His mother interrupts them

Just as the stammered greeting died on his lips, Nadia walked in from the kitchen carrying two steaming mugs of coffee. Her silk robe was cinched tight, but it couldn’t hide how wrecked she looked. Hair that was usually sleek and neat now hung in slightly frizzy strands, a few wisps plastered to her forehead with sweat. Dark circles shadowed her warm brown eyes behind the glasses. Her blouse from last night, still on under the robe, was wrinkled, sleeves rolled unevenly, and there was a faint sheen of perspiration across her collarbone. She smelled faintly of coffee and the sharp tang of all-nighter sweat. A far cry from the polished, put-together psychologist he was used to seeing every morning.

“Here you go! Just the way you req—” She stopped mid-sentence when she spotted Jaden. “Oh, Jaden! You’re finally up. Rick came by because he didn’t hear from you yesterday.”

Rick raised his mug in a lazy salute. “Yeah, dude. You ghosted my texts. Thought something bad happened to you.”

Jaden rubbed the back of his neck. “Oh yeah… sorry. Didn’t check my phone after I got home. Too tired. Crashed hard.”

Nadia set the coffee down next to Rick with a soft clink, then patted his arm affectionately, motherly and warm, the way she always did with Rick when he came over. “You boys catch up. I’ll grab one for Jaden.”

She motioned subtly with her head toward the kitchen doorway. Jaden followed her in.

The second they were out of Rick’s line of sight, her entire demeanor shifted, excitement sparking behind the exhaustion. She turned to him, voice low and urgent.

“I figured it out,” she whispered, reaching into the pocket of her robe. She pulled out a small white pill, unmarked. “This is your shield.”

Jaden stared at it in her palm.

“The device, the penlight, works by emitting a specific pulsed wavelength that bypasses normal sensory filtering and overwrites belief structures directly in the brain. But I spent all night reverse-engineering the signal patterns from the USB dump. This pill—” she pressed it into his hand,“is a neuro-protective blocker. Over-the-counter antihistamine base, tweaked with a compound I had in my research kit. Take it ten minutes before you enter that room. It’ll scramble the light’s ability to latch onto your neural pathways. Zack’s penlight won’t work on you.”

Jaden’s mouth went dry. “So… the plan?”

Nadia nodded, eyes sharp despite the fatigue. “Talk to Mrs. Reed first. Tell her everything, Zack’s threat, the club, what he wants you to do. Ask her to play along. Make it look like you’re delivering her tonight. When you get there, take the pill beforehand. Let Zack think he’s zapping you. His guard will drop. Then you use the real penlight on whoever seems most threatening in the moment, Zack himself, or Principal Moreno if she’s the one he sends after you. Turn them to your side. The three of you, Mrs. Reed, you and whoever you flip can overpower the other one.”

She paused, letting it sink in.

“I’ll handle the other two members, Marcus and Devon. I’ve already called in a favor with a detective friend. Text me when you’re inside, I’ll make sure they don’t interfere until you’re done. Police will be waiting outside. Quiet takedown. No scandal if we can avoid it.”

Jaden blinked. “But… the penlight Zack gave me—”

“It’s a replica,” Nadia said, voice firm. “I tested the output. It siphons residual power from the original device, probably the one Zack keeps on him. It can fire once, before it dies completely. That’s why he’s so confident handing it over. He thinks you’re walking in defenseless. This is the best way to get his guard down. He won’t suspect a thing until it’s too late.”

The plan clicked into place, clean, smart, ruthless in the best way. Jaden stared at his mother in awe. She looked like hell, sweaty, disheveled, running on fumes but her mind was still a goddamn scalpel.

“You’re incredible,” he whispered.

He pulled her into a deep hug, arms tight around her shoulders, not caring about the sticky warmth of her skin or the faint sour smell of exhaustion clinging to her. She laughed, soft, comforting and hugged him back for a long moment before gently prying him off.

“Go,” she said, brushing a damp strand of hair from his forehead. “I’ll get fresh, change and follow you two to campus soon. I’ll be close. Text me when you’re ready.”

Jaden nodded, throat thick.

He pocketed the pill, squared his shoulders and walked back into the dining room with renewed vigor, like a weight had lifted off his chest for the first time since last night.

Rick looked up from his coffee, eyebrow raised. “You good, man? Looks like you just won the lottery.”

Jaden grinned, real this time and dapped him up.

“Yeah. Just… needed to talk to Mom. Let’s roll.”

They headed out together, backpacks slung, Rick chattering about some dumb meme he’d seen while Jaden’s mind raced ahead to Mrs. Reed’s classroom, the pill a small, reassuring weight in his pocket.

Today, things were going to go differently.

And Zack Hargrove had no idea what was coming.