Nova
The morning air makes me shiver after the warmth of the room.
I’m moving before the door finishes closing behind me. Down the porch steps and onto the road. My shoulder aching, my heart beating too fast. I don’t know if I’m walking toward the bunker or just walking.
Both, maybe.
I need the answers sitting behind a reinforced door and I need them now. Everything Minerva just said is sitting in my chest and it… hurts.
My parents. But not.
Knowing I’m the reason the Order finally came to the Hollow.
They left us alone.
I get maybe halfway down the road before the door opens behind me.
“Nova—”
“Nova, wait—”
Footsteps. Multiple sets. They spill out after me, down the steps. Then they’re around me and they’re all talking at once and I can’t—
“Are you okay—”
“You don’t have to go in today, you could wait—”
“What happened with Harrick—”
“What are you thinking right now—”
“Nova.” Trey, trying to slow it down.
I stop walking. I’m standing in the middle of the road with all of them around me and my shoulder is screaming.
I catch a glimpse of Zoe heading towards us. Look back at the guys, try to focus.
I open my mouth but nothing comes out.
“Nova.”
Brent’s voice.
Everyone goes quiet.
He’s just standing there. He looks — not right.
“There’s something I need to tell you,” he says. He looks at the group. “Something all of you deserve to know.”
I take a few steps toward him.
He comes down the steps slowly. Stops at the bottom.
“I was young when I joined the Order,” he says. “Laith took notice of me early. I ran errands, carried files. I was at his residence often enough that it felt routine.” His jaw works. “One night I was there late. Filing something. There was a knock at the door and I answered it.”
He looks at the ground.
“No one was there. Just a basket. A blanket.” He pauses. “And a baby.”
Why would someone leave a baby with Laith?
“It stared right up at me. Like I was its whole world,” he says quietly.
Oh.
“Laith heard the door. He came out and I stepped back. He looked down and stared for a long time. I’d never seen him do that. Not before or since.” Brent’s voice has gone rough. “He picked the baby up, carefully. And he said something — it was so quiet I almost didn’t catch it.”
“What did he say?” Locke says.
“They’re so blue.” Brent looks at me. “That’s what he said. Looking at her eyes.”
No.
“And then he pulled back the blanket. Checked one wrist. Then the other.” His jaw tightens. “His face — I can’t describe it. I’d never seen that on him before either. He said — it can’t be. This can’t be right.”
Zoe makes a sound beside me. I don’t look at her.
“Then he looked up and saw me. Like he just realized I was there.” I can see the guilt on his face. “He said get out. Just like that. No explanation. The way he said it—” He stops. “I left. I didn’t ask questions.”
“Why not?” Kyron asks.
“Because it was the first time Laith ever scared me.” He’s quiet for a moment. “I told myself it wasn’t my business. That there was nothing I could do anyway. I kept working for him for years after that.”
He looks at me. “I should have asked questions. I should have done… something. Anything.”
Brent was there and I was that baby.
Laith held me.
Checked my wrists.
He knew.
He’s known all this time.
Just like he knew about me.
About my mark.
About the Hollow.
My breath catches. I don’t know what to do with any of this.
“Nova.” Rane’s voice. Close.
“I’m fine,” I say. I don’t sound fine.
“You don’t have to be—”
The pulse hits before he finishes the sentence.
I feel it through the ground first. Then in my chest. Then in my mark — gold and red flaring hot under my skin — and every person in a ten foot radius reacts at the same time. Locke’s hands curl. Vaelor goes rigid. Kyron’s eyes snap to the tree line.
Then the screaming starts. Not people. The wards.
Zoe steps back.
“That’s the perimeter,” Brent says. He’s already moving. “East side.”
They’re here.