*Aria's POV**

The next few days passed in a haze of supervised normalcy that felt anything but normal. Hayes continued following me around like the world's most persistent shadow, while I pretended to be a model student focused on historical research and academic excellence.

Meanwhile, my brain was constantly cataloging every interaction with Professor Aldrin, every glance from Lander, every conversation that stopped when I walked by.

Paranoia, it turned out, was exhausting.

The breakthrough ...