She scrolled again, slower this time. Patterns appeared in how the images were tagged, but the locations were tied to placesshe couldn’t identify. One line repeated across multiple entries:ASSET TRANSFER, CONTAINMENT VERIFIED.
Asset.
Her fingers paused on the screen. Whatever this was, they weren’t hiding people like her—they were transporting them. And Emerson was investigating.
Scrolling further, she discovered headlines she didn’t recognize. Her eyes snagged on them one by one:
Hundreds Killed in Attack on Aggregate Assembly
Nomac Terror Attack: No Group Claims Responsibility
Uninhabitable Moons Possible Sites for Weapons Testing
Nomac Arson Rampage Classified as Terrorist Attack by HI5; Alleged Organizations Under Investigation
Audrey swallowed hard, Alex’s words ringing in her ears.
You, me, your family…we’re not like the humans here.
This is what he meant. These places, this alien name—the Aggregate—were from somewhere else. Somewhere not on this Earth. Everything she’d believed pressed in on her at once, but she didn’t think the answer to who she was would be found in panic. With shaking hands, she kept searching.
The next folder she opened tightened the muscles in her chest.
There were more photographs. Several appeared to be surveillance stills and long-lens shots taken from across streets and through crowds. Her mother’s face filled the screen. They showed her at different ages, with her hair longer, then shorter, or pulled back. Some images had to be old enough to predate Audrey’s birth. In several, Sophia stood beside a woman Audrey didn’t recognize. They were so similar in bone structure and expression that they could have been sisters.
She didn’t think her mom had a sister. But how much did she really know her? The realization didn’t land all at once; instead,it spread slowly, like oil through water. Her mother had lied about so much, including her aunt, it seemed.
She navigated deeper until she found a section labeled Aggregate Marked Notices, and inside, her mother’s name appeared instantly. Audrey’s eyes narrowed on it. Her last name wasn’t Sarafian. It was Simas. Was it her mother’s maiden name? Another piece of knowledge Audrey hadn’t known.
The Marked Notice was labeled L10R. The designation sat beside a black circular symbol and a block of red text:CONSIDERED ARMED AND DANGEROUS.
Audrey skimmed the summary. Its scale distorted her sense of proportion: coordinated bombings, weapons-grade destruction, nearly 900 dead in a place called Nomac. She recognized some acronyms—FBI, Interpol—but not all of them. Every page repeated the same warning in bold:FAILURE TO HEED AN L10R MARKED NOTICE MAY RESULT IN AGGREGATE SANCTIONS.
Her heart rate quickened at the sight of the unfamiliar word again. Aggregate. The other word—sanctions—she understood. Countries turned against countries over it.
Sophia wasn’t unstable.
She was operational.
And very, very wanted.
She was central to the destruction on a scale Audrey had never imagined. Alex had told her some of this, but seeing it all stamped, cataloged, and sorted under the highest threat level reshaped everything. If Sophia had been wanted at this level, then she’d have known exactly what would happen when the police came for Audrey the night their house burned to ash.
A stab of hurt threatened to squeeze the breath from her, raw and bruising. But she forced it down. If she let sorrow take root, it would overwhelm her. She needed answers, not self-pity.
Another file bore the name Mihail. His last name was markedunknown. Its label was Aggregate Marked Notice L11R.
If Mom’s a ten, who was worse?
The charges were similar to Sophia’s, with the networks overlapping and the same symbol stamped at the top.Known associate: Sophia Simas.
There was a third and final file. Audrey tapped it open. Inside was an Aggregate Marked Notice L12R, higher than the others, for a man named Ryker Valalli.
It was strangely familiar.
The information was thin but striking. His notice named him as the leader of the Voírían Separatists, the group Emerson had mentioned. Reports called him impossible to track—he appeared where there were no transport logs and survived impossible strikes. His last sighting?
Nepra.
