CHAPTER 26 — "THE HUNTER INSIDE THE WALLS"
The photograph slipped from Lena's hands and fluttered to the floor, landing face-up on the shards of glass. The sight of herself—peaceful, unaware, vulnerable—made her stomach lurch. Someone had been close enough to breathe over her while she slept.
Elias didn't speak.
He couldn't.
His rage had gone silent, concentrated into something terrifyingly focused.
Students whispered frantically around them.
"Did someone break in?"
"Is it vandalism?"
"Should we call campus security?"
"Who even sleeps in a professor's office?"
Lena could feel eyes turning toward her.
Toward Elias.
Judgment growing like vines.
Elias reached for her hand. "We're leaving. Now."
Lena nodded numbly.
They pushed through the gathering crowd. The stairwell felt too narrow, every sound amplified. Lena swore she could hear her own heartbeat echoing off the walls.
They made it to the faculty hall, but as they neared Ramirez's office, another figure stepped out of a classroom.
Cassie.
Her expression was pale and tight. "Lena, wait!"
Lena paused. Elias turned protectively toward her.
Cassie walked up, voice shaking. "I—I think something else is happening."
Lena steadied herself. "What do you mean?"
Cassie swallowed. "I overheard Maya talking to someone. In the bathroom. She said she had 'proof.' That she was going to show everyone everything."
Lena's blood turned cold. "Proof of what? Lies?"
Cassie hesitated. "Lena… she sounded like she believed it was real."
Elias cursed under his breath. "She's delusional. This is worse than I thought."
Cassie flinched but nodded. "I know. And—" Her voice lowered. "She had a key ring in her hand. With a pink keychain. I think it was yours."
Lena nearly stumbled.
Her stomach twisted violently.
The key from the envelope.
"She's been inside my apartment," Lena whispered again, voice hollow.
Cassie touched her arm gently. "You need to be careful. She's unraveling."
Lena nodded, feeling dizzy. "Thank you."
Cassie squeezed her hand and hurried off.
As soon as she left, Elias turned to Lena with determination etched into every line of his face.
"You're not spending another night in that apartment," he said. "Not until we know she can't get in."
"I don't want to go back there," Lena whispered. "Not with her having the key."
"You won't," Elias said. "But we need to document this. Ramirez. Then the police. We can't wait."
He grabbed her hand and began walking.
They didn't get far.
A soft buzz echoed from Lena's phone.
She froze.
Not a notification.
Not a message.
Someone was calling her.
Unknown number.
The phone kept vibrating in her hand.
"Don't answer it," Elias said, voice sharp.
But Lena suddenly felt something inside her shift.
A clarity.
A dark, trembling instinct.
"No," she whispered. "I think I need to."
She pressed ACCEPT.
Silence.
Then a breath.
Delicate.
Female.
"Maya," Lena said quietly. "I know it's you."
A soft, shaky laugh floated through the speaker—unhinged, almost childlike.
"You're awake," Maya said. "Good. I wanted to talk when you weren't sleeping."
Lena felt bile rise. Her knees wobbled. Elias grabbed her elbow, steadying her.
"Maya," Lena said softly, "where are you?"
A pause.
Then:
"Close."
Elias stiffened.
Lena swallowed. "You need to stop this. Please. You're hurting people. You're hurting me."
"Me?" Maya whispered. "I'm hurting *you*? Lena… don't be ridiculous. I'm the only one who's actually thinking about you. He's the one ruining your life."
Her voice trembled as she continued, spiraling.
"You were perfect before him. Before he distracted you. Before he… changed you."
Lena's heart pounded. "You don't know him."
"I know enough," Maya snapped. "I know enough to keep you safe."
"Maya," Lena whispered, "you're scaring me."
"Oh," Maya breathed, voice cracking with emotion, "you should be scared. Not of me."
Another pause—a long, trembling silence.
"But of what he'll do next."
Elias's jaw clenched. He mouthed, *Hang up.*
Lena didn't.
"Maya," Lena said slowly, "if you have something you want to show us… something you think is proof… can you just tell me? Please?"
Maya's breath hitched.
"Oh, you'll see it," she whispered. "All of it. Very soon."
Lena's stomach twisted.
"Where are you?" she asked again.
A faint sound.
A clicking noise.
Tiny.
Metallic.
Like someone handling keys.
Lena's eyes widened.
"Maya…" she breathed, horror dawning. "Are you in my apartment right now?"
Silence.
Then Maya whispered:
"I left something for you."
The call cut.
Lena's phone slipped from her fingers and clattered to the floor.
Elias caught her shoulders. "Lena. Look at me. What did she say?"
"She—" Lena's voice cracked. "She's in my apartment. Elias, she's *in my home.* Right now."
Elias pulled her into him instinctively, his hand steady on her back as panic trembled through her body.
"Okay," he murmured. "Okay. We're calling Ramirez. Then the police. We're going straight there—with officers. You're not going anywhere alone."
Lena clung to him, chest heaving. "I don't want to see her. I can't—"
"You won't," he whispered fiercely. "I'll make sure of it."
A door slammed somewhere down the hall. They both flinched.
Elias looked over her shoulder, rigid. "We're leaving. Now."
But as they turned the corner toward Ramirez's office—
A single sticky note was on the floor.
Bright yellow.
Impossible to miss.
Lena picked it up with shaking hands.
A single word was written in Maya's handwriting:
"RUN."
Elias grabbed her hand.
"Don't panic," he said, voice tight but controlled. "Stick with me. Don't let go."
Lena nodded, but her breath was shallow.
Her apartment wasn't safe.
Campus wasn't safe.
Even walls weren't enough.
Wherever they went…
Maya was already there.
Watching.
Waiting.
And now?
She had invited them into the trap she'd been building all along.