“I hate this stuff.” Dahlia rubbed her neck and pursed her lips. “We aren’t built for it, you know.Emotions.”
I smirked, and there was an ease between us. Dahlia was like me. In our work, wehadto be reserved, had to leave our humanity at the door, so we could take on the horrors.
“Imagine how I feel,” I murmured. “This is like talking to a grandma, or something.”
Her nose pinched, and she held out a pointed finger. “Watch your mouth before I regret this.”
I nodded. “Got it, my bad.”
She shook her head, and now she was really smiling. Hell had frozen over.
“I’m blabbering—this isn’t my area of expertise. Data is easier to deal with, so let me just say this. Since we’ve brought Daydream back, you’ve gotten better, Leo. This…connection— it’s given you stability. I don’t want it to reverse. I’d like to keep seeing this trend.”
My stomach twisted. She was gearing up for something; I could see it in the way her eyes squinted, how her shoulders tensed. The brief moment of empathy between us?
Gone.
Stifled.
Completely disintegrated.
“We’re going to be facing unprecedented times,” her voice went chilly again. “It will test you both—allof us. The business with Hopper, it needs to be settled. I can’t give you advice on how or when, but as a woman I can say with certainty that secrets will dismantle any growing relationship. Daydream is competent, and unfortunately, I’m quite fond of you as well. We need to move forward as one solid unit if we’re going to survive what’s coming for us.”
A sharp pain split through my head, and I winced as the memories started to rush in. Everything that had happened, every wrong move and bad call, the disaster that I helped create. This was the moment that really terrified me. The promise between Joon and me? That was a smaller piece of my shame, the one that was easier to justify.
“You have to tell her,” Dahlia said finally. “Before we take the next step. We can’t have another failure like the one with Hopper. The stakes are too high to gamble with now.”
My head dropped as I looked at my palms, at the hands that had destroyed so much.
“I know.”
It was time.
TWENTY-FIVE
ALEX
I fidgeted in my seat;the waiting room was colder than I would have liked.
I craved Leo’s heat and was ready to crawl out of my skin with each minute that he stayed in Dahlia’s office. Reed sat beside me, flipping through the channels of the TV as soft voices came from the speakers. Endless footage had been shown about the Splinter attack, and the conspiracies were running rampant. Something caught my ear, and I held out a hand to signal for Reed to pause.
“… could be linked with the Villains that escaped a failed operation three years ago. The Variant Intelligence Agency has called this group ‘Splinter’, yet haven’t made any official statements on a possible connection between the events. The collapse dominated the media, and this attack is only a reminder of the tragedy that was suffered,” a news anchor looked straight into the camera. “Nightmyre hasn’t forgotten, and we will not forget this. In a time where Villains run rampant, it is imperative to remember the ones that laid down their lives for us. We honor the fallen, the Heroes that were sacrificed.”
I snatched the remote from Reed’s hand and turned the volume up. Old footage began to play, and my throat started to close up. I’d been avoiding it for so long—but everything felt right now. After three years, I knew the world wouldn’t collapse. Leo had been working to change, but I wasn’t done yet, either. I needed to take the next step, too.
“You’ve never watched it, right?” Reed leaned back.
The reporter continued. “Among those who lost their lives in the collapse were Heroes AngelDust, Spitfire, Hopper?—”
My hand trembled, and Reed raised an arm to turn it off. “You don’t have to?—”
“—no,” I interrupted, “I do.”
I’d seen snippets, of course. Flashes on TV screens in restaurants or frozen pictures in newspapers. But I’d always turn away from them, always shield myself from the ugly of it all. Joon was dead. That’s all I needed to know. But it had kept me from moving on, and I was finally ready. I didn’t spend my nights lost in a daydream of the past, or run to a bottle every time the grief washed in. Going on with my life didn’t mean I would forget him; it didn’t mean I was betraying his memory just by living.
“It’s not pretty,” Reed mumbled. “… just a warning.”
“In a communication failure that resulted in the chief operative enforcer resigning from his position; an all-clear order was sent, followed by the green light to use lethal force. Eight Heroes were still in the building at the time the order was enacted. The outcome devastated the VIA, and the city of Nightmyre.”
