"No," Aria said. "I didn't want to worry him."
Serafina closed her eyes.
"Aria."
"He's been doing better," Aria said quickly. "His heart's been stable. I don't want to set him back over something that might still—" She broke off, and when she spoke again her voice had gone soft. "I don't want him panicking."
Serafina pictured it without effort. Different fathers, same mother. Two marriages that hadn't lasted. Their mother gone now, and Serafina's father with her. But Aria's father—Angelo—was still here. A good man. Limited in what he could offer, but present in ways that mattered.
"This isn't something you carry alone," Serafina said.
"I know. I just wanted to get through the semester. I'm already behind on one module, and if I defer now?—"
"We'll deal with school," Serafina said. "Breathing comes first."
Another quiet swallow on the other end of the line.
"Okay," Aria said.
"Are you alone right now?"
"Yes."
"Good. Stay upright. Don't lie down."
"Okay."
"I'm coming down tomorrow."
"You don't have to?—"
"I'm coming." No room in it this time. "We'll get eyes on it. In person. Together."
There was a pause, and then a small, careful breath that might have been relief or might have been something too tired to name.
"Okay," Aria said quietly.
Serafina ended the call and sat there for a moment longer, the phone still warm in her hand. The paperwork on her desk waited patiently, the way paperwork always did—indifferent to urgency, immune to grief.
For the first time that night, she didn't look back at it.
CHAPTER 4
Serafina drove with both hands on the wheel of her Outback, the familiar hum of the engine steady beneath her as Los Angeles thinned behind her. The car was packed the way it always was—nothing loose, nothing decorative. Her overnight bag sat in the cargo area, zipped and ready, thrown together without thought before she left. She hadn’t known what she was packing for. A night. A week. Longer.
The clock on the dash ticked past midnight.
The radio murmured low.
“—authorities have confirmed limited direct contact between humans and non-human civilizations. Officials stress these encounters remain rare and tightly controlled. Details have not been released, though sources say some individuals have already left Earth under undisclosed agreements?—”
She reached out and turned the dial.
She couldn’t afford to think about that. Not tonight. Worry was a luxury, and she’d learned early to spend it only where it mattered. You dealt with what was in front of you. You didn’t spiral over what you couldn’t touch.
Music filled the car instead. Something steady. Familiar.
Her phone lay face down in the console. She’d already messaged her lieutenant before leaving the station—brief, factual. Family medical emergency. She didn’t know how long she’d be gone. A few days. A week. Longer, if it came to that.
