It was nearly midnight when Kai showed up outside Ezra's dorm.
He didn't knock.
He stood there for a moment, breathing, fists clenched in his coat pockets like holding back would hold him together.
Ezra opened the door anyway.
He'd been expecting him.
"Come in," Ezra said quietly.
Kai stepped inside, the air between them brittle.
They didn't speak until the door shut behind them.
Then Kai said it—calm, low, but unrelenting.
"Who's Theo?"
Ezra flinched like he'd been struck. Just slightly.
Then he turned away and poured himself a glass of water. His hand trembled enough for the glass to clink against the counter.
Kai watched him carefully. "Dominic told me. I didn't want to believe him."
Ezra stared at the water like it held the answer to everything.
"He shouldn't have said that name."
"Maybe not. But someone else knows. The person behind the dare cards, the threats—whoever's watching us. They used his name like a blade."
Ezra exhaled through his nose.
He didn't sit. Didn't speak.
So Kai pressed gently. "Tell me what happened."
Ezra finally turned around.
His eyes weren't glassy. They were sharp. Tired. Ancient.
"You want the version people whispered, or the truth?"
Kai held his gaze. "The truth. Always."
Ezra leaned against the edge of the desk.
"He was my best friend. Theo Ainsworth. We grew up together. He was… sunshine, but the kind that burned you if you got too close. Brilliant, loud, fearless. We were inseparable until we weren't."
Kai didn't move, just listened.
Ezra continued, voice steadier than it should've been.
"When we were sixteen, we got into St. Dismas together. I thought we'd stay close, but something shifted. He got darker. Secrets. Mood swings. He'd disappear for days, then show up with bruises and lies. I should've asked more questions. I didn't."
A pause.
"The night he died, he called me. Begged me to come to the south bridge. He said he had something to confess. Something about the council, about a dare gone wrong. He was frantic."
Ezra stared at the wall like it was the edge of memory.
"I told him I couldn't. I was in a meeting. I was busy playing the perfect heir. I thought he was being dramatic again."
Another pause.
"When I got there, twenty minutes later, he was already gone."
Silence.
Not dramatic. Not emotional. Just final.
Kai's voice cracked. "Gone?"
Ezra nodded. "They ruled it a suicide. Jumped off the bridge. But I know Theo. He wasn't suicidal. Not like that. Something happened."
He took a shuddering breath.
"And I wasn't there."
Kai moved, finally.
Stepped forward and placed a hand on Ezra's shoulder.
Ezra didn't pull away.
"I didn't tell anyone because I was scared. If someone found out we were connected, they'd ask why I didn't stop him. And I didn't want to admit that I failed."
Kai's voice was soft. "You didn't fail."
"I did," Ezra said flatly. "And now someone's using it against me."
Kai let the silence linger before asking, "Do you think the person behind all this… is the same one who was there that night?"
Ezra didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
The haunted look in his eyes said it all.
Across campus, a projector flickered to life in one of the old art classrooms.
A wall lit up with video footage—grainy, timestamped from three years ago. A boy pacing on the south bridge, visibly distraught. A shadow in the distance.
Then a frame where he turned, looked behind him—
And vanished.
Jun stared at the footage on his laptop, heart racing.
He paused the video.
Leaned in.
Rewound.
Paused again.
The shadow was clearer this time.
Not Theo.
Not Ezra.
Someone else.
Someone in a blazer with silver trim.
Jun's stomach dropped.
He knew that uniform.
And he knew who wore it.
Back in Ezra's dorm, Kai sat across from him on the floor. They hadn't said a word in fifteen minutes. Just shared silence, like breathing the same air might make things easier.
Then Ezra asked, out of nowhere, "What was your worst moment?"
Kai didn't hesitate. "Finding my mom after her third overdose. I was twelve."
Ezra's face softened, just slightly. "You never talk about your family."
"You never asked."
"I'm asking now."
Kai leaned back on his elbows. "Dad left when I was five. Mom spiraled. Drugs, rehab, relapse. I stayed with my aunt most of the time. Learned how to lie to caseworkers before I learned long division. That's probably why I like dares. They're predictable. Easier than promises."
Ezra was quiet for a long time.
Then: "You're not what I expected."
Kai chuckled. "I get that a lot."
"You act like you're invincible. Like the world bends for you."
"It doesn't. I just act first before it hits me."
Ezra met his eyes.
"I think we're both just… surviving. But in very different ways."
Kai nodded.
"Maybe," he said softly, "we don't have to keep doing it alone."
Ezra didn't answer.
But he didn't say no either.
At 2 a.m., a new envelope slid under Ezra's door.
Black wax. Red seal. No return address.
This time, the card inside said:
"Dare: Choose one to lose—Dominic or Kai.
Choose wrong, and Theo won't be the last."
Attached was a photo of both boys.
Dominic walking alone through the east quad.
Kai asleep on the library couch, earphones still in.
Ezra read it twice.
Then he picked up the envelope, calmly walked to the sink—
—and lit the entire thing on fire.
He watched it burn until nothing remained.
Then he turned off the light.