Trey
Nobody really slept.
I can tell by the way everyone’s moving. Too careful. Too quiet. Like if we make noise we’ll break whatever fragile thing is holding us together.
It’s early. The sun’s barely up and we’re all already downstairs. Locke came down sometime before dawn. He didn’t say anything. Just sat at the table with his hands wrapped around a mug. He hasn’t said anything about where he ran off to yesterday either.
Vaelor made bread. I don’t know when. But it’s on the counter and it smells like home. Nobody’s touched it yet.
Beckett’s at the table with his laptop. Kyron’s standing by the window looking irritated by Rane’s pacing. He keeps moving between the kitchen and the living room like he’s looking for something to do with his hands.
The card is on the table.
We talked to Minerva and Brent last night. Showed them the card. Minerva didn’t recognize the name but she didn’t look surprised either. Brent set up a secure line. Something that won’t ping Order systems if they’re monitoring.
Minerva said to call at seven. Before Linda’s shift starts but late enough she’d be awake.
It’s six forty-five.
“We should eat something,” Vaelor says.
Nobody moves.
“I’m serious. We need to eat.”
Rane grabs a piece of bread. He doesn’t take a bite, just holds it.
I look at Locke. He’s staring at the mug in his hands like it’s the only thing keeping him grounded.
“You okay?” I ask.
He doesn’t look up. “No.”
Fair.
Kyron turns from the window. “What do we say when she answers?”
“We ask for Nova,” Beckett says. “See how she reacts.”
“What if she doesn’t remember her?”
“She will.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Nova doesn’t forget people who help her. And she kept the card.”
He’s not wrong.
Rane finally takes a bite of the bread. Chews. Swallows.
“This house could actually be good, you know.”
I look at him. “What?”
“The house. Once we get her back. It could be good. Like. Home.”
Vaelor glances at him. “It already is.”
“No I mean really home. All of us. Her. This place.” Rane gestures at the walls. “We could be happy here.”
Nobody argues with that.
“Too many bedrooms though,” I say.
“For now,” Rane says.
Kyron looks at him. “You’re already thinking about kids?”
“I’m just saying. One day maybe.”
“Nobody needs a little Rane running around.”
“Fuck you. I’d be a great dad.”
Beckett actually smiles at that. Just a little. “You’d let them get away with everything.”
“Yeah and you’d teach them to hack before they could walk.”
“Better than teaching them to talk people’s ears off.”
Vaelor’s watching us. Not saying anything. But there’s a hint of a smile on his face that wasn’t there before.
“What?” I ask.
“Just. This.” He gestures at all of us. “Talking about it like it’s real.”
“It is real,” Locke says.
We all look at him. He hasn’t said much all morning.
“We get her back. We bring her home. And then we build whatever the fuck we want.”
Rane grins. “Damn right.”
“She’d probably want the room with the window,” Vaelor says quietly. “The one that gets morning light.”
“She’d want to be near you,” I say. “Near all of us.”
“She’d take over the kitchen,” Beckett says. “Try to cook even though she has no idea what she’s doing.”
“We’d teach her.”
“Yeah but imagine a little Nova.”
The room goes quiet.
Kyron’s the one who breaks it. “Stubborn as hell.”
“Smart,” Beckett adds.
“Probably won’t eat her vegetables,” Rane says.
“She’d have your eyes,” Vaelor says to Locke.
Locke’s hands tighten around his mug. “And her hair.”
“She’d be perfect,” I say.
Nobody disagrees.
We sit with that for a while.
I can almost see it. This house full of noise and life and the family we’re going to build when we get her back.
Not if.
When.
Beckett checks his laptop. “Six fifty-eight.”
The room shifts.
Rane stops pacing. Kyron moves away from the window. Vaelor sets down the bread. Locke finally looks up.
“Everyone ready?” Beckett asks.
We nod.
He picks up the phone at exactly seven.
Dials the number on the card.
It rings.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Then a click.
“Linda Luceran.”
Beckett doesn’t hesitate. “Hello. We’re looking for Nova.”
Nothing for a few seconds. Then her voice comes back steady.
“I know.”