Page 39 of Aviatrix

“What are you—”

I raise an eyebrow. “Did you get ahold of your parents?” I ask, as I rip a page from the back of a flight manual.

She doesn’t miss a beat and pulls a pen from her pocket, tosses it to me.

I wink. “Thanks.”

I quickly scrawl in the margin:

The Legion — connection to President Wingard C. Jones?

Project Aviatrix — VP Julian Rourke

Gina Douglas (deceased) involved

I hand her the page.

“I did,” Thea says, scanning it. Her brow furrows. “They’re okay. Worried about me. But okay.”

“Eli contacted my mom,” I offer, watching her reaction closely.

Her eyes snap to mine. “Seriously? Does she even remember him?”

“She did,” I say. “But she thought it was strange he reached out just to say I was alive.”

“That is strange,” Thea murmurs, still staring at the paper. Then, she holds it up, mouthing, Wow.

“What’s your theory on the alien attack?” I ask her.

She lets out a long breath. “Feels like an invasion. Maybe their planet’s out of resources? But it’s weird. They hit one base, station four massive ships in the atmosphere, and then… nothing. Radio silence for five, six days?”

“What are they waiting for? They haven’t tried to negotiate…” I trail off.

“That we know of,” Thea adds. “They could’ve already made contact with the White House. We wouldn’t know.” She pauses. “Would we?”

I laugh, catching the edge in her tone. “No, we wouldn’t.”

As if President Wingard C. Jones would share that information with Lark, let alone me.

“Damn,” she sighs, and then yawns.

“You’re tired,” I say gently. “Rest. I’ll give you the room.”

“I’ve got to head out soon,” she reminds me, folding the page from the flight manual and tucking it into her jacket. “Wake me in an hour?”

“I will.”

I step out, pulling the door shut behind me.

Lark isn’t waiting in the hallway. Which means either he’s finally giving me space like I asked… or he’s off somewhere cloning that thumb drive.

I give myself a moment to be before I find him in the mess hall, sipping coffee while the soft flicker of the news cycles across the screen behind him.

“Thea’s resting before she takes off,” I say cautiously as I approach.

For a moment, just one, I forget he cheated. Forget there’s no engagement ring on my finger. Forget about the alien warships hovering in orbit and the smoldering ruins of Langdon. For a moment, I just watch him breathe, like I’m outside of my body as everything unfolds in slow motion.

I see the man I built a life with. The man who shared my bed, who knew my rhythms better than I did. The man who once made me feel like nothing could touch me. Until he shattered that illusion.