The Ghost of Room 411
[Keifer's POV]
The sun hadn't even thought about rising when I threw my duffel bag into the passenger seat of my car.
The campus was silent, shrouded in a thick, grey fog that made the Gothic buildings look like tombstones. I didn't leave a note. I didn't send a text. If I looked at my phone—if I saw a message from Jay—I knew I wouldn't be able to leave. And right now, I didn't have a choice.
A single frantic call from my mother, Serina, at 3:00 AM had changed everything. "Keifer, come home. Your father... Keizer... it's his heart again. Don't tell anyone. We can't have the markets panic."
The 'Watson Decree' I'd made to protect Jay felt like a bitter irony now. How could I protect her when I was running away in the middle of the night like a thief?
I peeled out of the parking lot, the roar of my engine the only sound in the sleeping university. I drove toward the Watson Estate, my knuckles white on the steering wheel, my mind a chaotic loop of Jay's smile and the image of my father in a hospital bed.
I was a Watson. I was the heir. And sometimes, being a Watson meant disappearing into the shadows to keep the empire standing.
[Jay's POV]
8:00 AM.
I stood in the hallway, my hand raised to knock on the door of Room 411. I had a coffee in each hand—one black for me, and one with way too much sugar for Keifer, just the way he liked it after a long night of studying.
I knocked. Silence.
"Keifer? The Game Theory seminar starts in twenty minutes," I called out.
Nothing. I frowned, a cold knot of unease beginning to tie itself in my stomach. Keifer was 'chill,' but he was never late for a seminar we had together.
I tried the handle. It was locked.
"Jay? What's up?" Rory appeared behind me, his hair a mess and his jersey on backward. He looked like he'd just rolled out of bed. "Keifer didn't wake you up with his 6:00 AM gym session?"
"He's not answering, Rory," I said, my voice trembling slightly. "And his car isn't in his usual spot. I checked on my way from the cafe."
Rory's sleepy expression vanished. He pulled out his keycard and swiped it. The door to 411 hissed open.
The room was empty. Erdix, C In, David, and Calix were all still crashed in their bunks, but Keifer's bed was perfectly made. His laptop was gone. His gym bag was gone. It looked like he had never been there.
"Where is he?" I asked, my heart beginning to race. "Did he say anything to you guys?"
"Nothing," Erdix sat up, rubbing his eyes. "He was here at midnight. We were talking about the arcade photos. He seemed... fine. Better than fine. He was glowing."
By 9:00 AM, the entire group was gathered in our room. Freya, Mica, Rakki, and Ella were pacing the small space, while the boys were frantically calling Keifer's phone.
"The subscriber you are trying to reach is currently unavailable..."
"This doesn't make sense," I whispered, clutching the cold coffee cup. "He wouldn't just leave. Not after yesterday. Not after my father..."
"Maybe your father did something?" Percy's voice rang out from the doorway. He and Aries were standing there, looking far too smug. "Maybe the Watson boy finally realized that associating with a 'burden' like you is bad for his reputation.
"Shut up, Percy!" Mica growled, stepping toward him. "One more word and I'll show you exactly how 'burdensome' my left hook is."
"Jay," Erdix said, his face illuminated by the glow of his customized laptop. "I can track him. He has the Watson security suite installed on his phone. It's encrypted, but I built the back-door for him last summer when he kept losing his keys."
"Do it," I said. "Now."
We all crowded around Erdix's screen. The room went silent as lines of code scrolled past. My breath hitched as a small red dot appeared on a digital map of the state. It was moving fast, heading away from the city, toward the coast.
"He's heading toward the Watson Estate," Erdix whispered. "He's almost there."
"The Estate?" Ella frowned. "But his parents, Keizer and Serina, are supposed to be in London for the textile summit."
"Unless something happened," I said, the realization hitting me. "Something they can't go public with."
"Jay, what are you doing?" Freya asked as I grabbed my jacket and my bag.
"I'm going there," I said, my voice steady for the first time all morning. "He spent the last week catching me every time I fell. He's been my shield against my brothers and my parents. If he's in trouble—if his world is falling apart—I'm not letting him face it alone."
"It's a three-hour drive, Jay," David pointed out. "And the Watson Estate has security that makes the Pentagon look like a playground."
"Then we all go," Rory said, grabbing his keys. "The Watson Court doesn't let its King walk alone. And the Mariano Genius is coming with us."
"We're in," Mica, Rakki, and the girls said in unison.
Within ten minutes, we were piling into two SUVs. We weren't just a group of students anymore. We were a rescue mission.
As Rory floored it out of the campus gates, I looked at the red dot on Erdix's screen. Hang on, Keifer, I thought. I don't care about the Dean's List. I don't care about the Mariano reputation. I'm coming for you.
For the first time in my life, I wasn't the one being saved. And I was going to make sure Keifer Watson knew that a 'Watson Decree' worked both ways.