“Blue,” Elijah said.

Every face turned toward Hollis.

He pushed the strip deeper into his pocket.

Maya pointed.

“Show us what you’re hiding.”

“It is a conference program.”

“Then take it out.”

Hollis backed toward the lectern.

“I will not submit to a search by students.”

Thomas held out his hand.

“Give my son his notebook.”

“Your son has no notebook.”

“You just answered before checking your pocket.”

Keene moved between them.

“This has gone far enough.

Gerald and I are leaving until counsel establishes proper procedure.”

Evelyn blocked the aisle.

“No one leaves with disputed evidence.”

Hollis pulled out the blue paper and unfolded it.

The sheet carried printed conference times, just as he had claimed.

“There,” he said.

“Another reckless accusation.”

Elijah stared at the paper.

“That isn’t from my notebook.”

Hollis smiled.

“At last, something we agree on.”

Evelyn closed the manuscript.

“Without the original notebook or the server archive, authorship remains disputed.

The board cannot act on assumptions.”

Hollis straightened his jacket.

“Then proceed with my presentation.”

Dean Grant stepped in front of him.

“You are not presenting that paper.”

“The board has not suspended me.”

“Not yet,” Keene said.

“And until it does, I remain provost.”

He looked toward Thomas.

“Your suspension stands.

Security will escort you and Elijah from campus.”

Elijah’s knees buckled against the front row.

Thomas caught him before he fell.

“This happened because of me,” Elijah whispered.

Hollis picked up the manuscript.

“It happened because talent requires more than memorizing symbols.”

Thomas rose slowly.

“Say that to him again.”

“Your son is clever.

Clever children imitate.

Scholars create.”

Elijah wiped his eyes with his sleeve.

“Ask me to extend the theorem.”

Hollis paused.

“You heard him,” Thomas said.

Elijah took the chalk.

“Choose any new boundary condition.

If I copied the proof, I won’t know how to rebuild it.”

Evelyn wrote a value on the board.

“Use this one.”

Elijah stared at it, erased half his previous work, and began again.

Maya watched each line appear.

“That changes the convergence rate,” she said.

“Yes.

And it creates a second stable sequence here.”

Hollis interrupted.

“He has rehearsed this.”

Evelyn changed the value again.

“Then solve mine.”

Elijah started over.

Four minutes later, he boxed the result.

Maya covered her mouth.

“That extension isn’t in the paper.”

Evelyn faced Hollis.

“Can you verify it?”

Hollis looked from the board to the manuscript.

“Not without time.”

“Elijah needed four minutes.”

“He is performing tricks.”

A quiet voice came from the rear doors.

“No, Professor.

You performed the trick.”

A gray-haired woman entered carrying Elijah’s blue notebook inside a clear evidence sleeve.

Owen recognized her first.

“You were on my livestream.”

“I was,” she said.

“I’m Dr.

Ada Mercer, director of the National Youth Mathematics Foundation.”

Hollis gripped the lectern.

“How did you get that?”

“A student saw you remove it from Elijah’s backpack in the hallway.

She followed you to the faculty lounge, where you put it in a recycling bin.”

The student who had spoken earlier stepped out from behind Ada.

“My name is Lydia Shaw,” she said.

“And I recorded him doing it.”

Hollis looked at Keene.

Keene took one step away from him.

Ada placed the notebook beside the manuscript.

“That is not the only evidence I brought.”

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She removed a tablet from her case and turned the screen toward Evelyn.

“Eight months ago, Elijah explained this proof to me on video—three days before Professor Hollis downloaded his submission.”