"Atty?"
His eyes spark. "There!"
I whip my head around and inhale shakily as I see Aurora's name appear on the screen. I'm up and reaching forward to answer the call in half a second, but Atticus stops me, jerking my hand back.
"Wait," he growls.
"What?"
"Let me run the incoming IP."
Precious seconds are cut away while my angel sits in the online waiting room and Atty does what Atty does best.
"Anything?" Sev asks, gruff.
"No, it's pinging all over the damn place. This definitely isn't her laptop. She's on something else. One sec."
He pushes himself into the narrow space between me and the laptop. "I'm adding an extra fail-safe…almost…there. Okay, and voice modulator activated…we're good."
As soon as he moves out of the way, I take over, answering the call.
"Hello," I say automatically, putting on the Spanish accent and leaning forward. Her video screen is still blank with only her name in the center of the screen. "Are you there?"
"Oh, just a sec." Her voice comes through a little choppy, but it's her. It has to be her.
Sev claps a hand on my back, and I drop my head at the immense sensation of relief that runs through me like a damn river.
"Let me see if I can get the—there. Can you see me, Alfie?"
The screen shifts and distorts, bringing through a glitchy video feed that assembles itself into a mostly clear image of my angel.
Sev grabs me and shakes me as if he can't even fucking help himself as he stands up from his chair and presses his hands to his head, giving it a shake. But I don't have time to wonder what dark place he's trying to get himself free of, I need to hear her tell us she's okay.
"Yes, I see you," I say, swallowing back the emotion in my voice and hoping the voice modulator will erase the worst of it.
The image pixelates every time she moves, but her smile is clear. She looks okay. She looks good. Unharmed.
"I'm sorry I'm late," she says. "My laptop isn't working, so I had to use a different one. God, it's so glitchy. Is it bad on your end, too?"
"A little. It's okay."
She sighs. "Sorry about that, I'm a little far from home at the moment, but I'll be back home soon so we can have our regular lessons."
Atticus mutes our mic as she continues to explain. "That must mean she has her confirmed return travel plans."
We all collectively sigh at that.
Two more days.
We can do this. She can do this.
I move to unmute and tell her not to worry about any of it and encourage her to continue the lesson, but Atty stops me, pointing at a spot over her shoulder. "Look."
Even though I have no desire to look away from her face, I see what he's pointing at.
It's a fucking window. My angel has set herself up to do this video call in front of a window. One that shows a dark coastline bathed in moonlight.
"That's my smart fucking girl," he says. He's already recording this video, but he takes a couple of seconds to snap some screenshots, which he then moves to a neighboring monitor to analyze as I continue the call.
