Author’s POVAeris’s mind raced with a thousand possible reasons the call could’ve ended, none of which was good. He wondered if Charis had been hurt in any way, and the mere thought of it made his heart rate go up.He grabbed his phone with one hand, calling her as he hoped to God that she would answer and assure him that it had all been a small network provider issue, even though that seemed unlikely.Every call ended the same way: voice mail. He dialed her again, pressing it against his ears as he held his breath expectantly.Still, it was the same thing. Her recorded voice on the other end of the line asked him to leave a message at the sound of the beep.He sighed, tossing the phone aside in a moment of blind rage. Charis had worked with him for the longest time. She had more times than he could count, helped him get out of his head and back to focusing on the present.“Please God, let her be Okay.” He whispered to himself, his fingers tightening around the wheel until his knuckle

Author’s POVRune returned to his room, his hand reaching for his device almost immediately. He called Eilish and surprisingly, she answered on the first ring.“Hey,” he began, “are you free to talk?”He paced, one hand tucked away inside his pocket as he counted the minutes before she responded.“Yeah, I guess. What’s up?”Rune sighed, “I need to talk to you about Aeris.”“Uhm, okay,”He took a moment to compose himself before he started, "Look, Eilish, I know he lied and everything but could you find the time to just hear him out?”“Let me guess, he asked you to try and convince us?” She scoffed, “Jesus, Rune. What’s next? He’d ask you to apologize on his behalf or..?”He shook my head, even though she couldn’t see me, “You know that’s not true.”She was quiet on the other end of the line, so he continued, “I’m not apologizing for him, I’m simply asking you to hear the man out, just this one time. Give him a chance to explain himself, maybe?”She sighed, hesitating a moment before f

Aeris POVThe office was small and messy, nothing at all like the huge training grounds of the Sanctum below. I sat at a desk behind me, which had seen better days, with its surface filled with old books, scattered papers, and empty coffee cups I hadn't bothered to clear away. The fluorescent lights above flickered from time to time, throwing odd shadows along the walls.I had been musing still over Wilder's bruises when my phone rang.The screen told me what number some unknown variety was, but I knew the area code. My call to the police department. One man who owed me enough favors so he would look into things without asking too many questions.I answered on the second ring. "Yeah.""It's me." His voice was tense and professional. He probably was sitting at his desk surrounded by other officers and didn't make any idea who he was calling, somebody like me. "I got something on that number plate that you gave me."I sat up straighter. "Talk to me."Papers shuffled on his end. The vehi

Aeris POVI stood and moved toward the door, then stopped just as my fingers grabbed the doorknob. "Thank you. For everything. Even injured, you're still helping us."She managed a weak, tearful smile. "Thank me when we're all still alive."I left her room, pulling the door closed quietly behind me. The hallway stretched longer than before. My phone kept buzzing with updates from Rune.In the elevator, my reflection looked exhausted. Dark circles under my eyes. The scar was burning through my shirt.Wilder hears whispers. Twelve new victims this week. Morrison is getting closer. Charis hospitalized and terrified, researching from her hospital bed because she knew we were running out of time.We'd been working for months on our timeline. Now we were looking at weeks. Maybe days.The elevator descended. I thought about twenty years ago, and watched Tiago's eyes go black as Grimfall consumed him. I'd been too weak then.I couldn't fail again. Not with these kids.The doors opened. I walk

Author's POVI had already made partial intelligence about the Wrights. Sending now. Something weird is going on. Will send the rest tonight.The text on my screen read.A file attachment appeared. I downloaded it, and I scanned through. Government contracts. Classified research. Names I didn't recognize.And there was one word that chilled my blood: Grimfall.Have Kaladin's parents heard of Grimfall?I stood before the screen and was thinking. They were not mere government scientists engaged in some random research. They knew. They were involved somehow.I had scarcely recoiled the message, when another came:Someone's watching me. Going dark for a bit. Will contact when--The text was interrupted halfway through a sentence.I waited, phone in hand. Seconds ticked by. A minute. Two minutes.Nothing came.My informant had gone silent. Someone was watching them. Somebody who did not wish us to be digging into the Wrights. Another person, who was aware that we were close to something bi