The night was too quiet.
After the screaming, the gunfire, the thunder of explosions that had filled every breath and beat of my heart—this silence was deafening.
I sat on the edge of a creaky bed in a dimly lit room inside a safe house nestled somewhere on the outskirts of the city. I didn’t know exactly where we were, only that Helios had driven us here in the dead of night, through winding back roads and empty alleys. We hadn't said much on the way. There were too many things we didn't know how to say.
Now, the silence wrapped around us like a thick blanket, heavy and suffocating.
I stared at my reflection in the cracked mirror above the old dresser. Blood crusted my temple. A dark bruise bloomed across my cheekbone. There were scrapes on my arms, bandaged in gauze that Helios had found in a worn-out first aid kit. My hands trembled faintly in my lap—not from fear, but from the overwhelming wave of everything.
The door creaked open softly, and Helios stepped inside.
He was s
