. “I found an old map in the library. It leads straight to the foundation levels. We just need the key Silas gave us.”

“Okay,” Elijah nodded. “Tomorrow. During the meeting. Claire, you handle the elevator lock. Felix, you keep Julian distracted. Talk to him about Shakespeare or kale or whatever he likes.”

“I’ll do my best to be incredibly annoying,” Felix promised.

Thursday arrived with a sky the color of lead. The “Senior Prank meeting was a chaotic mess of flying paper and shouting teens, exactly the distraction we needed.

“Ready?” Elijah whispered as we slipped out of the back of the auditorium.

“Key is in my pocket,” I said.

1/3

17.52 Thu, Jan 22 B G D

Chapter 242

.8% 1

55 vouchers

We made it to the cafeteria without being seen. The service elevator was tucked behind a stack of industrial flour sacks.

I pulled out the heavy, iron key Silas had given us and slid it into the lock. It groaned, a sound of metal on metal that felt a hundred years old.

The doors creaked open. The air inside smelled like damp earth and ancient secrets.

“Going down?” Elijah asked, stepping into the small, dark cage.

“No turning back now,” I replied.

The elevator descended slowly, the floorboards vibrating beneath our feet.

When the doors opened, we weren’t in a basement. we were in a cavern. The foundation of the original Red Pine Academy was built directly into the mountain rock.

And in the center of the room, glowing with a soft, pulsing light, was the Hearth Well.

“It’s beautiful,” I whispered.

The Well wasn’t a pool or a machine.

It was a massive, upright crystal embedded in the rock, humming with a golden light that felt warm against my skin.

But wrapped around the crystal were the familiar black wires of Council tap.

“They already found it,” Elijah growled, stepping toward the crystal.

“Wait!” I grabbed his arm. “There’s a motion sensor on the base. If you step closer, it’ll trigger a silent alarm to Julian’s phone.”

“Can you bypass it?”

“I can try to loop the signal,” I said, kneeling on the dusty floor. I pulled my tools from my bag, my fingers shaking slightly. “But I need you to stay perfectly still. Any shift in the air could set it off.”

As I worked on the wires, the silence of the cavern was broken ba soft, rhythmic tapping.

Clack. Clack. Clack.

A flashlight beam cut through the darkness from the elevator shift.

“You know, for people trying to be sneaky, you really picked the most obvious hiding spot,” Julian’s voice echoed off the rock

walls.

He stepped out of the shadows, still wearing his school blazer. He wasn’t smiling anymore. He looked disappointed.

“I expected more from the Hale heir,” Julian said, walking toward us. “Using a Senior Prank as a cover? It’s a bit… juvenile. don’t you think?”

Elijah stood in front of me, his eyes glowing gold. “Get out of here, Julian. This Well belongs to the school. Not the Council.”

“Actually,” Julian said, checking his watch. “As of five minutes ago the Council has exercised its right of ‘Eminent Domain’ over this property. This Well is now federal territory. And you two? You’re trespassing.”

“We aren’t leaving,” I said, standing up. I held the scrambler in my hand. “And this tap is coming off.”

“I wouldn’t do that, Claire, Julian said softly. “The tap isn’t just siphoning energy. It’s a pressure valve. If you remove it without the proper sequence, the energy will spike. It’ll level the gym-and everyone sitting in that meeting above us.”

2/3

17:53 Thu, Jan 22

Chapter 242

I froze. I looked at the crystal, then back at Julian. “You’re lying. You wouldn’t risk the whole school.”

8%

55 vouchers

“I wouldn’t,” Julian agreed. “But the Council might. They value results over… collateral. Why don’t you put the scrambler down, and we can talk about this like adults?”

Elijah’s claws extended. “Talk is over.”

“Elijah, wait!” I shouted. “He’s right about the pressure. Look at the gauge on the side.”

The little needle on the Council device was deep into the red zone. The crystal was vibrating so hard it was starting to hum a high, pained note.

“What do we do?” I whispered.

“You let me handle the calibration,” Julian said, holding out his hand. “And in exchange, I’ll tell Marcus that you were just here to… report the leak. No harm, no foul.”

“We don’t make deals with trackers,” Elijah hissed.

“Then you’d better start praying,” Julian said. “Because that gauge is moving fast.”

3/3

AD

Comment

Send gift