No one said “we’re safe now.” That would be stupid. But no one flinched at every shield flicker either. Terrakaiya drew a map on the coffee table with her finger. Lines of light. “Brick building. No windows on the back or sides. Front has one door, reinforced. Basement levels. Three, maybe four.”Eryn stared at the floating map. The closed loop on his arm pulsed once, like it recognized the place. “That’s where I was. When the tracker pulled me. That room with Sophia.”Aria leaned forward, elbows on knees.“We need eyes inside before we go in guns blazing. Which we don’t have guns. Or blazing.”Kael snorted. “We have time slow and telepathy. That’s better than guns.”Lyra was already building her triple wall in her mind. “If we can get close without tripping alarms, I can scan. Light touch. See if Sophia is still… herself.”“Light touch,” Kael repeated. He sat next to her on the couch. “I’ll slow time around you so your scan doesn’t spike. They won’t feel it if time moves slower for t

The next few days was all paper and bad coffee and maps that Terrakaiya kept redrawing because “the angles were disrespectful.”Eight minutes. That was all they had. From 3:14 to 3:22. In, down three basement levels, unlock reinforced door, get Sophia and Andrew out, get back through Aria’s portal before guards returned.Kael had the map spread across the table. Actual paper this time. He liked paper for planning. “Entry point is the alley. Aria opens portal to the maintenance corridor. No windows.Lyra traced the route with her finger. Her nail was chipped. She’d been chewing it while thinking. “I scan ahead. Light touch. If I feel guards, Kael slows time for us and I reroute us in my head.”Kael didn’t look up from the map, but his shoulder shifted closer to hers. Not on purpose. Or maybe on purpose now. “If you reroute, I need a two-second warning. Time slow takes focus.”“You’ll get it,” Lyra said. She bumped her shoulder against his when she reached for a pencil. “We’ve got the t

The house was quiet after Liona and Lyrien walked through the wall. Too quiet. Like the air was waiting to see if they’d scream.No one screamed. Eryn sat on the floor, back against the couch. Staring at his arm. The closed loop pulsed once every few seconds. Not pulling. Just… waiting. Like a door with someone knocking from the other side.“Sophia’s voice,” he said quietly. “That was her. At the end. She’s still in there. Somewhere.”Aria sat beside him offering whatever comfort she can.“You didn’t know,” she said again. Softer. “Liona wore her for a long time. Of course you believed it.”“I should’ve noticed,” Eryn muttered. “The eyes. The way she asked about Andrew. The way she never ate when we studied.”“You noticed when it mattered,” Aria said. She turned his wrist gently, looked at the keyhole in the loop. “The tracker’s listening to her now. Not just Liona. Sophia’s fighting from inside. That’s why it changed.”Across the room, Kael was pacing. “They took the faces. They di

Level three.The air was colder here. Wet concrete. The smell of rust and old rain. The only light came from Eryn’s closed loop, glowing faint gold and pulsing with Sophia’s heartbeat.Three doors. Iron. No handles on the outside. Just one keyhole in each, shaped like a keyhole with a line through it. Liona’s mark.Eryn pressed his palm to the first door. The keyhole on his arm flared. Gold met gold. The door clicked open. No sound. No alarm. Sophia’s magic recognized him.Inside: a small room. Cot. Bucket. And Sophia.Real Sophia. Not Liona’s gold eyes. Brown. Tired. Thin. But her. She was sitting on the cot, knees pulled up, when the door opened. She looked up, squinted at the light, then froze.“Eryn?” Her voice was hoarse. “Is that… is that really you?”Eryn didn’t answer with words. He stepped inside and dropped to his knees in front of her. No hesitation. “It’s me,” he said. Voice rough. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I didn’t know. I’m sorry it took this long.”Sophia stared at him

The night was quiet. Too quiet. Like the air was holding its breath.Eryn didn’t move. He just stood there, watching Aria watch him. The blanket between them felt thinner than it had a minute ago. The space felt smaller.Aria’s fingers twitched against the fabric. She didn’t pull her hand away. She didn’t close the distance either. Not yet.“You’re doing that thing again,” she said softly.“What thing?”“That thing where you look at me like you’re trying to decide if it’s safe to want this.”Eryn exhaled. He had no answer for that. Because she was right. He was always calculating. Always measuring risk. Even now.“I don’t know how to do this,” he admitted. The words came out rough, honest. “I know how to survive. I know how to fight. I don’t know how to… stay.”Aria shifted. She didn’t touch him. She didn’t need to. Her voice was steady. “Then don’t think about staying. Think about now. Just this moment.”He looked at her. Really looked. Not as a threat. Not as a variable. As her. The