Evelyn reached the car before Elena could pull the door shut. She helped her into the seat beside Maya, checked that Thomas’s cane was clear, and closed the door herself.“Keep them inside,” she told the driver. “Wait for the director’s instructions.”Kael remained between the vehicle and the image above the transport case. Varyn’s eyes followed Evelyn, then returned to him. Kael resisted the urge to answer. Anything he said would give the man another moment to study the driveway.“The middle band,” Kael said to the officer nearest the case. “That’s where the image is coming from. Your barrier isn’t stopping the connection beneath it.”The officer looked toward Evelyn as she came back. She took a second barrier device from his equipment bag and unfolded its two metal arms beside the case.“Show me where,” she said.Kael crouched, catching his breath when his vest pressed against his ribs. Through the shining seam, he could make out the position of the staff inside. He pointed to the n

“I’m staying with the team,” Kael said. “If you want to talk, I can hear you from here.”He stepped close enough to see through the observation window. Evelyn remained beside the door, watching the corridor while an officer held a light against the glass.Silas stood behind a waist-high control cabinet. A stained bandage covered the left side of his neck, and he leaned against the cabinet whenever he shifted his weight. The metal device beneath his right hand had been repaired with mismatched pieces. One edge was bent inward, exposing a row of pale stones.Four captives sat in chairs along the wall behind him. Strips of metal joined their restraints to a large glass vessel beside the cabinet. Two guards stood near the chairs. A third waited at the far end of the chamber, beside a dark stone frame.That was the station’s door. Nothing moved inside it yet.Silas lifted his right hand just enough for Kael to see the lever beneath his fingers.“This releases what’s in that vessel,” he sai

Kael counted the prisoners as the guards spread them along the wall. There were five, including Orlan. One woman could barely stand, and the man beside her kept trying to take her weight without pulling on the chain joining their wrists.Evelyn moved closer to the image. “They can’t reach the opening from there.”“They weren’t meant to.” Kael studied the iron fastening. The guards had threaded the main chain through it before locking the free end. Even if the prisoners ran toward them, the wall would stop them several paces short.Soren addressed the image from beside his guard. “Bring the prisoners forward for verification. The exchange cannot proceed until their condition is confirmed.”The guard holding the chain looked toward the receiving marks. “Open your end first. We need to see who is coming.”Helen waited until Kael turned toward her. “Can we open it without giving them the other doors?”“As planned,” Kael replied. “Keep those teams at their controls.”She checked both sites

By late morning, Orlan’s injured arm had been cleaned and secured, and he had slept for nearly four hours in a guarded treatment room. Kael had rested in the room across the hall. Neither had been allowed to continue their conversation beside the ambulance.Now Kael sat near the old man’s bed with his shoulder supported by a sling. Orlan’s question had stayed with him through the short sleep.“His parents know,” Kael said. “His sister knows magic changed him. She doesn’t know the rest yet.”Orlan rested his good hand on the blanket. “And you’ve been living with them?”“Since I arrived.” Kael looked toward the closed door. “They’re here now, in another part of the building. I’m going to see them after this.”The old man studied Ethan’s face again. Kael let him. There had been no time at the station to become used to what he was seeing.“I didn’t choose the child for your soul,” Orlan said.“I heard your warning. Long after I needed it.”Kael took Evelyn’s phone from the bedside table.

Kael left Maya with her parents and closed the waiting-room door. She did not call him back again.Over the next several days, the Cole family settled into temporary rooms arranged by the Bureau. An officer remained near the entrance, but inside, there were meals to prepare and clothes to wash. Thomas did his leg exercises beside the kitchen table. Elena kept count while he complained that she was counting too slowly.Maya sometimes joined them. Sometimes she took her food to her room.Kael did not follow her. When she asked a question, he answered it. When she wanted to be left alone, he let her go.His own recovery was less pleasant than he would have liked. A nurse changed his dressings, checked his shoulder, and reminded him that being able to move his arm did not mean he should use it. He slept badly the first two nights, then slept through most of the third afternoon.On the fourth morning, Evelyn found him at the kitchen table, trying to open a jar with one hand.She took it, l