Epilogue
Six Months Later
SIENNA
T he ocean is louder than I imagined.
Waves crash endlessly against the shore below the cliffs while cold wind tangles through my hair.
For a long time, I thought I’d never hear anything beautiful again.
Only alarms.
Screams.
Static.
Oracle.
But today—
Today sounds like healing.
Lily stands barefoot at the edge of the sand, staring at the water like it might disappear if she blinks too hard.
Noah stands beside her throwing tiny rocks into the surf while Aaron pretends not to supervise from farther up the beach.
The other rescued children are nearby too.
Laughing.
Actually laughing.
Still healing.
Still carrying scars.
But alive.
And that matters.
God, that matters.
Lily slowly looks back toward me.
Gray eyes softer now.
Safer.
“Is it always this big?”
Emotion tightens my chest instantly.
“The ocean?”
She nods.
I smile.
“Yeah, sweetheart. It is.”
Wonder spreads slowly across her face.
Not fear.
Not confusion.
Wonder.
Jonah steps up behind me quietly.
Warm hands sliding around my waist.
Solid.
Safe.
Home.
I lean back into him automatically.
His lips brush gently against my temple.
“You okay?”
The answer should probably be complicated.
Because sometimes I still hear echoes of Oracle in my dreams.
Sometimes, flickering lights make my pulse spike.
Sometimes I wake up terrified that I’m still somehow connected to the system.
Healing isn’t clean.
Trauma doesn’t disappear just because the danger ends.
But Jonah?
Jonah stayed through every nightmare.
Every flashback.
Every bad night.
Every moment I thought I was too broken to love properly.
He never once let go.
I tilt my head back slightly until I can look at him.
And God—
I still can’t believe this man is real.
“You know,” I whisper, “you’re kind of bossy.”
His mouth twitches.
“Kind of?”
I laugh softly for the first time in what feels like years.
Real laughter.
Not survival.
Not pretending.
Real.
Lily suddenly runs back toward us from the shoreline.
Wind whipping through her blonde curls.
“Jonah!”
He immediately crouches slightly as she launches herself at him without hesitation.
The massive Delta Five SEAL catches her effortlessly.
Protective instinct written into his bones now.
It destroys me emotionally every single time.
Lily wraps both arms around his neck tightly.
“Come see!”
Jonah glances toward me with that soft look he only gets around us now.
“Guess I’m being summoned.”
“Tragic.”
He grins slightly.
Then Lily grabs my hand too.
Both of them pulling me toward the ocean together.
And suddenly—
The memories of Oracle don’t feel quite so loud anymore.
Farther up the beach, Ronan stands beside Cal while Aaron argues with Lance about something ridiculous involving tactical explosives and fishing regulations.
Elizabeth sits wrapped in a blanket near the dunes, watching the water quietly.
Healing too.
Vale’s name was never publicly released.
But the children know.
And sometimes that matters more than headlines.
The Oracle files changed the world.
Arrests.
Investigations.
Black sites exposed globally.
Powerful men dragged into the light kicking and screaming.
And for once—
The monsters lost.
Lily squeezes my hand tightly.
Then looks up at Jonah and me with tears shining softly in her eyes.
“This feels like home.”
Jonah’s arm wraps around both of us instantly.
I look out at the endless ocean.
At the people we saved.
At the family we somehow found inside all the ruins.
And for the first time in a very long time—
The future doesn’t scare me anymore.