“Yes, ma’am.”
Commander Sloane watched me.
“And Madison?”
“Yes, sir?”
“No more private tests.”
I nodded.
“Yes, sir.”
But inside, I knew that was impossible.
The test had already begun.
And I was not the one who started it.
When I left the conference room, the Yard felt different.
The same buildings stood beneath the afternoon sun. The same uniforms moved in clean lines. The same flags snapped in the Chesapeake wind.
But the Academy had shifted.
People stared openly now.
Some with curiosity.
Some with sympathy.
Some with resentment.
Viral attention changes everything.
Not because truth suddenly matters.
Because people fear being seen on the wrong side of it.
As I crossed toward Bancroft Hall, two plebes stepped aside.
One whispered, “That’s her.”
I kept walking.
Near the steps, Bradley Knox waited with two of his usual shadows: Mason Reed and Tyler Voss.
Bradley’s expression was not smug today.
It was controlled.
Too controlled.
He stepped into my path.
“Parker.”
I stopped.
“Knox.”
His eyes flicked toward the administrative building behind me.
“What did you tell them?”
“The truth.”
His mouth tightened.
“That’s not funny.”
“I wasn’t joking.”
Mason shifted nervously.
Tyler looked around as if expecting officers to emerge from the bushes.
Bradley leaned closer.
“You think this makes you untouchable?”
“No.”
“Good.”
I looked at him calmly.
“It makes you visible.”
His face flushed.
For one second, I thought he might grab me again.
This time, there were no laughing friends with phones held casually at chest height. No crowd noise to hide behind. No easy assumption that I would do nothing.
Just the two of us, standing in daylight.
He saw something in my face then.
Something he had missed before.
His hand stayed at his side.
“Stay away from me,” he muttered.
I stepped around him.
“With pleasure.”
I was almost past when he spoke again, lower.
“You don’t know what you’re in the middle of.”
I stopped.
Slowly, I turned.
Bradley’s expression changed as soon as he realized what he had said.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
He shook his head.
“Nothing.”
“Bradley.”
The use of his first name struck him harder than any insult.
His eyes darted to Mason.
