CHAPTER 22
RYNN
The day starts wrong.
I feel it before I’m even awake. The hum of the shelter’s recycler has a different tone — thinner, higher, a ghost of strain that wasn’t there yesterday. The air tastes off too, like copper left too long in water. I open my eyes to the dim amber light of the old lantern and the faint outline of Vael’s shoulder rising and falling beside me.
Nessa’s soft snores drift from the corner, muffled by her blanket. For a second I let myself believe the sound means safety. Then my compad buzzes under the cot.
Once. Twice. Then goes still.
It’s the code I haven’t heard in years.
Three short pulses, one long.
My chest goes cold.
I slide out from under the blanket, careful not to wake either of them. The floor is freezing beneath my bare feet. I kneel by the pack where I’ve hidden the burner comm and pull it free. The casing is hot, like it’s been trying to fry itself before I could read it.
The message decrypts slow, pixels bleeding into words.
From:Drel
Origin:blocked
Message:“Leak confirmed. Image live. They know. Move.”
My stomach drops. My thumb trembles as I open the attachment.
The file loads one line at a time.
A photo.
Not ofmyNessa — not exactly — but close enough that it twists my insides. The same golden eyes, just older. The same tilt of her head when she’s trying to act brave. Her name’s scrubbed, replaced with a designation:K-3X9.
Underneath it:
High-value juvenile hybrid.
Reward: 40,000 credits, live capture preferred.
My throat closes. The air in the shelter suddenly tastes too thick, like breathing through smoke.
“Rynn?”
Vael’s voice. Low, half asleep.
I swallow, hard. “It’s nothing. Go back to sleep.”
“Liar.” The mattress creaks as he sits up. “You’ve got that voice.”
“What voice?”
“The one you get right before everything burns down.”
I glance over my shoulder. His hair’s a dark tangle, eyes still heavy from sleep but sharp enough to see the panic on my face. I turn the compad so he can see the image.
He goes still. His pupils tighten to slits.
