Her own scream tore through the air, but it came out as a baby’s cry. She blinked, and suddenly she was in another place. In the arms of a woman, her mother as she recognised, and there was a young Michael, coming towards her. “it's time to meet the newprincess” a voice came from behind him. Realising it was her, Lucy jolted in her sleep.
A laboratory was where she ended up next, sterile and cold. Glass walls, bright white lights that buzzed overhead. She could hear muffled voices. Two men behind the glass, their words blurred by static, watching something on the other side.
Then movement again, she was jumping between Michael's memories. A woman holding a baby. The woman’s face was kind, tired, beautiful in a fragile way. Her eyes glistened as she looked down at the infant wrapped in white cloth.
Lucy’s heart twisted, there were others.
The scene cracked apart.
Screams again. The sound of gunfire. The smell of blood. Lucy was crying now, not as herself, but as the child she had been. Begging. Pleading for someone — anyone — to make it stop. It was a cycle, constantly flitting through the same memories over and over again.
“Lucy!”
The voice cut through the haze. Warm hands on her shoulders. Someone shaking her gently.
Her eyes fluttered open. For a moment, the world still spun between dream and waking.
Byron’s face came into focus first, then Davina, holding a cup that steamed with a soft herbal scent.
“Lucy, drink this. Come on, love, small sips.” Davina urged her.
Lucy blinked, half-aware, half-lost in the dream’s echo. Her voice came out fragile. “There was… blood. So much blood.”
“Shh,” Byron said softly, supporting her as Davina pressed the cup to her lips. “It’s just a dream.”
Lucy swallowed obediently, though her hands still trembled. “It wasn’t a dream,” she whispered. “I saw them. My parents. And Michael…”
Michael’s head snapped up, his expression stricken. “You saw what?”
Lucy nodded faintly. “The field. The woman, your family, my family. The blood-soaked snow.”
He said nothing, only looked away, his throat tight.
Byron, still brushing a thumb across Lucy’s knuckles. “Mandy, can you help her? Just a little healing. Speed up her recovery.”
Mandy stepped forward quietly, her eyes soft with concern. “Of course.”
She placed a hand on Lucy’s forehead. A soft glow spread through her fingers, the faint scent of lavender and rain filling the air. The tension in Lucy’s body began to ease. Her breathing steadied.
Within minutes, her eyes drifted shut again — not in exhaustion this time, but in deep, dreamless rest.
Byron looked up at Mandy, his voice low. “Thank you.” Mandy nodded, still kneeling beside Lucy. The faint glow around her fingertips dimmed until only the candlelight flickered across her face. “She’s stable for now,” she murmured, her eyes driftingtoward the window. “But something’s changed outside. I can feel it.”
Byron frowned. “Changed how?”
Mandy closed her eyes, inhaling deeply through her nose. Her hands hovered in the air, sensing the energy that rippled through the wards like invisible waves. “They’ve breached the outer perimeter,” she whispered. “The first ring’s gone… I can feel the break. They’re still far off, maybe a few miles, but they’re moving slowly, methodically.”
Byron glanced back at Lucy, her sleeping form pale but peaceful now. “Stay with her, Mandy. If she wakes up disoriented, keep her calm. I’m going to find Corey” Mandy met his eyes and nodded firmly. “Go. I’ll keep her safe.”
Byron strode out of the room, calling for Barnaby as he passed down the corridor. Within moments, the two of them were moving briskly toward the strategy room, where Corey’s voice could already be heard bouncing off the walls.
Corey was pacing furiously, barking half-sentences into his comms. Damian stood near, scanning the horizon through binoculars, while Ethan and a handful of Doves adjusted weapon cases and gear laid out across the table.
Byron didn’t need to ask. He could see it on their faces.
“What happened?” he asked.
Corey turned sharply. “What happened?” he repeated, his voice frayed. “We’re down half the team, that’s what happened! There’s only fifteen Doves left on the grounds.”
