LOGINCHAPTER 89ADAMThree months after Eve came back, we had our first real fight.Not about her being reckless. Not about the trauma. Not about any of the obvious things.About dishes."You left them in the sink again," I said, trying to keep my voice level. "I asked you to put them in the dishwasher.""I was having a panic attack. Dishes weren't my priority.""You've had three panic attacks today. At some point, dishes need to happen."Eve's eyes flashed. "Are you seriously criticizing me for not doing dishes while I'm struggling with PTSD?""I'm not criticizing. I'm asking you to follow through on basic household tasks.""Basic household tasks feel impossible when I'm fighting to stay grounded in reality!""Then tell me that! Don't just leave things half-done and expect me to read your mind!""I shouldn't have to explain every single time that I'm barely functional! You know I'm struggling!"We were both yelling now. The girls hovering in the doorway, uncertain.I forced myself to stop
EVE The nightmares came back worse than before. Not just mine. Adam's too. We'd wake up at three AM, both of us gasping, reaching for weapons that weren't there. "The factory again?" he'd ask. "The factory. You?" "Same." We'd lie awake together after that. Too wired to sleep. Too exhausted to do anything productive. Dr. Reeves said it was PTSD. Recommended medication. More frequent therapy sessions. Time to process the trauma. "You killed someone," she told me during one session. "Not in immediate self defense. Not in the heat of battle. You made a choice to end a life. That's different from other violence you've experienced. Your brain is trying to reconcile the person you think you are with the person who could do that." "I don't regret it. She was evil. She deserved to die." "Believing something is right doesn't mean it doesn't affect you. You can know intellectually that you made the correct choice while still struggling emotionally with having made it." Dr. Reeves made
EVE Leaving the Void was harder than entering it. We packed up everything we could carry, which wasn't much. Lucia's blankets, some food, the supplies the witches had given us. Adam dismantled the makeshift crib carefully, like he was hoping we might come back someday. "Ready?" Circe asked, standing by the door with her pack. I looked around the cabin one last time. Two weeks. Just two weeks of peace and normalcy. It didn't seem like enough. "As ready as I'll ever be," I said, adjusting Lucia in the carrier strapped to my chest. We walked back through the forest toward where we'd entered. The journey took longer this time because we kept stopping to rest. Lucia was heavier now, and I wasn't used to carrying her for long distances. "There," Adam said, pointing ahead. "That's the oak tree. The boundary." We stood there for a moment, none of us moving. "Last chance to turn back," Circe said. "No," Adam said firmly. "We made a decision. We stick to it." We crossed the boundary
EVE Madam Bella cornered me three weeks after we returned to Umbra Pack. "We need to talk," she said, blocking the doorway to Lucia's nursery. "About what?" I was holding a bottle, prepared to feed Lucia on schedule. Six ounces every four hours. The routine was efficient. "About you. About what's happening to this family." Bella crossed her arms. "Adam is falling apart. He barely sleeps. Barely eats. Just watches you like he's waiting for someone who isn't coming back." "That's an accurate assessment. The person he's waiting for no longer exists." "Stop that. Stop talking like you're some kind of robot." Bella's voice rose. "You're still Eve. Still a mother. Still a wife. You're just hurt." "I'm not hurt. I'm empty. There's a difference." I tried to move past her but she didn't budge. "Please move. Lucia needs to eat in three minutes." "Lucia needs her mother. Not a feeding schedule." Bella grabbed my shoulders. "Look at me. Really look at me." I met her eyes. Registered conc
CHAPTER 56 ADAM Sanctuary looked like a prison. High walls. Armed guards. Magical barriers so thick I could feel them pressing against my skin from a hundred yards away. "This is where you bring people to help them?" I said as we pulled through the gates. "This is where we bring people too dangerous to exist in normal society," Dr. Cross said bluntly. "But also yes, where we help them. The two aren't mutually exclusive." The vehicle stopped in front of a massive concrete building. No windows on the first three floors. Everything designed to contain, not comfort. "I don't like this," Circe muttered. "None of us do. But we're here now." Eve held Lucia closer. Our daughter hadn't moved or made a sound the entire drive. Just stared with those dead eyes. Inside, the facility was sterile. White walls, white floors, the smell of antiseptic and magic. Guards everywhere. Cameras in every corner. "Room 347," Dr. Cross told the intake guard. "Family suite. They stay together." "The ch
CHAPTER 87LUCIAMama was different now.Not bad different. Just different.She jumped at loud noises. Checked exits whenever we entered a room. Couldn't sleep in their actual bedroom because the ceiling made her panic.I understood. Kind of. She'd been buried alive for three weeks. That would make anyone scared of small spaces and heavy things.But it was still weird seeing Mama scared of anything.She'd always been the brave one. The healer who ran toward danger. The one who protected everyone else.Now she needed protecting sometimes. Needed reminding she was safe. Needed help when the panic attacks came.Sophie handled it better than me. She was good at being gentle. At saying the right comforting things.I wasn't good at that. I was good at being direct and honest and sometimes too blunt.Like when Mama had a panic attack during breakfast and I said, "You're breathing too fast. That's not efficient oxygen intake. You need to slow down."Papa gave me a look. "Lucia, that's not hel







